SUBSCRIBE TO THE
MAGAZINE NOW
Facebook-f Instagram

A place to call home: Caffeine & Gasoline

14 October, 2018

 

 

As many car enthusiasts from the upper part of the country are likely to be aware, the organizers of Caffeine & Classics, a free monthly car meet at Smales Farm Business Park in Auckland, have had to implement some changes to keep things viable. Due to the massive numbers the event was pulling, a general cut-off was introduced — cars either older than 30 years, or that are scratch-built, an obscure or exotic model, or one that wouldn’t generally be seen used as a daily driver.

But the news we’re writing about here concerns an all-new event, catering towards those vehicles that may have been displaced by these updates.

“We have made some changes to our current Caffeine & Classics meeting and it has created a lot of discussion,” explained Colin Marshall, from Protecta Insurance. “There was already a need and desire from the Caffeine & Classics faithful for another event south of Auckland City. The time is now right for another event to start at Hampton Downs.”

The event in question is the new Caffeine & Gasoline meeting, following the same formula as Caffeine & Classics — held on the morning of the last Sunday of every month, beginning 28 October.

As Colin mentioned, the location for Caffeine & Gasoline is Hampton Downs Motorsport Park, and features extra coffee and food vendors, in addition to the Hampton Downs café.

The event will be managed on the day by Hampton Downs staff, and is open from 10am to all special-interest vehicles of any origin or style. Even better, being located where it is, the track attractions are right there for anyone keen to make the most of the Sunday!

Keep an eye on facebook.com/CaffAndGas to stay up to date.

More to the point

6 March, 2026

This Daimler SP252 is so rare, few people know it exists. It’s one of a kind. It’s the only surviving, in fact the only SP252 ever completed; the would-be successor to the SP250 Daimler Dart. It is also the last sports car to have been designed by Jaguar’s legendary founder, Sir William Lyons.
Perhaps one of the original Dart’s biggest problems was it’s somewhat-divisive looks. It certainly went well enough to win fans, although Sir William wasn’t among them. It crushed the opposition in the Bathurst six-hour race, finishing five laps ahead of anyone else, and it was snapped up by police forces in Britain, Australia, and New Zealand, as it was the fastest thing on the road.
So you’d think a stunning new body with the magic Lyons touch would have been a surefire success. Why this car never made it into production is still something of a mystery, as the official explanations barely stack up.

Polishing to perfection

26 February, 2026

The secret to a show-stopping finish is colour sanding, no matter which paint system you use. Even a good painter, no matter how experienced or talented — like my mate Bruce Haye, CEO at Ace Panel and Paint in Whitianga — can’t shoot to a perfect mirror finish. To get that level of perfection, you need to colour sand.
It used to be called ‘rubbing out’ or ‘cutting’, and it was done with pastes that came in cans. They worked — sort of — but the compounds really just rounded off imperfections instead of eliminating them, and they removed a lot of paint in the process. But now your new finish can be made flawless, thanks to microfine sandpapers that come in 1000, 1500, 2000, and even 2500 grit ranges, and Farecla G3 polish — available from automotive paint suppliers.