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Club Corner: Canterbury Mustang Owners Club

20 March, 2016

 



Formed by a 30-strong group of Mustang owners in 1981, the Canterbury Mustang Owners Club today has more than 200 members, all sharing the same enthusiastic and friendly spirit that dates back to the earliest days of our club. This spirit is reflected in the quarterly club magazine — Burble — which has been acclaimed by members, as well as other Mustang and marque clubs, as one of the best club magazines around. Burble is a glossy, professional A4 magazine mailed personally to each member, and also available online at the club’s website. 
Whilst much of the club’s membership is based in and around Christchurch, it is boosted by a growing and active representation from the wider South Island, especially Nelson Marlborough, West Coast, South Canterbury, and Otago.

Club activities comprise traditional ‘pony runs’ plus a variety of other social occasions, usually on a four to six week basis. Regular major events include the Christmas family lunch and annual awards, the Mainland Muster, at which they get together with the Southern Club for fun and friendship, with nearly 50 Mustangs in Omarama and Wanaka this year. The club also takes up the role as organizer of the All Ford Day in Canterbury every February. All these events are organized by a great, energetic committee team.

On top of this, club participation is encouraged in a number of major South Island events — including the Kaikoura Hop, the Buller Ford All Ford Day, the annual car shows in Cromwell and Nelson, and USA Day events in Canterbury, Dunedin, and Timaru.

Last year’s national Mustang convention, celebrating Mustang’s 50th anniversary, was a substantial and successful challenge for the club — a superb showcase of 225 Mustangs, and a fast-paced weekend celebration befitting 50 years of this iconic US classic. The club even managed to encourage Ford Motor Company to use the event as a special preview for the new 2015 model, and it obliged by flying a pre-production Mustang to New Zealand just for the occasion. A track day at Ruapuna — as many laps as you wanted — and a closed road run on a local Targa NZ stage capped off a great time for all. Visitors who had also attended top-line Mustang events in the US and Australia rated the Christchurch convention as the best they had seen!

The year ahead represents an exciting time for the Canterbury Mustang Owners Club — and, indeed, the six other Mustang clubs around New Zealand. As such, they expect to see strong interest and membership growth from the impending influx of new, RHD Mustang owners, whilst remaining true to their roots by valuing the Mustang heritage and legend represented by each and every Mustang since 1964. Irrespective of the model, the club continues to work hard to ensure that the Mustang spirit and camaraderie are enjoyed by all.
Time to pony up! 
 

Join the club

Check out the Mustang Club at nzmustang.com or on Facebook, or email the club at
[email protected] for more information or membership enquiries. 

This article was originally published in New Zealand Classic Car Issue No. 298. You can pick up a print copy or a digital copy of the magazine below:




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NZ Classic Car magazine, September/October 2026 issue 407, on sale now

16 August, 2026

We love bugs!
A bit of TLC that became a major restoration
The 1302S, or ‘Super Beetle’ as it became known, was built for two years before it, too, was replaced by a further-enhanced Beetle, the 1303, continuing an amazing 65-year lineage for one of the World’s best-known shapes.
The world’s best-selling single-model vehicle, the VW Beetle, possibly established another record for the amount of controversy it has created since the inception of the Type 1.
In a meeting with Hitler in June 1934, Ferdinand Porsche was contracted to build a ‘People’s Car’ that could accommodate two adults and three children, was air-cooled and simple to maintain, and could cruise economically at moderate speed along Germany’s proposed new Autobahns.
Our feature car, a 1972 1302S ‘Super Beetle’, was found by Dave and Michelle Dickie in Mosgiel a few years back. It was a runner, but like most VWs of this age, it needed a little TLC. They were looking for a daily driver for Michelle when they first came upon the VW being sold locally on behalf of its owner.
“The owner offered it to his grandchildren, and they didn’t want it, so he got the guy out at Mosgiel in the Mobil petrol station to sell it for him, and he put it on Trade Me for them. We never met the owner, and we were always dealing with the guy at the petrol station. We put a bid on it, and we were the only people that bid on it.”
Their bid was eventually successful, eight years ago. Not knowing much of the history, in situations like that, it’s always a risk buying a car, but they were in for a bit of a surprise.

The other Q car

12 August, 2026

Say the word ‘bond’ to anyone in the street and around 80 per cent straight away think of pop culture’s least-secret secret agent. The other 20 per cent may think of the wad of cash required to secure a flat or hire equipment that one gets back providing the fixtures and fittings stay much as they were.
However, mention ‘bond’ in specialist classic car circles and people will spin a very different yarn. If you dig deep enough, you will find an eccentric British carmaker that, throughout its 23 years in business, spawned some quirky and charming little cars.
The company was founded by Paul Sharp in 1922 under the name of Sharp’s Commercials Limited. However, the company did not start producing cars until 1948. The first car to carry the Bond name was the Bond Minicar. A three-wheeled, soft-top, two-cylinder eco car, the Minicar was a big hit at the time as the desire for an economical urban runabout that didn’t attract four-wheel car tax was strong in post-war Britain. All in all, 34,285 Minicars were produced over 26 years in a variety of variants.