Cuda muscle! The spirit of a generation
The Plymouth Barracuda is renowned for its reputation as a formidable US performance car, designed to compete with Chevrolet and Ford’s performance vehicles. In its third generation, a variant, the ‘Cuda, emerged as one of the most striking muscle cars produced by Plymouth.
Back in September 2019, current owner John Carson tracked down one of the ’Cuda’s former US owners, Ron Heintschel, who provided a little of its history, as Ron recalls.
“So here is what I can remember on the ’72 Cuda. The car was ordered by the first owner, who lived in Medina, Ohio. At the time, it was a matching numbers car. The car was then sold to a neighbour and then to a guy in Pioneer, Ohio, the dates I cannot remember.”
Ron purchased the car from its owner in Pioneer, Ohio, in December 1992.
“Restoration began in 1992 and was finished in late May of 1993. The car only had a few spots of rust, just under the battery tray on the inner fender line, and two spots on the insides of the front fenders, under the hood.
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This issue features a John Wick-inspired 1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1
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The Family Ford-since 1947
Ford’s iconic pickup trucks significantly contributed to the growth of the US economy, both in times of war and peace. In New Zealand, these dependable workhorses are revered for their durability and effectiveness. Well-preserved models serve as social statements, showcasing exceptional restorations and some stylish customisations. One family has made sure their Ford and its heritage has been preserved.
“A family dedicated to Ford vehicles, when Ian Hargreaves (89) reached out to me last year, he had a fascinating story to share about Old Bluey, and its recent restoration. Surprisingly, it has remained in the same family since new, in 1947. Its background, going back nearly 80 years, also includes a lot of local history.
“Back in the 1800s, Joseph Hargraves, my great, great, grandfather, had a farm near Auckland. Fed up with Auckland, he leased the Puketotara Peninsula on the Kaipara harbour from the Māori, which is about 10,000 acres, and then he later bought it and had something like seven or eight children. He died relatively young, and each of the children got a block of land.”
Graham enjoyed growing up on the peninsula, in the Kaipara Harbour region and life working on the farm, and a working dairy and dry stock unit. It was idyllic. We had our own beach, and it’s a beautiful area”
Alfa Romeo Giulia TS Super
Never initially as popular amongst classic Alfa collectors of the Giulia range, the boxy Giulia saloons earned a special place and a growing popularity in Alfa Romeo’s heritage. Alfa Romeo enthusiast and historian Tom Bruynel takes a close look at an Alfa specialist’s delightful ‘daily driver’ in Christchurch.
Christchurch’s Angus McLeod’s first Alfa Romeo was a 1967 GT Veloce bought and restored in 1978 and later raced in the production class with Invercargill’s Dave Brown. This car was Angus’s first exposure to the marque, and he was bitten by the Alfa bug, big time.
“Angus and his wife Ann moved to the UK in 1979, intending to take a two-year working holiday, and he took a job at Bristow Helicopters, which took him to many countries working on different helicopter types. During that time, he started a small home business in Earlswood, Surrey, working on Alfas old and new.
Twenty-five years later, Angus retired from Bristow Helicopters and bought Rusper Alfa Romeo, near Horsham, a garage specialising in maintaining and restoring Alfas, including a 101 series Giulietta Spider, several 1900 Berlina, a 1959 Alfa Romeo van, and even a rare 1900CSS that Angus prepared for the Mille Miglia retrospective in 2011.”
Auction Report: Webb’s produces solid results for July
Bidding and healthy attendance featured at the Webb’s collectors car and motorcycles auction in Auckland on July 13, with good sales, with a similar result in Australia.
A superb dark green, tan leather-trimmed 1987 Bentley Continental convertible, first owned by Sir James Fletcher and three further owners, reached NZ$110,000 to realise a subject sale.
A 1969 Mercedes-Benz 280SL Pagoda W113 hit expectations with an opening bid of $210,000, finishing on a sold price of $310,000.
The 1932 Packard Twin Six Dual Cowl Phaeton, star of the auction, failed to find a new owner. This remarkable open classic had an estimate between $700k and $800k, but with an opening auctioneer offer of half a million dollars, saw no bids.
Regulars hold their level: A highlight of this July auction was that certain models remain good value for money.
Meet Miranda Easten-NZCC’s Newest Contributor
Hello! I’m Miranda Easten – a singer-songwriter, hopeless romantic, and lifelong car enthusiast. I am also a very excited new contributor to NZ Classic Car magazine.
You’ll often find me either behind a guitar, behind the wheel, or running a bit behind schedule… just kidding about that last part!
I’ve been obsessed with cars for as long as I can remember. My childhood toy box had fewer dolls and more Matchbox Ferraris, and my first words may or may not have included “camshaft.” Fast forward to adulthood (questionable term), and I’ve now owned more cars than I can count. I did try counting once, but I got distracted somewhere in the 30s.
A rare Hawk shines: 1956 Studebaker Sky Hawk Coupe
Studebakers are rare enough among classics, and our feature car is even rarer; possibly the sole right-hand drive Sky Hawk on the road in the World.
Trev Halstead brought his 1956 Studebaker Sky Hawk a decade ago, and it looked in good condition until he scratched underneath the surface, as he recalls.
“It didn’t look too bad, but she was pretty buggered. However, she did go.”
He bought the Hawk from a collector in the South Island who imported it from the USA, and
Trev quickly realised when sandblasting the floor that he was in over his head.
“Everything was rusted to hell,” says Trev, “the floor, the boot, the guards, the whole car. The chassis was a throwaway; rotten.”
That did nothing to dampen Trev’s spirits, as he set out on a year-long quest to rebuild the Hawk as close to factory specs as possible.”
Rotary magic: 1984 Mazda RX7, Group B (Tribute)
Mazda Rally Team Europe took on the top guns in Group B of the World Rally Championship in 1984. It built seven surprisingly successful, ‘Evolution’ RX7s for the team, and now local rally fan Ben Harding has created a tribute ‘Evolution’ RX7.
“Back in the ‘80s, Group B set world rally sport alight! Rulebooks were burning, and officials were scrambling to contain a monster evolving from one event to the next. Spread amongst the danger and insanity was a special kind of flamboyant romance that made even Formula One seem just a little bit vanilla.
Rallying produced cars that reacted quicker than the human brain, piloted by individuals with nerves of steel down spine-tingling ribbons of tarmac and gravel, with fanatical fans lining the stages. Rallying had truly reached its pinnacle. Then, in the blink of an eye, the cars that were too dangerous to exist were gone.”
Motorman: Down south with a Fiat 1500
A one-month-old Fiat 1500 transported the Motorman magazine crew covering the major South Island races in 1965, and there was plenty to do and see in between the meetings.
“Sometimes being world famous can attract little attention. In company with 1961 world champion Phil Hill, a stroll along Invercargill’s Dee Street early on a Friday night seemed nothing out of the ordinary.
We passed the historic Grand Hotel on a busy footpath before looking in the window of a home appliance store. A television in the shop window, in black and white, of course, was showing the news that Sir Winston Churchill had just died. Certainly, no one noticed my walking buddy was someone quite notable.
It was the night before the 1965 Teretonga Tasman Championship race, and I am not sure how I happened to be walking with the quiet, yet friendly American racing driver who had teamed up with Bruce McLaren for the Antipodean series. Yet that was the way it was back in the sixties when I was involved in the colourful scene of New Zealand summer motor sport.
1966 Ford Mustang Sprint 200: Ford’s pony car master stroke
In 1965, Ford was enjoying the overwhelming sales success of its new sporty Mustang, introduced the previous year. However, the company faced a significant dilemma. While it had anticipated selling 100,000 Mustangs in its first year, Ford was instead confronted with an order book of more than 600,000 sales for its pony car!
“Ford capitalised on the concept of creating a car subtly aimed at women, encouraging them to purchase and own their status symbol: the highly sought-after Mustang. This approach seemed like a logical way to maintain high Mustang sales while simultaneously boosting the popularity of the Sprint, as production of the crucial V8 engine caught up.
“Six and the Single Girl” was born with Ford determined to keep Mustang sales high, creating a springtime sales promotion designed to sell a lot of cars.
It would be twofold: great pricing on a six-cylinder Mustang along with a special-edition six-cylinder called the Sprint 200.
Available in coupe, convertible and fastback body styles (very few of the fastback models were made) when introduced in 1966, the Sprint 200 or ‘Springtime Sprint’ edition of the Mustang offered two Sprint packages with the options of manual or automatic transmissions.”
Kits and Pieces: built for peanuts-acorn schroeder
Positioned in the middle of the South Island, Rangiora is a classic car mecca with enough homebuilt and classic cars to suit everybody’s taste. It’s home to Peter Parkinson, an enthusiast with a penchant for building some interesting specials.
“It could be because this Canterbury town is sun-blessed, with excellent country roads less than 10 minutes in any direction. They are flat and include the longest straight roads in New Zealand, but if you want some sweeping bends, then the 200km ‘Inland Scenic Route’ traversing the foot of the Southern Alps is 20 minutes away. Alternatively, there are the tight twisty roads through Arthur’s Pass further on. The only thing Rangiora seems to lack is a lot of traffic.
Regardless of the reason for such automotive popularity, I once again found myself in Rangiora knocking on the door of Peter Parkinson. I last visited Peter back in 2016 (New Zealand Classic Car Issue #309), to check up on the progress of ‘Lucy’, a car that Peter had built from scratch in the ‘60s, at the age of 18 years.
He sold the car in the ‘70s and managed to buy it back almost 50 years later, intending to restore the car to what it was when he first built it.”
Looking Back: Sacred quest of a road warrior, part 2
Life on the road was often challenging, as we continue with Gerard’s memories of his many journeys. The cars were memorable, and some, such as his Holden Torana XU1, he found exuded real personalities, making the challenges of the journey just that more rewarding. Kowalski would have been proud!
“Crossing the Desert Road (Tongariro National Park) in winter! The demister’s not doing the business, single-speed wipers need to be flicked on and off in the drizzle, and I’m pummelling myself against the fixed non-retractable seatbelts as I lunge for the wiper switch. Add to that my head hitting the roof regularly as I hit the undulations on the road with billiard table settings of the race suspension at 100mph (okay, I exaggerate slightly!), and yes, you could say that everything wasn’t always fun.
But mainly it was! This was the car that enabled me to start my road warrior dreams in the early ‘90s.”
Shelby Heaven – Part 1
From Le Mans to Daytona, the Shelby legend lives on in today’s Shelby American’s US operation, building Ford high-performance cars and trucks. A must-see on any bucket list is a visit to the Colorado Shelby Museum.
“Colorado means ‘coloured red’ or ‘ruddy’, relating to its river. It’s often said to be the closest in size, population, people’s attitudes, and landscapes to New Zealand. Colorado is a similar area at 269,603sq km, to our 268,021sq km. The population of 5.8 million is dominated by one city, Denver, not too dissimilar to God’s Own.
As in New Zealand, both have mountain regions, encouraging outdoor lifestyles with lots of scenery, tourism and farming. In the 1800s, the discovery of gold led to vast wealth, development, and investment. When the gold eventually ran out, both economies transitioned to other resources.”
Price On: logic – and an Austin Seven
Life lessons, 101. When there’s a problem, logic will inevitably fix it as long as you do things in a set order. It’s just common sense, according to Greg.
“Thanks (or rather, no thanks) to modern technology, I’ve had to replace my current (at least) 20-year-old cell phone because some bright spark decided that the old 3G network has to be replaced with 4G!
Why? I’ve no idea, but I have resisted the change for as long as I could, but in mid-July, I bought a more modern phone, and my problems started! The main issue I had was that I could not transfer my cool call tunes.
And can I say here that the modern ones are not ones that I would want anywhere near my phone! But logic prevailed in the end, and the fact that none of the helpline personnel had English as their first language didn’t help in the interim.”
Market Report: Buying a Triumph Stag
If you were to scour the back catalogue of British Leyland, many cars, some radical, some controversial, and some ho-hum, will spring to mind. For many, one of the boldest and most beautiful of all was the Triumph Stag.
“Built from 1970 to 1977 for well-to-do continental types to saunter around country lanes and across Europe, with its glorious sounding V8, gorgeous Michelotti styling and that wind in your hair feeling of freedom thanks to its clever T-Top roll-bar arrangement (something which Triumph had to include to make the Stag sellable in the US), has earned it legions of fans.
“Personally, I find the Stag a car like no other,” says Stag owner Nixon Fryer. “The Stag’s unique T-Top roll-over hoop and its long, muscular look make it stand out from any other car of its class, along with it being one of only a handful of British V8 sports tourers.”
Ferrari masterpiece in miniature
The Little Car Company (TLCC) celebrates the artistry of Ferrari in a collaboration that has produced a three-quarter scale electric recreation of the 1957 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa.
“A body crafted in hand-beaten aluminium, and the attention to detail is exquisite. Spectacular Borrani-style wire wheels with Pirelli Cinturato tyres, presumably made specifically for this vehicle, add significantly to its aesthetic appeal.
A handcrafted Nardi steering wheel, featuring a quick-release system for easy driver entry to seating configured for both an adult and a junior driver or passenger. Suspension springs are by Eibach, dampers are by Bilstein, and brakes are by Brembo. Just like the real thing, and there is an authentic Ferrari chassis identification plate.
To complement the leather-trimmed interior, delightful dashboard instruments provide detailed information on speed, battery charge, engine temperature, and energy delivery.”
Corvettes to the Coast-Punakaikai
That time is coming around again, the first Friday after Daylight Saving in September, Chevrolet Corvette enthusiasts head for Punakaikai, a special place on the West Coast, for their annual ritual retreat, something the group has done for the past 15 years.
“Organised by Dave and Gail Bell, the 2024 group covered models from 1963 to 2024. Janet and I joined the group on our trip from Wellington. The event is primarily about socialising. Here is a glimpse of some of the cars and their owners, featuring one standout car from each series. The 2025 event is looking good.”
2017 Holden Equinox Sports Car
Holden has been immortalised by an enthusiastic Taranaki couple who created a museum dedicated to the marque, which received some surprising support from the highest level of the company.
“Steve Fabish has been a Holden enthusiast for decades and bought his first Holden, a ute, when he was eighteen. For a couple of decades, he has bought more Holdens than he has sold. He and his wife, Joy, decided that it was high time to build a shed to house them all on his six-hectare property in Hillsborough, just down the road from Egmont Village, Taranaki. Their Hillsborough Car Museum near New Plymouth uniquely focuses on the Holden marque.”
Classic Motorsport Part 2: A great season for classics
We continue our retrospective on a fantastic season of classic racing and urge those historic cars sitting in garages to dust them off and bring them back to the track.
“The Taupō Historic GP kicked off the New Year of racing in spectacular fashion, while the NZIGP Legends of Speed Festival in late January further showcased the splendour of classic car racing in New Zealand. This year’s event celebrated the motorsport career of David Oxton, highlighting his achievements and contributions to the Formula Atlantic and Formula Ford communities.”
Special Rally Report, Part 1: A man of few words
A winning talent behind the wheel of a rally car, Southland’s Barry Robinson also had a keen eye for what worked best in a rally car. Long-time friend, co-driver, and team mechanic Geoff Lange recalls some of those successes and some great underwear changing moments rallying alongside Barry.
“Barry and John Keast from Winton had just competed at the Blenheim Rally in Barry’s 2-litre HB Viva GT in the mid-1980s. They left the car and trailer in Blenheim, then ferried across to Peter Parnell’s workshop in Wellington to check out how to rally-build Barry’s burgundy red ex-rental, 1256cc Chevette he had just bought.
The discussion about what to do continued on the drive home, and the die was set. Barry stripped the car and delivered it to John Keast (‘Keasty’) in Winton to fabricate the alloy cage and the floor.”
Clubbing: Chevron delights
Welcome to a new section in New Zealand Classic Car magazine just for clubs. In the past year, it has become obvious that many motoring clubs are catering for all tastes, so if you have a national event or project, then let us know and we can spread the word for new members. It could even be a feature in the magazine.
“Citroën, a French automobile manufacturer, has a rich history of innovation and design that began with its founding in 1919 by André Citroën. The brand is known for its bold engineering choices and has consistently pushed the boundaries of automotive technology, particularly in areas like suspension and styling.”
Shelf classics: 90 years of Fun Ho! Classics
New Zealand’s Toy Heritage for Children of all ages is perhaps best typified in Fun Ho! Classics. These sturdy models are still popular with collectors.
“Fun Ho! Toys has been manufacturing for 90 years, producing four main ranges: Lead, Cast Aluminium, Midgets, and Repro. The company started in the 1930s when Jack Harold Underwood experimented with lead toys in his Karori home, leading to the establishment of his business in 1935.
The initial products were lead models catalogued in the order of production. The first model was the Fire Engine Pump (No. 1), followed by a robust Sedan Car (No. 5) and the same car in an Army finish (No. 6), both inspired by the Chrysler or DeSoto Airflow saloons from 1934.”
Industry insiders
Motorsport services unique to New Zealand: Elite engineering
Kiwis have been making their mark in international motor racing for decades, both behind the wheel and in the pit crews, and they have consistently been at the forefront of the sport.
“Cromwell engineer Tim White relishes the many challenges in motorsport and thrives in this dynamic environment.”
Crafted to haul, built to last: Bespoke Trailers
Bespoke Enclosed Trailers from Temuka. Every trailer is constructed in-house from the ground up
“Tucked away in the heart of South Canterbury, a small but mighty workshop in Temuka is redefining what it means to build trailers. With a strong reputation for quality, customisation, and craftsmanship, this locally owned business specialises in building bespoke enclosed trailers—each one built to order and tailored exactly to the client’s needs.”
Classic Car News
Reports from the Chris Amon statue unveiling in Bulls, the Waikato Mustang owners, all-Ford charity day, and the Ayrburn Classic announce its dates for the 2026 event, now being held in February.
