NZCC #346 Preview

PEKING TO PARIS — LIVING THE DREAM NEW ZEALAND CLASSIC CAR OCTOBER 2019 ISSUE 346

MGA • LOTUS SEVEN • MOTORMAN — DB7 • FERRARI 308 GT4 • DAIMLER UTE • PEKING TO PARIS • NEW TOYOTA SUPRA

STRAIGHT A

A FRESH START FOR MG

MUSCLE GARAGE SUNDAYS ON

ISSUE 346 $10.99 INCL. GST OCTOBER 2019

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FERRARI 308 NEW V8 F O R 2+2

DAIMLER UTE

NZ’S POSHEST PICKUP

LOTUS SEVEN

EVERYMAN’S MISSILE

LUNCH WITH … HOWDEN GANLEY CHARTS AN ODD ROUTE TO FORMULA 1

CONTENTS

346 OCTOBER 2019

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6 FEATURES

6 MGA MORRIS GARAGES’ MOST STYLISH 16 LOTUS SEVEN DASHED-OFF DESIGN CLASSIC 24 FERRARI 308 GT4 ENZO’S FAMILY V8 32 PEKING TO PARIS THE RIGHT WAY 54 DAIMLER UTE SPACE FOR THE BIGGEST PICNIC HAMPER 62 TOYOTA SUPRA TOYOTA REINVENTS ITS CLASSIC 90 BMW 318 HISTORIC TOURING CAR CHAMPION BRITISH TOURING CAR 2

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CONTENTS

346 OCTOBER 2019

90 COLUMNS

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44 LUNCH WITH …

HOWDEN GANLEY — F1 MECHANIC TO DRIVER 68 MOTORMAN REVISITS THE ASTON MARTIN DB7 74 KITS AND PIECES — LOTUS SEVEN

BACK STORY

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80 MOTOR SPORT FLASHBACK

— F1’S UNCIVIL WAR 88 PRICE ON PETROL

LIKE US ON FACEBOOK — SEARCH ‘NZ CLASSIC CAR ’

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REGULARS 51 SUBSCRIBE AND WIN 52 READERS’ WRITES 86 BEHIND THE GARAGE DOOR 94 STAR INSURANCE MARKETPLACE 102 NEWS 106 NATIONAL EVENTS 108 EVENTS DIARY 110 LOCAL SPECIALISTS 112 CROSSWORD / NEXT MONTH

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FEATURE 1957 MGA roadster

ELEGANT AS EVER

MG HA S G IVEN BIRTH TO SOME CR ACKING C ARS S I N C E IT K I C K E D O FF PRO DUC TI O N I N 1 924, A N D M I K E H U B B A R D ’ S O U T S TA N D I N G 1 9 5 7 M G A I S C E R T A I N LY N O E X C E P T I O N Words and photos: Aaron Mai

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FEATURE

1959 Lotus Seven Series 1

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A SHINING STAR:

LOTUS SEVEN TH E LOTUS B EG I N N I NG WA S A S T O R Y O F I N N O VAT I O N AND DESIGN, OF BEAUT Y AND BRILLIANCE, BUT IT FINISHED WITH DRUGS AND DECEPTION, DISAPPOINTMENT A N D D E F E AT Words: Terry Cobham Photos: New Zealand Classic Car

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he lotus flower emerges from the water it is growing in. It blooms beautifully and delicately on the surface for a very short while and, just as rapidly, fades from view again. That’s sort of an allegory for Lotus racing cars, although this particular feature car is more like an insect on the surface of a pond rather than the flower it shares its name with. Just as a small silvery insect can sit on the surface of a pond, the Lotus Seven sits there on the shiny garage floor looking as light and flighty as any such insect.

The various front-suspension arms continue that ultralightweight insect look as well, which the upward-poking track rods might be its antennae, or feelers. The beautifully polished and light aluminium body hides an equally economic frame and components.

Under the bonnet — it doesn’t fold back or anything like that; you just lift it off and very carefully place it out of harm’s way somewhere — is the motor, a very neat and moderately modified BMC A-Series. It looks as much at home in this as it has ever looked anywhere.

The cabin, or cockpit, is equally parsimonious in its style: the bare essentials; speedo, tacho, temp and pressure gauges; a few switches; and that’s about it. The gear lever pokes out of the transmission tunnel in a knuckle-grazing position, almost under the dashboard, just beside your left knee; the required pedals are there on the floor; and that’s about it. themotorhood.com | New Zealand New Zealand Classic Car

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FEATURE

2019 Peking to Paris Motor Challenge

LIVING THE DREAM T H E P E K I N G T O PA R I S MOTOR CHALLENGE Words: Ian Parkes and Garry Boyce Photos: Courtesy Garry Boyce

T H E C L A S S I C C A R R A L LY S C E N E IS THRIVING, GIVING CLASSIC CARS AND THEIR OWNERS A GENUINE TEST OF THEIR METTLE IN SOME OF THE WORLD’S MOST S P E C TA C U L A R L A N D S C A P E S — A N D TH E PE K I N G TO PA R I S I S THE BIG ONE

eking to Paris isn’t Garry Boyce’s first time around the block. He and co-driver Ken Williams have already knocked the 28-day 10,000km Rally of the Incas off their bucket list. Their carefully prepared Mercedes 220 SEC, which Garry has owned for 25 years, is also a veteran of the same rally from Buenos Aires, Argentina to Lima, Peru.

Garry is a died-in-the-wool Mercedes man, a stalwart of the Mercedes-Benz Club Auckland, chairman of the Ellerslie Classic Car Show Organising Committee, and was a driving force behind the Mercedes club’s entry at the show’s concours d’élégance, when it racked up a record points score.

He’s a keen collector and restorer of Mercedes-Benzes, although other special cars find space in his garage from time to time. So, almost before they were back home from the Incas, Garry and Ken were thinking about what they would do differently next time and what improvements they would make to the car.

Next time wasn’t long in coming. The big one. Peking to Paris. New Zealand Classic Car covered the changes Garry

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FEATURE 1964 Daimler ute

Proud custodian: club president Peter Jenkins with the nearly fully restored ute

FLYING THE FLAG YO U C A N ’ T D O T H AT T O A D A I M L E R !

Words: Quinton Taylor Photos: Quinton Taylor and Peter Jenkins

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he Daimler ute operated by the Daimler, Jaguar & Lanchester Owners in New Zealand Spare Parts Club Inc., to give the group its full name, is quite a distinctive vehicle, and was even when it was common for tradies to hack the back off saloon cars and stick a deck on them.

Taking a saw to a piece of British heritage such as a Jaguar-bodied Daimler was not exactly looked on with approval by traditional owners of the brand, even then. However, the driving force behind the setting up of the separate parts division of the car club in Christchurch, the late Gordon Somerville,

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was a man ahead of his time, pre-empting the modern fashion for creating quirky marketing vehicles to promote business activities.

The fact that this outrage now appears even more sacrilegious — not just hacking up a Daimler but hacking up a classic Daimler! — has given the club added impetus to complete a spectacular restoration of this one-of-a-kind ute. Combining subtle styling changes to the panel work with attention to detail, this vehicle now exhibits an extremely high standard of finish worthy of the Daimler badge. Put that together with the new, redesigned alloy cylinder heads fitted to an overhauled engine, and it both sounds and looks great hustling

along the roadway. A very impressive vehicle!

The Daimler ute is once again working for the club as a test mule for the newly machined parts soon to be available to members.

The club has always been keen on remanufacturing parts to keep its members’ cars on the road, and we recently caught up with the club at its Christchurch parts base.

Who better to take up the story than club president Peter Jenkins, who was heavily involved in the restoration?

The Daimler tradition To use the words of Gordon Somerville, founder of the Daimler, Jaguar & Lanchester

Above left: A change of rake angle for the back window and panels, plus that ‘Daimler’ script, has made it a much more stylish cabin profile Above right: The Edward Turner– designed 2.5-litre V8 is a jewel of an engine, and this one is trialling new cylinder heads made by Giltech Engineering of Dunedin Below left: New wooden deck lining of West Coast beech looks the business

Owners club: “Not a standard but still a classic, this one will surely have the houndstooth-jacket-and-driving-glove set spluttering into their teacups. It may send some purists into a rage, but this Daimler must be the classiest utility truck around.”

The ute was modified from a 1964 Daimler saloon by George Barnes of Levin in 1986. George is still alive and well and living in Levin. He is a talented body builder, who wasn’t content with the traditional New Zealand–backyard method of coachbuilding. This can be seen by the classical lines flowing from the front through the side to the rear of the vehicle. It’s quite an achievement to have made the conversion of this Daimler from a classic saloon into a practical ute that is still a very pretty classical vehicle. As one classic car enthusiast put it: the factory couldn’t have done a better job.

Built to work George knew of the Daimler from new, as it was originally owned by his neighbour, a

farmer. When it became too rusty, the farmer parked it up and left it under a tree until George bought it. If he hadn’t have come up with his mad ute scheme, it almost certainly would have been lost.

The vehicle was in a sorry state when George started work on it in the ’80s. He decided that he needed a utility vehicle for his own use, but it took him five years to build it, making the side, rear panels, and tailgate in his spare time.

He then used it for 12 years with a trailer for a weekend paper round.

A few minor changes were made to the ute during this time, including some registrationnumber changes (the original registration number was CL2015, then MM592, while now it wears V8 UTE). Photos from this period were probably a factor in some people speculating that there were two Daimler utes around at the time. Having got the knack, George converted a number of vehicles into utes during the ’80s and ’90s, including Cortinas, Vauxhalls, and a Hillman Hunter. Some of the conversions are still on the road today.

A club member spotted the Daimler ute for sale in a car yard in Levin in 1990.

Gordon Somerville promptly went to Levin and bought it. The club soon decided that, as it was such a unique vehicle, it should be preserved and used for classic club events, shows, and rallies.

Rust never sleeps The ute underwent a couple of minor restorations to maintain it and keep it roadworthy. The most recent restoration has been the largest by far, taking nearly seven years to complete. It all started as a result of a small accident causing damage to the righthand rear area.

It was taken into a small restoration business called ‘Tin Rabbit Restorations’, originally in Rangiora but now located in Kaiapoi. While it was in the shop for accident-damage repairs, the team was asked to repair a little bit of rust at the back of the cab.

Now, we all know that there is never just a ‘little bit of rust’ to remove and repair! themotorhood.com | New Zealand Classic Car

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