Sundays just got better with NAC Car Culture!

27 August, 2015

Looking to extend your motoring fix beyond the glossy pages of New Zealand’s leading motoring magazines, and the on-the-run convenience of The Motorhood? Well from this October, you can, with the debut of our new motoring-magazine television show NAC Car Culture on TV3! Set to premiere on Sunday, October 18 at 2pm, the show pools the minds, the knowledge, and the passion of the people who make up Parkside Media’s three big motoring magazine titles: New Zealand Classic Car, NZV8, and NZ Performance Car.

Despite being such a small, isolated nation, New Zealand has always had an incredible affinity with the automobile. We produce some of the best replicas and restorations, some of the wildest and most inventive car builds, and a large chunk of the best race drivers on the planet. NAC Car Culture promises to travel up and down this fair country of ours to investigate why, and expose the machines, the men, and women who make it all happen. We’ll tour private garages and expose the marvels that they conceal, we’ll take a look at grass-roots motorsport and motoring events, and we’ll shine a light on some of the nation’s greatest builds — big and small. Can you tell that we’re a little excited?

Extending our excitement is the knowledge that the equally passionate Cal Thorley will be directing the show. You might recognize the name from his previous work while at the helm of NZV8’s 2014–’15 Beach Hop coverage, as well as his fellow car publications; The Red Shift and Hot Rod Revue. For the low-down on Cal, check out our in-depth interview with the man behind the camera.

We were also delighted to recruit NAC Insurance as our partners in this journey. They’ve been a loyal supporter of the New Zealand motoring community for more than 18 years, and were thrilled to come on board to help bring the project to life. The series is a good fit for NAC’s involvement in supporting initiatives that grow and develop the scene — as well as providing something great to watch on a Sunday afternoon!

Keep an eye on The Motorhood, where we’ll be posting more details closer to the broadcast date. You will not want to miss it!

Put a ring around that

Provenance is a valuable part of a classic car and DKW/Auto Union collectors Brendan and Bobbette Odell have a detailed documented history of a special car in their growing collection of these little two-stroke wonders.
Brendan’s hometown of Pretoria enjoyed more than its fair share of the marque, where their reliability and performance made them popular..
“There used to be a joke going round in South Africa that there were more DKWs in Pretoria per square mile than anywhere else in the world,” Says Brendan.
The Odells redressed that balance a little when they shifted to New Zealand as they brought some of the cars with them.
One of their DKWs also accompanied them to Tonga. Brendan’s green 1959 Auto Union 1000 two-door went with them from South Africa to Tonga from 2010 to 2013 where he worked for the local airline. It then travelled on with them to New Zealand. It is one of just 10 right-hand drive cars of the two-door basic model remaining worldwide.

Stag roars again

The Triumph Stag pictured here has been lovingly restored from what was once, in the owner’s words, “a horrible, terrible job”. Owners Glynn and Alison Gaston hail from Dunedin and along with their grandchildren now enjoy cruising in the Stag after a three-and-a-half-year restoration.
In 2011, Glynn was looking for a classic car to restore. After 21 years with Air New Zealand he was working as a Super Shuttle driver, with four days on and four days off, which gave him the time to take on such a project — something he had always wanted to do.
“I’d looked at quite a few cars over the years. The idea was to restore a car as something to keep me going. I had looked at different MGs and I would have quite liked an Austin Healey or something similar but they were really expensive.
“Then I saw a Stag and I thought, Ah, this is nice. This is what I would like.