Penn checks out an exceptional, British-built Blower Bentley replica.

Words and Photos Penn McKay

As I write it’s 10 days since I revelled in a drive in this magnificent classic on a mellow February morning. This drive took us from Auckland to Wellsford in a manner very few makes of cars can emulate — simply because there are very few cars like this one. In fact, I can only remember one — George Unspellable’s magnificent 1924 Renault 45, itself a monster car to rival the big Bentleys.

It was the kind of drive that stays in your memory for the rest of your days; a huge powerful locomotive-like machine hammering along every passing lane as it made short work of rice rockets, buses and trucks alike. You look down on most cars with conscious superiority and across the short space to the truck drivers’ cabs — smirking as you attempt to look nonchalent!

It is designated as a 1933 4.5-litre Blower Bentley, with a Le Mans-type body

Those passing lanes kept my driver, Guy King, busy as hell. Between double de-clutching down, then up the cogs, switching the awkwardly placed electric overdrive control on and off, peering at the array of gauges, sawing away at the wheel and grinning like a maniacal Toad of Toad Hall in his helmet and goggles, he was having a ball. All of this whilst I watched out of the corner of my bulging eye the speedo needle wavering around some magical numbers. Couldn’t have been right though, surely old cars can’t do those numbers? This Blower Bentley Special belongs to John Blair but he, poor beggar, works continuously, thus enabling a helpful Guy King to exercise the car on his behalf — bit like popping next door to exercise your neighbour’s German Shepherd because you’re kind hearted rather than mad on Shepherds — yeah right! Read full story…

Penn sneaks in under the tent flap and salivates over some very fine classic machinery brought in by visitors.

Words: Penn McKay Photos: Jared Clark

My only complaint about vintage Bentleys is that by the time you can afford one, you’ve got a lot older and a lot less nimble at climbing into high cockpits. But once in them, what a real blast from the golden era of automobiling (new word, feel free to use it). A vintage Bentley really does thunder down the Queen’s Highway, long bonnet stretching out before you, aero screens shovelling the wind above your face so the dandruff is blown out of your hair, and behind you the bellow of the exhaust rivalling a WWII Lancaster bomber.

About 3400 cars were made by WO Bentley during the ’20s. Cars that so rivalled Rolls-Royce that the iconic marque knew it had to buy Bentley out when the Great Depression, combined with under-capitalisation, forced WO to sell up. Thereafter, Rolls Bentleys became known as Derby Bentleys, and embodied Rolls-Royce’s concepts of how such a car should look and perform rather than WO Bentley’s.

The Derby Bentleys were, and are still, very fine motor cars indeed, but they aim at a different ideal, one that doesn’t include the kind of raw performance that enabled Bentley to score repeated successes at Le Mans. The Derby Bentleys from the ’30s are lower and cruisier and not so hairy-chested as WO’s awesomely fast lorries — as they were allegedly termed by Ettore Bugatti. That said, the Derby Bentleys are usually much more affordable (relatively) at the lower end, and still bloody expensive at the highly desirable end. Importantly, they have all, without exception, remained totally driveable and utterly reliable, decade after decade — even with Lucas electrics! Read full story…

Eoin talks to Peter Giddings, who raced this lovely French Grand Prix car at the recent Southern Festival of Speed, and outlines the history of the special car.

Words Eoin Young Photos Terry Marshall

Tony Lago chased the impossible dream of French Grand Prix glory in the post-war years. The long elegant sky-blue Lago-Talbot slung between those tall tyres flirted with the fringes of success, but was generally regarded as being wonderfully glorious in defeat. The photos of ‘Phi-Phi’ étancelin, with his cap on backwards, capture the spirit of those days.

The Lago competed at the Ruapuna, Timaru and Teretonga circuits

Peter Giddings is a quietly spoken international motor sportsman, an ex-pat Englishman with a successful business in the US and now a home in New Zealand, who can afford to indulge in his passion of driving grand old racing cars hard enough to wind back the clock and provide the heroic spectacle and sound of his cars from the golden past. He has owned this Lago-Talbot for the past 30 years.

He raced the blue Lago at the Southern Festival of Speed events during February in the South Island, together with Charles McCabe’s Maserati 250F and Jim Herlinger’s venerable, hot-rod based Chamberlain-Mercury. The Lago competed at the Ruapuna, Timaru and Teretonga circuits, the country road hill climb outside Dunedin, and on the street circuit in Dunedin city. Read full story…

Tim meets a genuine Italian beauty — a Dino Spider that has been entered into the Masters’ Class for next month’s NZCC Intermarque Concours at Ellerslie.

I was sorely tempted to turn up to my appointment with a sharp black suit and sunglasses. My assignation was with a black Fiat Dino, which had been owned by someone with strong connections to the most powerful family in Italy — the Agnelli family, owners of the entire Fiat Empire and with connections to who knows what; which means you had better do what you are told and be on your best behaviour, otherwise¦?

This expensive and rare black convertible was sold new to the Treviso area in Italy, first registered in March 1970

This expensive and rare black convertible was sold new to the Treviso area in Italy, first registered in March 1970. The first owner was Prince Egon Sebastian von Furstenberg, a very famous fashion stylist of the era. He was the son of Ira Furstenberg, renowned Italian actress, and nephew of Mr Gianni Agnelli, chairman of Fiat Auto. This vehicle was believed to be his first car. Egon died in May, 2005.

The second owner was a well-known surgeon, born in 1915, again in the Treviso area of Italy. He bought the car in 1971 and sold it the same year to a friend of Gianni Agnelli (they were at the same school). In 1993, the car was sold to Mr Alexandre Alexandre, the Fiat/Alfa/Lancia agent for Treviso.

My meeting was at noon under the Harbour Bridge at Westhaven Marina, on a stormy but otherwise quiet Tuesday. Contemplating the possibility of a Mafia connection, it was with some trepidation that I noted lots of deep dark water around — not to mention concrete being poured into the nearby motorway extension. Read full story…

The Austin Seven was a car for the millions; a miniature conception of a modern tourer that would capture the imagination of everyone who dreamed of becoming a motorist in the ’20s.

Words: Eoin Young Photos: Terry Marshall

The Austin Seven was a scaled-down version of the real thing. It had three-stud wire wheels, the skinny tyres and the advanced design of four-wheel-brakes and room for a big man behind the wheel. It was a vintage version of the tiny affordable Mini that would amaze and excite the motoring world four decades later.

Sir Herbert Austin built over 300,000 of his baby Sevens between model launch in 1922 until 1939, when the Big Seven replaced the cheeky little Chummy. I owned a couple over the years, and drove several more, so I can appreciate the charm of Austin’s idea of motoring for the millions. I would have thought there were more than 300,000 built, but I suppose it just seems like that.

“I’d rather have given the world the Austin Seven, my dear fellow, than have won the Gordon Bennett race for England”

It was an outrageous little car with everything seemingly in miniature, including the miniscule 750cc four-cylinder engine that seemed to be hiding beneath the little bonnet. Everyone of a certain age either started their motoring life with an Austin Seven or owned one at some time in their career. Stories starring the unlikely little gem were legend. Aubrey Parnell flew Spitfires in the RAF and told me how he would leave a half-crown coin on the driver’s seat while he was upstairs at work — and when he returned, his fitter would have filled the tank with avgas. Read full story…

The modern — although very traditional-looking — TD2000 attempts to recapture the motoring spirit of the classic MG T-series sports cars. Does it succeed? In order to answer that question, we put an MG TA driver into the TD2000’s driving seat and asked him for his expert opinion.

Words: Allan Walton & Denis Crampsie Photos: Quinn Hamill

The MG TA was launched rather a few years before I was born, but I have a very clear picture of these spindly little sports cars from Abingdon, mostly based on British war films of the ’50s. The TA was the kind of car, it seemed, that all RAF fighter pilots drove — and the movie images of actors such as Kenneth More whizzing around a fictitious Fighter Command airbase are indelibly marked onto my memory.

The TA was the kind of car, it seemed, that all RAF fighter pilots drove

With that in mind, it is highly appropriate that our featured 1938 TA was once owned by J A Breckell, a navigator who served two tours of duty in Lancasters with Bomber Command during WW2, earning a DFC and Bar. ‘Breck” (as he was usually known) was the father of the current owner’s wife, Sue Crampsie. Sue’s father — like all those stiff upper-lipped British actors — had owned and driven a TA during the war years and, during the late ’70s — now resident in New Zealand — he began to develop a desire to own a TA once again.

Sue’s father eventually found this MG in Bell Block, New Plymouth and, around 25 years ago, he travelled down country to purchase the car. He made the journey accompanied by Sue’s husband, Denis, and together the two men checked out the TA, and settled on a purchase price prior to driving the MG back to Auckland.
Several years ago, when Sue’s father died, the MG TA — quite rightfully it seems — was handed over to Denis and Sue, and it has been a part of their family ever since. With many years of driving experience in the MG TA, we couldn’t think of a better person to put into perspective the difference between this classic sports car and its modern iteration — the TD2000. At this point, we’ll let Denis take over. Read full story…

The first season of the Castrol GTX series was a brutal affair — Stephen tells the story

Words Steve Holmes
Photos Terry Marshall, Garry Price, Bruce Dyer, Peter Hanna Collection

New Zealand may not have had its own car manufacturing companies, but it did once have a very strong car assembly industry, with motor sport endurance events taking place for New Zealand assembled cars which spawned many local specials not available anywhere else in the world. The jewel in the crown was the annual 500 mile race, held at Pukekohe, and sponsored by Benson & Hedges (B&H) cigarettes. Initially a six hour enduro, and sponsored by Wills, the event soon caught on with local manufacturers, car dealers, and importers, and quickly became the biggest motor sport event for production cars in New Zealand.

the biggest turnout of Z28 Camaros was entered with Baker, McKee, Allen, Tulloch, McNamara, and the old Crichton car, now owned by George Bunce

However, if the B&H endurance events had a downside, it was that they didn’t allow for the high performance Australian specials which were built to win the 500-mile Bathurst event, as they were not assembled locally. Races for those cars took place in New Zealand as soon as early HK Monaros began appearing on our roads, but were more sideshows than main events. Finally, Castrol Oils announced it would be sponsoring a new series for the 1972 New Zealand racing season, a series which embraced the Aussie Bathurst specials. Read full story…

The Aston in beautiful Queenstown

The NZCC team takes a trip to Queenstown to check out a ’50s Aston Martin that has recently been returned to the road after an extensive 10-year restoration.

Words Tim Nevinson Photos Jared Clark

In 1952 any young nobleman, having celebrated his society wedding and sired a couple of offspring, would have found it impossible to reconcile his desire for high performance motoring in the utmost magnificence — irrespective of price — with the necessity of carrying his heirs at the same time. A gentleman would have to consider going ahead on his own in the Aston, leaving his wife to convey their young successors in the Rover. Or, God forbid, conduct the Rover himself. Dash it! Would he have to purchase a Bentley and consider getting used to a more sedate pace? Not quite what he had in mind when he had been racing about in fast cars courting young debs prior to settling down in the family mansion.

In production between May 1950 and April 1953, the Frank Feeley-designed DB2 coupe was built after three prototypes had raced at Le Mans

That very quandary may have faced the not yet noble, but rather nouveau riche, Mr David Brown after he’d used the vast resources of his David Brown Machinery Company to develop the very magnificent Aston Martin DB2. Read full story…