Club Corner: Porsche Club of New Zealand

21 July, 2016

 

The Porsche Club of New Zealand was established in December 1975 and had its 40th-anniversary celebrations in 2015. The club is number 54 of nearly 700 official Porsche clubs recognized in the world and has a strong relationship with the Porsche factory and Porsche in New Zealand.

The Porsche Club of New Zealand has members in all regions of the country and has a membership of around 700, with all the family welcome to participate in a wide range of events. Members share a passion, and Porsche ownership is not required; all are welcome: members share a strong camaraderie as well as experience and knowledge.

The benefits of membership include picnics, winery and café lunch and brunch drives, weekend social events, gymkhanas, and autocross — low-speed competitive driving and driver training — learning to safely exploit the performance of your Porsche on the track, competitive sprint events, the club race series, technical evenings, an annual picnic and Christmas function, a Concours d’Elegance annual dinner and awards evening, membership of an exclusive Facebook group, the bimonthly high-quality club magazine Spiel, and much more.

The club is for all Porsche enthusiasts — even if you are yet to purchase or are for any reason in between Porsches, you are welcome. It is about having a passion for all things Porsche.

This article originally appeared in the April 2016 issue (304) of New Zealand Classic Car. Grab a print copy or a digital copy of the mag now:


NZ Classic Car magazine, November/December 2026 issue 408, on sale now

Star status for classic Porsche
A long search ends: finding the right car
Unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 1963, the Porsche 911 heralded an iconic lineage of sports cars, known for their exceptional performance, remarkable racing reliability, and adaptability, second to none.
New Zealand Classic Car, in conjunction with Star Insure, recently conducted a photo competition to find 13 suitably impressive classics to grace the pages of the magazine’s 2027 calendar. A flood of entries showed that Kiwis recognise eye-catching designs and restorations. Many are handy with a camera, too, and have entered some outstanding results.
The choice was not straightforward, with multiple stunning entries, and Geoff Long’s immaculate 1990 Porsche 911 (964 Factory designation) took top honours. Fortunately, Geoff had Ethan Hanlon handy to take the accompanying photos while working in his office.
“I’ve got a young employee who is doing work experience in my office at the moment, and he’s a very avid photographer. So, I said, I’ll buy you breakfast and then why don’t we go and take some photos. He found the right spot, and he spent over an hour photographing.”
Originally sold new in Japan, hence the right-hand drive, the Porsche was resident there for four years before being exported to New Zealand, as Geoff recalls.
“I bought it two-and-a-half years ago, but I looked for it for over two years, because it’s just the colour scheme, interior and exterior I was after. The service file that came with it is extensive; I mean, it’s been beautifully looked after, which is what I wanted to continue, as it does get driven. It doesn’t sit in the garage.”

Classics on the green

Many pretenders vie for the title, but the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance gets my vote as the biggest thing since sliced bread.
The 71st edition of the world’s pre-eminent and best-known concours event featured 28 classes, judged by a 180-strong jury, which also chose the recipients of 26 special awards.
The size of the event, the number of visitors, and, most mind-numbingly, the sheer number of amazing cars, is almost overwhelming. There are so many quality cars to gaze upon, and so many people gazing at those cars, that it is almost impossible to cover everything.
Notable among the many attractions were the centenary celebrations of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, an elegant Talbot-Lago Grand Sport, Hermann Graber’s Swiss-bodied cabriolets and coupés, the jewels of Otto Vu Italian V8s, early Alfa Romeos, Lincoln and its centenary, and cars with unorthodox propulsion systems.