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MG make their mark on the road and the track

17 August, 2015

It’s not every day that a customer’s new car is handed over by a racing driver, but for lifeguard Ryan Sykes that’s how he received his brand-new MG3 when British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) star Jack Goff handed over the keys to the enthusiastic teenager, fresh from his maiden BTCC victory in Snetterton. 

Ryan is the son of the owner of Norfolk-based company 5 Star Cases, one of Jack’s sponsors, and from the start of the partnership between MG and Jack, Ryan has been hoping to own an MG of his very own.

“My dad started working with Jack in 2013, but it wasn’t until Jack started racing for MG Triple Eight that I started looking at MGs and saw what they had to offer,” says Ryan. “I thought the MG3 was great, so when my old car packed up I knew I wanted one. I got the chance to personalize my car and make it how I wanted it to look, which was pretty cool. I’m glad I did though, because my sister wants one now!”

The MG3, alongside the MG6, is designed and engineered at the MG site in Longbridge, Birmingham, where final assembly also takes place. The MG3 is a new-generation supermini, which brings fun and style to this sector of the market at very affordable prices. The 1.5-litre petrol-powered car can also be personalized, so owners have the option of giving their car their own style statement.

MG was voted the fourth-best manufacturer in the UK in the Auto Express Driver Power Awards in 2015, and they’re the fastest-growing brand in Britain in 2014 as shown by official figures issued by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.

No sign, as yet, of an official MG distributor in New Zealand.

Picking over the past – 1940 Ford V8 ½-Ton Pickup

12 February, 2026

Jim and Daphne Ledgerwood have been around Fords most of their lives. They love their Ford coupés and two door hardtops, while also making room for an occasional Chevrolet. Their Wanaka based ‘Originals’ collection, featured in New Zealand Classic Car’s July 2022 issue is headed by an outstanding time-warp black 1940 Ford Coupé, its original factory assembly markings and documents offering something of a nostalgia trip.
Jim’s early days in hotrodding in Dunedin were spent building up a number of early Ford pickups and he became a prolific builder of modified pickups.
“I had lots of early Ford V8s in those days and once I had finished them I often sold them on. I would run out of garage space. I had up to a dozen restored Fords at most times then.”

Motorman – The saga of the Temple Buell Maseratis

30 January, 2026

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.