Porsche fans, look away now: Hyundai-powered Porsche

11 August, 2016

 

Yep, you read the heading right — American-based Bisimoto Engineering are building a V6 Hyundai-powered 1977 Porsche 911. Why would someone do such a thing, you ask? Well, when we mentioned Bisimoto, you probably could’ve guessed. As of late, Bisimoto Engineering are known for building mental Porsches, but they are better known in tuning circles for their handiwork with Hondas. They’ve built a 800hp single-cam D16-powered Honda Civic Shuttle, a 1000-plus horsepower Honda Odyssey, and an array of naturally aspirated builds. The 911 Porsche will be built for the 2017 SEMA Show, and, according to the Bisimoto team, will be one of their most insane builds to date. Hard to believe when you’ve seen their previous projects! If you’re a Porsche purist though, you’re probably not going to like it … 

NZ Classic Car magazine, March/April 2025 issue 398, on sale now

An HQ to die for
Mention the acronym HQ and most people in the northern hemisphere will assume this is an abbreviation for Head Quarters. However, for those born before the mid-’80s in Australia and New Zealand, the same two letters only mean one thing – HQ Holden!
Christchurch enthusiast Ed Beattie has a beautiful collection of Holden and Chevrolet cars. He loves the bowtie and its Aussie cousin and has a stable of beautiful, powerful cars. His collection includes everything from a modern GTSR W507 HSV through the decades to a 1960s Camaro muscle car and much in between.
In the last two Holden Nationals (run biennially in 2021 and 2023), Ed won trophies for the Best Monaro and Best Decade with his amazing 1972 Holden Monaro GTS 350 with manual transmission.
Ed is a perfectionist and loves his cars to reflect precisely how they were on ‘Day 1,’ meaning when the dealer released them to the first customer, including any extras the dealer may have added or changed.

You’re the one that I want – 1973 Datsun 240K GT

In the early 1970s, Clark Caldow was a young sales rep travelling the North Island and doing big miles annually. He loved driving. In 1975 the firm he worked for asked Clark what he wanted for his new car, and Clark chose a brand-new Datsun 240K GT. The two-door car arrived, and Clark was smitten, or in his own words, he was “pole vaulting.”
Clark drove it all over the country, racking up thousands of miles. “It had quite a bit of pep with its SOHC 128 hp (96kW) of power mated to a four-speed manual gearbox,” he says. Weighing in at 1240kg meant the power to weight ratio was good for the time and its length at almost 4.5 metres meant it had good street presence.
Clark has been a car enthusiast all his life, and decided around nine years ago to look for one of these coupes. By sheer luck he very quickly found a mint example refurbished by an aircraft engineer, but it was in Perth.