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Club Corner: Canterbury Mustang Owners Club

20 March, 2016

 



Formed by a 30-strong group of Mustang owners in 1981, the Canterbury Mustang Owners Club today has more than 200 members, all sharing the same enthusiastic and friendly spirit that dates back to the earliest days of our club. This spirit is reflected in the quarterly club magazine — Burble — which has been acclaimed by members, as well as other Mustang and marque clubs, as one of the best club magazines around. Burble is a glossy, professional A4 magazine mailed personally to each member, and also available online at the club’s website. 
Whilst much of the club’s membership is based in and around Christchurch, it is boosted by a growing and active representation from the wider South Island, especially Nelson Marlborough, West Coast, South Canterbury, and Otago.

Club activities comprise traditional ‘pony runs’ plus a variety of other social occasions, usually on a four to six week basis. Regular major events include the Christmas family lunch and annual awards, the Mainland Muster, at which they get together with the Southern Club for fun and friendship, with nearly 50 Mustangs in Omarama and Wanaka this year. The club also takes up the role as organizer of the All Ford Day in Canterbury every February. All these events are organized by a great, energetic committee team.

On top of this, club participation is encouraged in a number of major South Island events — including the Kaikoura Hop, the Buller Ford All Ford Day, the annual car shows in Cromwell and Nelson, and USA Day events in Canterbury, Dunedin, and Timaru.

Last year’s national Mustang convention, celebrating Mustang’s 50th anniversary, was a substantial and successful challenge for the club — a superb showcase of 225 Mustangs, and a fast-paced weekend celebration befitting 50 years of this iconic US classic. The club even managed to encourage Ford Motor Company to use the event as a special preview for the new 2015 model, and it obliged by flying a pre-production Mustang to New Zealand just for the occasion. A track day at Ruapuna — as many laps as you wanted — and a closed road run on a local Targa NZ stage capped off a great time for all. Visitors who had also attended top-line Mustang events in the US and Australia rated the Christchurch convention as the best they had seen!

The year ahead represents an exciting time for the Canterbury Mustang Owners Club — and, indeed, the six other Mustang clubs around New Zealand. As such, they expect to see strong interest and membership growth from the impending influx of new, RHD Mustang owners, whilst remaining true to their roots by valuing the Mustang heritage and legend represented by each and every Mustang since 1964. Irrespective of the model, the club continues to work hard to ensure that the Mustang spirit and camaraderie are enjoyed by all.
Time to pony up! 
 

Join the club

Check out the Mustang Club at nzmustang.com or on Facebook, or email the club at
[email protected] for more information or membership enquiries. 

This article was originally published in New Zealand Classic Car Issue No. 298. You can pick up a print copy or a digital copy of the magazine below:




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Grand Routier — in the french tradition

10 July, 2025

Sitting in Paddy and Patsy Williams’ Dunedin garage is a stunning example of one of these rare French grand routier sedans. It is a 1949 four-door Lago-Record Factory Berline sedan, to give its full name. Daughter Cath let us know how proud she was of her dad, who had been tinkering away in his garage on this car for so many years.
Without exaggeration, it has been a mammoth task. I first saw this Talbot-Lago in mid 2019. The long-nosed, sweeping, curved four-door saloon, clothed in its misty green metallic paint, was quite breathtaking. There’s more than a little English influence in it, too, harking back to company owner Tony Lago’s involvement in the Clement-Talbot-Darracq era. The long front wings and bonnet, usually multi-louvred, highlighted with artful touches of chrome bling, are typical of the era, but these were indeed luxury length. Interiors provided leather-clad, armchair-style seating and ample legroom, with touches of wood and surprising details such as dainty childproof interior locks — a far cry from today’s lozenge boxes.
Paddy, a retired civil and structural engineer, knows his way around a lathe. He has a well-equipped garage-workshop to assist in any machining tasks along with his other passion for restoring classic motorcycles.

The Great River Road

4 July, 2025

A few years ago my family, knowing my fondness for driving, gave me the book Unforgettable Road Trips: Thirty-Six Drives of a Lifetime by Martin Derrick. Most of the road trips listed take less than a day in places like Scotland, Monaco, and Australia, plus one in New Zealand. Most of these places were too far to go just for a short drive but four of them would take several days. My interest was piqued, and those four drives were added to the bucket list. To date, I have done three of them: ‘Route 66’ (USA 21 days), ‘State Highway 6’ (NZ 10 days) and ‘The Great River Road’ (USA 22 days). You can drive all of them in less time, but you could also fly over them. We wanted a decent immersion in their charms.
The great river referred to is the Mississippi. While the name conjures the deep south, the river actually starts at the bottom of the great lakes, before emptying into the Gulf of Mexico about 3800km later. The great road is more of a concept than a specific strip of tarmac, as you can drive down either side of the river on various routes. Regardless of which side you drive, time should be kept aside for detours to places such as Nashville, which is famous for something or other.