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Stunt driver takes out Guinness World Record for the world’s tightest parrallel park

14 January, 2015

Sick of giving up those convenient parking spots because you don’t know whether your car will fit? Well, Fiat may just have the answer, and it comes in the form of their 500 model

We’re not going to talk about reversing cameras or that automated parallel parking rubbish, though — globally recognized stunt driver Alastair Moffatt has claimed the Guinness World Record for the world’s tightest parallel park, behind the wheel of a Fiat 500C.

Alastair was able to slide the Fiat between two parked cars, into a gap only 7.5cm longer than the car. This was done with a completely standard car, with only the ESC disabled to allow the car to be controlled with the handbrake, and higher tyre pressures. Alastair also utilized a steering knob to help with the rapid wheel work required.

You might not be willing to engage in such antics, but may at least rest assured that if you find yourself behind the wheel of a 500, you should have no problem squeezing the tiny vehicle into those pesky probably-too-small parking spots.

Check out the video of Alastair Moffat actually parking the Fiat below:

Almost mythical pony

25 July, 2024

The Shelby came to our shores in 2003. It went from the original New Zealand owner to an owner in Auckland. Malcolm just happened to be in the right place with the right amount of money in 2018 and a deal was done. Since then, plenty of people have tried to buy it off him. The odometer reads 92,300 miles. From the condition of the car that seems to be correct and only the first time around.
Malcolm’s car is an automatic. It has the 1966 dashboard, the back seat, the rear quarter windows and the scoops funnelling air to the rear brakes.
He even has the original bill of sale from October 1965 in California.

Becoming fond of Fords part two – happy times with Escorts

17 July, 2024

In part one of this Ford-flavoured trip down memory lane I recalled a sad and instructive episode when I learned my shortcomings as a car tuner, something that tainted my appreciation of Mk2 Ford Escort vans in particular. Prior to that I had a couple of other Ford entanglements of slightly more redeeming merit. There were two Mk1 Escorts I had got my hands on: a 1972 1300 XL belonging to my father and a later, end-of-line, English-assembled 1974 1100, which my partner and I bought from Panmure Motors Ford in Auckland in 1980. Both those cars were the high water mark of my relationship with the Ford Motor Co. I liked the Mk1 Escorts. They were nice, nippy, small cars, particularly the 1300, which handled really well, and had a very precise gearbox for the time.
Images of Jim Richards in the Carney Racing Williment-built Twin Cam Escort and Paul Fahey in the Alan Mann–built Escort FVA often loomed in my imagination when I was driving these Mk1 Escorts — not that I was under any illusion of comparable driving skills, but they had to be having just as much fun as I was steering the basic versions of these projectiles.