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Weekly Motor Fix: Daimler Dart and E-Type Jaguar built five days apart

3 February, 2015

 

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“Every week we’ll bring you The Motorhood’s Weekly Motor Fix. This week, the New Zealand Classic Car team bring you a double feature with two cars they’ve discovered during the week that they think are something special”

We recently discovered these two beautifully restored classics that have just arrived in the country. The owner, a long-term kiwi expat (31 years away in the UK and Middle East), has just returned home to New Zealand from Dubai in the UAE. He cleared his 1961 Daimler Dart and 1961 E-Type Jaguar through Customs just in time for Christmas Eve; the same day he arrived back in  Auckland for Christmas. 

The Dart is a New Zealand new car built by Jaguar Cars Radcliffe factory on May 2, 1961 and supplied by Oxton Motors in Grafton. The current owner bought the car in February 1976 at the tender age of 19 because he could not afford an E-Type Jaguar. He fully rebuilt the car on a student budget with the help of a few friends whilst studying architecture at Auckland University. He sold the Dart in December 1979 to buy his first family home in 1979, thinking his ‘darting’ days were over.

However 20 years later — almost to the day — in December 1999, he purchased the very same Dart back from a friend who had owned it for 18 years. After five years of ownership, it was leaking much more oil than it burned and to prevent further deterioration he had it shipped to Dubai in 2004 where he had been working since 1993. After four years the Dart was ready and was entered in Dubai’s annual Classic Car Festival for five years running, with great enjoyment at the rarity value the car attracts in a place like Dubai.


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In 2008, having got the Dart under his belt as it were, his thirst for an early E-Type returned with a vengeance, and after reaching the conclusion that life is not a rehearsal, he decided to really scour the planet for a suitable car, travelling to the USA, Belgium, and finally Scotland where he found a suitable car. The 1961 E-Type was amazingly original but very tired, and as it turned out was built just five days before his Daimler Dart saw the light of day. The car was still in its correct factory cream paint colour but had the wrong black interior. After another four years of restoration work in Dubai, that included soda blasting the amazingly rust-free shell back to the bare metal, and a trip for the car back to the UK to have the correct Jaguar red interior and double-duck soft-top installed, the car is ready for its first competitive outing. 

Keep an eye out for a full magazine feature in New Zealand Classic Car soon, and you’ll be able to see them at Ellerslie Intermarque Concours d’Elegance on February 8 at Ellerslie Racecourse.

NZ Classic Car magazine, November/December 2026 issue 408, on sale now

18 October, 2026

Star status for classic Porsche
A long search ends: finding the right car
Unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 1963, the Porsche 911 heralded an iconic lineage of sports cars, known for their exceptional performance, remarkable racing reliability, and adaptability, second to none.
New Zealand Classic Car, in conjunction with Star Insure, recently conducted a photo competition to find 13 suitably impressive classics to grace the pages of the magazine’s 2027 calendar. A flood of entries showed that Kiwis recognise eye-catching designs and restorations. Many are handy with a camera, too, and have entered some outstanding results.
The choice was not straightforward, with multiple stunning entries, and Geoff Long’s immaculate 1990 Porsche 911 (964 Factory designation) took top honours. Fortunately, Geoff had Ethan Hanlon handy to take the accompanying photos while working in his office.
“I’ve got a young employee who is doing work experience in my office at the moment, and he’s a very avid photographer. So, I said, I’ll buy you breakfast and then why don’t we go and take some photos. He found the right spot, and he spent over an hour photographing.”
Originally sold new in Japan, hence the right-hand drive, the Porsche was resident there for four years before being exported to New Zealand, as Geoff recalls.
“I bought it two-and-a-half years ago, but I looked for it for over two years, because it’s just the colour scheme, interior and exterior I was after. The service file that came with it is extensive; I mean, it’s been beautifully looked after, which is what I wanted to continue, as it does get driven. It doesn’t sit in the garage.”

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.