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Club Corner: Rolls-Royce and Bentley Club of New Zealand

10 February, 2016

 


The Rolls-Royce and Bentley Club of New Zealand (NZRRBC) exists to enable those people who enjoy these wonderful cars to get together from time to time. Club members help each other with information about the cars and their upkeep, and sources of reliable servicing, but mostly they just have fun. Club members meet for summer picnics, for Sunday lunches in the winter, and weekends away to interesting places. There are several opportunities during the year to join in longer touring rallies organized by this club, or others which invite the NZRRBC to join them.

You do not have to have a Rolls-Royce or a Bentley to join the club, but it is a good idea to join if you fancy buying one, so that the experience of the members can help you to buy a suitable car, as its history and ownership will probably be known to them, and a wise purchase can be made. The club maintains a technical library, and has a technical officer to assist with requests from club members.

The club is enjoyed by families and is not only the province of the male of the species, in fact the present chairman of the Northern division is a keen motoring lady who, along with her partner, has driven their 1930 Rolls-Royce from Auckland on car rallies to the bottom of the South Island on two occasions, and also their 1952 Bentley Mark VI during the five-yearly International Vintage Car Rally of New Zealand which last time was based in Wanganui for two weeks.

At present the club numbers around 200 members with mostly, but not exclusively, older or period cars — although vehicles owned by the members range from 1920s to the present day, with the great majority from 1940s to 1990s. The website gives the information needed to join the club, which has three regions to cover all New Zealand — Northern, Central and the Southern regions, with bases in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. Many events are held in areas outside these main centres, so that all members can join in at some stage. For example the National AGM for 2016 will be held over ANZAC weekend in Napier, while the 2103 AGM was held at the Chateau Tongariro. 

If you are interested to come and join one of the club’s outings, you would find a friendly group that would love to see you.

Join the club

nzrrbc.co.nz

This article was originally published in New Zealand Classic Car Issue No. 297. You can pick up a print copy or a digital copy of the magazine below:




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Polishing to perfection

26 February, 2026

The secret to a show-stopping finish is colour sanding, no matter which paint system you use. Even a good painter, no matter how experienced or talented — like my mate Bruce Haye, CEO at Ace Panel and Paint in Whitianga — can’t shoot to a perfect mirror finish. To get that level of perfection, you need to colour sand.
It used to be called ‘rubbing out’ or ‘cutting’, and it was done with pastes that came in cans. They worked — sort of — but the compounds really just rounded off imperfections instead of eliminating them, and they removed a lot of paint in the process. But now your new finish can be made flawless, thanks to microfine sandpapers that come in 1000, 1500, 2000, and even 2500 grit ranges, and Farecla G3 polish — available from automotive paint suppliers.

NZ Classic Car magazine, March/April 2026 issue 404, on sale now

22 February, 2026

BMW’s flagship techno showcase
The supermodel 1995 BMW 840Ci is simply elegant and perfectly engineered.
BMW’s 840 Ci flagship Coupe provides superb comfort and equipment packaged in a stylish body, with grand-touring performance and surprisingly competent handling for its size.
It’s the kind of machine that stands apart from the start. When BMW first unveiled its flagship Grand Tourer at the 1989 Frankfurt Motor Show, the automotive world blinked twice. Sleek, low, and impossibly modern for its era, it combined drama with a sort of purposeful understatement. This silhouette still looks striking today, long after its peers have faded into obscurity.
Initially offered with a range of engines, the model you’re reading about is the V8 iteration, featuring a 4.0-litre eight-cylinder heart under its long bonnet and a smooth five-speed automatic at the back. It wasn’t about blistering sprint times so much as effortless velocity. There was power on tap, sure, but the way it delivered thrust felt unhurried and measured – the automotive equivalent of a deep exhale on a long drive.
Poster 1964 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray, C2