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Contesting Bonneville Speed Week in a Mini

17 November, 2016

Kiwis and the salt flats in Utah, USA have a love affair that stretches back to the 1960s with Burt Munroe and his 1920 Indian. Ever since, hot rodders have travelled to the salt flats to battle the extreme elements and push their home-made machines far beyond what any manufacturer ever thought possible. It’s one of those bucket-list challenges that many dream of and few Kiwis actually achieve. 

In NZ Performance Car Issue No. 241 we sit down with the guys behind the Mini known as project 64; a group of Kiwis who have made their dream a reality not once, but twice. In 2016 they set two records, one of which was a reset of a record that they had previously claimed back in 2012. Built by a bunch of mad Kiwis based in Nelson, and with help from the Hartleys in the Manawatu, this little Mini Cooper has received worldwide press for its achievements, including a feature on Jay Leno’s Garage. Check it out here: 

The engine remains the factory 970cc capacity, but surprisingly makes 275kW on methanol, thanks to a BMW K1200GT twin-cam motorcycle head conversion and custom engine internals. The best speed Nelson has squeezed from it is 251.067kph. Grab your copy of NZ Performance Car Issue No. 241 to see what it’s like to run Speed Week, building motors on the salt, shaving your tyres, and pushing both man and machine, just like Burt did back in the ’60s. 

Take an on-board ride with Nelson during their 2012 salt adventures. 

NZ Performance Car Issue No. 241 will be in stores from Monday, November 20, but you can order your print copy now:




Grab a print copy of the mag now!

Chrysler’s classy cruiser

22 May, 2026

I first saw our feature car, a 1970 V8-powered Regal 770 hardtop, towing a trailer carrying the tidy Ford Anglia classic racing saloon in Broadspeed racing colours that has featured in these pages. The coupe is comparatively rare here, which means anyone contemplating purchasing one of these big two-doors is sure to see prices continue to climb. The latter Charger has claimed much of the Aussie Chrysler limelight, but the simpler and classier lines of this car, which appeared dated soon after its introduction, now have a more timeless appeal.
Former owner, Balclutha motor engineer, Mike Verdoner, remembers the car well. He believes it came from Dunedin originally.
“I’m not sure about the car’s history, but I bought it off its owner at Kaitangata. Unusually, it was advertised in the local newspaper, the Clutha Leader, which was a surprise as these usually go for a lot more money on the internet. I had it for quite a few years. It needed a little bit of work to tidy it up, so I had to decide whether to spend the money on it to do it up, which could have been twenty grand. Its value at the time was not like it is now, so I sold it to Ewan. It’s probably now worth three or four times what I sold it for.”

The Pininfarina 230 SL

14 May, 2026

It’s October 1964, and imagine you’re an automotive journalist covering that year’s Paris Auto Show (Mondial de l’Automobile). As you approach the Pininfarina booth, you come across a car that looks a bit like the Mercedes-Benz 230 SL introduced the previous year at the Geneva Auto Show, a car then arriving at Mercedes-Benz dealerships around the world.
But looking closely, its styling and proportions seem to be a bit different. And it has a fixed roof, unlike the Pagoda-style greenhouse of the removable hardtop seen on the production 230 SL. While today, the styling of the W113, under the supervision of Head of Styling Friedrich Geiger, with lead designers Paul Bracq and Bela Barenyi, is considered a mid-century modern masterpiece, acceptance in-period was not universal. Some critics called out the concave design of its removable roof, which ultimately gave the car its “Pagoda” nickname.