SUBSCRIBE TO THE
MAGAZINE NOW
Facebook-f Instagram

Don’t get lost! October’s Caffeine & Classics has a change of venue

20 September, 2016

For those partial to a good cup of joe and a few hundred classic cars packed into one place, Caffeine & Classics is where you want to be.

Proudly brought to you by Protecta Insurance, Caffeine & Classics is held on the last Sunday of each month at Smales Farm, Takapuna, and has been going strong for the last three-and-a-half years. However, the October event will see a temporary relocation to the NorthWest Shopping Centre due to the surrounding streets of Smales Farm being closed for the Auckland Marathon the same weekend.

Don’t sweat, though — although our expertise may not be marathons, we do know that the runners will only block the way to Smales Farm for one event, and the move is a one-off. As for the finer details, the date and time remains the same as always, with the October event held on the 30th at 10am — in case that wasn’t clear enough, Caffeine & Classics will be back at Smales from November onwards.

If you haven’t already pulled the old girl out of the garage and headed out on a beautiful Sunday morning, you really ought to mark it down on the calendar. Numbers are frequently upwards of 500 cars and bikes, with like-minded enthusiasts to shoot-the-sh*t with. It’s a laid-back, family-friendly environment that you can bring the little ones to, and one of the few events that are open to all types of classic and collectible vehicles. Entry is free for vehicles and spectators — for more information click here.

  • October 30 (one-off event)
  • NorthWest Shopping Centre
  • Gunton Drive, Westgate
  • 10am–12pm

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

23 February, 2025

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

21 February, 2025

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.