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Barry Meguiar to film at the 2015 Repco Beach Hop

9 February, 2015

The head of the Meguiar’s car-care empire, Barry Meguiar, and his Car Crazy film crew are headed to the Repco Beach Hop to film two very special episodes of Car Crazy TV. With Beach Hop being known as New Zealand’s premier car event, the Meguiars Car Crazy crew will spend three days capturing the cars, people, and scenery to broadcast to a global audience.

Car Crazy TV is viewed by over 27 million households in over 60 countries including Mexico, Central America, South America, Spain, Portugal, England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, China, Japan, India, and Australia; it’s a great way to showcase our local scene to such a huge audience.

With such a packed schedule, Barry generally only visits a country once, but after filming in New Zealand a few years back he loved it so much he vowed to return — and Beach Hop 15 was the perfect occasion.

Car Crazy TV showcases celebrity guests, rare automotive collections, car shows and events that have never before been televised to an international crowd. Host Barry Meguiar’s quest is to showcase the people behind the car hobby, by embedding himself into real ‘car guy’ experiences in each episode.

The car hobby is over 100 years old; it’s a passion of one generation, which is passed on to subsequent generations, and this hobby is truly one activity that the whole family can participate in. The Meguiar’s family had a passion for great-looking cars. His family roots go back to 1901 when Barry’s grandfather started a polish company when the car hobby was in its earliest stages. Barry’s whole life has been spent loving and caring for cars; his passion for expanding the car hobby has seen him travel the world unraveling the hidden gems of the automotive realm, exploring museums, and supporting car clubs and events. His passion has developed a central hub for car enthusiasts worldwide through Car Crazy TV, Car Crazy Radio, and the website carcrazycentral.com.

Make sure you’re at Beach Hop during March 25–29 to see Barry and the crew hard at work. We’ve also heard the local Meguiar’s crew may have a few competitions running at the event, as well as their usual event-only deals, so pop in to the Meguiar’s stand to find out more.

Motorsport Flashback –The right racing recipes, and cake

17 September, 2025

If a top-fuel dragster sits atop the horsepower list of open-wheel racing cars, then cars designed for the massively successful Formula Ford category are close to the opposite end. Invented in the mid-1960s as a cheap alternative to F3 for racing schools, the concept was staggeringly simple: introduce the Ford Kent pushrod to a spaceframe chassis; keep engine modifications to a minimum; same tyres for all; ban aerodynamic appendages; and you get the most phenomenally successful single-seater class of racing car the world has ever seen.
The first-ever race for these 1600cc mini-GP cars took place in England in July 1967, but it quickly took off. The US and Australia were among the earliest adopters. It took us a little longer because we had the much-loved National Formula, comprising predominantly Brabhams, Ken Smith’s Lotus, and Graham McRae’s gorgeous self-built cars, all powered by the Lotus-Ford twin-cam. After a memorable championship in 1968/69 the class was nearly on its knees a year later. The quality was still there with Smith winning his national title, just, from McRae, but the numbers had fallen. Formula Ford was the obvious replacement and was introduced for the 1970/71 season as ‘Formula C’.

Angela’s ashes

28 August, 2025

In November 2018, Howard Anderson had a dream of finding a 1964 Vauxhall PB Cresta to recreate the car he, his wife, Ruth, and three friends travelled in from London to Invercargill in 1969. The next night’s dream was a nightmare. He dreamed he would find the original Angela but it was a rusted wreck somewhere in Southland.
Howard’s inspiration came from reading about a driver in the 1968 London–Sydney Marathon who was reunited with his Vauxhall Ventora 50 years later. He, Ruth, and her parents had watched the start of the rally from Crystal Palace in South London. The fashion at the time among the rally and race set was to paint bonnets flat black to avoid the sun’s reflections flashing into the driver’s eyes, thus saving them from certain disaster. Howard admired the flat black bonnet on the Ventora so much he had Angela’s bonnet painted dull black.