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Fancy a classic car? You could have one next week

12 October, 2018

 


 

Never mind waiting for inspiration to strike, mulling over the marques, or deciding on the decade.

You could short circuit the whole process by popping along to this year’s biggest and possibly most eclectic car auction in Christchurch this weekend.

Thirty cars from one collection are going under the hammer this Saturday 13 October and with so many desirable cars being offered at once the old laws of supply and demand might make some of them bargains.

The collector’s tastes were nothing if not broad. The offering includes an Auburn Speedster, a Stutz saloon from the 20s, and a pair of Wolseley 1300s.

American roadsters dominate but coupes and four-door saloons also make the grade. All the big names are there – three Lincolns, three Packards, three Cadillacs, and the odd Dodge and Buick. There’s another Jag, making three in total, two Rolls-Royce’s and a Ferrari. There’s an MGTF, a Standard 8 and a Model T Ford. The vast majority are roadworthy but a brace of Mk 1 Jags are a little forlorn.


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Classic or vintage? Choose your decade: Every decade from the 20s to the 80s is represented with several cars. 1920s 4; 1930s 7, 1940s 3, 1950s 4 1960s 4, 1970s 6 and 1980s 2.

The cars are on view at Castle Park Museum, Leithfield, on Thursday and Friday and the auction takes place at 2pm at 1 Detroit Place, Christchurch. For more pictures, google McVicar Classic Auction.

Leonardo’s lighting legacy

Ferrari owner and enthusiast Roger Adshead got to wondering where the simply beautiful twin tail lamps that are a signature of many Ferraris came from and what inspired them. It led him on a fruitful journey…
There are no more defining or memorable Ferrari design cues than a pair of twin circular tail lights, which find their echo in the rear valance in two pairs of circular exhaust tips.
Introduced fifty years ago by Pininfarina designer Leonardo Fioravanti, this charismatic Ferrari identifier has more than stood the test of time.
They first appeared on the Dino 206, and then on the 365 GTB/4 Daytona, two of Signor Fioravanti’s most revered designs.
Unlike Pininfarina’s trademark slim vertical tail lights of the 1960s, which subsequently found their way onto the mass-produced Austins, Morrisses, and Peugeots of the period, the twin circular tail lamps remain emblematic of Ferrari supercars and sportscars.
Some earlier Corvettes copied them, and they have been partially mimicked by Golf Mark V and Honda Civics of similar vintage, and it’s probably no coincidence they added some visual flair to Nissan’s high-performing Skylines, but they have been a recurring theme on Ferraris right through to its latest designs.

The empire strikes back – 1960 Buick Invicta

In just a few months of ownership, Graham Baird has worked away at his 1960 Buick Invicta two-door to bring it up to the stunning condition we see today. He says it was already in very good condition when he bought it from its previous owner in Invercargill. Unusually, the Buick comes with a very well executed conversion to right-hand drive, which Graham thinks might have been done in New Zealand. It won its first award in October, as the ‘Best Original’ at the recent Hardpark Takeover 2021 car show in Invercargill, as a delighted Graham explains.
“It was Graham Wilkinson’s own personal car but he hardly used it. Graham had it for 17 years and he found it in Te Anau parked up in storage sheds run by an elderly couple who had owned the Buick for about 10 years.”