The engine bay is often considered to be where the heart and soul of the car lies. Its characteristics can give a car true character, as well as give the driver goosebumps every time they turn it over. But engines come in many shapes, sizes, configurations, and layouts — how well can you tell one V8 engine from the next? Take a stab at our quick quiz below — and while you’re at it, pass it on to your mates to see who trumps who!
Motorman: When New Zealand built the Model T Ford
21 March, 2025
History has a way of surrounding us, hidden in plain sight. I was one of a group who had been working for years in an editorial office in Augustus Terrace in the Auckland city fringe suburb of Parnell who had no idea that motoring history had been made right around the corner. Our premises actually backed onto a century-old brick building in adjacent Fox Street that had seen the wonder of the age, brand-new Model T Fords, rolling out the front door seven decades earlier.
Today, the building is an award-winning two-level office building, comprehensively refurbished in 2012. Happily, 6 Fox Street honours its one time claim to motoring fame. Next door are eight upmarket loft apartments, also on the site where the Fords were completed. Elsewhere, at 89 Courtenay Place, Wellington, and Sophia Street, Timaru, semi-knocked-down Model Ts were also being put together, completing a motor vehicle that would later become known as the Car of the Century.
