Event guide: Caffeine and Classics

2 July, 2018

 


 

When: 29 July, 10am
Where: Smales Farm, Auckland

Just because it’s officially winter doesn’t mean that you can’t get your fix of cool cars. Brought to us by Protecta Insurance, Caffeine and Classics has easily become New Zealand’s largest monthly vehicle gathering.

And it doesn’t discriminate either, so all cars are welcome, as long as they can fit that all-important description of ‘classic’ — that means whether you’re taking your motorcycle, hot rod, muscle car, vintage, or classic, there’s always a massive and diverse line-up of cars just waiting to be checked out. The coffee’s not half bad, either, and it’s just the ticket for those chilly mornings.

Caffeine and Classics starts at 10am at Smales Farm in Auckland, and you don’t want to miss it!

Travelling companion

It’s easy to see why the Morris Minor Traveller was one of the best-loved variants of the Morris Minor. Introduced in 1953, it was equipped with the same independent torsion bar front suspension, drum brakes, and rack and pinion steering as its saloon sibling but, with their foldable rear seat increasing versatility, many Travellers were used as trade vehicles, says Derek Goddard. Derek and Gail Goddard, the owners of this superbly restored example, have run Morris Minors since before they were married in 1974.
“Our honeymoon vehicle was a blue Morris Minor van — it was a rust bucket,” says Derek.

Super Leicht Gullwing

It’s fair to say that nothing much in the classic Mercedes world gets past Mercedes-Benz Club stalwart Garry Boyce so it wasn’t surprising to learn that around 15 years ago he had sniffed out an extremely rare 300SL lightweight Gullwing as well as a 1958 300SL Roadster hiding away in the Waikato. The cars were not for sale but Garry eventually managed to persuade the owner to allow him and his restoration team to take a look at the Roadster. They discovered a very distressed but largely unmolested car. The car was so original that the body had never been off the chassis, meaning most of the parts and fittings were still present and correct, as they had been fitted by the factory.