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Roadster wars: the Fiat 124 Spider returns

19 November, 2015

Almost 50 years since the original was introduced, an Italian-classic favourite makes a welcome return — albeit in thoroughly modern form. Yes, the Fiat 124 Spider is back! 
Designed at Centro Stile in Turin, Italy, the new 124 Spider takes its inspiration from the 1966 original — including the distinctive twin bonnet ‘power-domes’ from the second-generation Spider – but, under the skin, you’ll find Fiat’s 1.4-litre MultiAir turbo engine. With 104kW being fed to the rear wheels via a quick-shifting six-speed manual transmission, the new car should be able to match the sheer on-road brio of the classic 124 Spider.

Inside, the new 124 Spider’s cockpit is a pleasing mix of classic ingredients and modern materials and ergonomics — not to mention the fact that it’s packed with bags of Italian style!
It has a lightweight body structure, which is achieved through the use of aluminium and high-tensile steel, and a strong backbone frame comprised of robust, straight beams, underpins the overall structure, while a front subframe and rear cross members connect the backbone to the front and rear sections to provide a structure that is light, safe, and extremely rigid. Allied to that, the new Spider’s suspension — a double-wishbone front and multi-link rear arrangement — has us expecting that the new Fiat will provide excellent handling.

Fiat New Zealand are hoping that the all-new Fiat 124 Spider will make its local debut in late 2016 — and we can’t wait to get our hands on one for a test drive.

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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.