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TV3 to broadcast Silver Fern Rally 2014

23 January, 2015

The Silver Fern Rally holds a special place in New Zealand’s motoring scene — it was there as rallying began to take off in New Zealand in the late 1960s, and it has remained an integral part of New Zealand’s rallying scene ever since. In April of 1969 the Wellington Car Club organized the Shell-sponsored Silver Fern Rally — the country’s first true high-speed, special-stage rally.

In those early days, few events other than the Silver Fern Rally and Heatway International Rally were held. That would all change by the mid 1970s, with many car clubs beginning to run rally events.

The popularity of rallying in New Zealand, both at grassroots and top-tier levels, has survived through the decades and still remains strong. The last Silver Fern Rally was held last year, attracting the talents of both local and international rally drivers. Coverage from last year’s successful epay Silver Fern Rally 2014 will be broadcast at midday on Sunday, January 25, on TV3.

There is also a DVD available from Black Magic Media which runs for a further 40 minutes and contains more footage than the abridged version for television airing.

Bronze treasure unearthed

20 August, 2026

The car was put away in favour of something more practical, and when his father was unable to drive any more, Matt’s friend asked him to come and take a look at his dad’s old Holden. It turned out this was one of those phone calls that leads to that feeling of pure joy in the classic car world — the ‘barn find’ that turns out to be even better than expected. The HT Monaro had been put to bed some years before and had not seen the light of day since. Layers of dust and boxes of junk littered her undercarriage and bodywork and access points all around.

NZ Classic Car magazine, September/October 2026 issue 407, on sale now

16 August, 2026

We love bugs!
A bit of TLC that became a major restoration
The 1302S, or ‘Super Beetle’ as it became known, was built for two years before it, too, was replaced by a further-enhanced Beetle, the 1303, continuing an amazing 65-year lineage for one of the World’s best-known shapes.
The world’s best-selling single-model vehicle, the VW Beetle, possibly established another record for the amount of controversy it has created since the inception of the Type 1.
In a meeting with Hitler in June 1934, Ferdinand Porsche was contracted to build a ‘People’s Car’ that could accommodate two adults and three children, was air-cooled and simple to maintain, and could cruise economically at moderate speed along Germany’s proposed new Autobahns.
Our feature car, a 1972 1302S ‘Super Beetle’, was found by Dave and Michelle Dickie in Mosgiel a few years back. It was a runner, but like most VWs of this age, it needed a little TLC. They were looking for a daily driver for Michelle when they first came upon the VW being sold locally on behalf of its owner.
“The owner offered it to his grandchildren, and they didn’t want it, so he got the guy out at Mosgiel in the Mobil petrol station to sell it for him, and he put it on Trade Me for them. We never met the owner, and we were always dealing with the guy at the petrol station. We put a bid on it, and we were the only people that bid on it.”
Their bid was eventually successful, eight years ago. Not knowing much of the history, in situations like that, it’s always a risk buying a car, but they were in for a bit of a surprise.