Keen to get involved in October’s Meguiar’s Car Crazy Charity Cruise?

24 September, 2015

The Meguiar’s Car Crazy Charity Cruise is back for the second time in 2016 on October 31, with organizers teaming up with Big Boys Toys in support of the wonderful work undertaken by CanTeen around cancer awareness and support. The cruise will be held on the Saturday of the Big Boys Toys event, starting off with a 9am sign in at Smits Group / Meguiar’s headquarters at 59 Greenmount Drive, East Tamaki, where entrants will receive their gift packs, their cruise route, and their official cruise sticker.

The cars will be under way at 10am sharp, following a scenic route to Big Boys Toys (held at Auckland’s ASB Showgrounds, Greenlane), where entrants will perform a lap of the live action arena before parking their machines in the VIP car park for show goers to admire.

Registration for the Meguiar’s Car Crazy Charity Cruise costs $45 per car, with the Meguiar’s VIP entry pack including a selection of products, a further discount voucher for use at the Meguiar’s / Smits Group stand at Big Boys Toys, and, of course, entry to the show for everyone in your car. The Big Boys Toys team have come to the party here, and best of all your entire entry fee will be donated to CanTeen.

The Meguiar’s Car Crazy Charity Cruise is limited to well-presented vehicles only — including customs, classics, hot rods, imports, and street machines. Those who do enter will go in the draw to win a People’s Choice Award, worth $700 in cash, as well as many other prizes, so get your registration in quick to avoid missing out.

Organizers want to raise as much as they can for CanTeen, so in addition to the 100-per-cent donation of the entry fee, Smits Group / Meguiar’s will donate 50 cents for every legitimate vote in the Meguiar’s Car Crazy Charity Cruise Peoples’ Choice Award. Voting forms will be provided to every person entering the showgrounds via the event guide, plus spare copies will be available at the gate and at the Meguiar’s stand. The better your car is presented, the more votes placed, and the more dollars raised!

To join the charity cruise, get your car ‘show and shine’ ready and register for the Meguiar’s Car Crazy Charity Cruise at the Meguiar’s website. Good luck, and we’ll see you there!

Range Rover CSK — the original SUV

The Range Rover, thanks to Charles Spencer King, went into production in 1970 boasting an iconic shape that would last until 1996. The vehicle that would create the SUV moniker came about because Rover decided it was time to add a bigger four-wheel-drive vehicle, one with a 100-inch wheelbase, to the model range. Land Rover made a 109-inch wheelbase model but the standard vehicle had a 88-inch wheelbase.
The new model would be more suitable for road use than the existing Land Rover, which was considered to be predominantly for rural use. To make sure it could cope on any road it came standard with the Rover 3.5-litre V8 engine. The body design was originally sketched by King and went into production with only a few minor touch-ups by the Rover styling team.
According to King, “The idea was to combine the comfort and on-road ability of a Rover saloon with the off-road ability of a Land Rover. Nobody was doing it.”

Ford’s Mustang – the endlessly hip American dream machine

Fifty or so years ago, the only place in New Zealand to see a Ford Mustang was on the racetrack. In a local market severely constrained by a lack of new motor vehicles, the new North American Ford was a dreamy icon boosted by considerable motorsport success.
Import licences for cars were limited, and if Kiwis travelled abroad, the amount of currency they could take with them was restricted. What’s more, those funds could not be used to buy a car for importation back home. Yet it was OK to spend the money on heavy drinking at a London pub, Gucci shoes, sable fur coats, and excessive stays at the Hôtel Martinez at Cannes in France.
However, any rare Mustang that landed on our shores would not be destined to pose around Auckland’s then trendy Queen Street on a Friday night but would more likely be found in the care of well-known racing drivers on the starting grid at local motor racing tracks.