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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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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.

Racing Mazdas

12 June, 2026

Both Rod Millen and Ron Kendall were rotary racing kings, emanating from the North Shore of Auckland, where I grew up. And the ultimate rotary techno guru was Bill Shiells, who developed the engine into a rocket ship while working out of Gulf Mazda in Takapuna from 1969, and later in his own business, Rotorsport. He began to extract some phenomenal horsepower from the enigmatic rotary engine. Bill was one of the first to race the Mazda RX-2 Coupe in 1971 and achieved immediate success, causing others to sit up and take notice, particularly the North Shore’s racing elite. They included Robbie Francevic, Rod Millen, Ron Kendall, John Woolf, John Le Feuvre, and Rex Findlay.