Matamata Panelworks’ open corral

14 March, 2016

On Sunday, March 13, Matamata Panelworks opened the doors for all to see for the 10th year running, to showcase their state-of-the-art facilities and workmanship.

From rather humble beginnings, Matamata Panelworks has grown to become one of New Zealand’s leading restorers of all things Mustang. From high-end customs to concours restorations, Malcolm Sankey and his talented team also extend their creative expertise to other marques, and are definitely not afraid to tackle anything when it comes to restoration projects, including the likes of exotics such as De Tomaso Panteras and Ferraris.

Matamata Panelworks’ open days have become a popular must-see for many, and judging by the impressive line-up of muscles cars and other machinery, this year’s event was yet another success.

Held on a beautiful day, this year’s event provided the establishment with a great opportunity to show some of their finest work to date.

Under construction, the level of skill and the time invested is evident in the amount of metal-fabrication work required to build this one-off custom-built ’Stang.

Wild horses require wild power, and it doesn’t get much better than this impressive hoof-pounding Ford V8 power plant.

It’s not all about wild horses and American muscle though; this Fiat Bambina is getting treated to a full restoration.

For those who attended this year’s Matamata Panelworks Open Day, there was undoubtedly plenty of impressive projects under way, as well as many of their completed award-winning cars, which are testament to the company’s high-quality workmanship, attention to detail, and commitment to customer satisfaction.

Classics on the green

16 October, 2026

Many pretenders vie for the title, but the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance gets my vote as the biggest thing since sliced bread.
The 71st edition of the world’s pre-eminent and best-known concours event featured 28 classes, judged by a 180-strong jury, which also chose the recipients of 26 special awards.
The size of the event, the number of visitors, and, most mind-numbingly, the sheer number of amazing cars, is almost overwhelming. There are so many quality cars to gaze upon, and so many people gazing at those cars, that it is almost impossible to cover everything.
Notable among the many attractions were the centenary celebrations of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, an elegant Talbot-Lago Grand Sport, Hermann Graber’s Swiss-bodied cabriolets and coupés, the jewels of Otto Vu Italian V8s, early Alfa Romeos, Lincoln and its centenary, and cars with unorthodox propulsion systems.

Janspeed recreates the Jaguar sports car

29 September, 2026

Thankfully, a few of these cars made it to New Zealand, the odd one being imported from the UK over the years. However, the 1988 British Racing Green example owned by Bill Slater in Upper Hutt was originally sold as a standard car but converted using the full Janspeed kit by the first owner within a couple of years of buying it.
Bill has owned a few other Jaguars. In fact, after he sold his Jaguar XJ12 in 2018, he found himself pining for another and, when the XJ-S came up for sale, he could not resist it. Having just sold the V12, he was not expecting much from the six-cylinder car other than more reliability and it being cheaper to keep on the road. Naturally, he had heard of the influence Janspeed had on the marque, but it was not until he took the car for a test drive that he became aware of just how superior it was to the car he had just sold. The price of a second-hand Janspeed XJ-S and that of a standard 3.6 XJ-S is quite comparable, making the Janspeed version an incredible bargain, even more so in comparison with other performance classic cars — or even modern cars, for that matter — which cost far more bucks for the bang.

Matamata Panelworks’ open corral

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