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.

Motorman – The saga of the Temple Buell Maseratis

Swiss-born Hans Tanner and American Temple Buell were apparently among the many overseas visitors who arrived in New Zealand for the Ardmore Grand Prix and Lady Wigram trophy in January 1959. Unlike Stirling Moss, Jack Brabham, Ron Flockhart, Harry Schell and Carroll Shelby who lined up for the sixth New Zealand Grand Prix that year, Tanner and Buell were not racing drivers but they were key players in international motor sport.
Neither the rotund and cheery Buell nor the multi-faceted Tanner were keen on being photographed and the word ‘apparently’ is used in the absence of hard evidence that Buell actually arrived in this country 64 years ago.

Luxury by design

How do you define luxury? To some it is being blinded with all manner of technological wizardry, from massaging heated seats to being able to activate everything with your voice, be it the driver’s side window or the next track on Spotify. To others, the most exorbitant price tag will dictate how luxurious a car is.
For me, true automotive luxury comes from being transported in unparalleled comfort, refinement, and smoothness of power under complete control. Forget millions of technological toys; if one can be transported here and there without the sensation of moving at all, that is luxury — something that is perfectly encapsulated by the original Lexus LS400. It was the first truly global luxury car from Toyota, and one that made the big luxury brands take notice.