Charles Spencer ‘Spen’ King died on June 26, 2010, following injuries received after he was knocked off his bicycle. Donn remembers the life and career of this famed British automotive engineer, best remembered for creating the Range Rover.

When the brilliant engineer, Spen King, was in Nelson 31 years ago he was privately concerned about the problems within British Leyland. It was another six years before the Englishman retired from the company, and only then could he vent some of his frustration.

Charles Spencer King has a lot to answer for, according to some industry watchers. He is the man who created the original Range Rover in 1970, the ubiquitous four-wheel-drive vehicle that spawned the SUV or Sport Utility Vehicle. Even the most virulent of British motor industry critics agree the Range Rover was an inspired car.

In 2004 King lambasted SUV owners who mainly used their vehicles in urban areas. The Range Rover, he said, was never intended as a status symbol even though – “later incarnations of my design seem to be intended for that purpose.” Spen said the extraordinary thing about the Range Rover was that it lasted – it was tooled up for hardly anything, engineered from nothing and made a lot of money for its makers without being updated or improved.

This was essentially the last real Rover. King recalled that while the Range Rover was made by the Rover Company, the Rover 3500 SD1 hatchback was “made by a sort of gang of imports from Austin Morris.” Traditional rivalry often boiled over among the brands within the British Leyland empire, and King had always been a Rover man. He said while the SD1 started off being engineered by Rover, it wasn’t made as a Rover product. Read full story…

The National Hot Rod Association has announced the dates for this year’s National Hot Rod Show with the event taking place on the weekend of October 15th-16th. The organising committee is now in full swing putting everything into place for this huge weekend on the hot rod calendar.

The club has also announced that Mobil Oil has come on board as an associate sponsor, this means all major sponsorship is in place. All indoor trade display sites have been sold (they all will be car related of course), but there is still limited room outside for some more trade displays.

Hawera is gearing up for the weekend with the town business association organising a Hot Rod themed shop window display competition, and a market day with the local rock & roll club on the Saturday morning.

On Friday night the bar of show sponsor Rough Habits are holding a “Rock FM” party, so this will be a great night with lots of give-aways and fun. The Lazyboyz band is booked for Saturday night’s dinner.

The trophy’s are designed and are going to be very unique this year so if you want to win one, better get your entry sorted. Read full story…

Ford’s Fiesta had a highly successful year in 2010 with a massive number of global sales but this wasn’t the first big year for the plucky hatchback.

The Fiesta’s history goes all the way back to 1976 when the very first Fiesta rolled off the production line. Since then it has gone on to sell 15 million units and demand is showing no signs of slowing. The Fiesta is currently Europe’s biggest selling small-car with production coming out of Cologne, Germany. It is also built in Nanjing, China, Rayong, Thailand, and Cuautitlàn, Mexico.

After thirty-five years, six generations and 15 million cars the Fiesta began from humble beginnings and is now a nameplate with heritage and longevity. Read full story…

NZ Classic Car’s editorial team take a break, size up some future feature ideas, sample the fare offered at the Formosa Golf Club and, just for good measure, road-test a Porsche Cayman S

During the course of the working year, NZ Classic Car’s lead editorial team (all two of us) don’t often get a chance to relax and take a breather – from the moment we start work on the first issue of the year the copy, production and print deadlines pile up on top of each other leaving little room for idle reflection. As I discovered when I took over the Deputy Editor’s reins from Tim Nevinson, the job is definitely of the 24/7 variety. Mind you, I’m not complaining (no one would listen anyway) – I mean, there are very fews occupations that allow you to combine a love for classic cars with a regular pay-packet!

However, during a recent round of planning meetings, NZ Classic Car’s loyal and hard-working sales team must’ve felt that the editorial team were looking at little frayed around the edges – not too surprising as we’d been working without a break since the latter half of January. As such, they came up with a scheme which would allow us to take a day off, enjoy a drive in a comfortable, modern sports car and, just to round everything off, they also arranged for us to enjoy lunch at a local luxury golf resort. Typically, of course, we also decided to use the ‘day off’ to visit a few ‘car’ people – a busman’s holiday.

Our day would start, of course, with the picking up of our ‘chosen’ car. Read full story…

There’s hasn’t been much in the way of new news about Mercedes-Benz SL-Class vehicles recently. It may be because the current model is almost eight years old or perhaps because it’s slowly and very quietly being put out to pasture.

It was back in 2008 that the  SL-Class received it’s most recent facelift but has fallen off the radar of buyers since then, and fuel economy could be a reason. To combat this, Mercedes is discontinuing its twelve-cylinder versions of the SL. The SL600 was the first to go and now the SL65 AMG is getting the chop as well. But it remains unclear if the fixed-roof SL65 AMG Black Series will continue on. Read full story…

The latest big budget Hollywood movie to reach NZ cinema screens is Captain America, a story based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. Like many comic book characters Captain America is old school in nature with his comics first released back in the 1940s. But that hasn’t stopped the creators of the blockbuster film from building some unique retro vehicles for the period-accurate story.

Set in the second World War, Captain America uses a motorcycle to get around, but not just any bike, the most quintessential of American motorbikes – a Harley-Davidson. Designed as a modern interpretation of H-D’s classic WLA military motorcycles, Captain America’s custom machine begun its life as a stock Harley-Davidson Cross Bones model. Which is a good start considering the Cross Bones has spring-mounted solo saddle and springer fork making it the most suitable platform in H-D’s current range from which to begin.

A video clip has been released to show how the bike was developed and a couple of snippets from the movie, check it out below. Read full story…

Next year’s Formula 1 Grand Prix in Melbourne will see some classic racing machines take to the circuit, with recent news that the Australian Touring Car heroes of yesteryear will be given a special support category for the event.

A broad range of around 40 of the original Group C and Group A Touring Cars from the 70s, 80s and 90s will go at it on the track, including Holdens, Fords, Jaguars, Nissans and even Volvos.

It’s been give the name ‘Touring Car Revival Series’, and will see the return of not just famous race cars but also some of the driving heroes of the ATCC.

Jim Richards has been appointed ambassador for the Touring Car Revival series and Shannons Insurance will provide main sponsorship.

“This is a celebration of an era that was an important part of my life,” Richards, four-time Australian Touring Car Champion said. “I drove Toranas, Commodores, an XB Falcon, BMWs and Nissans and the variety of makes and models created fantastic racing for both drivers and spectators. I am currently restoring the first Group A BMW M3 that I raced in the 1980s and I’ll be competing in the Revival at the Grand Prix, either in my own car if it is finished in time, or another car from that era.” Read full story…

A new council initiative enabling the free, safe and easy disposal of households’ used engine oil is being trialled in the Auckland region, with home mechanics the key target.

Launched by Auckland Council earlier this year with funding from the Ministry for the Environment and industry partners’ support, the trial aims to provide an effective solution for capturing and recycling the public’s waste oil.

Auckland Council’s Manager of Infrastructure and Environmental Services John Dragicevich says more than 70,000 litres of used engine oil and 4000kg of plastic containers was recovered and recycled in the first three months’ of the trial via special drop-off bins introduced around the region.

However with more than 650,000 litres of recoverable waste oil produced by the region’s households annually the council is keen to see even more people take advantage of the pilot scheme, given the potential harm from oil disposed of unsafely.

“In particular we’re encouraging DIY mechanics who do their own engine oil changes  at home to use the free oil recovery bins now available at Repco stores around Auckland and Total Oil’s office in East Tamaki. “

Environment and Sustainability Forum Chairman Wayne Walker says it’s estimated that historically only one third of Auckland households’ used engine oil was disposed of safely, primarily because the majority of residents did not have easy access to safe, convenient disposal services. Read full story…