Quirky and classic cars cruise for charity

31 January, 2015

A convoy of classic cars and quirky vehicles will wind its way around the North Island from March 6–14, 2015, as part of the 25th Trillian Variety Bash, a rally to raise funds for Kiwi kids via Variety — the Children’s Charity.

The Bash has raised nearly $8 million since its inception, which has gone towards helping kids who are going through a rough time look forward to a brighter future. The event will see teams, accompanied by a swathe of local celebrities, travel from the Taranaki to Ohakea via Wanganui, and on to Waiouru, before heading South towards Wellington, with a pause at Parliament. From there, the convoy will travel to Napier, Taupo, Rotorua, Tauranga, and then head into Auckland via Cambridge. The procession begins on March 6 in New Plymouth, winding up in Auckland on March 14, for a grand celebration at MOTAT.

Silverdale’s Kaeleb Dovey tries out the Liberty Swing which Bashers donated to his Silverdale School

Each participating team pledges thousands of dollars of fundraising to the cause, as well as collecting along the way, and every ‘Basher’ (as they’re known) believes in the charity’s core values — helping New Zealand children, whether it’s via a specialized laptop for a blind, deaf, or autistic child, sports kit for the financially disadvantaged, or books and equipment for rural schools.

Merry Christmas from NZ Classic Car magazine

The Classic Car magazine team is taking a few weeks’ holiday from the work computer and heading to the beach for some kickback time.
Merry Christmas, and have a wonderful summer holiday to all our readers, followers, and fans. Enjoy this special extra time with the family. We will be posting archive articles again in mid to late January.
Have fun, be good and be careful out there.

Two engines instead of one?

Popping two motors into a car is not only complicated, it doesn’t always end well. Donn Anderson recalls early attempts, including John Cooper’s ill-fated original Twini Mini built 58 years ago

For a boost in performance, better traction, and perhaps improved handling to some, two motors seems an obvious solution. It would also eliminate the need to develop a larger engine replacement from scratch, but would that outweigh the not inconsiderable technical difficulties?
The idea of using a pair of engines dates back at least 86 years to the Alfa Romeo Bimotor single seater racing car that was officially timed at 335km/h, or 208mph. Taking a lengthened Alfa P3 chassis, the Italians fitted two supercharged straight eight 2.9-litre and 3.2-litre engines, one in front of the cockpit, and the other behind the cockpit.