SUBSCRIBE TO THE
MAGAZINE NOW
Facebook-f Instagram

Bambina with a sting, plus more in the latest New Zealand Classic Car

10 December, 2015

The December issue of New Zealand Classic Car is now for sale. From the cutest Italian to classic ’50s American styling, plus British luxury at its best, there’s plenty of good reading for everyone. 

Our very cute Fiat Bambina has been given somewhat of a sting in its tail with an engine upgrade in line with Abarth’s go-faster specials. Check out the full restoration.  

Nothing screams ’50s American classic more than than mid-’50s Chevrolet, and nothing could be hotter than our featured 1956 Chevrolet 210 Sport coupe owned by retired drag racer Jim Crain Snr. 

The Jaguar MkVII was a total game changer for Jaguar, and played a major part in the marque’s post-war resurgence. Read all about this large, luxurious Jaguar, which, despite its size, proved to be a worthy race and rally car. 

Check out the Targa New Zealand 2015 full summary and results, as well as a preview of the upcoming Porsche Festival at Hampton Downs in January 2016. 

There’s also our usual Nationwide News section, Behind the Garage Door, as well as Motorman, Motorsport Flashback, plus much more. Pick up a copy at your local supermarket or bookshop, or buy a print copy below:




Buy a print copy of the magazine for NZ$10


Buy a digital copy of the magazine for NZ$6.99

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.

Lancia Stratos – building a winner

12 March, 2025

On his own, and later with his wife Suzie, Craig Tickle has built and raced many rally cars. Starting in 1988, Craig went half shares in a Mk1 Escort and took it rallying. Apart from a few years in the US studying how to be a nuclear engineer, he has always had a rally car in the garage. When he is not playing with cars, he works as an engineer for his design consulting company.
Naturally, anybody interested in rallying has heard of the Lancia Stratos, the poster child and winner of the World Rally circuit in 1974, ’75, and ’76. Just as the Lamborghini Countach rebranded the world of supercars, so, too, did the Lancia Stratos when it came to getting down and dirty in the rally world.