SUBSCRIBE TO THE
MAGAZINE NOW
Facebook-f Instagram

Rare 1934 Duesenberg Model J to grace the Hawke’s Bay

19 January, 2015

An opportunity to see the southern hemisphere’s only 1934 Duesenberg Model J in real life doesn’t come around very often, but the HB Vintage Car Club (HBVCC) have ensured you’ll get this chance.

They’ve invited the vehicle to make a special guest appearance at Tremains Art Deco Weekend in Napier throughout February 20–28. Conveniently, if you’re not already in Napier and make the trip down for the event, you can check out the iconic Municipal Theatre as the car will be on display in its Pan Pac Foyer on Friday, February 20 from 3–9pm.

Originally owned by Hollywood actress Carole Lombard, who acted in such films as Vigil in the Night and My Man Godfrey, the Duesenberg Model J has gone through many famous Hollywood hands, including being owned by Greta Garbo, Delores Del Rio, and William Hirsch, before it found its way to New Zealand in 2011 and underwent a full restoration by local Wanaka craftsmen.

The Tremains Napier Art Deco parade will feature around 250 pre-1945 cars in commemoration of the anniversaries being celebrated in 2015 — it is the 100th anniversary of Gallipoli, and 75 years since the Battle of Britain. The parade will include in excess of 20 Auburn, Cord, and Duesenberg automobiles.

Steve Trott, the organizer of the ACD (Auburn, Cord, Duesenberg) Rally, said everyone was looking forward to the Art Deco and HBVCC annual events as usual, but many were particularly excited to see the 1934 Model J Duesenberg up close for the first time.

“It’s great that we have the 1934 Duesenberg as the feature car at this year’s event. It’s a really special car and looks fantastic. People will be in awe of how stunning it is.”

Design accord

28 March, 2025

You can’t get much more of an art deco car than a Cord — so much so that new owners, Paul McCarthy and his wife, Sarah Selwood, went ahead and took their Beverly 812 to Napier’s Art Deco Festival this year, even though the festival itself had been cancelled.
“We took delivery of the vehicle 12 days before heading off to Napier. We still drove it all around at the festival,” says Paul.
The utterly distinctive chrome grille wrapping around the Cord’s famous coffin-shaped nose, and the pure, clean lines of the front wing wheel arches, thanks to its retractable headlamps, are the essence of deco. This model, the Beverly, has the finishing touch of the bustle boot that is missing from the Westchester saloon.

Motorman: When New Zealand built the Model T Ford

21 March, 2025

History has a way of surrounding us, hidden in plain sight. I was one of a group who had been working for years in an editorial office in Augustus Terrace in the Auckland city fringe suburb of Parnell who had no idea that motoring history had been made right around the corner. Our premises actually backed onto a century-old brick building in adjacent Fox Street that had seen the wonder of the age, brand-new Model T Fords, rolling out the front door seven decades earlier.
Today, the building is an award-winning two-level office building, comprehensively refurbished in 2012. Happily, 6 Fox Street honours its one time claim to motoring fame. Next door are eight upmarket loft apartments, also on the site where the Fords were completed. Elsewhere, at 89 Courtenay Place, Wellington, and Sophia Street, Timaru, semi-knocked-down Model Ts were also being put together, completing a motor vehicle that would later become known as the Car of the Century.