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Valentine’s Day beauty, plus much more in the latest New Zealand Classic Car magazine

10 February, 2016

The February issue of New Zealand Classic Car is now on sale. From classic American to stylish European, and the latest in British, there’s plenty of good reading for everyone.

Matching all the glitz and glamour of the Ellerslie Intermarque Concours and Classic Car Show, our featured Valentine’s Day–special 1958 Chevrolet Impala Sport Coupe is indeed a real heartbreaker.

An author and retired barrister, the owner of our featured Karmann Ghia is well qualified to write about the restoration qualities of his stylish German coupé — so we asked him to tell his own tale.

Jaguar takes on the Germans at their own game with the all-new XE. We get behind the wheel of the Sport version for a day and find out if this new model really is capable of putting the cat amongst the pigeons.

We count down to the Ellerslie Intermarque Concours and Classic Car Show, and there’s also our usual Nationwide News section, Behind the Garage Door, as well as Motor Man, Motorsport Flashback, plus much more.

Pick up a copy at your local supermarket, bookshop, or petrol station, or buy a print copy or digital copy below:   




Buy a print copy of the magazine for NZ$10


Buy a digital copy of the magazine for NZ$6.99

The Great River Road

4 July, 2025

A few years ago my family, knowing my fondness for driving, gave me the book Unforgettable Road Trips: Thirty-Six Drives of a Lifetime by Martin Derrick. Most of the road trips listed take less than a day in places like Scotland, Monaco, and Australia, plus one in New Zealand. Most of these places were too far to go just for a short drive but four of them would take several days. My interest was piqued, and those four drives were added to the bucket list. To date, I have done three of them: ‘Route 66’ (USA 21 days), ‘State Highway 6’ (NZ 10 days) and ‘The Great River Road’ (USA 22 days). You can drive all of them in less time, but you could also fly over them. We wanted a decent immersion in their charms.
The great river referred to is the Mississippi. While the name conjures the deep south, the river actually starts at the bottom of the great lakes, before emptying into the Gulf of Mexico about 3800km later. The great road is more of a concept than a specific strip of tarmac, as you can drive down either side of the river on various routes. Regardless of which side you drive, time should be kept aside for detours to places such as Nashville, which is famous for something or other.

A diamond in the rough

24 June, 2025

Two years ago, Lew finished a thorough restoration and the impressive ute has taken on a new life and colour. Lew plays down the amount of effort required but, despite his protestations, I suspect he put a lot of time into the project. A few unwanted tenants were evicted along the way.
“It didn’t take me long. There had been mice living in the firewall, which had caused a bit of damage. It apparently broke down and was pushed into a shed. It was 20 years to the day when I pulled it out and it sat in my other shed for 3 years before I started on it. That’s why it’s in such good order — it’s been kept in a shed for so long and still is.”