NZCC May 2008

On the cover of our May issue — on sale 29th April — we feature a superbly restored 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T — a car which achieved considerable fame for it’s starring role in the ’70s cult movie The Vanishing Point. Our featured Challenger hardtop has been immaculately restored over a period of three years and has to be one of the best Mopars currently resident in New Zealand. Our popular My Classic & I series returns this month as one of our enthusiastic readers talks about his Jaguar 420, and compares it to a mate’s Daimler Sovereign. In effect, these two luxuriously appointed saloons were rivals in the executive car market during the late ’60s, even though both came from the same manufacturer. This month, we’ll also be looking at a handful of Kiwi-made classic recreations. First up, we check out a thoroughly modern MGA. Fans of the MG marque will, no doubt, remember the thrilling but unsuccessful MGA Twin-Cam — well, we found one MG enthusiast who reckoned that he could go one better on the original. He took a battered and engine-less MGA; then kitted it out with modern Japanese mechanicals. Purists may groan at the thought of a Toyota-powered MG but, as we discovered, the end result is a superbly drivable, handsome and very modern sports car. Along the same theme, we explored New Zealand’s West Coast in two stunning replicas — a V6-powered sports car designed to evoke the spirit of a ’30s Alfa Romeo and a Porsche 928 which has been cunningly rebuilt as a Maserati 450S. Once again, these cars are the result of Kiwi know-how and, even more amazingly, both of these cars are available for hire by those who wish to travel around the wild West Coast in style. For those more into Vintage cars, we also feature a report on the recent Austin 7 Tour of New Zealand — following a convoy of these cute little cars as they travelled from Cape Reinga to The Bluff during their extensive tour of New Zealand. On the classic motorsport front, we report back from the huge classic racing meet at Phillip Island and talk to Chris Hyde — who was confirmed as this year’s Tasman Challenge champion at Phillip Island after beating off the opposition in his Kiwi designed and built McRae GM1 F5000 single-seater. In Motorsport Flashback, we talk to Merv Mayo — the Kiwi racer who was nominated alongside Bruce McLaren and Phil Kerr for the original NZ Driver to Europe scheme in 1958. And, of course, all your favourite monthly columns and features — it all adds up to pages and pages of New Zealand’s best classic reading.