Greetings from New Z-land to all in CC-land! A week or three ago we popped over to Cambridge, New Zealand to partake of a swapmeet and classic cars – both carparked and curbside. The vehicular delights of Cambridge continued just a week afterwards, with a classic car show. It was meant to be curbside, but a slight hiccup involving fallen trees and health & safety folks meant it was moved lakeside. It promised to have plenty of classics for our ogling eyes, so as your Kiwi KurbLakeside Klassic Korrespondent, I popped along. And I can report the variety of classics in attendance was fantastic! There were so many fun finds that I’ve split my report in two for your reading convenience. Tomorrow we’ll feature only Aussie cars, but we’ll begin today by looking at Everything Except the Aussies. Let’s read on…
Sunday 17 November 2013 dawned bright and clear. Probably. I’m not really an early-morning person, so it’s kinda hard to be sure. But it was definitely a beautiful late spring day by mid-morning when I arrived lakeside! The venue was Lake Karapiro, one of 8 dammed (not damned!) hydro lakes on the NZ’s longest river, the 425km Waikato River that flows through our North Island. Lake Karapiro is an internationally renowned rowing venue, and can now add “superb spot for a classic car show” to its resume.
Like all car shows, I anticipated a lot of garage queens that are nice but less interesting to me. But before I even got in the gate I was rewarded with this 1963 Wolseley 1500 sedan that looked well-used and well-loved – just the way we like it! Interestingly, the 1500 and its Riley One-Point-Five sibling were based on the Morris Minor underpinnings, yet somehow they manage to look far smaller than the Minor. Fun fact: The badge in the centre of the grille lights up with the headlights, quite a cool feature!
Although this particular 1500 was a 1963 model, the shape was launched in 1957, the same year this glorious green Pontiac Superchief rocketed into the world. It seems strange to think both cars were designed on the same planet at the same time, and really highlights the vehiculturalTM differences each side of the Atlantic. And yes, I just invented “vehiculturalTM”, pretty cool huh?
Of somewhat older vintage than the Ponti’ was a 1937 Hudson Terraplane. Don’t you miss such beautifully crafted badges and hood ornaments? Also beautifully crafted was the engine bay in this:
No, it’s not a real GT40, but it does look nice in the Gulf colours, and every nice engine bay should have a viewing window!
“One of these things is not like the other…” C’mon, y’all know the song, “One of these things is not quite the same…”
I found this scene interesting: a Clan-Musclecar gathering of the 2013 Challenger/Camaro/Mustang being gatecrashed by a ’73 ‘Stang. The ’73 had the longest bonnet (or hood to our Northern Hemispherical friends), and the styling looked surprisingly delicate next to the heavy-handed styling of the new muscle cars. It was the first time I’ve considered using the words “subtle” and “1973 Mustang” in the same sentence…
Lake Karapiro and tent photo-bomb gathering of big ol’ white cars.
One of the nicest finds at the earlier Cambridge Carpark was a brilliant blue 1948 Nash Ambassador. Looking blinding in white, here’s its older sibling, the 1937 Lafayette 400, keeping curblakeside company with a swamp-coolered Chev.
While we’re in the 1930s, this 1936 Dodge coupe moved me, as I owned a 1936 Touring Sedan from 1994-1999. Mine had been my late Grandfather’s since 1950, and it still saddens me that I had to sell it. As with every ’36 I’ve seen, this one’s lost the original crank handle slot cover – mine had a mint spare, makes me wish I kept it when I sold the car. My ’36 was burgundy, but the yellow on this one’s a lot brighter!
“I’m blue da ba dee da ba di, da ba dee da ba di, da ba dee da ba di…”
Equally bright, Mr Bond, was this iridescent blue NZ-new Aston Martin DBS! Not sure I’ve seen one in the metal before, but now I have, those park/indicator lights look suspiciously like Mk II Ford Cortina units to me! Gosh, if only there was some way to tell what year it was… 😉
Over the tannoy: “We have an elderly British chap here who’s lost his hat. If anyone finds it…”
Also feeling blue was this elderly Brit who’s lost his hat and was wearing his grandchild’s over-large shoes. Close examination showed that he didn’t possess a toupee either, so the poor old chap’s going to get mighty hot.
Next we sail back across the Atlantic to a January 1940 Ford Tudor V8. I love those taillights – they remind me of army stripes. I wonder if they and the wartime-esque colour were intentional, given WWII was underway? On the subject of wartime vehicles:
“No really, I’m a big softy at heart; I like nature and long drives on the beach…”
Dodge ¾ ton trucks were used by the American military in WWII; post-war they became known as the Power Wagon. This one, which I’ve named The Artful Dodger, was hitched to a vintage caravan, and started life as a 1950 model. I suspect there aren’t many of the 1950 parts remaining! Update: it has a 520hp Chev LS3 V8 under the hood!
Also haulin’ a vintage caravan was this 1966 Mk I Ford Cortina. It’s registered as a 1200cc, whereas the plain-jane 1963 model beside is the 1500. Given the additional cooling holes under the grille, I suspect “1200cc” refers to a 12A Mazda rotary transplant, now that would give it the dash to match its flash!
Another Ford of UK origin was this 1972 Mark I Ford Escort 1600GT. I have a soft spot for it, as my first car in 1991 was a 1971 Escort 1300XL. As with many teenage males, I fitted a stereo to mine that cost more than the car…ah to be young and dumb again! In an early display of my future Broughamitis I also fitted the velour interior from a Mk II Escort Ghia. I spent $5K on mine and sold it for $1K…ouch…
For many years, Mk I and II Escorts were the go-to first car for teenage Kiwi petrolheads, so they (the cars) often met a premature end in a cloud of smoke. Possibly while also upside down in a paddock, but I digress. Mind you, Ford assisted Escorts’ premature end by thoughtfully engineering planned-obsolescence into the Mk I. There’s a horizontal join on the firewall where it meets the scuttle, and this join has a fascinating tendency to split due to rust. When it does split, lifting the bonnet really high pulls the join apart enough to allow a glimpse of the interior. Don’t ask me how I know… But enough rambling, let’s rejoin (hah!) the rest of the cars. Right across from the Escort was this…er…um…anyone?
Well, it turns out this is a 1951 Allard P1 Roadster. That windscreen looks disproportionate to me, and the rear end features frenched Cadillac bullet taillights, so I suspect this has been somewhat customised from original. Update: it was NZ-new as a two door saloon, but badly damaged in a crash in 1955, and subsequently rebuilt in 1958 as a unique Roadster, similar to its current form.
Speaking of “Cadillac” and “customised”, here’s the ultimate factory-built custom, a 1976 Cadillac Fleetwood Talisman. Update: the ’76 Talisman wasn’t available with the rear seat console. This specific car was discussed by the Cadlillac-La Salle forums in 2007 when it appeared on eBay, withe the suggestion being that this car may be a clone. Regardless, it’s simply spectacular!
New Zealand: Putting the “Bro” in your Brougham!
This is the first Talisman I’ve seen in the velvet metal, and oh, it was love at first sight! Get a load of that crushed velvet, that huge sunroof, that 1961 A55 Austin Cambridge:
Note the previously posted Willys sneaking into the foreground.
The A55 Cambridge was the originator of the Austin ‘Farina’ colloquialism. I wonder how much was actually Pininfarina’s work and how much was tweaked by the Austin designers? I like the design, but do prefer the face-lifted A60 version with smaller fins.
Well folks, we’re nearly at the end of our ‘Everything Except The Aussies’ tour, but no car show would be complete without a VW Kombi, and here we have two for your Kombined delight! The sublimely cool pick-up was new here on 17 May 1962, and although a mid-70s immigrant, the van was also born in ’62 . Very nice pairing!
Well, I nearly made it back to my car, but en route I was stunned by this 1980 AMC Spirit. I’ve admired these from afar for years, but had never seen one in person until now. So was meeting one of my heroes a let-down or worth the wait? Well in this case I can say yes, totally worth it! It was smaller in person than I’d pictured from pictures, and the Armco barriers that pass for bumpers were distracting, but I liked it a lot and would happily have driven it home!
So that was Everything Except The Aussies, but there were loads of Australian-built cars attending, so tune in tomorrow for CurbLakeside in Cambridge II – The Australian Alumni. Here’s a little something to help with the anticip……….ation:
“Calling Mr Max, Mr Mad Max, your car is ready Mr Max…”
Thanks for another great feature Scott,my music teacher Mr Watkins had a Wolsley like the feature car except it was maroon.I love the colour combination on the Pontiac.The Allard is an interesting car,I lived and worked in Putney south west London where they were built Mum had a Mk1 Cortina in a horrid pale green(Ludlow Green?) I quite like the tattoo style pinstriping and can’t wait to see more of that Mad Max Falcon,I’ve been a fan of Aussie Falcons since seeing the film.
I actually took a whole series of photos of that Mk I Cortina – the caravan had the same pin striping etc on it. There was also a highly unusual low-rider style bicycle beside it in the same paint/pinstripes.
That Falcon was an absolute beauty, more details next write up!
the little Cortina dosent have a rotary as suggested, how insulting ! it has
an lt1 chev corvette motor and trans with a mustang diff , vn commodore front
end and a full length chassis. any questions don’t be shy.
Hey Peter, thanks for dropping by – and apologies re suggesting the Cortina may have a rotary! I was relying on carjam though, so I’ll partly blame them! The car+bike+caravan looked awesome together, if they’re yours, you’ve done a fantastic job, and an LT1 in a Cortina sounds quite intriguing, I bet it goes like the clappers. Cheers! Scott.
Great selection. The pictures warmed me up a bit as well, as I just came in from some light snow outside.
I really like quite a few of these, including the little-remembered Lafayette. The Power Wagon is also a favorite of mine, and a vehicle that remained in the Dodge catalog into 1968, almost unchanged, right down to the flathead 6. I understand that Chrysler finally killed it out of an unwillingness to make an attempt to bring the ancient flathead into emissions compliance.
The 1940 Ford is a classically beautiful design. It is one of those cars that has become iconic and you sort of look past them due to their popularity over the past decades. Then I look at it and see it all over again, nearly perfect in proportion and detail. How did they completely botch it for 1941? A discussion for another day, I suppose.
The Lafayette had a nice exterior, but I didn’t like the interior as it wasn’t original – featuring modern Japanese seats, the speedo out of a ’70s Ford Falcon, and the steering wheel from a Holden Brougham.
NZ entered WWII in ’39 when the Brits did, so we didn’t get any new cars between 1939 and 1945. That ’40 is a recent import, I’d never seen one before, and had definitely not seen a ’41 until 30 seconds ago on google…and I agree the ’40 is much better looking!
Not quite no new cars during WW2 a friend of mine has a 1940 Hillman Minx wartime delivery all the brightwork was sprayed over when he got it and we did get lend lease cars from the US just none for public sale.
Hi Scott,
It is nice to see my Nash Lafayette on your page, and your comments..
I built up the Nash Lafayette and you are almost right ..
The front seats are Peugeot, and the rear is Toyota Cressida (sliding type) and the steering wheel is HX / Z Holden..
I’m not sure about the speedo, but the smaller gauges come from Escorts thru to Vanguards.. That ol’ car of mine is a real mixture believe me..as second hand parts don’t exist like Fords or Chevs
I made many parts for it , including the running boards, grille, bonnet side panels and tail lights, so yes she’s a bitsa, but I’ll explain.. Read on..
When I found the car it was a totally stripped out rusted wreck.. Even the VVC had given up on it.. I rebuilt the body and due to a previous owner stripping everything (I mean everything) mechanical, and left on the shed floor to rust..
I fitted a Chev 350 motor T350 auto, Holden HG front end with HQ discs.. The diff is a Ford 9” head with HQ statesman axle tubes and brakes..
I know it’s more of a street rod / low rider now, but it’s another beautiful old car still on the road,..
Hope this explains a little bit of the mixture of parts..
Cheers Grant..
That Dodge was at Meanee speedway show recently Ive always liked those dodge Command cars built on the 4×4 chassis, I saw an Australian version of the Wolseley 1500 in Fielding, An Austin Lancer. Looking forward to tomorow.
I remember a friend had one of these Wolseleys and the badge still lit up. Lovely touch.
An Austin Lancer would be a fantastic find! No light-up badge on then though sorry Don!
Theres one of those Falcon vans next to the tudor and a Mustang coupe on the background, I prefer the A60 but I had a 65 Oxford Estate and they used the A55 style rear lights, good show wish now I’d gone I think the Allard tail lights are an engine call out, they were available with Cadillac or Ford V8 motors certainly not original but I like it.
Yes, it was a great show – there was so much space and it was a much better venue than the original venue in the town.
Interesting info about the Allard engines, I didn’t know that!
Nice theory on the DBS indicator cluster. I wonder if you’re right.
Yes, I’d like to know. Cortinas have the orange indicator on top, so if these are the same Aston swapped them left-for-right so that the indicator’s on the bottom. The spacing of the indicators and twin headlights said Mk IV Zodiac to me, but although similar, the Zephyr/Zodi indicator cluster is a bit too different.
Many makers of exotic cars used lights,switches etc from the more common makes.I think Bristol or Jensen used Morris Marina rear lights.
And the overall grille shape reminds me of a non-Gran Torino:
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/74-Torino-001.jpg
William Towns was very aware of the original Camaro and was using it as his benchmark when designing this around 1968.
Wow, you’re right about that non-Gran Torino grille nlpnt!
Nice presentation Scott! I wonder if there were actually a few Australian-built cars or were the UK-based Ford & BMC’s assembled locally?
It must be unusual that a 40yo car (Mustang) has more front overhang than the modern ones? The early Chev has possibly the largest sun visor I’ve seen on a car! The Bond reference reminded me that the actual car from On Her Majesty’s Secret Service is over here, I’ve seen it at a couple of shows. It looks like (I hope) the chopped Jag was originally a sedan – too few XJC’s were built to butcher like that. The Allard looks like a K1, as the P1 was a coupe with a taller body.
Finally, I’m interested to hear how the size and proportion of the AMC Spirit compares to a Torana hatchback?
John H, for some reason your comment was marked as spam, hence the late posting of it. Glad you enjoyed the write up though, thank you!
I’m unsure about the BMC, but the Escort would definitely be NZ-assembled. We do have Australian-built Escorts and Cortinas here, but they are rare. Most of ours were CKD from the UK.
Yes, the ’73 Mustang’s proportions alongside the new cars made a very interesting juxtaposition. I guess the much larger wheels cars wear nowadays would alter proportions and appear to eat into overhang – it’d be interesting to measure from the centre of the hub forwards to see if the overhang is that different.
There was a row of cars with enormous visors like the Chev’s, they looked awesome! Photo below.
I couldn’t decide if the Jag was a cut-down sedan or XJC – the rear interior definitely appeared to be XJC…
I did some digging and the Allard is definitely a P1. NZ-new too, I’ll post more details soon.
I have a chart of Spirit vs Torana hatch dimensions, will post it separately.
John H, here’s the Spirit vs Torana hatch specs. The Holden’s longer, the AMC’s wider. An interesting comparison!
Fun group of cars. More fun stuff in the background. ’72 / ’73 Imperial, ’67 Chevy, Safari clamshell, ’63 / ’64 Cadillac.
What is the black car in front of the Talisman?
I like a great Brougham, but the Talisman was too over-the-top for me.
Annoyingly I didn’t spot the Imperial until I was reviewing my photos at home! No idea how I missed it, I’ll try harder next time!
The black car is a 1955 Willys Custom Delux 2.6 litre – I didn’t mention it this time as there are four photos of it at the end of one of my earlier articles – https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/car-show-classic/car-show-classics-curbside-in-cambridge-part-ii-the-carpark-tales/
It’s an absolute beauty of a Willys!
Thanks for the link and another look at some great cars!
Doh! Missed that first time through, shame on me. Gold with white top, and after zooming in on the grille, I’ll bet a ballast resistor that’s a ’72.
You’re correct 73ImpCapn, it’s a ’72 Le Baron 440, with 125,000ml on it. The photo above is cropped, but the original shows the number plate (“LRGCAR”) so I was able to look it up and find another pic of it:
I was marvelling at your model, year and engine expertise. Then I remembered, you Kiwis have it all on line! Very nice.
With number plate reading technology like the cops are all getting, and an open-source database like that, we could devise the Automatic CC Spotter. Just set it up with those rare ones you’ve always been looking for, and it’ll find ’em and snap ’em.
Shhhhh! You’re giving away my secrets!!! Lol, yes, carjam is a fantastic resource. We used to be able to see full ownership history too, with all the changes of owners, but the privacy law killed that a couple of years ago. What we’re left with is still superb though.
It’s not as open-source as it was, as a couple of years ago the government decided the info shouldn’t be free. So carjam users have to register, and in return they get a set number of free rego plate lookups per month. Each time someone does a lookup, carjam store the results on their server. Future searchers of that particular rego number will then see the info as it was the original day it was looked up. This means that the mileage history may be a year or 3 out if no-one’s looked up a particular car recently. The other downside is that if I’ve used up all my free lookups for the month and search a rego plate that hasn’t been searched before, I’d have to pay for the lookup. Thankfully there are enough users and enough existing lookups now that this rarely happens any more.
After years of caraholicism I know most makes/models/years/engines anyway, but carjam’s great for confirming what I suspect and filling in blanks!
Edit: We’re only getting the number plate recognition stuff now, but I like your idea!
Problem with carjam it has all the mistakes in it too all the typos are still there and recorded mistakes are nearly impossible to correct.
What, no pics of the Imperial in the background behind the AMC Spirit?
I really think that, if Cadillac starts actually naming their cars again, they should call one the Talisman. What a cool name.
I know, I’m deeply embarrassed… I have no idea how I managed to miss the ‘perial – I didn’t spot it until I was reviewing the photos at home. In my defence I had been there for about 3 hours by that stage and the sun was very hot!
I dunno, can frozen Canadians feel sorry for a New Zealander because it’s hot out?
I don’t think customization has helped that Allard at all, you needed a side shot of it to fully appreciate how ungainly the proportions are. Allards generally were function over form, but at least the race cars had a purposeful ugliness to them.
I’d want to take home the stock Cortina behind the wildly painted one.
I found out some more about the pictured Allard, as it was featured in New Zealand Classic Car magazine in 2012. Link here: http://www.classiccar.co.nz/articles/1951-allard-p1-gentleman-racer-253
To summarise the NZCC article, the car pictured above is definitely a P1 (despite resembling the K1) and was NZ-new in 1951 as a 2-door sedan (as all P1 Allards were). It was badly damaged in a car accident in 1955, and rebuilt in 1958 into a “racing sports car”, similar to how it appears now. The engine, a 3.9L/239ci Mercury V8, received Edelbrock heads and triple carbs at the same time. The current owner bought the car in 2006 in “far worse condition than…thought at first sight”, and commenced restoration – during which time he located a previous owner’s son who supplied a photo of the car in its racing heyday.
Courtesy of NZCC, here’s the car as it was post-1958 modifications, and as it is today:
Some really nice rides but that Dodge Power Wagon belongs with me! I like the quad headlite setup and the flatbed/rollcage rig out back. Gorgeous! I can only hope it has a Cummins 6BT under the hood….
The Power Wagon actually has a 520hp Chev Ls3 350 and TH400, so it’d be mighty quick! The quad headlights are from a Peterbuilt, and I think they look great!
The whole thing is rather modified – 3″ roof chop and 20″ wheelbase trim. I don’t normally go for such heavily modded vehicles, but this was a stunner and I loved it!
There are more details about the mods and its capabilities here on the owner’s website: http://heritageclassics.co.nz/vehicles/currently-for-sale/1950-dodge-power-wagon-4×4/
Of course, I love the Fleetwood Talisman, but wish it didn’t have the ticky-tacky aftermarket chrome header above the grille. I’d love to see more of the Imperial and that silver-blue 1974-76 Pontiac Safari wagon.
I found an Imperial of my own just a month or so ago:
I tend to agree with you re the Talisman’s chrome header – although in (faint!) defence of it, I studied it closely and it was a lot better fitting than others I’ve seen.
I didn’t spot the Imperial until I was home, so you’ll have to wait until I see it at another show! I did spot the Safari wagon, but by that stage I’d been wandering around in 28 Celsius for three hours, was feeling the heat (I like cold weather) and decided it could wait until I saw it at another show too sorry Tom!