Five environmentally friendly ways to use your car

13 May, 2015

In today’s increasingly environmentally conscious world, keeping an old classic car on the road is a genuinely responsible activity. You’re extending the usable life of the car — as classic car enthusiasts, we know that we can keep a good car on the road for at least a century-plus, as long as we look after it and treat it to a refurbishment every few decades or so.

By running a classic car for a long period of time — let’s say 20 years or thereabouts — we won’t be requiring as many modern cars. Remembering that over 20 years, an average motorist will ‘consume’ a car every two to three years. Even if the classic car of your choice is a thunderous, gas-guzzling, big block V8-engined muscle car, your environmental footprint will still be smaller than the bloke who whistles through up to 10 fuel-efficient modern cars over that same two-decade period.

However, there comes a time when some cars are simply way past their sell-by date; they’re too rusty, too expensive, or simply not worth the effort to restore. Such cars are inevitably scrapyard-bound, destined to end their days slowly rusting away in a landfill or, if they’re lucky, being processed and eventually recycled.

But it doesn’t have to be that way — help save the planet by adopting one of these DIY uses for that old rusty car sitting in the lean-to alongside your home garage.

1. Cook off

Of course, a car BBQ is an absolute must-have for the classic car chef. Cook up a storm for your mates and fellow car club members. Another bonus: you can hitch this one up to your classic car and take it to your next show. Chuck another prawn on the barbie, mate!

2. Flower power

You just can’t beat that old classic car back up — bunging in a few shrubs and flowers will turn any beat-up old car into a joy to behold.

3. A good night’s sleep

That’s guaranteed when you convert your favourite US cruiser into a stylish bed, especially when your bedroom’s been themed to match. Just make sure you get the nod from your partner before going ahead — otherwise you’ll be planning this one for your bachelor pad!

4. Shoot-’em-up

Tired of looking at the rusty old Mustang that you simply can’t afford to restore. Well, drag it out of your lock-up, get the gas axe out and convert it into a pool table. That’ll put the balls back into this pony car … right down one of the pockets!

5. Trailblazer

Finally, chopping off the rear end of that old Morrie cut any restoration work down by a big margin — no engine, gearbox, interior, or electric to work on. Result: a cool trailer to pull with your traveller.

Roadside relics

24 July, 2025

There’s been a proliferation of ‘barn find’ and ‘junkyard relic’ type books hitting the market, over the last 10 years or so. Writer Tom Cotter has been a major culprit with titles like Barn Find Road Trip, The Cobra in the Barn, Route 66 — Barn Find Road Trip and many others. In the same vein are: Lost Muscle Cars and a swath by Jerry Heasley, such as Jerry Heasley’s Rare Finds: Mustangs and Fords. They are almost exclusively American titles.
It got me thinking of all the road trips I’d charted around this country over 40 plus years hunting out and photographing what I thought of as roadside jewels — diamonds in the rough if you like, captured in all their glory, ensnared by time and weeds out in the back blocks. Interestingly, most of those cars have disappeared with the passage of yet more time.
Mulling on this point prompted me to go through scenes that had captivated me over 45 years on the road, an epitaph of sorts of earlier times, when these cars arrived at their final resting spot. I’d also capture those on their last legs, supposedly still operational and snapped curbside. I’ll also include a few snaps from my overseas junkets in Cuba, Buenos Aires and other locales.

Grand Routier — in the french tradition

10 July, 2025

Sitting in Paddy and Patsy Williams’ Dunedin garage is a stunning example of one of these rare French grand routier sedans. It is a 1949 four-door Lago-Record Factory Berline sedan, to give its full name. Daughter Cath let us know how proud she was of her dad, who had been tinkering away in his garage on this car for so many years.
Without exaggeration, it has been a mammoth task. I first saw this Talbot-Lago in mid 2019. The long-nosed, sweeping, curved four-door saloon, clothed in its misty green metallic paint, was quite breathtaking. There’s more than a little English influence in it, too, harking back to company owner Tony Lago’s involvement in the Clement-Talbot-Darracq era. The long front wings and bonnet, usually multi-louvred, highlighted with artful touches of chrome bling, are typical of the era, but these were indeed luxury length. Interiors provided leather-clad, armchair-style seating and ample legroom, with touches of wood and surprising details such as dainty childproof interior locks — a far cry from today’s lozenge boxes.
Paddy, a retired civil and structural engineer, knows his way around a lathe. He has a well-equipped garage-workshop to assist in any machining tasks along with his other passion for restoring classic motorcycles.