Weekly Motor Fix: a rare Corvette Collector Edition

13 July, 2016

Being a bit of a Corvette fan — and owner of several over the years — I was pleasantly surprised when a reader recently sent me through photographs of his rather rare 1982 Corvette Collector Edition. Only 6759 of this particular model were built and, as I understand, very few have made it down to this part of the world.

Chevrolet has traditionally finished off each Corvette generation by introducing a collector or commemorative model. In order to commemorate the final C3 model (1968–1982), Corvette introduced the 1982 Collector Edition, which also honoured the end of the 1968–1982 Stingray model, and was the first in a series of special collector editions for Corvette.

The 1982 Corvette Collector Edition received a full complement of bells and whistles unique to the model. These special features included a stylish Silver Beige exterior paint job complemented by a striking Silver Beige leather interior and special decorative emblems, as well as an electrically operated six-way driver’s seat, power door locks, power sport mirrors, power windows, power steering, cruise control, air conditioning, and AM/FM radio with cassette. The glass roof panels received a bronze tint and the rear glass ‘hatch’ had a lifting feature for easy access to the space behind the front seats. Also included were special cast-finned wheels that resembled the optional 1967 bolt-on wheels.

The 1982 Corvette Collector Edition was also the first to receive Chevrolet’s Crossfire fuel-injected 5.7-litre V8 engine. Unfortunately, these motors received their fair share of ridicule and were commonly referred to as ‘Ceasefire’ due to unreliability issues. The motors were also extremely difficult to modify to achieve increased power and torque — many owners opted to replace the injection system with a four-barrel carburettor. The Crossfire fuel-injected engine also made its way into the first of the C4 Corvettes in 1984, and was replaced with a much more reliable, and powerful, Tuned Port Injection (TPI) system in 1985.

After years of flying under the radar, collector-edition Corvettes are beginning to attract a large following, representing true investment potential that inspires and excites.

Janspeed recreates the Jaguar sports car

29 September, 2026

Thankfully, a few of these cars made it to New Zealand, the odd one being imported from the UK over the years. However, the 1988 British Racing Green example owned by Bill Slater in Upper Hutt was originally sold as a standard car but converted using the full Janspeed kit by the first owner within a couple of years of buying it.
Bill has owned a few other Jaguars. In fact, after he sold his Jaguar XJ12 in 2018, he found himself pining for another and, when the XJ-S came up for sale, he could not resist it. Having just sold the V12, he was not expecting much from the six-cylinder car other than more reliability and it being cheaper to keep on the road. Naturally, he had heard of the influence Janspeed had on the marque, but it was not until he took the car for a test drive that he became aware of just how superior it was to the car he had just sold. The price of a second-hand Janspeed XJ-S and that of a standard 3.6 XJ-S is quite comparable, making the Janspeed version an incredible bargain, even more so in comparison with other performance classic cars — or even modern cars, for that matter — which cost far more bucks for the bang.

The writing on the wall

25 September, 2026

Deven, a digital content producer in his 20s, says it was the rear-drive Nissan and Toyota drift cars that fired his imagination in his not-so-distant youth and soon had him wanting one of his own. However, like most of us, he had to start in something less glamorous – in his case, a 1997 Mitsubishi Galant. After that, he bought a four-litre V8 1991 Toyota Soarer, a big change from the Mitsubishi.
“It was my daily driver, and it wasn’t that bad to run back when petrol was affordable,” he says.
When he got fed up with filling it up, Deven bought a 1989 Ford Laser sedan, a 1.3-litre five-speed manual, to be his daily driver. It’s in very good condition, bought from a careful older driver, and he still runs it – although he will occasionally also drive the latest in a series of Nissan Laurel sedans. His current one, from 1993, has done the lowest number of kilometres yet, at 183,000. It has the single-cam version of the engine in his Skyline.
“I’ve had four different versions of that car. It was just a car I always liked. It’s really comfortable, quite luxurious. I bought it from a 90-year-old in Hamilton. It’s in mint condition, and everything is standard.”

Weekly Motor Fix: a rare Corvette Collector Edition

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