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The January 2017 issue of New Zealand Classic Car is out now!

12 December, 2016

By the time you open the pages of the January 2017 issue of New Zealand Classic Car (Issue No. 313), Christmas will quite literally be just around the corner. As always, the lead-up can be a stressful time for everyone. Leaving everything to the last minute seems to be the norm — well, for most of us, anyway — despite our best intentions not to make the same mistake again the following year. As our minds clog up with last-minute work details, what Christmas presents to buy, Christmas and holiday plans, not to mention atrocious traffic build-ups, it’s probably not a bad idea to take a moment or two to take a deep breath, relax, and thumb through the pages of this special Christmas issue.

Finally, I would like to wish all our loyal readers, advertisers, and contributors a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Drive safely over the holiday season, and we hope to see you next year.

Here’s a rundown of what we’ve put together for this issue:

Daniel Armstrong took a liking to the HR station wagon from an early age, and decided that it would be his first car.

The story of our featured Lotus 22 — frame number 22/47 — is both interesting and tangled. Feast your eyes on this beauty!

It has been said that once a Mini is in the family, you never really let go. Just ask Dean Foster!

Grab a copy of the January 2017 issue of New Zealand Classic Car (Issue No. 313) from a store near you, or order your copy below:


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Grab a copy of the mag now!

Racing Mazdas

12 June, 2026

Both Rod Millen and Ron Kendall were rotary racing kings, emanating from the North Shore of Auckland, where I grew up. And the ultimate rotary techno guru was Bill Shiells, who developed the engine into a rocket ship while working out of Gulf Mazda in Takapuna from 1969, and later in his own business, Rotorsport. He began to extract some phenomenal horsepower from the enigmatic rotary engine. Bill was one of the first to race the Mazda RX-2 Coupe in 1971 and achieved immediate success, causing others to sit up and take notice, particularly the North Shore’s racing elite. They included Robbie Francevic, Rod Millen, Ron Kendall, John Woolf, John Le Feuvre, and Rex Findlay.

Range Rover CSK — the original SUV

5 June, 2026

The Range Rover, thanks to Charles Spencer King, went into production in 1970 boasting an iconic shape that would last until 1996. The vehicle that would create the SUV moniker came about because Rover decided it was time to add a bigger four-wheel-drive vehicle, one with a 100-inch wheelbase, to the model range. Land Rover made a 109-inch wheelbase model but the standard vehicle had a 88-inch wheelbase.
The new model would be more suitable for road use than the existing Land Rover, which was considered to be predominantly for rural use. To make sure it could cope on any road it came standard with the Rover 3.5-litre V8 engine. The body design was originally sketched by King and went into production with only a few minor touch-ups by the Rover styling team.
According to King, “The idea was to combine the comfort and on-road ability of a Rover saloon with the off-road ability of a Land Rover. Nobody was doing it.”