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Bambina with a sting, plus more in the latest New Zealand Classic Car

10 December, 2015

The December issue of New Zealand Classic Car is now for sale. From the cutest Italian to classic ’50s American styling, plus British luxury at its best, there’s plenty of good reading for everyone. 

Our very cute Fiat Bambina has been given somewhat of a sting in its tail with an engine upgrade in line with Abarth’s go-faster specials. Check out the full restoration.  

Nothing screams ’50s American classic more than than mid-’50s Chevrolet, and nothing could be hotter than our featured 1956 Chevrolet 210 Sport coupe owned by retired drag racer Jim Crain Snr. 

The Jaguar MkVII was a total game changer for Jaguar, and played a major part in the marque’s post-war resurgence. Read all about this large, luxurious Jaguar, which, despite its size, proved to be a worthy race and rally car. 

Check out the Targa New Zealand 2015 full summary and results, as well as a preview of the upcoming Porsche Festival at Hampton Downs in January 2016. 

There’s also our usual Nationwide News section, Behind the Garage Door, as well as Motorman, Motorsport Flashback, plus much more. Pick up a copy at your local supermarket or bookshop, or buy a print copy below:




Buy a print copy of the magazine for NZ$10


Buy a digital copy of the magazine for NZ$6.99

Lunch with … Cary Taylor

11 September, 2024

Many years ago — in June 1995 to be more precise — I was being wowed with yet another terrific tale from Geoff Manning who had worked spanners on all types of racing cars. We were chatting at Bruce McLaren Intermediate school on the 25th anniversary of the death of the extraordinary Kiwi for whom the school was named. Geoff, who had been part of Ford’s Le Mans programme in the ’60s, and also Graham Hill’s chief mechanic — clearly realising that he had me in the palm of his hand — offered a piece of advice that I’ve never forgotten: “If you want the really good stories, talk to the mechanics.”
Without doubt the top mechanics, those involved in the highest echelons of motor racing, have stories galore — after all, they had relationships with their drivers so intimate that, to quote Geoff all those years ago, “Mechanics know what really happened.”

ROTARY CHIC

6 September, 2024

Kerry Bowman readily describes himself as a dyed-in-the-wool Citroën fan and a keen Citroën Car Club member. His Auckland home holds some of the chic French cars and many parts. He has also owned a number of examples of the marque as daily drivers, but he now drives a Birotor GS. They are rare, even in France, and this is a car which was not supposed to see the light of day outside France’s borders, yet somehow this one escaped the buyback to be one of the few survivors out in the world.
It’s a special car Kerry first saw while overseas in the ’70s, indulging an interest sparked early on by his father’s keenness for Citroëns back home in Tauranga. He was keen to see one ‘in the flesh’.
“I got interested in this Birotor when I bought a GS in Paris in 1972. I got in contact with Citroën Cars in Slough, and they got me an invitation to the Earls Court Motor Show where they had the first Birotor prototype on display. I said to a guy on the stand, ‘I’d like one of these,’ and he said I wouldn’t be allowed to get one. Citroën were building them for their own market to test them, and they were only left-hand drive.”