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Beach Hop 2014: Day four — Whangamata

16 June, 2014

 

And then it was Saturday, which is generally considered to be the main day of Beach Hop and best described as orchestrated chaos.

A series of parades take place starting from different locations and ending in different locations. The end points result in various individual car shows, each of which is up there with any of the biggest shows in the country.

The Meguiar’s Main Street Car Show had the Ultimate Pass holders parked in prime position on Whangamata’s main street, alongside drag cars doing fire-ups as part of the Castrol Edge Crackle Fest, bands playing, and crowds like never before.

At the opposite end of the main street, in the Whangamata Area School grounds, was the Vintage Caravan Magazine Retro Caravan Show. When this part of the event started there were just four caravans on the field; four years later, there were an astounding 85 caravans taking part.

It was difficult to imagine a better Repco Pre-49 Hot Rod Show than last year, but the turnout was so impressive that it was hard to pick just one stand-out.

As always, the day was rounded out with a series of stage shows, and the one part everyone was waiting for, the chance to win one of the three Beach Hop promo vehicles. The lucky winner was Terry Scott of Auckland who chose to take home the 1966 Mustang. A “blind” auction was held for one of the two other vehicles: a Zephyr and caravan combo or an XP Falcon wagon. An Auckland couple topped the bidding and chose to take home the Falcon. Graham Jack won the Zephyr and caravan.

Look out for coverage in our next issue, on sale Monday April 7, and our full 122-page coverage in our 2014 Beach Hop Annual, on sale late April.

Last Tango in the Fast Lane

30 April, 2026

In the mid ’80s, I locked into a serious Nissan/Datsun performance obsession. It could have kicked off with my ’82 Datsun Sunny, though this would have been a bit of a stretch of the imagination, given its normally aspirated 1.2-litre motor — not the sort of thing to unleash radical road warrior dreams. But it did plant a seed, and it was a sweet little machine and surprisingly quick, in contrast to all the diabolical English offerings I had endured.
I was living in South Auckland at the time and was an unrepentant petrolhead. Motor racing was my drug of choice, and I followed the scene slavishly. Saloon car racing, with the arrival of the international Group A formula, was having a serious renaissance here and in Australia and Europe. There was suddenly an exotic air in local racing that had been absent for 15 years.
I was transfixed by this new frontier of motor racing that had hit our tracks in 1985–87 and the new array of machinery on display. In 1986, the Nissan Skyline RS DR30 made a blinding impression on me. The Australian Fred Gibson-run, Peter Jackson-sponsored team of George Fury and Glenn Seton were the fastest crew of the 1986 Australian Touring Car Championship. But Kiwi legend Robbie Francevic snuck through to win the Aussie Championship in his Volvo 240T after a strong start and consistent finishes.

NZ Classic Car magazine, May/June 2026 issue 405, on sale now

26 April, 2026

Reincarnation of the snake
We are captivated by a top-quality sports car
The Shelby NZ build team at Matamata Panelworks has endured a long and challenging journey, culminating with the highly anticipated public unveiling of the 427SC and firing up of its sonorous V8 at the 2026 Ayrburn Classic Festival of Motoring in Queenstown on February 20. This is a New Zealand-built car with loads of character and potential.
The car is now back in Matamata, and I finally have an opportunity to get up close and personal with it. But before then, the question that must be asked is, “Why would ya?”
The first answer is easy, as mentioned in the last issue of New Zealand Classic Car (#404). It was a great way to use up all the surplus Mustang parts acquired while converting brand-new Mustangs into Shelbys. The unused new Mustang parts would be great in any kit car, but the 427SC in front of me cannot be classified as one.
This is not a kit car. The reality is that it is a high-quality, factory-made production car.
Possibly the second answer is because the CEO of Matamata Panelworks, Malcolm Sankey, wanted to build a replica of the car that is a distant relation to the Shelby Mustangs scattered around his showroom floor, a car created long before the first Mustang was even thought of, and the brainchild of Carroll Shelby back in the early ‘60s.