Taking a mini break at Whangamata’s Brits at the Beach

15 October, 2015

The mini break that is Classic Cover Insurance Brits at the Beach festival — held at Whangamata over October 9–11, 2015 — is always much more than just a car show, even if that is the main reason behind why classic car people enjoy it so much. It is also the first real event of the spring reminding us summer is not long away.

With 125 cars revving up for early registration, the organizers knew that the sixth running of the event was going to be something special.

The festival kicked off with the Great British Quiz on Thursday night, and then Friday, Saturday, and Sunday were all about the cars and Britishness.

Friday morning saw the cars heading off to historic Grahamstown in Thames. The road was closed for the festival, and around 150 cars packed the street with the crowds turning out to see the incredible line-up on display.

Each mini event in the festival had its own prize-giving, and the Grahamstown-gathering winner was Colin Fabish’s 1939 Morris 8 Series E. After this excursion the cars headed back to Whangamata, where the official registration was open and entries soon passed the 400 mark.

The afternoon saw a ‘Port Road Park Up’, giving the folk of Whangamata their first close-up look at these magnificent machines. The winner of this section was an immaculate 1964 Austin Healey 3000.

That night, the big musical event was the Gee Bees, New Zealand’s top Bee Gees tribute band, and Col McCabe, the Brits at the Beach organizer, said he’d never heard a crowd having such raucous fun! There was foot stomping, table thumping, and singing along to all the Bee Gees greatest hits.

Saturday was the biggest day of the event, where, once again, entries climbed, hitting a total of 476, all of which took part in the Classic Cover Great British Parade of Motoring. The queue of cars filled the 7.2km route, and cars returning from the parade were passing those still to start!

When the cars arrived back at Williamson Park, it was time for the Sunlive Village Fete. This is what makes the Brits at the Beach Festival unique. Four hours of fun and silliness, including the crowd favourites, Gurning (the ancient art of face-pulling), the Scruffs Dog Show, and the brilliant British Costume competition — this year won by the well-known driving sensation, The Stig. It was a great crowd turnout, and McCabe mentioned that that should mean a record collection made for the Whangamata Gymnastics Club, this year’s local junior sports club, of which the proceeds from the fete were donated to.

The final act at the Village Fete was to present the Best Car of Show, which this year was quite rightly won by Nigel Hayman with his gorgeous racing-red 1970 Lotus Elan (Plus 2).

As the Fete wound down, the cars started heading north for the Tairua Day Tripper, where entrants lined the stunning Pepe Reserve. The winner of this car gathering was a very special 1939 MG — the only of its type in New Zealand, and one of only 15 in the world. Even Larry Barnett from Classic Cover Insurance — as a major car enthusiast of 40 years — was blown away to see one.

In Tairua music from a variety of artists was enjoyed, including music from the festival’s own Vera Lynn, singing those nostalgic hits from the war years.

Later, on Saturday night, the big show of the weekend was Into The Pink, the Pink Floyd tribute act, who played to a packed house and were very well received.

When the sun rose for the fourth day of the event, the cars went off on their ‘Sunday Drive’ to the delightful Pauanui Shopping Centre. The team at Pauanui had decorated the centre and closed off the parking area, making for a fantastic spectacle for the locals and visitors alike. Alan Stanley’s Jowett Jupiter was chosen as the winning car of the Sunday Drive.

If anyone has photos they want to share, McCabe would love you to post them to the Brits at the Beach Facebook page. He says he hopes to see you all back next year between September 29 and October 2.

Check out the winners below:

Brits Best Car — 1970 Lotus Elan Plus 2; Nigel Hayman

Best Car Grahamstown — 1939 Morris 8 Series E

Best Car Port Road Park Up — 1963 Austin Healey 3000

Best Car Pauanui Sunday Drive — 1951 Jowett Jupiter

Make sure you check out our massive event gallery below:

Images: Stretch-Storer Photography

NZ Classic Car magazine, July/August 2026 issue 406, on sale now

21 June, 2026

Rebirth of a brilliant Grand Tourer –1973 Datsun 240Z
How often do we long for that ultimate dream sports car, and that dream comes true? This is about one of the most influential Japanese cars of all time, a car that changed the sports car market.
This is about much more than the restoration of an iconic classic sports car, the 240Z. It’s about the culmination of a dream over many years and the friendships made. It’s about the people who helped and the professionals whose approach ensured that the dream became a reality, an attitude typical of the industry we call ‘classic restoration experts’.
It is no surprise that the outcome after a lengthy search by Conrad Van der Geest for the right Datsun 240Z culminated in a trophy for the best Japanese car at this year’s Caroline Bay Beach, Rock N’ Hop at Timaru.
Originally a roadworthy car in running order, it was left-hand-drive and had been driven for several years by its Timaru owner, as Conrad explains.
“A neighbour, Dave Barron, knew I was looking for one and introduced me to the owner. I had seen the car being driven around Timaru. It was unusual for one of these coming originally from California, so it was a really clean car instead of rusty, as they are prone to rust. The story goes that the grandfather passed it onto his grandson, who decided to sell it, and that’s when it came over here.”
Every issue comes with our FREE huge wall poster; this issue, it’s our cover car for this edition, a 1973 Datsun 240Z

The butterfly effect

18 June, 2026

The man on the mountain bike pedalled over, taking it all in. Gazing in wonderment at this small Japanese coupe with butterfly doors, he said, “Wow, I have never seen one of these before. What is it?” When I told him it was a Toyota, he nearly fell off his bike.
The Toyota Sera is unique amongst ’90s Japanese coupes. The Sera, which is Italian for ‘evening’, can trace its roots back to Toyota’s AXV-II concept car. Launched as part of a trio of Toyota concept cars at the 1987 Tokyo Motor Show, it shared its underpinnings with the P70 Toyota Starlet. The similarities ended there, thanks to the AXV-II’s low-slung and rounded coupe styling with butterfly doors. These doors were held upright by gas struts when fully open. Glass covered the upper section of the doors and the rear hatchback.
These features, much to everyone’s surprise, were carried over to the production Sera in 1990. Toyota marketed the Sera, which means ‘will be’ in Spanish and ‘princess’ in Hebrew, as a funky alternative to the much-loved MR2.

Taking a mini break at Whangamata’s Brits at the Beach

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