Check out the beautiful and rare in New Zealand Classic Car

7 April, 2015

The April issue of New Zealand Classic Car (Issue No. 292) is now on sale. 

This Ellerslie Intermarque Concours d’Elegance special edition is crammed full of desirable award-winning classics. 

Cars don’t come more iconic than the fabled 300SL ‘Gullwing’ — winner of the coveted Masters Class award. It is one of only 29 aluminium-bodied examples ever built by Mercedes-Benz.

For lovers of all things British, we take an in-depth look at a stunning brace of rare, beautifully restored Aston Martin DB2/4s, that wowed the crowd at Ellerslie.

We also talk to the owners of the amazing time capsules that appeared in this year’s Survivors Class competition, leading off with a beautifully original Wolseley 1300, and we get up close and personal with McLaren’s new hypercar — the incredible P1. 

In addition, there’s ten pages full of news from around the country — be sure to take advantage of this issue’s subscription offers to be immersed in all things classic car from now on.

The Great River Road

A few years ago my family, knowing my fondness for driving, gave me the book Unforgettable Road Trips: Thirty-Six Drives of a Lifetime by Martin Derrick. Most of the road trips listed take less than a day in places like Scotland, Monaco, and Australia, plus one in New Zealand. Most of these places were too far to go just for a short drive but four of them would take several days. My interest was piqued, and those four drives were added to the bucket list. To date, I have done three of them: ‘Route 66’ (USA 21 days), ‘State Highway 6’ (NZ 10 days) and ‘The Great River Road’ (USA 22 days). You can drive all of them in less time, but you could also fly over them. We wanted a decent immersion in their charms.
The great river referred to is the Mississippi. While the name conjures the deep south, the river actually starts at the bottom of the great lakes, before emptying into the Gulf of Mexico about 3800km later. The great road is more of a concept than a specific strip of tarmac, as you can drive down either side of the river on various routes. Regardless of which side you drive, time should be kept aside for detours to places such as Nashville, which is famous for something or other.

A diamond in the rough

Two years ago, Lew finished a thorough restoration and the impressive ute has taken on a new life and colour. Lew plays down the amount of effort required but, despite his protestations, I suspect he put a lot of time into the project. A few unwanted tenants were evicted along the way.
“It didn’t take me long. There had been mice living in the firewall, which had caused a bit of damage. It apparently broke down and was pushed into a shed. It was 20 years to the day when I pulled it out and it sat in my other shed for 3 years before I started on it. That’s why it’s in such good order — it’s been kept in a shed for so long and still is.”