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This could be good news for restoring cars and bikes – but we must be quick!

5 March, 2025

The ‘Right to repair’ bill is going before parliament and we need to have our say
By Peter Barton

The broken starter motor

Our parliament is currently considering a member’s Bill, drawn by ballot, called the ‘Right to Repair’ Bill. 
It’s due to go a Select Committee for consideration, and we can make submissions ie say what we think of it, before 3 April this year. It’s important because it will make spare parts and information for doing repairs far more readily available and this should slow the rate at which appliances, toys and so on get sent to landfill.
Here is the NZ Parliament website summary (and look especially at the second bullet point):
“The Economic Development, Science and Innovation Committee is calling for public submissions on the Consumer Guarantees (Right to Repair) Amendment Bill.
The bill would amend the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993. It seeks to require manufacturers to make repair parts and information available to consumers in order to extend the lifetime of products. The bill would replace the Act’s guarantee as to repair and spare parts, requiring manufacturers to:

  • reasonably ensure that facilities for repair of goods and supply of parts for the goods are reasonably available for a reasonable period after the goods are supplied
  • provide the consumer with, upon request, information, spare parts, software, and other tools used for diagnosing, maintaining, or repairing goods.

It would also:

  • provide consumers with a right of redress against manufacturers where goods fail to comply with the guarantee
  • enable consumers to request that a supplier repairs goods rather than replacing them
  • require suppliers to repair goods within a reasonable time if such a request is made by a consumer
  • repeal section 42 of the Act, which provides that repair facilities and parts do not have to be made available if the consumer is notified at the time the product is supplied.”
Undo the two long bolts, and the end of the motor can be removed
Further parts can be pulled out. The field magnet is very strong, and the armature has to be pulled out with some force. The commutator is visible, with a lot of carbon dust from the brushes which are visible to the right

I am currently rebuilding a seventy-plus year old AJS motorcycle  (see The Shed magazine issues 118 and 119), and I do not expect any help from long defunct manufacturers, but I do think that many other sheddies will be like me and also often try to repair modern household items before throwing them out or cannibalising for parts.  One issue I am currently working through now concerns the starter motor for a car which has given me great service otherwise.
I thought it had a bad battery to start with, but attempts to jump start showed the problem was the starter.  The dealer couldn’t help in a reasonable time frame (I needed the car urgently) and would have charged a ridiculous sum.
The local garage located a clone for me, at about $250, which I installed, all good.
Could I be a good citizen and give the starter back to the company, for reconditioning?  I didn’t want money.  No. I decided (curiosity) to dig into the motor (they are not complicated) to locate the problem; as I suspected, the brushes were totally worn.  At this moment, I am trying to locate replacement brushes and my chances of getting some which I can be confident will be the correct fit, and at a reasonable price are not looking good.
Overseas vendors (who I generally avoid) seem to have some, but the P&P makes the prices hilarious.
I had to repair a hot water kettle, the type that sits on a power base. A replacement base was unavailable.  I had to make a special screwdriver to open the base (I accept that electrical safety reasons can justify that), but then I found that some points had burned out, beyond being salvageable.  I could not get any replacement and had to make some. Over the years I have had similar issues with other appliances (switches on a rangehood, an oven controller, fridge thermostat, dishwasher control unit ….).
I urge you to make your views known on the bill.

The brush assembly is in the foreground. The brushes (four, silvery grey, pulled out of their holders) are worn down and badly pitted. Planetary gears in the background increase the torque to the starter gear, and act as locating bearings
A close up of the brush assembly. Brushes (out of their holders) are welded into the assembly plate

The Bill is a private member’s one, and no political party is under any obligation to support it.  Industry may oppose it or create pressure to water it down.
A couple of websites which are interesting:  search for ‘A J Park’ and also ‘Russell McVeagh’ and give the name of the Bill. The Parliamentary website gives directions on how to make a submission and provides a link so that the process is made easier.
There is very little time left before the Thursday, 3 April, which is the deadline for submissions.

Another view of the brush assembly. Not very easy to replace the brushes themselves individually as they are welded to the back plate of this whole unit

NZ Classic Car magazine, September/October 2026 issue 407, on sale now

16 August, 2026

We love bugs!
A bit of TLC that became a major restoration
The 1302S, or ‘Super Beetle’ as it became known, was built for two years before it, too, was replaced by a further-enhanced Beetle, the 1303, continuing an amazing 65-year lineage for one of the World’s best-known shapes.
The world’s best-selling single-model vehicle, the VW Beetle, possibly established another record for the amount of controversy it has created since the inception of the Type 1.
In a meeting with Hitler in June 1934, Ferdinand Porsche was contracted to build a ‘People’s Car’ that could accommodate two adults and three children, was air-cooled and simple to maintain, and could cruise economically at moderate speed along Germany’s proposed new Autobahns.
Our feature car, a 1972 1302S ‘Super Beetle’, was found by Dave and Michelle Dickie in Mosgiel a few years back. It was a runner, but like most VWs of this age, it needed a little TLC. They were looking for a daily driver for Michelle when they first came upon the VW being sold locally on behalf of its owner.
“The owner offered it to his grandchildren, and they didn’t want it, so he got the guy out at Mosgiel in the Mobil petrol station to sell it for him, and he put it on Trade Me for them. We never met the owner, and we were always dealing with the guy at the petrol station. We put a bid on it, and we were the only people that bid on it.”
Their bid was eventually successful, eight years ago. Not knowing much of the history, in situations like that, it’s always a risk buying a car, but they were in for a bit of a surprise.

The other Q car

12 August, 2026

Say the word ‘bond’ to anyone in the street and around 80 per cent straight away think of pop culture’s least-secret secret agent. The other 20 per cent may think of the wad of cash required to secure a flat or hire equipment that one gets back providing the fixtures and fittings stay much as they were.
However, mention ‘bond’ in specialist classic car circles and people will spin a very different yarn. If you dig deep enough, you will find an eccentric British carmaker that, throughout its 23 years in business, spawned some quirky and charming little cars.
The company was founded by Paul Sharp in 1922 under the name of Sharp’s Commercials Limited. However, the company did not start producing cars until 1948. The first car to carry the Bond name was the Bond Minicar. A three-wheeled, soft-top, two-cylinder eco car, the Minicar was a big hit at the time as the desire for an economical urban runabout that didn’t attract four-wheel car tax was strong in post-war Britain. All in all, 34,285 Minicars were produced over 26 years in a variety of variants.