MTA 100 - Commemorating 100 years of the Motor Trade Association of New Zealand

CHAPTER 1

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CHAPTER 3

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INTRODUCTION

RADIATOR MAGAZINE

From the author Allan Dick’s personal perspective of the impact of the motorcar, and our love affair with them.

Imparting wisdom Radiator, MTA’s monthly magazine, began publication in 1920 and is still going strong.

CHAPTER 4

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CARS OF THE PERIOD

The cars we drove The most important cars of the four eras of New Zealand’s motoring history.

CONTENTS CHAPTER 2 THE MTA

The story so far One hundred years of serving the motor industry – and the public.

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CHAPTER 5

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CHAPTER 8

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CHAPTER 10

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TIMELINE

TIMELINE

MOTORSPORT

Period One From the beginnings to 1930 – how the car went from being a plaything to a necessity.

Period Four 1981 to the present – clearing the decks and starting all over again.

Punching above our weight New Zealand has an enviable record in global motor racing.

CHAPTER 6

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CHAPTER 11

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TIMELINE

PROFILES

Period Two 1931 to 1948 – from Depression to growth to war and recovery.

MTA people and companies The pioneers, the innovators and the entrepreneurs of the NZ motor industry.

CHAPTER 7

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CHAPTER 9

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CHAPTER 12

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TIMELINE

WARRANT OF FITNESS

TECHNOLOGY

Period Three 1949 to 1980 – the vanishing American, Britain self-destructs, and we learn about Japan.

Making it safe New Zealand led the world with its Warrant of Fitness regime.

The future Electric cars, autonomous vehicles and more – the opportunities and problems that could be ahead.

Police checkpoint mid fifties with 1936 Hillman, 1954 Austin A35

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AD Westpac

FOREWORD Minister of Transport Honourable Simon Bridges

The Motor Trade Association (MTA) has a long, proud history at the heart of transport in New Zealand.

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ver the past century, New Zealand’s transport system has developed and grown, and in recent years the rise of new technologies has continued – if not increased – this pace of change.

This book examines many of these developments. Transport’s evolution, though, is not just limited to the kinds of vehicles we use – the way we use our transport system is also shifting. New technology, more people on our roads, and changes in how much we travel all have an impact on our existing network.

The MTA is a strong voice for the motor trade industry, and plays an important role in connecting its members with local councils

and central government. Working together, we continue to improve New Zealand’s transport system.

This book reflects on the development of transport over the last century and marks the changes currently underway, but I am particularly pleased to see it anticipating what the future may bring.

New technologies have the potential to address many of New Zealand’s main transport challenges, including road safety, urban congestion and greenhouse gas emissions.

As these new technologies come on stream, the MTA and its members will be at the forefront of ensuring they are available, safe to operate, and can be kept running smoothly.

Setting out the transport sector’s growth and development over the last century, this book positions readers to reflect not just on where we have come from, but how we might plan for the road ahead.

I congratulate the MTA both on its centenary, and on this publication.

Hon Simon Bridges Minister of Transport

The old and the future. Horse and car meet at the Whakatane Hotel

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INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION Motor Trade Association President Dave Harris

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TA has been the voice of the motor trade in New Zealand for 100 years, and over that time has focused on developing professionalism in the industry, ensuring vehicle safety and building customer confidence. We’ve also worked to protect the business interests of our members through many difficult times, which have included two World Wars, depressions and recessions, and the many years of restrictive government regulations.

The Association established the Motor Industry Training Scheme very early in its life, and developed a Road Code long before the government introduced a guide to safe driving practices and traffic law. In the 1930s, we introduced the A-Grade Mechanic and A-Grade Garage Schemes to promote industry standards and improve customer satisfaction.

We’ve gone on to promote environmentally sustainable business practices, and introduce gift cards and vouchers to encourage the public to use MTA businesses.

MTA provides leadership to its members, and within the sector. We support our members to improve their business and technical skills, and we act as their voice at government level. Over the decades, we’ve fought policies we thought would be detrimental to the motoring public or would harm our members’ interests – but we’ve also helped them to adapt when change was needed.

One of our longest running advocacy programmes has been around the Warrant of Fitness regime. We helped set up the first Warrant of Fitness scheme in 1937, and have lobbied for and against changes in the ensuing decades. MTA continues to strive for vehicle safety through public awareness and regular safety checks carried out by suitably qualified people.

Today, MTA works closely with government agencies and the wider sector on industry issues ranging from the current skills shortage, to the modernisation of the automotive fleet and the need for a regime to ensure the safe repair and maintenance of new technologies, including those associated with electric vehicles and – in the future – autonomous vehicles.

When the Association was first established, its members prominently displayed their membership badge as a visible sign of their commitment to ‘service and a fair deal’. The MTA badge to this day provides the same assurance of ethical, professional and quality standards.

I want to thank the author and researcher Allan Dick, for his work in honouring our past and recording the contribution MTA members have made to New Zealand over the past 100 years. I hope you enjoy this wander down the motor industry memory lane.

Dave Harris MTA President

English vehicles dominate in this Auckland wharf scene circa 1953

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AUTHOR’S INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1

December 1955 and two Brighton lads, Ray Hill behind the wheel and author Allan Dick in the back seat, along with T/O Hood, get their driver’s licences in their 1914 Ford Model T. Once road legal, they set out on a road trip to Queenstown – a trip that has never ended for the author

A PERSONAL INTRODUCTION from Allan Dick

The Motor Trade Association – the MTA – is 100 years old in 2017 and this book has been published as part of the celebration of that event.

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istories by their nature tend to be full of names, dates and events and can be stuffy, impersonal tomes. But this publication is more than a history of the MTA – it’s a history of the New Zealand motor industry, arguably one of the largest, if not the largest industry in New Zealand when you consider all of the downstream companies that make up this collective.

As a nation, we collectively love our motor vehicles, but it can be a love/hate relationship

The author and his mates in Christchurch during an Easter excursion in 1959. Left to right, Bryce ‘Chuck’ Wilson, the author, Eddie Bray and, sitting on the roof of his own 1946 Ford V8 sedan, Peter Dingwall.

Even though it was 13-years old, this Ford was very much a ‘flash’ car of the time

– love when they are speeding us off to the beach or somewhere recreational, but hate when stuck for hours in traffic gridlock, or when they let us down at some critical moment in an inconvenient location.

I’ve been writing about cars and the motor industry for about 50 years and I realised very quickly that for many reasons, the motor vehicle is one of the greatest inventions the world has ever seen.

At first, we walked from place to place, then we used boats, horses, coaches and

TOP LEFT: Before Japanese used-cars arrived, young people mostly drove rough old cars, because just about everything that went had a value. This is a big Austin tourer. Photo Chris Ohlen. TOP RIGHT:The author feels he got his love of cars from his paternal grandfather, Jimmy Dick, a Glaswegian who settled in Dunedin in 1923. His wife, the author’s ‘Nanny Dick’, is at the wheel of the very classy Sunbeam tourer that he bought from his employers, the soft-drink company, Thomsons. Sunbeam was the Jaguar of their day

carriages and then trains, but once you got as far as the water or the railway line went, you needed some other way of getting about.

I’m quite unequivocal about it – the motor vehicle is the greatest single aid to human development we’ve ever had. It gives us freedom that our forefathers never dreamed of to go where we like, when we want – nothing else compares.

Put simply – I love cars.

I think my first realisation about a motor car came when my father arrived home after serving with the navy in the war, and bought a Ford Model A. Even at five years of age, I fully understood the change that this car brought to our lives.

No more did we walk halfway across Auckland to visit an aunty, or catch the Westmere tram into town, or the Farmers’

The author’s first motorised transport was a 1948 Royal Enfield, two-stroke motorbike that he bought at the age of 14, and stripped to the last nut and bolt — on a monthly basis!

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trolley bus up the hill to that superstore.

We drove. Not in the lap of luxury, nor with total reliability. Tyres were in short supply and we had a lot of punctures, but we were free, independent and mobile.

I remember all Dad’s cars – the 1928 Model A was replaced by a 1937 Hillman, then a rare 1935 Wolseley limousine. This was an unusual car, the only one in New Zealand we were told – it had been imported for a planned Royal Tour that never came off.

It was enormous, with headlights like World War II searchlights and all leather and wood inside – with footrests.

The next was a 1949 Morris Oxford. At last we had a car that was the envy of the neighbours, until the Lupp family moved in four doors away and we saw Mrs Lupp – Sybil, New Zealand’s most successful lady racing driver – roaring up and down the street, first in her black MG TC and then in her stunning white Jaguar XK120.

The Morris was later followed by a Studebaker, a huge leap in status. Later my parents bought a shop, and the Stude’ was replaced by a Bradford van in which I learned to drive, and then by a slightly more acceptable Fordson, followed by an almost new Volkswagen Kombi.

Later they moved into a very nice EH Holden Premier, and finally a Triumph 2000 MkI that Dad still owned at the time of his death.

It was my first pushbike that made me realise and appreciate the freedom that personal transport gave you. It was an old ‘roadster’ with a back-pedal brake and I learned to pull it to pieces and put it back together again – mostly successfully.

Ford V8s were the author’s great automotive passion as a teenager, and this posed publicity shot is of some of the 1936 Ford V8 range from sedan to Phaeton. He would have spent hours studying this image

New Zealand was largely a nation of backyard mechanics

At the age of 14, I bought a 1948 Royal Enfield two-stroke motorcycle in pieces and spent more time examining its internals than I did riding it. Then a mate suggested we buy a car between us. He knew where there was a 1914 Model T Ford in a farmer’s shed that we could have for £25 – £12/10/- each.

The Model T provided three years of fantastic teenaged fun – and gave us hands-on experience of the workings of the motor car. It was followed by a series of worn-out pre-war Ford V8s, and I learned to remove motors, strip and reassemble them and to change gearboxes.

That’s the way it was in the fifties. New Zealand was largely a nation of backyard

mechanics, because we had to be to keep our old cars going.

In the sixties, my cars improved and I started to write about cars, in the process getting to drive current models, and that’s the way it was for decades.

Over the years there has been huge change, starting from the era when new cars were almost impossible to buy – when 10-year-old cars were still considered ‘late model’ and most of us drove cars that were 20 to 50 years old, keeping them running on the proverbial smell of an oily rag. Today we have the situation where cars of your choice can be bought straight off the showroom floor, a thoroughly competitive scene that wouldn’t have been understood in 1955, or 1965.

It started when import restrictions were eased and new cars became more plentiful, the market more competitive, and prices fell.

Then came the influx of JUCs – Japanese Used Cars – and almost overnight home garages were no longer where you found blokes tinkering away at night.

These days, I don’t know anyone who fixes, fiddles and repairs their car for the pleasure or necessity of it, outside the world of the classic car enthusiast.

Over the past 50 years, give or take, I got

LEFT: Renowned woman racing driver Sybil Lupp was a near-neighbour of the author in the early fifties, driving this MG in which she won many events. It was later replaced with a white Jaguar XK120 roadster. RIGHT: The author was a constant worry for his mother during his teenage years and this photograph shows why - a rusty 1935 Ford V8 on bald tyres, dodgy brakes and vague steering. It was a death trap. The car was a 1935 model, built at Dagenham in 1936 and arrived in New Zealand that year. Bought untried for £100, it was eventually traded-in for the required one third deposit of £60 on a later model £180 Ford V8.

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While Ford V8s were the lifeblood of the author’s early motoring in the late fifties, he knew enough to admire a wide range of cars – and this 1939 Lincoln Zephyr coupe would have set his pulse racing

to know the motor industry very well, so when I was asked if I would write a book commemorating the 100 years of the MTA, I was flattered and excited.

The MTA has done well in recording its history. The MTA headquarters in Wellington has a collection of Radiator magazines – every single one of them from the first in 1920, until today, immaculately bound.

We discussed the project and it was felt that we needed a broader approach than a history of the MTA as an organisation – so we extended it to cover the entire motor industry.

Yes, there has been change, enormous change, and it hasn’t stopped – in fact, it’s accelerating, and again, we’re on the cusp of another major development.

Now the electric car is about to have its day

Electric vehicles have been around since the invention of the motor car. The internal combustion engine won the battle of the market back then, but now the electric car is about to have its day. The only thing that will slow its arrival is the continuing (comparatively) low price and availability of fossil fuels in recent years.

For the mainstream motorist – those who value the car for its ability to transport us where we want and when we want – the changes that are coming will be more than just a change in power source.

Self-driving cars are knocking at our door and they’ll be here long before electric cars become commonplace.

I was introduced to self-driving technology a decade ago by various carmakers in Europe and Japan. Although crude by what today’s engineers are working on, back then I was amazed at the thought that electronics were going to make me, the driver, redundant.

I hope you enjoy the following chapters and the looking back as well as forward.

I love cars and the whole motor industry.

They have been my life for more than 60 years and I’ve been proud to take part in this celebration of 100 years of the MTA.

The popularity of the V8 engine can be judged by the fact that Ford produced its one-millionth V8-engined car less than two years after the introduction of the engine. And this was in the midst of the Great Depression.

Edsel Ford behind the wheel and Henry Ford alongside, with his henchman, the brutal Harry Bennett who used strong-arm tactics to control workers

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When his father arrived home with a 1947 Studebaker, the author – at age 13 – thought he had died and gone to car heaven. Even though it was six years old, it was the best car in the street, until Sybil Lupp arrived with her XK120 Jag’

In hindsight, the Ford V8 was a car with more weaknesses than strong points. Remove the engine from this 1937 model and you find it still uses transverse leaf springs – first introduced in 1908 with the first Model Ts – and mechanical brakes, although this model changed from rod operation to cable actuation. Those pre-war Ford were all about THE ENGINE!

The author’s second and best pre-war Ford V8 was a dark brown, very original, 1937 model bought from Dunedin dealer Holland & Bell Ltd, in May 1960 for £180. Three weeks later, after having rebuilt the gearbox, he and two mates were off from Dunedin on a road trip to Auckland and back, a real expedition in those days

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MOTOR TRADE ASSOCIATION

MTA The story of 100 years of the birth and growth of the MTA as New Zealand’s motor industry body

The declaration of the principles of the MTA as published in the first issue of Radiator

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CHAPTER 2

Delegates at the annual conference of the MTA in Christchurch, September 19 1939. This was a dark month in history with war being declared in Europe

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he MTA is a modern, effective organisation that acts as a single umbrella group for every arm and aspect of the greater motor trade. New- and used-car dealers, service stations, general repairers, collision repairers and the motorcycle industry – are all represented in MTA membership.

Membership is voluntary but on the eve of the centenary of the organisation, there are 3659 members nation-wide, serviced by 42 staff including some out in the field, clearly indicating the size of the association.

Established in 1917, less than 20 years after the arrival of the first motor car into New Zealand, the MTA was initially formed to solve issues and problems that existed and to bring a sense of coordination and consistency to the fledgling motor industry.

Tyres, petrol, and the prospect of employee difficulties seemed to be the main preoccupation at birth. However, the focus of the association changed several times as the industry grew and boundaries shifted. Along the way there were relatively minor name changes that represented shifts as the association adapted to the then current developments within the industry.

For much of the past century, the motor industry operated in a heavily regulated environment with governments of the time having a great deal of say in how, not only the motor industry in New Zealand was run, but also every other industry.

However, in the past 30 years, governments of both left and the right persuasion, have undone the knots of regulation, allowing greater freedoms for everyone.

As an example, for most of last century the used-car industry in New Zealand was a largely unregulated part of the motor trade. But in 1959 the Nash Labour government decided that everyone who was buying and selling cars for a profit had to be a registered car dealer – a Licensed Motor Vehicle Dealer (LMVD). In 1973, the act under which this law was passed was made even tighter, with more regulations and more requirements including compulsory membership of the Motor Vehicle Dealers Institute (MVDI). At this stage, few used-car dealers were members of the MTA. Then, in 2003, the MTA and the MVDI merged as the government deregulated the car industry, meaning new- and used-car dealers were no longer bound by the bureaucracy of the previous 44 years. As it was no longer compulsory, not every car dealer stayed with the MTA, but most did – recognising the benefits of being a voluntary member

of an organisation that set business and trading standards that the public could have confidence in.

Today, instead of just looking after the interests of its own members, the MTA is increasingly a link between those members and the public. A visit to the MTA website shows clearly the scope of public interest the association has. A business that is operating within the greater motor industry and is an MTA member, will display the clean, modern MTA sign in its distinct cyan and white colours, indicating that it operates within the code of conduct and ethics of the association. This means the car owner can have faith

An ongoing issue for the MTA in the early years, was the battle between road and rail transport

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in that business to operate to a high set of standards. An example of this is the MTA Mediation Service – any car owner who feels he or she has not been treated fairly and honestly can use the service to take a look at their case.

So, where did this all start?

The year 1917 was a momentous one for New Zealand in many ways. The Great War was raging in Europe and the Middle East and on 20 October, 850 New Zealand soldiers were killed in the second battle of Passchendaele in Belgium – the greatest loss of life in a single day by this country.

Because communications were so slow, there was almost an air of detachment in New Zealand – unlike later conflicts and Thenear-instant formation events when news reached us via radio, and now oftelevision, the MTA gotthe internet.

So, life went on in Zealand despite the off to aNew stuttercarnage overseas. ing(Farmer start.Bill) Massey was the William 19th Prime Minister of the country and had held power since 1912 as the leader of the Reform Party. He remained Prime Minister until 1925. In 1917, Massey and his party were in the third year of their second term and cruising towards their third election win in a row, but then the election was deferred because of the war.

Other events in 1917 included Henry Wigram (later Sir) taking delivery of a new Caudron biplane for the Canterbury Aviation Company. And in December that year, six o’clock closing of bars was introduced, leading to the infamous six o’clock swill that lasted for half a century.

In 1917, 19 years after the arrival of the first car in New Zealand, we had almost 4700 cars operating on roads that were totally useable in the towns and cities, but almost non-existent outside built-up areas, except where coaches and horses operated.

Most intercity travel in those days was either by train or by boat, or a combination of both.

The formation of the MTA got off to a stuttering start.

Concerned about a problem with tyres, a number of garage owners in Feilding decided to hold a meeting with the aim of forming an association that would look after

Europa was a brand of petrol introduced in the thirties by Todd Motors. Initially the petrol came from the Soviet Union

their collective interests and, if successful, create a nation-wide organisation. One hundred years on, there is no clear record of what exactly the ‘concerns over tyres’ were, but the best guess is that tyre companies and their agents were willing to sell tyres at the wholesale price to anyone who wanted them.

Many workshops and garages had originally been blacksmiths, used to shoeing horses and repairing buggies and farm implements, and that was really all that many were interested in. But after the MTA was founded (and became a national organisation) its Wellington head office spent the next decade imploring all members to become all-things to the motorist and to not just sell them the car if they were a dealer, or repair the car if they were a garage, but to sell them tyres, petrol, oil – everything else that their car needed.

Some dealers and garage owners took a bit of convincing; they were quite happy to leave it to general stores to stock and sell these items and take the profit. So a meeting was called for the afternoon of April 30, 1917 in the office of Messrs Wackrill and Stewart, garage owners of Feilding. The meeting had been convened

by Wackrill and Stewart along with J Bett of another garage, Bett & Bayley Ltd. The only decision that was made that day was that there weren’t enough of them, so they decided to take a short adjournment, spread the word, and meet again on May 7, 1917.

This time, in anticipation of a larger crowd, the meeting was held in the Feilding Library and it attracted garage owners from as far away as Palmerston North and Marton; a committee was formed and the name of the new organisation was to be ‘The Garage Proprietors Association of New Zealand’. Between that meeting and

MTA delegates in Auckland for the 1938 annual general meeting

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the first meeting of the executive on 2 June, committee member W Andrews was sent on a mission to Hawke’s Bay, Wairarapa and Taranaki ‘spreading the word’.

At that first executive meeting he told of the enthusiastic reception everywhere and he was reimbursed his travel costs of £29 9s – a sizeable sum.

Things moved fast, meetings were organised in other outlying regions – Feilding was like the stone thrown into a pond, ripples of interest spread out in all directions. A press release was issued and picked up by the New Zealand Press Association and as a result of stories in newspapers, telegrams were received from garage owners all over the country wanting to join and establish branches.

Just ten days after that first executive meeting a conference was called in Palmerston North instead of Feilding and it was unanimous in declaring a national association. But there was some discussion over the name. From the floor came a suggestion that The Garage Proprietor’s

An advertisement in the May 1938 edition of Radiator outlines garage charges in the Wellington area

Association of New Zealand was a bit narrow and The Motor Traders’ Association of New Zealand might be more apt. The suggestion was lost at that time – it would return though.

Without getting into too much fine detail, the objects of the organisation tell you what its aims and interests were.

“To protect the interest of the garage proprietors generally; to assist by united effort the redress of grievances under which members may labour and to maintain the legitimate rights or privileges to which those engaged in the business are fairly entitled.

“To protect the interest of the members of the Association in their dealings with

their workmen or with labour organisations acting on behalf of each workman.

“To regulate the course and manner of dealing of all members of the Association (1) To the maintenance of uniform terms and prices for the sale of motors and all motor accessories. (2) To the maintenance of uniform prices in regard to motor repairs.”

Flowery language by today’s standards, but, in brief, to look after the interests of members in dealing with stroppy unions and to bring consistency to the business.

Today’s MTA has come a long, long way since then.

Growth of the association was almost bullet-like in its speed. The first Annual

General Meeting was held in the Christchurch Masonic Hall with 66 representatives attending. There was a total of 15 branches covering the entire country, a head office had been established at 101 Customhouse Quay, Wellington at an annual cost of £40, and a full-time secretary had been appointed.

He was Mr J F Cousins, chosen from four applicants and paid £400 per annum.

Little is recorded of Cousins, except that he came from Auckland. But what is clearly evident from the records is that he was a tireless, incredibly enthusiastic worker and outspoken supporter of the industry above almost everything else. At first he caught trains and boats to visit areas, but even in 17

that first year he was told to buy himself a car and a budget of £200 was set aside. Instead of joining the ranks of drivers of ‘the Ford car’, Cousins bought a Metallurgique – a sporty Belgian car that eventually became Minerva. He was slightly over budget at £225, but nobody seemed to mind.

Apart from tyres, two issues that took up much of Cousins’ time in those early years were the fluctuating price and availability of petrol, and the vexed use of D-plates for demonstrating unregistered cars. Police didn’t seem to like car dealers and would prosecute mercilessly if there was even a suggestion the D-plates were being used wrongly. Records show case after case being dismissed in the court.

Cousins employed staff to help with the workload, at first his son, and then his daughter. Travel to committee meetings was fraught. On one occasion an Auckland committee member had to telegraph his delay in arriving as bad weather meant his steamer, the Rairoa, could not get out of Manukau Harbour.

In such good stead was Cousins held that less than a year after his appointment he was given a 50 per cent pay increase to £600.

It was decided that something had to be done to improve the lines of communication and in 1920 the committee approved the publication of a monthly magazine to be sent to all members. This was The Radiator that continues to this day.

The editor? the indefatigable J F Cousins.

Cousins was everywhere. Each month he had a report from some far flung corner of his motor industry empire. So much did he do that by 1921 his Metallurgique sportster was worn out and he needed a new car.

However, the association was a little short of cash, so Cousins offered to buy a car himself and run it for an annual fee of £230. This was accepted, but there is no indication as to what sort of car he bought.

When reading Radiator today, from that

Garages were exhorted to use genuine parts back then, as they are today.

first issue until the retirement of Cousins at the end of January 1942, you can’t help but be struck by the high level of enthusiasm the man had for the job, for the motor industry and also for the car-owning public. Today his language is considered quaint and wordy, but when the government did something that Cousins felt wasn’t for the good of the industry or the car-owning public he got into a state of high-dudgeon and thundered his opposition.

You are left in no doubt about his level of anger reading his words in 1929 when the government ended its quarter-of-a-million pound annual subsidy to the Main Highways Board as a matter of cost-cutting as New Zealand entered the depths of the Great Depression.

Cousins was very much a battler who was not only almost single-handedly responsible for the growth of the MTA in that first period, but he also had vision and perception. He formed policies, had them approved by his executive and then implemented them. He appears to have been a remarkable man and it’s impossible not to be impressed with the work he did.

Simply putting together Radiator, exactly on time month after month, brimming with information and views (and advertising) and largely making a handsome profit, was really a two-or-three-person job, but Cousins did it all as well as running the association.

The MTA was involved in pretty much every aspect of both the development of the motor industry as well as the integration of the motor vehicle into New Zealand society.

‘Customer satisfaction since 1917’ advertisement for the Association

Classic advert recreated in the 1980s

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There is no doubt that the MTA has been a survivor

During the period that Cousins was Secretary and Editor, MTA saw the motor industry training scheme introduced, it drew up a suggested Road Code before the government did, it set up the A-Grade Garages and A-Grade Mechanics schemes, and it was very involved in creating the first Warrant of Fitness programme.

In that critical period for the development of the whole structure that embraced the motor vehicle, the MTA was constant in calling for better roads, and when taxes were increased or restrictive laws introduced, the MTA fought for fairness. In many ways the MTA acted in a similar way to the fledgling AA. In 1929 it was decided that each branch would, in mid-December of each year, hold a ‘Sunshine Day’ where members would take the less fortunate in life – orphans and older people – for a drive into the country and a picnic. This continued for many years and appears to have been stopped by the Second World War. In 1929, the MTA moved head office to the DIC Building in central Wellington, taking up a five-year lease. In time, the MTA would own its own building.

On his retirement in 1942, the association granted Mr J F Cousins six-months’ leave on

In the early days of the motor car, many were imported without bodywork, providing valuable business for the large number of coachbuilders who had survived from horse and carriage days. Here’s a New Zealand body on a Big Austin

full pay – which had risen to £1250 by then – and he vanished into an easier life. There is no record of what Cousins did before the MTA, or even of his first name. Records show him in the formal way of the time as just Mr J F Cousins. He was replaced by Mr Charles Roy Edmond.

There is no doubt that the MTA has been a survivor. Over the past 100 years there have been name changes, mergers, and other organisations have come and gone, but at the end of it the MTA remains.

In 1921 the name of the body was changed to The NZ Motor Trade Association and it stayed that way until 1933 when another organisation was created called the NZ Motor Trade Federation which was to be an over-arching group looking after the several other organisations in the industry. Because the names were so similar, the MTA became The NZ Garage Proprietors Association to save any confusion. In 1940 there was another change, this time to The NZ Retail Motor Trade Association and this was abbreviated to RMTA until 1974 when the word ‘Retail’ was removed and it became, simply, the MTA. At the end of the Second World War, the MTA was heavily involved with the government in getting

vehicles, parts, tyres and men back into the public stream. This was a far more difficult task than would seem as it needed to be controlled.

As mentioned in another chapter, many returning servicemen wanted to buy a car, something they may not have been too concerned about pre-war. But there was a shortage of cars, so those that had been requisitioned for the war effort were released back into the market and cars that had been stored ‘for the duration’ were dusted off, had their tyres pumped up and were cranked back into life.

There were some who took advantage of the situation and many cars were sold at

inflated prices, leading to accusations of profiteering, aimed in general at MTA members. The MTA shot back saying that two-thirds of the cars sold were sold by private sellers. The episode was symptomatic of this period when there was a deal of suspicion that the motor trade was being obstructive by making cars, tyres, parts and petrol either difficult to get, or expensive.

The AA magazine, Motor World took the side of the motorists and waded in – also blaming the motor trade for the shortages and costs. The MTA spent much of this time trying to explain that its members were being equally as disadvantaged by the situation.

Nobody was winning here.

The first minutes of the Motor Trade Association, replicated in 1977 for the 60th anniversary

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There were many issues involving the motor trade in getting back to normality – tyres were rationed, petrol was rationed, cars were in short supply, and the trade itself needed more staff. It was a difficult period and there was a general feeling that the government wasn’t being helpful. In 1948 the incoming MTA president Mr W J J Steere let fly in his acceptance address.

He accused the left-leaning government of being anti-business and in league with ‘the communists’.

There was concern about favouritism when BP arrived in New Zealand in 1946 because it was owned fifty per cent by the government. BP responded saying it only wanted fair trade – but that argument was short-lived as the National government of 1949 sold its shareholding to BP. In 1946, suggestions that the shortage of tyres could be overcome by making tyres in New Zealand were at first greeted warmly, but then with dismay as it looked like the government was considering setting up a state-controlled, monopoly tyre factory in Christchurch. Eventually this came to nothing, but tyre companies did set up manufacturing plants themselves.

As short as petrol supplies were, the situation was exacerbated by service stations being closed from 12 noon on Saturday until Monday morning, except for emergency sales. The MTA tried to convince the government to make life easier for returned servicemen who only wanted to take their families for weekend drives and picnics. The MTA also asked the government to give 24-hour warning of any increase in the price of petrol instead of an hour or so. The government refused.

Generally speaking, there was relief in the motor industry when Labour was dumped and National came to power with Sid Holland as Prime Minister in 1949.

Advertising in Radiator took a distinctive turn in June 1939, even though war was still some months away

National quickly got to work removing rationing on everything from cream to petrol, but retained the limited hours for petrol sales.

More cars were allowed in, pleasing the MTA and its members.

In 1950, Mr Charles Roy Edmonds retired as secretary to loud acclaim for the job he had done, and in smooth succession his assistant secretary Mr Frank Knight took over.

Not everyone liked the National government and unions became unsettled, culminating in the 1951 ‘wharfies’ strike that had a wide impact. When that was settled, Prime Minister Holland called a snap election and swept back into power with an increased majority.

Meanwhile the MTA was largely pleased with the progress that was being made towards normalisation. One thing it wanted was to repeal the 50mph speed limit that had been imposed during the war as a tyre- and fuel-saving measure. The 30mph limit in towns and built-up areas had been introduced in the mid-thirties and there had been no open-road limit. The MTA said that 50mph was too slow for modern cars, but the government didn’t heed that call at all.

It stayed.

Dipping headlights are so taken for granted, we can’t imagine cars without them. But until the mid-thirties, cars generally had a single fixed beam, and dazzle was a major problem

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On the office front, the MTA had moved into new offices in the National Bank building, but when these became crowded and with money in the bank, the MTA bought a section in Tory Street with plans to build. These plans were scuppered by the government’s Capital Issues Committee, so they were put on hold. Later, another empty section was bought in Taranaki Street with plans to build ‘some-time in the future’.

Eventually it was agreed the MTA would buy a large house in Majoribanks Street and convert it into an office, then sell off the Tory Street site but retain Taranaki Street.

A tricky situation arose in 1954, when the Auckland branch of the MTA sought to have more autonomy with its own bank accounts and cheque book. But it was generally agreed there was strength in numbers and the proposal was refused.

In 1956, the MTA committee laughed off a suggestion from the government’s Transport Committee that all vehicles, including cars, should carry a fire extinguisher. One committee member saying it was ridiculous.

There was sad news in 1957 when Mr J F Cousins died, and again two years later with the passing of Charles Roy Edmonds.

Labour was returned to power in 1957 with a majority of one (after the Speaker was appointed) and they made life difficult for the motor industry with the infamous Black Budget of 1958 – and, as it turned out, impossible for themselves, being dumped without ceremony two years later.

Many MTA members were still smarting after being wrongly accused of profiteering in the difficult times around 1950 and wanted

Throughout the thirties, MTA branches held Sunshine Days when society’s less fortunate were taken on organised runs. This is one such event with a great variety of cars

to see some sort of advertising, or publicity campaign, but when plans were drawn up and costed, it was felt to be too expensive.

However, this idea would not go away and in 1959 the MTA appointed G Hugh Sumpter as its Public Relations Officer.

In 1960, the election of National with Keith Holyoake as Prime Minister boded well for the motor industry and things certainly looked up, but the MTA was hit when secretary Frank Knight died in office in 1961. His successor was Colin Stone, who had been Knight’s assistant.

With all building restrictions lifted in 1956, the MTA again gave thought to its own premises and plans were drawn for an eight-storeyed building on a site on Kent Terrace. The other properties were sold and a budget of nearly quarter of a million pounds was established. The building opened in October 1967 as part of the MTA’s Golden Jubilee celebrations which also included a major motor show and a book edited by Ian J Main that looked back over the first 50 years of the organisation.

The second 50 years of the MTA didn’t have quite the same sense of adventure as the first. Just like the introduction of the motor car, the building blocks had been put in place and it was a case of getting on with business.

The first issue was how to find tenants for the six empty floors of Motor Trade House and the associated need to apply a levy to members to pay for it. Tenants were found soon enough and there were no real complaints over the latter.

But 1967 was a difficult year with the MTA going to the government several times as tough new hire-purchase restrictions slowed sales of cars – both new and used.

The requirement was two-thirds deposit and balance over 12 months.

On the positive side, with petrol companies dropping their long-standing ‘petrol voucher’ schemes the MTA stepped

They made life difficult for the motor industry with the infamous Black Budget of 1958

up in 1969 with their own MTA-branded $1 Gift Vouchers, not quite the same as petrol vouchers but a huge success story for the association that continues today.

Since their introduction, gift vouchers have undergone several changes in design to ensure their appearance remains current and to avoid counterfeit practices, and with the steady increase in the price of fuel, the lower denomination vouchers have been replaced with $10, $20 and $50 vouchers.

MTA gift vouchers are printed in the United States. They have a hologram embossed onto the front face and a magnetic strip is now included to assist the redemption process. Current sales of vouchers mean that about 1.5 million brand reminders pass through the hands of the public every year.

In 2012, MTA launched a Gift Card to complement the vouchers. They are marketed via the MTA’s online shop which was upgraded in 2106 to manage the transactions.

The Gift Card has no value until it is activated, but once that happens it can be redeemed by some 2800 MTA members.

The average face value of a gift card in 2017 was $80, but a customer can choose to load any value between a minimum $20 and the maximum $500.

In 1969 there was a change of title for Colin Stone; he would no longer be known

1921

1974

1931

1984

1976 1941

1963

1988

MTA logos through the decades

as Secretary-General, but Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

The MTA watched carefully when the government took action against Auckland’s Kirk Motors for requiring a trade-in when a buyer went to sign the deal for his longawaited new car. Profits on new cars were not big, and it was illegal for a dealer to try and lift his controlled profit level by insisting on a trade-in and then offering a low price for it. An earlier attempt to prosecute another dealer had failed because the car buyer cheerfully told the court he was happy with the deal. In the Kirk Motors case the buyer was apparently not so cheerful and the court found Kirk Motors guilty.

For a long time the MTA had advocated for a change in the way petrol was dispensed.

They were trying to promote self-service in order to reduce staff costs for members, and a push for pay-at-the-pump equipment was part of this. To the rescue came an 21

engineering company in the small town of Marton, Production Engineering Ltd, that developed world-beating technology. Today, as Gallagher Fuel Systems, it continues to lead the way internationally.

Another fuel issue the MTA watched carefully in the late sixties was the ownership of service stations. Oil companies were not allowed to own service stations and both the government and the MTA looked very closely at the North Island ‘White Glove’ chain of Shell-branded stations.

Although the MTA never had a finance company, it did have a close association with Dunedin-based Motor Trade Finance which had been started by Dunedin accountant John Gilks in 1970 as a cooperative of Dunedin car dealers and later spread to become a nation-wide company.

Not everything the MTA did turned to gold. An MTA Superannuation Fund was launched amidst expectations of a high take-up rate, but this was lower than expected and eventually was taken over by a private fund.

And a venture into the parts world also ended unhappily. In 1978 the MTA created Friendly Forecourt Ltd with the aim of getting involved in the parts and accessories business, challenging the established companies like Motor Specialties, John Chambers, General Accessories, etc. and to that end bought Partco Ltd (established in 1927 as McMahon Motor Supplies Ltd).

But this proved too difficult and eventually Partco was put into liquidation.

Colin Stone resigned in 1979 to take over the running of the Motor Vehicle Dealers Institute and Max Barclay took over running the MTA.

Canada became a source of ‘American’ cars because of favourable tariffs

In 1984 word was afoot around smoko rooms that the government was looking at changing the frequency with which vehicles had to get warrants of fitness.

This alarmed garage owners, which in turn alarmed the MTA and they began a campaign to oppose it. But it was a long-running, on-and-off campaign as it was only three years ago that these changes were made.

Another long-term project from the same period was the growing prospect that EVs (electric vehicles) might become part of the motoring scene in New Zealand and the need to keep a watch on developments.

In 1984 and 1985 the MTA was busy taking part in a trial of EFTPOS at nine service stations around the Wellington area, introducing its own credit card, welcoming panel-beaters into the MTA brotherhood and getting involved with computers.

If 1987 proved anything to the MTA it was that nothing ever stays the same.

The MTA was involved in three of the most dramatic events to involve the motor industry

STEPHEN MATTHEWS The period 1999 to 2013 was a time of change for the MTA. In 1998 Brian Nelson retired after eight years as CEO, and was replaced by Stephen Matthews who came to the job after 20 years in the oil industry and his own business.

While the MTA was a successful organisation, the world around it had changed considerably.

New Zealand had been deregulated for more than a decade, offering everyone who was prepared to change, opportunity for a different direction. Stephen looked to professionalise the industry, and things happened quickly.

This included the purchase of Vehicle Testing New Zealand from the government. A major growth phase resulted that saw the business triple in size.

One of the final major duties Matthews oversaw before his departure in 2013 was the sale of 60 per cent of VTNZ to the German group DEKRA, leaving the association in a robust financial position.

But the VTNZ deal was only a very small part of the changes that occurred.

MTA House on Kent Terrace was sold and the

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association bought a new building at 79 Taranaki Street, and as part of setting standards and building an MTA brand strategy, the National Call Centre was established as the first step in an ongoing campaign to make member’s customers understand that they were important. This would be the MTA’s point of difference.

Out of this has grown the present-day mediation system that offers a service to both customers and members.

In 2003, the MTA and the Motor Vehicle Dealers Institute (MVDI) merged after the government deregulated the selling of cars. This wasn’t straightforward, because membership of the MVDI had been compulsory and now it was voluntary.

Given that some car dealers had never been happy about the compulsion, there needed to be a convincing case for them to join forces with the MTA. The fact that so many took this option and remain today, confirms that the new direction was being understood and valued.

MTA also recruited more staff with numbers increasing from around 29 to 50 during this period.

Other changes included the establishment

of the MTA Guild, an allied organisation for individuals, and the Fair-Trading Coalition (NZFTC) modelled on the work of MTA Australia to push for legislation reform.

And the changes continued.

The association rebranded with the new, modern, MTA Assured logo that still today looks fresh and modern.

Seeking a higher and younger profile, racing driver and television commentator Greg Murphy came on-board and TV adverts pushed “the experts you can trust”.

By 2009, the raised profile and raised standards had given the MTA an improved public image and Matthews then set about an internal restructure.

There is no doubt that when he left in 2013, Stephen Matthews left behind an MTA that was vastly changed.

It had been transformed for the better, turning from a service organisation into one that was attuned to the times, and better able to take advantage of the deregulated environment. Essentially it had moved into the modern era, and its future survival assured.

The MTA membership application from the 1980s

Early mileage record and coupons book

Since the thirties the petrol industry in New Zealand had been highly regulated.

Everything about it, except ownership, was government controlled. But that was about to change – the government was going to deregulate. The public, believing the industry had been fleecing them for decades, was delighted. The MTA was alarmed. It feared the worst – that oil companies would buy the majority of service stations, or squeeze out smaller operators and they’d lose thousands of members.

Another campaign was launched. The MTA bought enough copies of the book The Seven Sisters by Anthony Sampson, which purported to tell how the seven major oil companies ruled the world, and delivered a copy to every MP. But deregulation went ahead – and the world continued. Oil companies did buy service stations but remained as members of the MTA; however, there were closures, many of them. The public was largely disappointed – they were expecting huge changes, but there were virtually none. Prices didn’t plunge – we had to wait till 2016/2017 for that.

Just before deregulation, there were about 4400 petrol retailers in New Zealand – by 2010 there was less than half that number.

But the past two or three years have seen a reversal, with old service stations reopened and new ones being built.

The MTA launched Business Management Seminars, mainly to bring members in smaller businesses into the new age dominated by computers. As an adjunct, a computer bureau was created in Wellington to extend the assistance.

Over the next decade the MTA was involved in three of the most dramatic events to involve the motor industry. The first was the almost overnight freeing up of import

The latest technology Gift Card with computer chip technology

Gift Vouchers have been a popular purchase for customers over many years now

laws that first allowed in ‘baggage cars’ – cars bought by New Zealanders overseas and transported back to New Zealand – and then the free-for-all period of Japanese used cars. This was a tense time for the MTA as the number of used-car dealers importing used-cars from Japan and making strong profits, went head-to-head, nose-to-nose and toe-to-toe against traditional new- and used-car dealers.

That was followed by the collapse of the vehicle assembly industry in New Zealand – these two events were firmly joined at the hip, one followed the other.

And the third was the change in technology – computers in workshops replaced plough spanners.

In 1998 Brian Nelson left the MTA and his place was taken by Stephen Matthews who had a new vision for the organisation.

In 1999 he oversaw the purchase of VTNZ from the government (see separate chapter) and in 2001, the sale of the MTA building in Kent Terrace, and the purchase of MTA House in Taranaki Street – both proved to be successful investments for the association.

In 2003, the MVDI and the MTA merged, bringing both interests back together again at last, and in 2005 the New Zealand Fair Trading Coalition was formed with the MTA being one of 25 organisations seeking reforms of the Commerce Act. In 2006 the MTA Guild was launched to

bring even higher standards of excellence to the modern era.

In 2013 60 per cent of VTNZ was sold to DEKRA SE. At that point VTNZ had 84 testing stations around the country.

In 2013 Stephen Matthews departed and was succeeded by Warwick Quinn from 2014 to April 2015. He oversaw several major changes, including the launching of a new regional hub structure for the organisation and moving into new premises on the 12th floor of Nokia House in downtown Wellington. Craig Pomare was now the acting chief executive. However, barely had the partitions been erected and staff learned their way to the kitchen, than they became victims of the Kaikoura Quake which badly damaged many buildings in Wellington. They now operate from temporary premises in Tawa.

Today, the MTA is such a different organisation that the founders, Messrs Wackrill, Stewart and Betts, would not recognise it. Looking after the interests of members of the New Zealand motor industry remains a key aim, but its role has been expanded to cover backup, training and encouragement, demanding the highest standards, and serving as the bridge between the industry and the public.

Go to the website and see just how involved the MTA is with the motoring public. www.mta.org.nz 23

Burkes Pass store and pumps

North Avon, Christchurch, Plume station

The street corner service station of Hooper Low in Feilding

The Europa garage in Awahuri

Burke’s Garage in Wellington

Shell Auto Petrol Station on a city corner in Christchurch A rudimentary garage offering Big Tree petrol

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Filling up at the Colville Store

One brand of petrol at the Royal Oak station in Auckland

SERVICE STATIONS

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RADIATOR MAGAZINE

RADIATOR MAGAZINE

The first issue

The birth of the Motor Trade Association came about because of a major problem with tyres – thought to have been tyre companies selling direct to motorists and discounting.

The original logo of the MTA – it has changed several times over the last 100 years

S

The monotone cover of the first issue of Radiator, May 1920. The subscription was a guinea — 21 shillings ($2.10).

Advertising was a feature of the covers for decades

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o successful was the MTA that by 1920 it was decided that a regular form of communication was needed. In 1920 there was no internet, no email, no websites, telephones were few and far between. The most common form of communication was by writing a letter. It was decided that the most effective way of getting information to members was via a monthly magazine born with the first issue published in May 1920.

For a first issue from such a young organisation, it’s quite a grand affair, not just by the standards of the day, but also by today’s.

It’s all black and white – colour-printing in 1920 was so expensive it was saved for special occasions and then only for the most prestigious of publications. And there are no photographs in the first issue – what illustrations there are are line drawings, again because of the cost involved in turning photographs into zinc blocks.

Still, that first issue of Radiator contains 52 pages, A4 in size, printed on good quality paper with a separate cover of light, green-tinted card, and pages are numbered separately in Roman numerals. It’s all quite formal in presentation and overall tone.

An appendix in the last three pages confirms the growth of the organisation in its three years of existence, with over 500 members as of May 1, 1920.

CHAPTER CHAPTER 13

Some of the member companies still exist, most notably Archibalds of Christchurch and Cooke Howlison of Dunedin, with members spread from big cities like Wellington to remote settlements such as Ross in South Westland.

However, given the size of Auckland, that city is not highly represented, indicating that in those early years there may have been some sort of territorial issues that have been forgotten today.

The editor, J F Cousins, wrote in his editorial that given the growth and importance of the motor industry it was surprising that such a journal had not made an appearance sooner. He writes, somewhat modestly, “No pretence to journalistic excellence is claimed – it is purely a trade journal, conducted by the trade, for the trade.” Cousins urges members to share experiences and expertise and he hopes for a long life for the magazine.

His hope came true because Radiator is still going strong today, still adheres to the same style and contents and although there have been many changes in the staff of the MTA over the past 100 years, there’s been a continual awareness of the value of preserving history.

Today, even with email, websites and ‘apps’, Radiator continues to be a major conduit for information from the MTA to its members.

It’s looked forward to, eagerly read and very effective.

Today, Radiator’s original editor J F Cousins is something of a mystery. Nobody knows anything of him. He was also the Secretary of the MTA and continued in these dual roles for many years. But when he left, he left few traces and today nothing is known of this man who just never missed a beat.

He was scrupulous about meeting publishing deadlines and he seemed to be in attendance at several meetings a month, some in towns and cities outside his home-base of Wellington.

In the first issue he made no claims about editorial excellence, but he quickly developed a direct and colourful style of writing, full of phrases that today seem quaintly over-wrought, and he certainly was not afraid to offer criticism.

If there was an issue that affected the MTA, its members or the car-owning public, Mr Cousins used his pen like a double-edged battle sword! He was a champion of the motor vehicle and the motor industry.

A major aid to the writing of this history of the MTA has been a handsome collection of bound volumes of every issue of Radiator, not only providing valuable material, but also far, far too many hours of fascinating reading.

If it was an issue with tyre supplies and availability that led to the establishment of the MTA, another issue dominates the first issue of Radiator. This time – and this may not come as a great surprise – it’s the supply, price and availability of fuel, specifically petrol.

Some things just never change!

This was in the time before bulk delivery in tankers, or roadside and forecourt pumps, when petrol was imported and sold by the case – two four-gallon tins (called flimsies) in a wooden case similar to apple boxes of old.

This is the way it was imported, distributed, stored and sold.

The wooden cases made excellent firewood, but there are only so many uses for empty four-gallon tins, which explains why so many were flattened and used as cladding for garden sheds, outhouses, hen runs and other miscellaneous small buildings.

By 1920, the motor trade had largely become a stand-alone, specialist industry – rather than one in which blacksmiths and cycle-traders dabbled on the side – and was well on its way to becoming one of the largest employers in the Dominion.

But, unusually from the perspective of today, not every garage owner was committed to selling petrol. Many preferred to leave stocking and selling to other forms of retailers – most notably general storekeepers. Most just want to repair motor cars.

Dominion Motors advertisement, several years before the company became synonymous with Morris and Nuffield products. They were busy enough with Crossley, Hudson and Essex, but had other franchises as well

Dominion Motors again, this time advertising Oldsmobile and Chevrolet in a very Māori-themed advertisement

The indifference seems mainly to have been based on the amount of money tied up in stock for the lack of profit returned. But there were other concerns, including the necessity to have somewhere safe to store hundreds of cases of a potentially dangerous liquid in flimsy containers – and the fact that to sell petrol they’d have to down tools to serve the customer.

That was one of the issues of the moment and in the pages of Radiator the MTA urges all garages to think of the need to be all things to motorists.

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The magazine asks what sort of image does it create if a garage owner sells a car to a customer and them sends him off to the general store to buy the fuel to make it run?

Oil companies and general importing companies were both importing petrol into New Zealand and they added to the ambivalence of garage owners by selling direct and offering discounts to various groups of motorists like taxi owners, bakers and other fleet operators.

Showing a ready willingness to get involved in such matters, the MTA made a broad approach to the oil companies and importers to end the direct selling and discounting, and then urged garage owners to accept that they were ’the natural distributors of petrol’.

A lengthy article says garage owners needed to look at the issues, otherwise the industry might lose petrol sales completely.

The article suggests ways to increase sales including employing a specific person to handle petrol sales. The Radiator says, “It is not as hare-brained a scheme as it appears at first sight, especially if he can sell tyres, or even the odd car now and then.”

It all seems so obvious today, but back in 1920 the clear paths of petrol sales had still to be established. Bulk handling of petrol (and kerosene which was still an important product) and the establishment of ‘service stations’ was just over the horizon.

And how much was petrol in those days?

Very, very expensive and the price was set by the government. It was cheapest in the main centres – Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin – where it was four shillings a gallon, the equivalent of about 10 cents per litre.

A plumber earned about £4 a week ($8) – so a tankful of petrol for his car would have taken about one third of his wages.

Petrol was a penny or two a gallon more expensive in Napier, Timaru, Whanganui, New Plymouth, Gisborne and New Plymouth – the other ports that had petrol-handling facilities.

Despite this, car ownership was already high in New Zealand, and although global figures were patchy it appears that in 1920 we had the second-highest motor vehicle ownership per head of population in the entire world. Only the USA was ahead of us.

There the ratio was about one motor vehicle to every 15 people; in New Zealand we had one vehicle to every 25 people; Australia was next with one to 50 and then a huge leap to Canada with one to 160 and England with one to 200.

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Gargoyle Oil, a division of the Standard Oil Company controlled by the fabulously wealthy Rockefeller family

Goodyear tyres with their non-skid tread. Tyres in 1920 looked more like today’s mountain bike tyres

We had 50,000 motor vehicles for a population of 1.25 million.

That’s a staggering and insightful set of figures given our remote geographical location, the state of our roading network outside the main centres, and the cost of petrol.

And how much was petrol in those days?

Very, very expensive and the price was set by the government

Given the price of petrol it would seem obvious that the ordinary working bloke would not only not be able to buy a car, but he certainly couldn’t afford the petrol. So you are left with the very obvious conclusion that car ownership in New Zealand in 1920 was restricted to the wealthy.

There was also another issue pertaining to petrol that had a wider effect than just on the MTA and its members and that was the inconsistent supply of the stuff.

Radiator reported that “for the past two

years”, New Zealand petrol supplies had either been a famine, or a feast. The trouble had started in 1918 when there had been a shortage of petrol across New Zealand, and specialist importing companies outside the established oil companies had identified a business opportunity and started importing fuel themselves.

Prices soared and a lot of money was made.

The government intervened and applied import and pricing restrictions. This eased the supply problem, but price restrictions stayed in place. Then companies began hoarding petrol in the belief that one day soon either price controls would be lifted, or the government would set a new higher price and there would be big profits.

Those MTA members who had enthusiastically embraced the sale of petrol were badly affected by all of this and so the association approached the government to organise a scheme whereby petrol imports would be pooled and distributed evenly throughout the country, and that largely overcame the feast-or-famine situation.

But of course, petrol would eventually become one of our most regulated and controlled products in terms of price and availability.

Apart from petrol, there were several other matters in that first issue of Radiator that are worth a look.

The advertisement says it clearly – this was a branch of Leyland Motors in the UK, not an agency. But they were agents for Vauxhall cars

A courtesy advert from the first issue of Radiator – doubtless paid for by the Standard Vacuum Oil Company

Garage owners faced an increase in wages for staff following a decree by the Arbitration Court that there was to be a general, acrossthe-board wage increase for skilled workers because of increases in the cost of living.

That increase would be a one-and-a-half pennies an hour. That took the minimum wage of motor mechanics from one shilling and 11 pence per hour, to two shillings and a halfpenny.

However, in a separate and quite lengthy article based on a visit to the USA, H Goodwin of Timaru writes that “profit-sharing” had worked well in that country and asked if it could be used in New Zealand to increase productivity, thus increasing profits and giving staff extra income.

There’s an amusing article that looks at the standard of bodywork on Australian cars.

The Australian government, eager to establish a motor industry, had introduced a law where only one body could be imported for every three chassis, the two naked chassis being fitted with a locally designed and built body.

Radiator produced an extract from The Motor News of London that scoffs at the ability of Australians to meet any sort of quality in terms of appearance or build.

“It is said,” said the report, “that it will affect the Americans most; but it is suggested that Rolls-Royce, Lanchester or Wolseley will not appreciate a few soap and margarine boxes

being stuck on their chassis. British bodies provide the finishing ‘exclusive touch’ to British cars.

Numerous coachbuilders will, however, find work in Australia teaching the art of design.”

There’s a splutteringly indignant response from Australia. “If this statement had come from some of our late enemy countries it might possibly be understood, but certainly not from the Motherland, to whom we are always looking for advice and praise when we deserve the same.”

As we all know, Australia went on to create a sizeable motor industry that lasted for many years.

In other stories, there is a look at fitting “pirate parts”, something the MTA strongly advised against, calling substitute parts an “evil” and it also urged members to deal only with wholesalers who refused to sell direct to the public.

Tyres seem to have been an ongoing problem from the start and a news story says a meeting of European tyre companies in France had agreed to limit the number of

Tyres were fragile, roads were rough, so punctures were common. For the man who had everything, a Detroit tyre pump was a welcome gift

29

tyre sizes to just six and also to standardise valves. It was predicted the most popular size of tyre would be 880mm (diameter) by 120mm (cross section).

This first issue of Radiator has a small table that looks at American car production comparing 1919 to estimated output for 1920. Ford had produced 800,000 cars in 1919, but was expected to top a million in the current year – a 25 per cent increase despite the fact it was a 12-year-old design.

Buick was the best of the challengers – 140,000 in 1919 and looking to double output to 280,000 in 1920. A good try but still only slightly more than a quarter of Ford’s production.

Next was Essex, going from 20,000 to 40,000, Paige from 16,000 to 37,000 and Hudson from 20,000 to 30,000.

The world, including New Zealand, was moving by Ford Model T. And with a touch of Popular Mechanics about it, Radiator devoted two pages to ideas for making life and work easier around the repair shop. There’s a tube deflater, how to drive a tight bush out of a blind hole using hydraulics, a do-it-yourself valve-lifter, using wooden clothes pegs to help remove the cylinder head of a Model T – and more. Each of these hints or devices is accompanied by a small line drawing.

That first issue of Radiator is a fascinating read.

What is really interesting to someone involved in magazine publishing in 2016 is the number of advertisements the publication carried. There is a total of 261/2 pages of advertising, the majority of them being full page ads and most placed by large companies – the corporates. And showing the influence of the advertising sector even at that stage, many of these ads were professionally produced with high levels of artistic creativity.

What’s interesting from a 2016 perspective is that a large proportion of these ads were for motor vehicles themselves and not just consumables like tyres and spark plugs, although there are several of these.

Dominion Motors advertised Oldsmobile and Chevrolet in a single combined ad. David Crozier of Christchurch extolled the values of the Briscoe car – a leader of lightweight cars. Leyland Motors promoted the values Shell was one of the earliest brands of petrol to be sold in New of their trucks of the same Zealand and stayed here until selling out to become Z. Shell’s advertising was always eye-catching name, but also advised they sell steam wagons, fire-engines and char-a-bancs. The lower half of this Vauxhalls into New Zealand. At this period, ad showed that Leyland also imported before being bought by General Motors, Vauxhall was a luxury car and a hero of World War One being the staff car for the British Army in all theatres of the war.

George Henning of Auckland (and Hamilton) advertised that they were dealers in Dodge and Daimler and “wholesalers of everything automotive”. George Henning himself saw the value in motorsport and established Henning’s Speedway in Onehunga in the 1920s.

Inglis Brothers of Wellington were the New Zealand agents for Republic trucks while a full page for the Bean automobile showed there were five dealerships in New Zealand – David Crozier in Christchurch,

Lodge spark plugs boasting of their use in aircraft. Teagle Smith & Sons was a long-established automotive parts warehouse in New Zealand

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With a touch of Popular Mechanics about it, Radiator devotes two pages to ideas for making life and work easier

Lerew Motors in Napier and Gisborne, Magnus Sanderson in Wellington, Walter Turner in Palmerston North and PH Vickery in Invercargill.

Despite being described as an “automobile”, the Bean was a British car described as “the owner–driver’s car” as opposed to one in which the owner sat in the back and had the man drive.

The company A Hattrick and Co Ltd, perhaps more famous for paddleboats on the Whanganui River, advertised they were agents for Willys-Knight, Willys-Overland, Armstrong Siddeley and Cubitt cars, Thornycroft and Denby trucks as well as Avery tractors. In addition they were agents for Firestone tyres – fabric, cord and solid rubber, as well as Firestone accessories. They had showrooms and garages in Whanganui, Wellington and Christchurch.

Inglis Brothers of Wellington, also took pride of place having an half-page advertisement on the front cover – what you would call ’prime position’ – but they didn’t boast any make, saying just that they were importers of “Commercial Vehicles, Motorcycles, Motor Cars and Cycles” as well as lathes, grinders, drilling machines, and were sole New Zealand distributors for

Prest-o-lite batteries, Testbestos brake linings and Heinz-Springfield lighting and starter kits.

Most of these vehicle ads were directed at MTA members, urging them to become agents, rather than trying to sell the car’s qualities to the buying public.

Tyre companies were the biggest advertisers after motor vehicles.

Miller Tires (Geared to the Road) were supplied to “all garages and throughout the Dominion” by E Reynolds & Co of Wellington.

The Barnet Glass and Rubber Company of Great Britain was represented directly in New Zealand and urged New Zealanders to “Buy British – the Empire wants ALL your trade”. The ad showed that in the period 1914 to 1919 New Zealanders had bought £1,631,584 worth of British tyres and £1,628,574 of “foreign” tyres and urged New Zealand motorists to “remove this stigma!”

Fisk Tires were also there with importers Adams Ltd having outlets in Christchurch, Timaru and Whanganui and they were looking for agents anywhere in New Zealand.

Goodyear had probably the best looking ad in the magazine and compared the grip of their Perfect Non Skid tyres with the grip of a fly’s foot. The United States Rubber

The March 2017 edition of Radiator celebrates the Car Show of the Century event held as part of the MTA100 celebration

Company ad featured a skyscraper and all of its products from tyres to hot water bottles and gumboots. Clincher Tyres, a product of the North British Rubber Company of

31

Edinburgh in Scotland called their tyres “unapproachable” and were imported by Hayward Brothers of Christchurch. The Pownall Rubber Company of Whanganui said they imported Vacuum Cup Black Tread tyres and advised a shipment had left the USA and was due in New Zealand “in a few weeks”. Perhaps indicative of the fluctuating nature of fuel and oil supplies at that time, oil companies were few and far between in this issue.

Gargoyle Lubricants had a full-page advertisement. Gargoyle was a product of the Vacuum Oil Company and this company is still active in New Zealand as Mobil. Big Tree was the only ‘benzene’ company to market its wares in that issue of Radiator.

At that time Big Tree petrol and oil was imported by A S Paterson & Company – Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin. Wakefield Castrol Oil was imported by Dominion Motors and they had an ad that also promoted Crossley, Hudson and Essex. Of the four, only Castrol is still here and is now a BP product.

The Motor Import Company of Wellington and Christchurch were agents for Lodge, Oleo, Sphinx, AC, Cico and Champion “sparking” plugs, Shaler vulcanisers, Dixie magnetos and Ford cylinder reborers among other equipment.

Christchurch company Maling & Co, later liquor importers, advised they imported “motor cars, motorcycles and accessories for the motor trade, as well as Avon and Connolly tyres, Autoline oil, Chekko brake linings, Waxit polish, Vaseil Grease, Reflex spark plugs and Jensen pumps”, and also advised in bold type they were wholesale only – something that was already a bit of an issue for the trade.

Exide batteries had a powerful ad which shows these were imported by Hope Gibbons

32

The cover of Radiator was updated and given colour in 1929

That first issue of Radiator may be almost 100 years old, but it’s still a fascinating read

& Sons and JB Clarkson Company Limited.

KLG spark plugs boasted their use in “aeroplanes and super fast racing machines” and the sole New Zealand distributors was Teagle Smith & Sons.

Another brand of advertised spark plug that has long vanished was Sterling which boasted as being “cleanable and separable” and were imported by James J Niven with branches in Wellington, Auckland, Hamilton, Gisborne, Wairoa, Napier, Palmerston North (and London).

Willard batteries were also

promoted through five outlets in New Zealand – Thomas Ballinger in Wellington, the Electric Construction Company of Auckland, James J Niven in Napier, Gisborne, Wairoa and Christchurch and A & T Burt in Dunedin.

Nobody laid claim to the advertisement for the Golden Giant Sparking Plug – this ad simply waxed glorious about the qualities of the device, leaving it up to the reader where to go for them. A rare brand advertisement.

There’s also a full-page advertisement for a quite specific product – the Detroit gearless, motor-driven tire pump – a device that attached to the front of the car where the crank handle was inserted, taking 30 seconds to install and remove. It promised to inflate your tyre in “three to four minutes” and cost 84s, or £4/4/-. This was not a one-size-fits-all – versions were made for various Briscoe, Chandler, Dodge, Hudson, Overland, Reo and Studebaker models.

These were imported by Cycle and Motor Supplies of Wellington and guaranteed for five years.

That first issue of Radiator may be almost 100 years old, but it’s still a fascinating read.

33

CARS OF THE PERIOD

1923 Ford Model T, four door sedan

The

CARS WE DROVE

The most influential cars of our four periods

T

he hero car of this period was the Ford Model T. In fact, it’s the hero car of this entire history.

From the perspective of 2017 it’s difficult to understand just how complete the domination of the Tin Lizzie was, but to say it was the car that put the world on wheels is more than a cliché – it’s the overwhelming truth.

It was the simplicity of the design that allowed the Model T to be built on the world’s first successful production line, speeding up build times and reducing price.

It wasn’t totally conventional but the overall design was – a straightforward four-cylinder side-valve motor with no oil pump and no water pump. The engine was lubricated by moving parts throwing oil to the farthest corners of the internals, while water was circulated on the simple principle that heat rises; so hot water went to the top tank of the radiator and was cooled as it flowed to the bottom. There was no fuel 34

PERIOD ONE The beginning to 1930

The Ford Car pump; instead, – The Model T there was gravity Nothing – well almost nothing feed from the petrol – stopped the Model T Ford tank which was mounted higher than the engine. Famously, if you were turned the other way to operate a set of four low on petrol and the hill was steep, boxes on the scuttle which used tremblers the gravity system wouldn’t work, so you to supply a constant spark. Once the motor reversed up hills. fired, you turned the ‘key’ to the other side The transmission was definitely not and used the magneto. conventional. While other car-makers were The Model T was not easy to drive perfecting a gearbox using clusters of gears because of its unconventionality. and a clutch, Henry Ford chose a two-speed On the floor were three identical looking system that used planetary gears and bands; pedals – left was a ‘sort-of’ clutch/low there was no clutch as such, but there gear, centre was reverse and right was the was a footbrake that operated within the footbrake. transmission.

On the steering column were two levers – Initially there was no electric starter – on the left, the throttle (accelerator) and the that would come later, as did electric lights. right lever advanced or retarded the spark.

At first there were carbide lights.

On the right of the driver’s area was the When it was running, the Model T used handbrake which operated on the rear wheels a magneto built into the back of the engine. (using cast-iron linings). The handbrake To start, the ignition switch had to be had three positions – fully back was the

CHAPTER CHAPTER 4 1

A ‘de luxe’ 1912 Model T Ford in Christchurch, fitted with extras including wire wheels

A 1910 Model T Ford that the owner was very proud of

The Model T never needed a lot of bodywork. A home-made farm truck

handbrake on, midway was neutral, fully forward was top gear.

It was always easiest to roll start the car because cranking was so difficult and fraught. For a crank start you pushed the spark lever right up to maximum retardation, then opened the throttle a notch or two.

You checked the handbrake was fully ON, as vibrations from the coarse motor could cause the handbrake to slip forward into top gear and the car to run over the cranker!

Checklist completed, you switched the ignition to trembler and then walked to the front, engaged the permanently attached crank handle, making sure you wrapped your thumb around the handle along with your other fingers as the engine could spit back and broken thumbs were common.

Then you’d pull out the choke – a wire at the bottom of the radiator, and pull the crank handle up a couple of times just to turn the motor over before you set your shoulders and got stuck in.

If you were lucky, three or four good pulls would see the engine rattle into life.

If you weren’t lucky … well you could be there all day.

The released crank fell back into its ‘park’ position and you settled behind the steering wheel, switched over to magneto and advanced the spark.

Experienced Model T drivers would press down on the left pedal to the halfway stage, just before you could feel the bands beginning to bite – then you had neutral and could release the handbrake, pushing the lever all the way forward, into the top gear position.

Giving it a bit of throttle, you pressed down on the left pedal, slowly engaging bottom gear, like a clutch pedal in reverse.

As you pushed down, you gave it more throttle until you were on the move and your foot had the low-gear pedal fully depressed.

Once you had reasonable road speed you lifted your foot off the low-gear pedal and – because you were an experienced Model T driver, you had already engaged the brake lever into the fully forward positon – the car just glided into top.

For reverse, set the handbrake in the middle position and press down on the pedal while feeding in the gas.

The transmission foot brake took a delicate touch.

In contrast to the rest of the car the differential was fragile. A heavy push on the brake pedal would only lock the rear wheels if you were lucky, but if you were unlucky you’d hear an explosion as the differential gears shattered. It happened often.

It had lots of idiosyncrasies, like no

dip-stick for checking the oil – just two brass taps. If no oil ran out of the lower tap you needed oil. If it ran out of the top tap, you didn’t.

This was the car that New Zealand and much of the world was built on. So refined was the production system and so all-encompassing was the global sales network, that each time another car-maker got close to Ford’s sales figures, Henry reduced the price, which increased demand.

In November 1925 – nearing the end of the T’s life – the retail price of a brand new tourer, with a spare tyre, was £153 if you were prepared to crank start it, or £169 if you wanted an electric starter.

By comparison, an Essex tourer was £312 and Adams, the Studebaker importer was boldly proclaiming ‘lower prices’ with the entry-level tourer priced at £434.

A baby Austin was £238 – so no wonder the Ford sold in such numbers.

Simple, honest, reliable, easy to repair and plentiful, so parts – preferably used – were never in short supply.

History tells us Henry Ford didn’t give the Model T the fairy-tale ending it deserved. He clung to the bad bits of the car for so long that the car almost became an embarrassment, at least among new car buyers.

Up until the mid twenties, Foard had what looked like an unassailable lead in the sales race, but by hanging onto the Model T two or three years longer than he should, Henry relinquished that lead forever.

The Model T deserves to be known for more than that. For it’s time it was absolutely brilliant.

1915 brass radiator Ford Model T tourer

35

PERIOD ONE Honourable Mention Austin Seven

By the mid-thirties, the Austin Seven had become rounded and called the Ruby

T

he car that deserves an honourable mention here is the British Austin Seven, or Baby Austin. In many ways it was the British answer to the Ford.

Launched in 1922 it saw service through to 1939, but, unlike the Ford, the Austin went through some serious changes along the way.

So successful was the small Austin that it became a global car – it was built as a BMW Dixi, in France as a Rosengart and in Japan, Nissan copied the design. There was even an American Baby Austin.

While the Austin was a baby in size, it was a giant-killer in many other ways and New Zealanders took to it in surprising numbers – and then put them to the acid-test of driving them on New Zealand’s primitive roads. They passed with flying colours.

Austin Sevens built

by BMW in Germany were called the Dixi

The 8hp Y Model Ford was joined by the slightly bigger Model C that boasted 10hp

PERIOD TWO Honourable Mention The Ford Ten

When it was introduced in 1934, the Y Model was very cheap

W

ithout wanting to turn this into a Ford-fest, the entry of the new small British Ford onto the global market was the same sort of genius stroke that created the Model T. In the thirties, most British cars were relatively complex, but the small Ford was pure Ford simplicity, built on a smaller scale – transverse leaf springs, mechanical brakes and a simple but sturdy and reliable side-valve engine that would see service through into the sixties.

Over the years, ‘the Ford 10’, from the Y-Model to the last-of-them, the Ford Popular, provided hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders with solid, honest, reliable, economical, tough-as-boots transport.

36

Ford’s first venture into the world of small cars was a master-stroke. The 8hp Y Model looked like a scaled-down V8

One of the most desirable of all early Ford V8s was the original – hot rodders loved the ‘32

I

t wasn’t the best car of the period, but it was the car that defined this time more than any other.

When Henry Ford ordered a V8 engine to replace the simple four-cylinder engines that had powered the Models T and A it was a preposterous notion.

When the Model A was launched most of its competitors were already using six-cylinder engines which offered superior power and refinement. But rather than join his rivals, Henry Ford leap-frogged them, elevating the Ford brand into supercar status.

Only luxury brands offered a V8 motor.

The engine wasn’t perfect; it suffered from an overheating issue throughout its considerable life, due to the centre cylinders The famous Lewis Bandt Ford V8 ute of 1934

PERIOD TWO 1931 TO 1948

The Ford V8 Advertisement for ‘38 Standard and ‘38 de Luxe Ford V8s. This was the last year of mechanically-operated brakes

on both sides of the vee having to share an exhaust port, right through a water jacket.

And the cars that Ford installed the new motors in were also far from perfect.

Henry insisted on using the transverse leaf springs, front and rear, as originally introduced with the Model T, as well as mechanical brakes. It wasn’t until 1939 that Ford utilised hydraulics to stop his cars.

Despite these issues, the Ford V8 had an image of power and speed, causing the noted bank-robber Clyde Barrow to famously write a note to Henry Ford saying how much he liked the performance of the V8.

In New Zealand the Ford V8 was consistently one of the

biggest-selling cars during this period, loved by farmers for its rugged power and by city-dwellers for its racy image.

The engine was used in Ford passenger cars from 1932 until 1953 overseas, but continued until 1954 in New Zealand. However, it had a huge number of other applications – trucks, buses, tractors and it was probably the most widely used engine in World War Two. But the impact of the Ford V8 didn’t cease with the end of production. Because of a mix of its image and its ability to produce power, the Ford V8 became the car for the teenage rebels of the late fifties and early sixties, the so-called Milkbar Cowboys. It also became a cornerstone in the world of hot rodders as well as providing power for countless, home-made racing car ‘specials’.

It was probably a giant with feet of clay.

The glamour of a Ford V8 coupe.

This is a ‘35 model beneath the girls

37

Production of the Morris Minor went on and on.

Between 1948 and 1971, almost 1.4 million were built – many survive

The original low-light Morris Minor. It transformed ride and handling expectations of small cars

T

his was a period of change and counter-change and, to be honest, we find it impossible to separate the two cars that represented everything that was so brilliantly good and so appallingly bad about the British motor industry. Sir Alec Issigonis, the designer of those two cars – the Morris Minor and the Mini – was the most influential person during this period.

The Morris Minor should have been 100 per cent totally new, but it wasn’t. Morris bean-counters meant Issigonis’ dream for a revolutionary small car was somewhat diluted. However, the end result was still revolutionary.

Issigonis wanted it to be powered by a new, horizontally-opposed engine and he designed the engine bay big enough for it, but the accountants said ‘no’ so the car had to make do with the side-valve engine that had powered pre-war Morris Eights and the post-war Series-E cars.

Despite this handicap, the combination of interior space, cute looks as well as ride and road-holding that might have come from another planet, won the Minor high levels of praise.

When he looked at the first complete engineered car, Issigonis said it was too narrow and ordered it to be four inches wider. In order to keep costs down, the body

PERIOD THREE 1949 – 1980 Sir Alec Issigonis

Designer of the Morris Minor and Mini Typical brochure for the Morris Minor. The high headlights were to meet American regulations

presses were cut and had a centre ridge added. And because tens of thousands of front bumpers had already been made, they were cut in half and bolted by an exterior plate painted the same body colour as the car.

And then when the Minor was ‘Americanised’ and had to have higher headlights to meet US rules, Morris simply added on headlight shrouds and so lost that pure, early, low-light look.

But, there was good news: the engines got better when Morris merged with Austin – first getting the same overhead-valve engine as the Austin A30 and then, the bigger ‘Thousand’ engine from the A35.

The Morris Minor touched the lives of many New Zealanders. It came as a two-door sedan, four-door sedan convertible, woody wagon, pick-up and van, continuing in production in the UK until 1971.

The enduring love, coupled with remarkably robust build, means the Morris Minor is possibly the most common classic car in New Zealand today, with many lurking in paddocks, under hedges and in old sheds, looking for owners to either restore them or use them as a parts car.

As enormously successful and much loved as the Morris Minor was and still With incredible roadholding and the ability to handle larger engines, the Mini became – and still is – a much-loved racing car

Family values for the Mini in its advertising

38

is, Issigonis’ second great car, the Mini, surpassed the older car in every way – except maybe longevity. By comparison with the Minor, few of the original Minis from the swinging sixties remain.

The Mini re-wrote the way the car was packaged. A tiny car, where style was second to interior space, and a compact engine/ gearbox/front wheel drive unit made it all possible.

Again, Issigonis was short-changed in the engine department, having to ‘make-do’ with a variation of the BMC A-series engine that had been used in the Minor 1000 and A35.

The Mini should not have worked – it was ugly, it wore its body seams on the outside, it was small, the windows slid sideways and it used rubber cones for suspension. But people loved it for its practicality and its lack of convention.

Its impact on cars of the future was enormous and we just loved it. Grandmothers drove them, young girls around town dressed them up, and grown men raced and rallied them.

But as brilliant as the design was, the British motor industry had pressed the self-destruct button and the car was eventually let down by its creators.

The vehicle that gave the world the ability to go off-road – the Land Rover

T

PERIOD THREE Honourable Mention The Land Rover

he Land Rover is an iconic piece of British engineering rather than design. Where did the idea come from to take the body off a quality British car, the Rover, replace it with an angular body made from aluminium and sell it to rural folk as a universal car? That was thinking outside the square.

Aluminium was used for the body because there was a surplus of it in the UK after they’d finished building aeroplanes for World War Two.

This dilapidated Land Rover awaits a future restoration

While never as gentrified as it was in the UK, the ‘Landie’ was loved by farmers in New Zealand. It wasn’t cheap but it was unstoppable, and it could be used for carrying sheep, fence posts and coils of wire to the back-blocks as well as going to

rugby on Saturday and church on Sunday.

Along with the Morris Minor, the Landie has been a great survivor and both are the most common cars in NZ to be found under hedges and trees waiting to be restored, or dismantled for parts.

The only magazine for those with a driving passion for classic cars classicdriver.co.nz classicdrivernz

39

I

t’s almost a little unfair to name the Toyota Corolla as the car having the most influence on this period when the first model was released in 1966. While it has undergone many total redesigns and changed configuration in that time, it is the best selling ‘name plate’ in the history of the car, and in New Zealand, as elsewhere around the world, it’s the car that is totally synonymous with the Japanese Revolution that transformed what we drive.

There is no other car that sums up the impact made by the Japanese motor industry in terms of build quality, reliability, refinement and value-for-money.

Like most Japanese cars, the Toyota Corolla is conventional and conservative, but it’s the Swiss watch of the car world.

Despite that automotive conservatism, some of the earlier model Corollas are to today’s younger petrolheads what the Ford V8 was to the teenagers of the fifties – a cult, ‘go-faster’ car.

Largely however, the Corolla represents the way that the car today is regarded by many as an ‘appliance’. It’s there to be used and it does so seamlessly.

PERIOD FOUR 1981 to the present The Toyota Corolla Still going strong, the 2009 Toyota Corolla

The enormous impact that the Toyota Corolla has had on New Zealand is that it provided affordable, economical, quality transport with a level of sophistication that wouldn’t have been believed 40 years

ago, with breathtaking levels of reliability.

For many people, the Toyota Corolla represents the modern motor car, in the same way that the ‘Ford car’ represented it for the first quarter of last century.

High performance Corolla FX-GT

PERIOD FOUR Honourable Mention The Mazda MX-5

T

he really important thing that the Mazda MX-5 did was to turn back the clock and show manufacturers that there was still a place for an affordable little car that provided as much fun as it did basic transport. Legend has it the MX-5 was conceived on a serviette in a Hiroshima restaurant by two reasonably senior Mazda

staff members after cups of sake with their meal.

The small, two-seater, fun-to-drive sports car, built using proprietary parts – as originally conceived by MG in Britain – had been dropped by just about every carmaker in the world who deemed there was no market for them anymore. But those two Mazda men – an American and a Japanese – thought otherwise. They showed their concept on the serviette to management, the seeds were sown, and the MX-5 showed that there were still people in the world who wanted to have fun and enjoy their driving.

While the MX-5 has been sold new in

Over the years, the MX-5 has been given evolutionary design changes – pop-up headlights on the first, became open headlights on the second

40

The original Mazda MX-5 reinvented the fun, affordable sports car

New Zealand, most were used cars that were imported from Japan in the early nineties.

Its contribution to this period has been pure and simple wind-in-your-hair driving pleasure.

But let’s just sneak a couple of much more modern cars in as a nod to the future.

The Toyota Prius hybrid has been the advance guard of the near future and has shown, particularly the second-generation car, that the future is totally practical.

And there’s the Nissan Leaf – an electric car, not a hybrid. Not a success as a new car in New Zealand because of price, but remarkably successful as a JUC (Japanese Used Car) because shortage of range and ‘battery anxiety’ hasn’t stopped people wanting to buy them when the price is right.

And with kerbside recharging stations now popping up like mushrooms in small towns, it has become more practical by the day to drive the future – electric.

Proudly sharing the journey with Kiwis for over 100 years From humble beginnings selling kerosene in the 1870s, to launching the new Synergy family of fuels in the North Island in 2016, Mobil has been a part of Kiwi’s lives for over a century.

As the first oil company to operate in New Zealand, Mobil have witnessed an enormous amount of change, and is continually innovating to maintain an easy and convenient high-quality fuel experience for our customers.

MOB2026

TIMELINE – BEGINNING TO 1930

The

MOTOR VEHICLE

in New Zealand

NE0 O D 93 IO PER n i n g – 1 Beg

I

n researching the history of the motor vehicle in New Zealand it became apparent that there were quite clearly defined periods.

The first was from the beginning to 1930. In this period, the motor car became established and the vehicles themselves reasonably sophisticated, styling was still boxy, wheels ‘spindly‚’ but although sales were growing dramatically, the period ended with a massive slump.

The second period started in 1931 and finished in 1948 with the rebirth of the motor industry. The first rebirth followed the Great Depression and ended with the second rebirth following the Second World War. In the mid to late thirties, cars became more streamlined, the interiors more plush, the engines more powerful and the New Zealand government manipulated the market in favour of British cars.

The third period began in 1949 when most carmakers released their first all-new models since 1939 or 1940. Government manipulation of the New Zealand market was stronger than ever, and we became a nation of British car buyers with American cars reserved

Frederick Dennison and his car. Dennison is to motoring what Richard Pearse was to aviation — a natural genius and almost overlooked. What he achieved in 1900 was heroic

42

in

for farmers and wealthy city dwellers. The third period ended in 1979 with the capitulation of the British industry, the dominance of the Japanese carmakers, dramatic changes in market forces and incredible technological developments. We’ve enjoyed the research, now sit back and enjoy the ride!

PERIOD ONE The beginning to 1930 Some would claim that the arrival of the motor vehicle was the third most important event in New Zealand history, after the two great waves of human immigration that populated the land.

First would be the arrival of the tangata whenua, the Māori people. Second would be the coming of the European – the Pakeha – and third, the motor vehicle.

It has been given that ranking because it was the motor vehicle that allowed the rapid transformation of much of the country from wilderness to settled land, and allowed Māori and pioneer settlers to socialise more widely.

Both tangata whenua and pakeha arrived by sea, and once here continued to use water-borne vessels to gain access to the coast and, to a lesser extent, inland regions via rivers and lakes. Apart from that, for Māori at least, it was Shanks’s Pony – by foot. Then pakeha brought horses and that sped up travel and communication, and allowed freight to be moved reasonably easily. But the wagons the horses pulled needed roads, so roads of a sort were ‘formed’ – actual road building came later.

Pakeha then imported that great invention, the railway, which improved transport and travel beyond belief – but only as far as the railway lines would allow. Rail had its limitations. Lines had to be reasonably level, so it was not all-terrain or getting into every corner of the land, and never would be. Cuttings and tunnels had to be cut, bridges built and difficult terrain had to be bypassed. It was time-consuming – and expensive. Rail was never going to provide the geographic coverage that was needed to develop this young and often hostile land.

It was the motor vehicle that provided the flexibility in transport and travel that rail never could. It was the motor vehicle that allowed the speedy and final development of New Zealand.

CHAPTER CHAPTER 15

Splendid restoration of the “works” Chrysler racing car commissioned by Todd Motors in the late twenties

The motor vehicle was flexible and adaptable. In an ideal world, the motor vehicle needed a road, but early New Zealand was not an ideal world, so the early motoring pioneers simply went cross-country, forming tracks as they went. Tracks that in many cases finally became roads. It was the motor vehicle that provided the final transport break-through for the latter-day pioneers.

The motor vehicle was ideal for travel beyond the railhead – where railway transport ended – but it was too flexible to simply be an extension of rail.

For example: a person might want to go from Auckland to Hamilton, but there was only one train a day, or a farmer near

Balclutha could need a coil of Number 8 wire urgently to keep his cows in, but would find that the daily freight train had already departed Dunedin.

Solution: the Hamilton-bound Aucklander could take his car; the coil of Number 8 wire could be put on the tray of the truck operated by a local carrier.

Within a few years of the first motor vehicles arriving in New Zealand, they became a major threat to rail because of superior efficiency and greater flexibility. Eventually the government, in order to protect rail in which it had a vast investment and employing tens of thousands of people, introduced a set of totally artificial laws 43

to restrict road transport. And those laws stayed in place for many years.

Life in New Zealand in the first 20 or 30 years of last century would have been vastly different without the motor vehicle. Motor vehicles – cars, trucks, buses and tractors – proved to be the final and major shaper of New Zealand. Today, the motor vehicle continues to be the greatest and most effective single way of transport that we have.

Motor cars in New Zealand were once loved with the passion we reserve for all life, but in a changing society, these days they’re simply an accepted way of life – an appliance, a mere transportation device.

However, there have always been those ready to throw stones. Back in the earliest days there were those who disliked cars because they were noisy and smelly. Then there were those who regarded cars as ‘a luxury’. Today there are environmental concerns – air pollution, a roading network that gobbles up land, too much space required for parking.

There’s pressure for increased use of public transport. ‘Leave your car at home, catch a bus. Ride a pushbike. Walk!’ Tell that to a 60 or 70-year-old man or woman who wants to go to the supermarket that’s not on a bus route. Or the doctor’s rooms.

Or the young family who want to go and visit their parents living on the other side of town. Or the people who live in remote places like Jackson’s Bay, or Kāwhia.

The motor car is arguably the most important social device we have. The motor car allows us the total freedom to go where we want, when we want, for as long as we want. Only your feet can match that sort of freedom!

Just as mystery and a lack of documented evidence has stymied attempts to have the efforts of Temuka’s Richard Pearse recognised as the first man to fly a heavier-than-air aircraft, so too there’s some confusion over who did what and who was first in the world of the motor car in New Zealand. But it has become pretty well established in New Zealand folklore that Scottish-born Member of Parliament William McLean went to Europe and returned home in 1897 with two Benz cars that he bought in Paris.

That is McLean’s main claim to fame, but he was an interesting fellow we should know more about. Most motoring historians rush over McLean and his cars, anxious to get to other matters, but this was ‘The Beginning’ and it deserves some detail.

McLean was the Liberal Party Member for the City of Wellington when he imported those two Benz cars. He was born in 1845 in Scotland to a shoemaker father but adopted by the Parish priest at a young age and sent to America to work in a spinning mill at 13 years of age. He lost his job in 1863 when his employer closed shop because the American Civil War was raging around Rochdale, and at 18 he came to New 44

LEFT: Information about the exploits of Fred Dennison and his car is difficult to find, but in 2002 Rona Adshead and Rex Murray wrote a book about Dennison that expanded into a history of motoring in Otago RIGHT: Not only was the McLean Benz the first car brought into New Zealand, but it built up quite a history, with the second owner winning one of the first races in New Zealand and then becoming one of the first drivers to be issued with a traffic offence. But here is a photograph from quieter times — McLean in the car with his wife

Zealand, landed at Dunedin and went to the Central Otago goldfields and made enough money to open a store.

He followed the gold to Hokitika, then to Reefton where he opened a mine, sold it and became a schoolteacher, an auctioneer and a

It was the motor vehicle that provided the flexibility in transport and travel that rail never could

mining agent. He married a Charleston lass and moved to Wellington for a life, first in commerce and then Parliament.

After Parliament he was part owner of the Wellington Opera House, but having an interest in cars and believing that oil would be found in large quantities in Taranaki he bought large tracts of land there with an American partner. Oil was not found there in any quantity in his lifetime, but later …

He died in 1914 at 69 years of age.

McLean was obviously an entrepreneur and went to Europe in 1895 intent on buying a car, or two, returning home and cornering the market. He bought the two Benzes – in Paris, not the UK – but when he returned home he wasn’t allowed to drive them on the roads because the whole horseless carriage thing was so new that the country didn’t know what to do with them.

The McLean Benz Velo today — taking pride of place in the Southward Museum. It’s remarkable this car survived

So McLean drafted a private members bill, the McLean Motor-car Act that was passed into law in 1898. He included a section that would have given him sole, nation-wide rights to register every car that was imported into New Zealand, at a cost of £3 per car. This was not passed as other members felt no MP should have the power to use his position to create a business monopoly.

There were rules of course. All cars were restricted to a maximum of 12 miles per hour, although local bodies could further reduce this. A light had to be firmly affixed to the vehicle in the hours of darkness.

There had to be a bell or some other warning device, and there had to be one brake for each pair of wheels, which had to be operated by a ‘competent person’ – not necessarily the driver.

Weight had to be less than three tons; there was to be no escape of smoke or vapour; tyres had to be a maximum of twoand-a-half inches in width, and the overall width was not to exceed six feet six inches.

A conspicuous registration number and the weight of the vehicle had to be painted on the right-hand side of the vehicle. The vehicle had to be “capable of being driven” by a person sitting on it, and if required to do so (under reasonable circumstances, by a Police Constable) the name of the owner and the driver had to be supplied.

But, what of the cars themselves?

The German engineer, Karl Benz, is generally credited with being the ‘inventor’ of the motor car. His patent of 1885 is accepted as being the first vehicle that could be accurately described as a motor car. In 1886, with his patent in his pocket, Karl Benz formed Benz and Company and started producing motor cars, initially with 50 employees but within four years the number of staff had risen to 430. Benz was the largest car-maker in the world through

There is no information about this car, but it looks like a New Zealand-made device and appears to have surfaced in Tokoroa about 1903

most of the 1890s, producing 572 vehicles in 1899.

The Benz Velo (short for Velocipede) was launched in 1894 as the world’s first production car and continued to 1902 with over 1200 built. The Benz Velo set a standard for car design with four wheels (many had three), and with the driver and passenger sitting looking forward and steering with a very small steering wheel.

At first, the car was powered by a 1.0-litre engine delivering 1.5-horsepower for a top speed of 12mph. Later models had three-horsepower engines and a top speed of 18mph.

Back in the earliest days there were those who disliked cars because they were noisy and smelly

In 1894 a Benz Velo took part in the world’s first race – from Paris to Rouen – finishing fifth.

Remarkably, one of the two Benz Velo cars imported by McLean still exists and is on display at the Southward Motor Museum in Paraparaumu as (obviously) New Zealand’s oldest car. It was one of the first cars that the late Sir Len Southward put on display in the museum after having bought it from the owner of the Auto Parts chain in the seventies.

New Zealanders were not slow in embracing this new technology and cars started arriving in the country in increasing numbers before the 19th century was over.

At first it was the UK and Europe that provided most of the cars and all were privately imported by people who were wealthy enough to own them. Many of the early car owners employed ‘drivers’ because they could afford to do so.

There was no shortage of mechanical ingenuity in New Zealand – think Richard Pearse – and locally designed and built cars started appearing before the century was out. In fact, Timaru engineer Cecil Wood, a contemporary of Pearse, is sometimes said In the first 25 years of the car in New Zealand, petrol was supplied in four gallon tins called ‘flimsies’ and were packed two to a case.

Here is a solid-tyred truck with a load of cases — possibly empty and bound for either recycling, or kindling

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to have built his own car as early as 1896, but in recent years his ‘car’ has turned out to be more likely a motorised cycle. Wood is now thought to have built a three-wheeled car in 1901/02. He did go on to build other more conventional cars and so was a real pioneer.

It is now thought that it was Oamaru engineer Frederick Wood who built New Zealand’s first motor car in 1900. Fred Wood was born at Hilderthorpe, north of Oamaru in 1876 – his father was a blacksmith and his mother the Hilderthorpe Postmistress.

After leaving school, Fred became an engineer, interested first in push bikes and then in internal combustion engines – in those early days petrol or kerosene was used as fuel. He moved to Christchurch and in a workshop on Cathedral Square he designed and built a kerosene-fuelled engine that he installed in a three-wheeler car. But he reckoned four wheels were more stable and he built a second car in which he set out in June 1900 to ‘go home and see Mum and Dad’. The Dennison rolled along on Dunlop pneumatic tyres and the Christchurch agent sponsored the trip.

He was 24 years of age, there was no formed road all the way between Christchurch and Oamaru and he had one heck of a journey. It took him six days! On his return trip, the car ‘exploded’ according to newspaper reports and was destroyed.

Wood returned to Oamaru where he became the Ford agent for Otago and South Canterbury.

A replica of the Dennison was constructed

by Oamaru man John Rush in the year 2000 and it has been used to retrace Fred’s route on that epic drive.

One of the best known early cars was built in 1903 by Dunedin plumber George Methven whose company still exists today, but there were many others and over the decades there have been several attempts to create an indigenous New Zealand car.

However, the market was simply too small and with one exception – the kit car market – most came to an ignominious end and simply slipped away.

The earliest cars burned either kerosene

An early motorist in his Ford Model T tourer pauses for the photographer, after having crossed a ford deep in bush in the upper reaches of the Waiaua River in the Bay of Plenty

or petrol, and the latter was at first imported from Australia by the car owners. However, it wasn’t long before the global oil giants were operating in New Zealand, either directly or through agents.

Petrol was initially imported and sold in four-gallon tins packed two to a case. Despite the explosively flammable nature of petrol there are no reports of any major catastrophes during the time it was handled this way. Bulk supplies of petrol commenced in New Zealand in 1926 with Shell, and other companies were quick to follow.

The enthusiasm for the motor vehicle in New Zealand was massive and car ownership grew rapidly. Most makes were represented in New Zealand by home-grown companies who saw the potential of the market. Often

In 1908 New Zealand was exposed to the car that changed the world – the Model T Ford

A lovely photograph of a Cadillac emerging from a tunnel in the Buller Gorge.

Almost certainly this tunnel was later opened up to become Hawks Crag

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a brand had regional representation, but order gradually came to the slightly chaotic situation.

In 1908 New Zealand was exposed to the car that changed the world – the Ford Model T – and it dominated the New Zealand market in the same way it dominated every other market it was sold in.

The Great War, later called The First World War, put a halt to growth but not in the complete way that occurred during the Second World War. By late 1918 things were back in full swing.

British cars couldn’t really compete. They weren’t as ruggedly simple, nor as ruggedly handsome, and apparently not as suited for New Zealand conditions, as American cars.

General Motors, the second biggest car company in the world (after Ford) and growing with a variety of brands across a broad section of the market, set up a factory shop in New Zealand in 1925 with a major assembly plant at Petone.

With the Model T getting older and Henry Ford reluctant to meddle with what he perceived as a good thing, the sales gap between Ford and the combined GM offerings narrowed. When Ford finally ceased production of the Model T and had no cars to sell until the arrival of the new Model A, GM swept into the lead.

By the end of the twenties New Zealand was a country that had benefitted greatly from the motor vehicle

The working title for this image says ‘Dodge in mud’ and it’s hard to improve on that. Mud, glorious mud, was a constant problem for early motorists who dared explore the country outside of towns and cities. But this chap seems cheerful enough!

Meanwhile, around the country, the government and local bodies struggled to keep up with the demand for more and better roads to cope with the growing tide of motor vehicles. Roads cost money and the government decided that motorists were best suited to fund much of this by levying taxes on cars tyres and petrol. The motorist became something of a cash cow.

This was a golden age of motoring adventure.

By the end of the twenties New Zealand was a country that had benefitted greatly from the motor vehicle – regions had opened up, smaller towns and villages were connected to the outside world, and young men in the backblocks no longer faced a 10-mile hike to the Saturday night dances – but it all ended with a massive financial slump.

Let’s look back at some highlights of this first period, via the pages of the MTA’s Radiator magazine.

Once the motor vehicle stopped being merely a novelty and/or a plaything for the wealthy and began to fill a worthy place in the social and economic development of the country, a semblance of order was slowly brought to what had been a very ad-hoc beginning of ‘the motor trade’.

At first, blacksmith and engineering shops were where the owners of motor vehicles took their machines if they needed more attention than they could supply at home. And motor vehicles took their place (on what was often the packed-earth floor of these workshops) alongside horses, buggies and carriages, with a blacksmith’s forge going full bore in a corner.

The blacksmiths and engineers were initially slow to grasp the full scale of the business potential that presented itself with the arrival of the ‘horseless carriage’.

They carried out repairs to broken springs and fractured chassis and learned about the intricacies of the internal combustion engine, but they didn’t really exploit the business possibilities of supplying motor

vehicle owners with what we today call ‘consumables’ – in the case of the motor vehicle, mainly tyres, petrol and oil.

In those early years, manufacturers of motor vehicles and their associated necessities were directly represented in only a few places in the world, and New Zealand was not one of them.

So the vehicles themselves, along with these ‘consumables’, were imported by a large number of companies. Some of the companies were already in the importing business while others were newcomers who wanted to get in early on what they saw as a growing industry. What they were all interested in was making a sale and growing their business, so they sold their tyres, petrol and oil to anyone who wanted the goods and products – and in many cases it was direct to the motor vehicle owners themselves.

This wasn’t because there was no sense of loyalty or honour among these companies towards the repairers; it was just that because it was all so new there was no sense of order, or structure. In fact, many of the blacksmiths and engineers actually preferred fixing motor vehicles (and shoeing horses) to selling a product. And stocking the goods and products was something else new to them.

As motor vehicles became more numerous and workshops specialising in their repair and maintenance became more common-place, there was a growing realisation that there was profit to be made outside just repairs.

At first, stocking tyres was a complex matter because of the bewildering number of sizes and shapes, but that became simplified to a large degree when what was known simply as ‘the Ford car’ dominated the market so overwhelmingly. All that a garage or workshop owner then needed to stock to satisfy the needs of the vast majority of his customers was a supply of ‘thirty by threeand-a-half, beaded edge tyres’ and tubes to suit, because that was the size ‘the Ford car’ used.

‘Thirty’ was the number of inches across

the complete diameter of the tyre, from tread to tread, while the ‘three-and-a-half’ was the number of inches the tyre was in cross-section – so these tyres actually fitted a wheel that was 23 inches in diameter.

‘Beaded edge’ was the manner in which the tyre stayed on the rim – a rubber bead on the tyre hooked under a lip on the rim and was held in place by the air pressure within the tube and tyre.

Other motor vehicle manufacturers quickly settled on a slightly smaller diameter wheel (21 inches at first) with the tyres having a very tight wire bead that fitted snugly into a well, also held in place by air pressure. Fitting and removal was simplified via a detachable, or ‘split’ rim.

As was his way, Henry Ford was very slow to introduce change and ‘the Ford car’, or Model T, was fitted with the larger, skinnier, beaded edge tyres from 1908 until the earlier twenties, when Ford changed to 21-inch, split-rim wheels with wire-bead tyres.

Even though Ford simplified life for those garage and workshop owners who wanted to stock tyres, there was anything but a majority uptake with many proprietors preferring to stick with what they knew best. So much so, that for the first five or six years after the creation of the MTA and the establishment of regular communication via Radiator magazine, the organisation was exhorting garage owners to look carefully at the profits lost through not dealing with tyres and asking them to consider the merits of employing someone to wholly sell tyres.

Remember that with the primitive state of our roads in the first quarter of last century, the mortality rate of tyres and tubes was very high and they were big sellers.

In those early years, solid tyres were common on both cars and heavy vehicles and, while they couldn’t be punctured, they added to the bone-shaking, tooth-rattling ride of those early motor vehicles. However, as pneumatic tyres became more practical and reliable, solid-tyre use became confined to trucks – and if there was a general 47

reluctance to get into the pneumatic-tyres business by garage owners, solid tyres were hated with a passion.

There was a deeply held suspicion, from truck owners right through to (most) manufacturers, that air-filled, pneumatic tyres wouldn’t carry the combined weight of a truck and its load before exploding. In November 1920, Radiator reported tests in the USA where a two-ton truck carrying almost its own weight and at near top speed – 20 miles per hour – did an ‘Evel Knievel’ off an 18-inch-high ramp, flew 18 feet through the air and landed without the tyres exploding. The test was carried out eight times and the tyres – eight-inch Nobby Cords from the USA – were undamaged.

In 1920, Norway was the first country in the world to demand that pneumatic tyres be fitted to all trucks up to two-anda-half tons weight to reduce road damage.

However, it would be another 10 years before everyone was convinced.

“Specialise! Be an expert in your own field! Leave no stone unturned that will make you an expert,” thundered Radiator in a May 1920 plea to garage and workshop owners to create businesses that catered for every need of the motor vehicle owner – and tyres, petrol and oil were at the top of the list. Pies, chocolate bars and fizzy drinks would come much later!

But once garage owners had been convinced of the extra business and profits to be made from selling products other than just repairs, they were faced with another problem – restricted trading hours. It would be many years before New Zealand saw free trading hours, but in the meantime there was a breakthrough with ‘all-night-service stations’, which will be dealt with in another chapter.

At the end of the Great War, when life returned to normal in New Zealand, the

Before cars there were horses. Here we have what appears to be a horse-drawn traffic jam in the main street of Hawera. A major issue with horses was their droppings which demanded constant and immediate attention

The MTA spent a lot of time convincing garage owners to do more than just fix cars

motor vehicle began to play a greater social and economic developmental role, and with the increased business, more and more garage and workshop owners became aware of the extra business there was to be had in selling tyres, tubes, petrol and oil – along with batteries, light bulbs (another high-mortality component) and other consumables.

The MTA spent a lot of time convincing garage owners to do more than just fix cars – to also stock and sell consumable, tyres and petrol first.

Early New Zealand in all of its glory. Dogs and drivers wait, men pose and the family butcher is in a proper shop, while the bank is in a tin shed. And the road is covered in horse droppings

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(The full history of the MTA is covered in a separate chapter in this publication.)

Tyres were one thing, but petrol was a far different matter even though it was the life-blood of the overwhelming majority of the new-fangled horseless carriages. Few garages and workshops wanted to stock petrol, for two main reasons: first, it was considered dangerous to handle and store, and second, it was just too interruptive to forging new springs, repairing ploughs or shoeing horses to be bothered with having to deal with customers.

The Earliest Days The following charming account of the earliest days of the motor car in New Zealand comes from the report of the fifth annual meeting of the MTA in Dunedin, September 1922. It is part of the address given by one Mr Jones.

“What was claimed to be the first motor car in New Zealand arrived in 1898. This car was imported by Skeats and Bockart and was manufactured by the Star Engine Co.,

The interior of an early workshop with a four-cylinder motorcycle waiting either its owner or service of some sort. Three cars of varying age, a huge lathe and plenty of heavy lifting gear are also prominent. These were dark, oily places

Wolverhampton, the type being an exact copy of the German Benz of that period.

The body was a four-seater, the driver sitting in the back seat with one passenger sitting beside him, the other two passengers facing them, having their backs to the way the car was going. The radiator of this wonderful car was placed behind the back seat, in a comfortable position, right out of the wind.

“The engine was of the ordinary gas-engine type and was situated under a bonnet at the back of the car. In order to start this engine, it was necessary to lift the bonnet and pull the flywheel around in the same manner as an ordinary gas engine. Immediately the car started, a stream of black oil would be shot up into your face and on to your collar and shirt front. There were no controls in the steering wheel. If you wanted to slow the engine, it was necessary to jump down, open the bonnet and shut off the throttle.

The horsepower was three-and-a-half.

“The transmission was a combination of chains and belts, the belt being run on to fast and loose pulleys as in an ordinary machine shop. The speed of this car was under 20 miles per hour on a flat, good road. Hills were negotiated at about two miles per hour and it was often necessary to make three attempts to climb a moderate hill.

“This car was finally bought by Wardell Bros. of Christchurch. Immediately after landing this car Mr WM Service landed a De Dion Bouton Tricycle. This machine was equipped with about a two horsepower engine and ran very well indeed and was seen on the Auckland roads for many years.

“One of the very great difficulties that motorists had to contend with in the early days of motoring was frightening horses and some of the sights along the road at this period were extremely amusing, whereas others were quite the opposite.

THE MOTOR HOUSE – THE GARAGE Owners of motor cars in the first 20 or 30 years of the machines in New Zealand had to find somewhere to keep them.

Because the first owners were wealthy they built what were virtually ‘stables’ for cars, but most of these early buildings were set well away from the house because of the smell of petrol and oil and the fear of fire. As cars became more affordable, those who could afford to do so continued to build garages, but those who couldn’t afford to, or who lived where there

“Then further serious trouble in those early days was the lack of mechanics. What the mechanics of those days didn’t know about ‘sparks and carburettors’ would fill a very large volume and the engineers who understood nothing else but steam were worse than useless on motor work.”

In November 1902, the Otago Witness reported that the chief representative of the Locomobile Co. of America – a Mr Henning – had arrived in Dunedin, having driven overland from Christchurch on one of the

was no off-street parking, presented local authorities with a new problem.

Until that time there had been no ‘parking’ as such and certainly no overnight parking for any extended period.

Eventually councils came to grips with the problem and introduced time restrictions, parking wardens and parking meters.

That all seems odd today, but back in the first part of last century everyone was on a steep and fast learning curve.

company’s Locomobiles. It reported the vehicle was seven to eight horsepower, and capable of travelling at 25 miles an hour on good roads. The actual time taken for the trip from Christchurch to Dunedin was 19 hours, and it was the first time the journey had been made in an automobile.

The Oamaru Mail of November 22, 1902, stated: “Mr George Henning was in town today with a Locomobile, a perfect steam motor, built upon lines that should guarantee the greatest possible durability,

A wonderfully atmospheric photograph of the interior of a push-bike shop around the turn of the century, where BSA was the preferred brand. Push-bikes were big business and many bikemakers, mechanics and retailers gravitated naturally to cars. Those big cash registers were works of art

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The start of an early motorcycle run in central Christchurch. Runs out into the country for picnics and ‘tests’ were popular for motorcycle riders and car owners for many years. They continue today even

simplicity, speed and last, but not least, safety. It runs smoothly without any perceptible vibration, has no smell and seems to be the acme of luxurious convenience.

It is not surprising, then, to hear that Mr Henning disposed of 12 machines at £250 apiece in Wellington. That price is a little prohibitive for Oamaru at present, but a couple of years of No-Licence might see several owned here. As we have said, steam and not alcohol is the motive power.”

Since the early days of motor transport in New Zealand, we have followed closely that of England and the United States and the wonderful advance of the motor car

By 1920 Ford products dominated the New Zealand market, just as they were doing globally, and expansion was necessary

or automobile is known to us all. The development has been so rapid the history of the motor car is almost a romance.

Garage and Roadbuilding During the first period of the motor vehicle in New Zealand, two issues were always news – roading and the building of new ‘motor garages’ (the term that was widely used before ‘service stations’). So it was that Radiator reported in June 1920 that “Mr Nicholls has recently moved into his new garage in Taihape. It has a frontage of 56 feet and a depth of 110 feet. The building is of brick and concrete and is as nearly fireproof as it is possible to make. It is claimed to be one of the most up-to-date and convenient motor garages in the Dominion.”

But Mr Nicholls’ garage in Taihape is nothing compared to a mighty roading scheme suggested by Mr W Stuart Wilson in an article in the October 1920 edition of Radiator.

Wilson starts by praising the government’s building of a major war memorial in Wellington at a cost of £100,000, but suggests something bigger and with more economic that benefits would be

Buicks were very popular in New Zealand in the first quarter of last century. This is a model F tourer outside Collins, Kerr and Company in Oxford Terrace, Christchurch, who were also Austin and Hupmobile agents. Three men and an anxious schoolboy are aboard

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appropriate. He suggests a major highway from Auckland to Bluff, called The Anzac Highway, that it should be 12 feet wide and made from con-crete. Wilson estimates the cost at around six million pounds!

The benefits would be many he writes – it would promote settlement in remote areas, be beneficial for traffic in peace and war and be flanked along its entire length by noble trees bearing the names of New Zealand soldiers who fought in The Great War. He writes that soldiers gave their lives unselfishly, and calls on landowners to donate land needed for the road.

He’s prepared for the knockers – “Let no short-sighted man raise the cry of a shortage of cement. There are no shortages, only a shortage of coal, but coal won’t be short forever …”

It wasn’t the last time that such a project would be proposed – and it wasn’t the last of the 20th century either.

Promoters of such a highway have always said that New Zealand needs such a major project because it would create national pride and unity, as well as bringing obvious economic benefits.

The Ford Car The contribution made to the motor industry, the trade, the public and the economy of New Zealand by ‘the Ford car’, the Model T, can’t be too highly stressed.

After the dust settled following the arrival of the first motor vehicles and it was obvious that these were going to have a huge impact on the country, the lucrative Ford distributorship was controlled from Wellington from 1906 by a company that would eventually become the Colonial Motor Company (CMC) and controlled by Hope Gibbons and his family from 1918.

With the head office in Wellington (where it remains today), CMC had assembly plants in Auckland, Wellington and Timaru, assembling Ford cars and trucks, along with the just-introduced Fordson tractors.

By 1920 Ford products dominated the New Zealand market, just as they were doing globally, and expansion was necessary.

FAR LEFT: Cars were so unusual and owners were so proud, that people spent hours dressing in their finest, cleaning and waxing the car, putting the hood back and then posing for photographs. What is so obvious here is how low the rear seat is compared with the front LEFT: Bonnets and bowlers! A magnificent example of a huge Edwardian motor car. The headlights are the size of searchlights, the sidelights are kerosene and the rear seat is so commodious it can seat four grown men across

The Model T was such an integral part of the fledgling New Zealand motor industry in the years after the Great War that much of the trade depended on it. So dominant was it that many specialised tools and handy hints were developed specifically for ‘Tin Lizzie’. But pirate or ‘imitation’ parts became such a concern for the Colonial Motor Company that in the early twenties they launched a campaign urging repairers to use only genuine Ford parts, on the grounds of damage to the repairer’s reputation, and the quality of the parts.

CMC went to the market in 1920 to raise £200,000 to complete the expansion that was needed to cope with the demand.

In large newspaper and magazine advertisements, CMC advised that the company had an annual turnover of more than a million pounds, stocked more than £110,000 worth of parts, had storage capacity for 1200 vehicles and were assembling 32 cars a day.

The company’s dominant position in the market was illustrated by the fact that in the first six months of 1920, ‘the Ford car’ had taken 43 per cent of the market while Ford trucks had a massive 75 per cent!

At that time, CMC were midway through construction of their new building in the heart of Wellington. It was nine stories tall,

and it had 100,000 square feet of floor space – two-and-a-half acres. When completed, this became the largest motor vehicle assembly plant in New Zealand until the arrival of General Motors in 1926.

Working For The Man A new award for motor mechanics came into force in mid-1920 – eight hours a day and four hours on Saturday. Pay was “no less than two shillings an hour with a compulsory bonus of threepence an hour”.

That’s around £5 a week, before tax, or about $10 in today’s money. With petrol around one shilling and 11 pence a gallon – just four

pennies under the combined hourly rate for mechanics – you can see that running a car, let alone buying one, was still for the wealthy. Our mechanic’s weekly gross wage would have bought him about 50 gallons (227 litres) of petrol.

The new award had hardly been ratified when the Arbitration Court said that to cover the increases in the cost of living, the wage for a mechanic would increase by two pence farthing an hour, causing garage owners to ask, ‘where is it going to end?’

But that wasn’t the end of it. Sunday had always been the ‘day of rest’, but the government had also introduced a

Little is known about this photograph except that every reference to it simply says ‘Christchurch’. The combining of aeroplanes and cars in the early years was not unusual, as many cars came to New Zealand without a body and the construction of car bodies and aircraft was similar

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compulsory half-day holiday.

Initially, this half-day was taken off mid-week, on a quiet day of business, and in the early twenties there was an attempt to try and make Saturday afternoon the half-day off. The country was divided over this as some felt that Saturday had become such a good day for doing business, it would be foolhardy to change it.

Of course, Saturday was eventually made the day of observation, but it wasn’t straight forward at all.

Enter Austin Despite its lack of size – or maybe because of it – it was the creation of the British Austin Seven in 1922 that gave ‘the Ford car’ its first real competition in several countries, including New Zealand.

Henry Ford got the jump on the rest of the motor industry in 1908 with the Model T, not just because it was simple and robust, but also because of the assembly line method of production, which provided high output at lower costs – all of which gave the car such a wide appeal.

When other American manufacturers tried to copy Ford’s lead, Henry responded by cutting prices, increasing demand and ramping up production to meet that demand.

It was genius and American car-makers were simply baffled by how to compete with Ford under those terms.

Long-term, the answer was that Henry Ford shot himself in the proverbial foot by refusing to modernise the Model T

When other American manufacturers tried to copy Ford’s lead, Henry responded by cutting prices

Guy and Co in Feilding where the MTA began. People stand attentively to attention, including the truck driver in his leather apron and hat. Petrol is two bob a gallon regardless of the brand — Shell or Big Tree — and the only person not at all interested in what’s going on, is the fellow looking in the shop window

sufficiently, and no matter how affordable it was people were beginning to look for something other than cheap. But it would be 1926/27 before that happened.

So, in that period of great growth – the early twenties – it was obvious Ford had the traditional market well covered. By comparison to American cars, vehicles from Britain (and Europe) were over-engineered and too expensive.

But Sir Herbert Austin had the answer – a small British version of the Model T, the Austin Seven, or Baby Austin. It almost did for British cars what the Model T had done for American cars – ‘almost did’ because obviously the baby Austin couldn’t match the bigger Model T in terms of pioneering motoring, so it would never have the same sales, but its impact on the markets where it was sold was dramatic.

Austins had been available in New Zealand prior to the birth of the Baby, but suffered from the English problem of being expensive and just a bit unsuited for New Zealand conditions.

Austin had had a bit of a rocky road, including bankruptcy – in fact the Austin

Seven was launched when the company was trading in receivership.

The New Zealand representative for Austin was G H Scott of Wellington and when the first Baby Austins arrived, Scott immediately launched an advertising campaign, including in Radiator.

New agents had already been arranged: in Auckland the very active Dexter Motors added the franchise to those they already had; in Wellington it was Magnus Motors who put Austin alongside Buick; in Christchurch David Crozier began a long association with the brand and in Invercargill it was P H Vickery Ltd who like Crozier would be Austin agents to the end.

In Dunedin, the agency went to the De Beer Brothers who were part of Dunedin high society, associated with other prominent and wealthy Dunedin Jewish families including the Hallensteins. They were extremely wealthy and with no real need to work, but they were car enthusiasts.

Sammy De Beer was a regular competitor at the early beach races throughout New Zealand from Muriwai in the north to Oreti in the south.

The car is the interloper here.

J E Hill of Manukau, operates a bike and tyre shop

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Maude Brothers were Ford agents in Oamaru for many years. But this photograph, taken in 1924, includes just a single Ford in the line-up of service cars. The others appear to be Dodges

The De Beers virtually vanished from Dunedin in the thirties and relocated to London, leaving behind a legion of gifts to the city. The Austin interests were then taken over by the Black family where they stayed until the end of Austin as a brand.

The first GH Scott advertisement for Austin shows the Baby car retailing at £235. While it wasn’t a Model T, that was still a fantastically affordable price and the result was not so much to affect Ford sales (although some would have to be expected) but to expand the car market into a new sector. The impact of the Baby Austin on the New Zealand market was quite remarkable and with that the fortunes of Austin as a brand also improved.

While the Baby Austin was small and cheap it was no toy, and in many ways it could be thought of as the mouse that roared – there are plenty of photographs showing Austin Sevens up to their axles in mud, coping with those early New Zealand roads. These were serious small cars that made a huge contribu-tion to both society and our car culture.

The Baby Austin was the price leader with a huge gap between it and the bigger

Hyslop and Gibson was a Dunedin garage that started large, and ended small. This is the mid-twenties when they had a number of franchises. By the 1950s they were only Hudson dealers, finally closing down in the mid sixties

Austins. The Austin 12 had a retail price of £510 and the Austin 20 £695. Austins immediate future was small.

While the Austin Seven may not have been a direct competitor to Ford, other American brands were lining up to have a shot – the first would be the cheeky upstart General Motors that, despite having had a slow start in New Zealand with Chevrolet, was preparing to change that with an American-owned and controlled New Zealand factory, while there was a new brand still in hiding in America which would also become a prominent player in New Zealand and create a dynasty.

In March 1925, to prove that the Baby

Staff numbers were large in leading garages in the early days of the motor vehicle, with so many different aspects of the early car requiring different skills. Charles Neilsen Ltd, in Dannevirke, were Chevrolet and Oakland dealers and obviously a sizeable operation

Austin could face up to the tough colonial road conditions, an Austin Seven was driven from Auckland to Wellington and return in 47 hours and 20 minutes without stopping the engine. The little car carried 500 pounds weight on the way down and 580 pounds on the way back, including the weights of the driver, observer, spares, tools and fuel.

The average speed of 20 miles per hour included being held up by mobs of sheep and a 40-minute turn-around in Wellington.

Fuel consumption averaged 50 miles to the gallon.

Little wonder the car-buying public was impressed.

Coachbuilding At first, all cars that arrived in New Zealand came in completely assembled, but as they became more commonplace that changed.

The most popular makes, the Ford Model T in particular, came in packs ready to be assembled; many still came in as a single assembled unit but others arrived with only a minimum of bodywork – perhaps the radiator shell and front mudguards.

This was a relief for the many coachbuilding companies that had been established and prospered in the days of the horse. They transferred their skills to putting bodies on these naked cars – many were done to the factory design, but some were unique New Zealand designs.

But, of course, nothing stays the same forever and as all-steel bodies replaced the wooden frame construction, trade dropped 53

off, but not completely. As late as the fifties, wooden-frame metal-skinned bodies were still being made for commercial vehicles like the Bradford and Fordson.

CMC established a company (Standard Motor Bodies Ltd) specifically for building bodies for the variety of Model Ts, but then branched out into general repairs as well.

After the arrival of Ford as a factory shop in 1936, this company continued operating for many years, specialising in a wide variety of truck, van and one-off bodies for a wide variety of vehicles.

Bradfords had quite a romantic history in New Zealand. Most of these quaint little English light-commercial vehicles, powered by a horizontally opposed, side-valve, two-cylinder engine that could trace its beginnings back to 1912, arrived here undressed from the windscreen back and had a variety of bodies fitted. These included panel vans, light trucks, steel-bodied station wagons and even some very attractive ‘woody’ wagons.

Most of these were bodied in a building just off Queen Street in Central Auckland near where the Aotea Centre is now. Others were built in Oamaru by the Tempero company that later specialised in ambulances and then replicas of high-performance sports cars such as the Jaguar D-Type. Rod Tempero, grandson of the founder, is still building hand-made replicas of exotic cars.

Of course, there are still many artisan coachbuilders in New Zealand, and building bodies for buses (coaches) and some trucks is still a viable industry.

An interesting sideline concerned the modernisation of older cars. For many years it was an accepted practice to re-body cars – either in a different style, or in an attempt to update a car by giving it a more modern body. The practice began early in the days of motoring and lasted perhaps into the early fifties. The writer can remember seeing a Rolls-Royce, circa 1921/22 model, around Dunedin in the mid-fifties fitted with something like a 1937 Dodge car body. It looked incongruous with its large diameter, narrow wire-spoked wheels. So, there was nothing unusual about an advertisement that appeared in Radiator during 1920 where prominent Christchurch

A touring party in a white Ford Model T are stopped by a sizeable mob of sheep. The photographer has exited the front passenger seat to take the shot. A photograph that couldn’t be anywhere else but New Zealand. But it’s also proof that Model Ts were available, at times, in colours other than black

dealer David Crozier Limited, was selling an aluminium body, complete with front and rear windscreens, side curtains and seats in “the best English leather”. The body had just been taken off a 45hp Daimler and “could be altered to any chassis”.

Closed Or Open?

By the early twenties more and more manufacturers were offering ‘closed’ versions of their passenger cars along with the ‘open’ versions that had been the staple from the beginning. But the take-up of closed cars – sedans in the USA, saloons in the UK – was slow in New Zealand, and Radiator wondered why, saying closed cars were more suited to this country, particularly in the southern reaches. In fact, said the magazine, in Invercargill there is not a closed car to be seen.

One group of motorists buying closed cars was taxi drivers and it’s thought that

Sir Herbert Austin had the answer – a small British version of the Model T, the Austin Seven, or Baby Austin

The ‘baby’ Austin (Seven) was no softie, confined just to the shopping run, but was equally at home in the country on longer runs. This is likely to be in Taranaki where there are still many tunnels to be found and explored

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the car-buying public didn’t want to be associated with having a taxi if they bought a closed car.

Open ‘touring’ cars were still popular around the world – in 1921 they comprised 22 per cent of the total car production – but the change, when it came, would be swift.

It was not just public taste that saw closed cars become more popular than open: the change to streamlined body styles in the thirties made open-top cars more difficult and expensive to produce, and by the close of the thirties, open tops were pretty much reserved for more ‘sporty’ cars like roadsters and, of course, real sports cars like the British MG.

Americanised?

In the first 10 or 15 years after motor vehicles arrived in New Zealand, there was a great deal of settling down to be done.

Given our European settlement and close ties with Mother England, you’d think that’s where we’d look for all things motoring, but that was never an automatic decision.

Initially, we got motor vehicles from every country that had a sizeable motor industry – we even had a crack at making them ourselves – but once patterns and standards had been set, it was obvious that the country that made the cars most suited to our conditions and at prices we could afford, was the United States. It was a situation exacerbated by two things – the inability of Britain to export cars during

A lovely example of a New Zealand designed and built butcher’s van with no doors. This was designed and built in the Dannevirke workshop of C.L. Neilsen Ltd

car and waited. Eventually the man in charge of the eight horses arrived and rescued them and the car. They were towed safely ashore by 4pm, had the drowned engine running by 6pm and reached Arthur’s Pass that night.

Next morning, they drove on to Hokitika where the car was cleaned, drained and checked. Everything worked perfectly – the electrical charging system, the self-starter and the lights all worked despite the drenching. So, they carried on and got back to Timaru with no further problems, having covered 900 miles.

This story highlights two things: the incredible change that the arrival of the motor car brought to the lives of people – being able to make an independent trip like that – and how advanced and reliable the car had become (as far back as 1921) in such a short space of time.

The Great War and ‘the Ford car’ which was so overwhelmingly successful around the world that it became the benchmark for all other American manufacturers.

Not only had American cars been shown to be suitable for New Zealand conditions, they were also very much cheaper than British vehicles at that stage – and the British showed no inclination to reduce prices. And with the cars came other things automotive – tyres, batteries, petrol and oil.

However, while our minds said ‘buy American’, our hearts were very much saying ‘we should be buying British’, and that sentiment was echoed in thousands of column inches of print in magazines. British tyre-makers in particular waged a non-stop public relations war urging New Zealand minds and wallets to ‘Buy British’.

In May 1921, Radiator asked “Are we becoming Americanised?” pointing out that the Governor-General used an American car, and on his visit to New Zealand the Prince of Wales rode in American cars. It also asked, “Is England still interested in us … ?” a question we were asking for decades.

But the thirties saw a change towards smaller and British cars, a change that was to be accelerated after the Second World War.

Adventures There are hundreds of thousands of stories about adventures in motor vehicles from those earliest days. This is just one.

In early 1921 four Timaru people set out for a weekend trip to the West Coast, Nelson, Blenheim and back. Their car was a brandnew Buick with just 300 miles on the clock.

All was well until they reached the banks of the Waimakariri River at the Bealey River ford. This was in the days before a bridge, but a team of eight horses was kept there to pull cars through if the river was up.

On this day, the horses were there, but the man in charge wasn’t. The four adventurers were wondering what to do when a man appeared saying he had ridden his horse across the river earlier in the day and it was only up to the horse’s knees.

So, off they set. But in mid-river the water was up over the wheels, and then lapping the top of the doors, and then the car stalled.

They didn’t know what to do, so sat in the

The American Gear Lever One of the differences between American and British cars in the early days was that the Americans had their gear lever in the centre, between driver and passenger, while British cars favoured to the right of the driver and next to the driver’s door. The reasons for this would appear to be obvious – the American cars could be produced in left- or right-hand-drive without having to relocate the gear lever.

This did not sit well with all New Zealanders!

Writing in the February 1924 issue of Radiator, H McGlashan of Greymouth let fly a string of invective at this “detestable device” and wondered how long New Zealanders would put up with this iniquity! He asked if any readers had ever tried to drive an American car with two ladies alongside. He wrote that the gear lever was

Many vehicles came to New Zealand in the early days without any bodywork and there was a sizeable coachbuilding industry that moved seamlessly into cars from the era of horse-drawn vehicles. Some bodies were built to factory designs, but others were designed in New Zealand

bound to be tucked away behind the skirt of the lady in the centre. Mr McGlashan was not at all pleased and wondered when New Zealanders were “going to kick”.

Mr McGlashan certainly lost that fight!

The Government Strikes Registration fees for cars became a reality in 1924 with the introduction of the Motor Vehicle Bill to Parliament. They had long been talked about, but weren’t as bad as many had feared. The private motorist had to pay an initial fee of £1 and an annual registration fee of £2, plus five shillings for a driver’s licence. But if you lived in Wellington you were hit with an extra 30 shillings a year, which was an ongoing charge from the construction of the Hutt Road the year before.

As Radiator said, this ended speculation and allowed a motorist to drive from one end of the country to the other without any extra costs – save for tollgates, ferries and fuel.

In addition, trade plates were available to garage owners for fitting to cars that were for sale, at a cost of 10 shillings for a set. There was no restriction on how many sets per dealer. But trade plates had been a cause for a great deal of friction between garage owners and police, and Radiator carried several accounts of garage owners or employees

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being charged with using trade plates.

Along with the introduction of registration came standardised number plates. However, these new plates weren’t ready when the new regulations came into effect, and as a result there was no way for the authorities (read police) to know just by looking at a car whether the owner had complied with the new laws or not. The lack of plates wasn’t the only problem – many people didn’t like the idea that there would be a new set of plates each year. And others objected to all plates being prefixed with ‘NZ’ rather than with letters showing which local area they lived in.

But that wasn’t the end of it. Such was the level of anger over the number plate issue, the authorities called a conference. The MTA was invited and Radiator subsequently called the conference “a fiasco”.

Delegates to the conference started before the Minister of Internal Affairs arrived – he had called for the conference – and he was asked to wait! Once the meeting got underway it was badly controlled, but eventually there was a semblance of order and it was agreed that number plates would be issued annually (many wanted permanent plates) and that they would be manufactured in New Zealand – the current plates had come from overseas.

Of course, over the years there have been many changes in the way number plates and registration stickers have been treated.

Ford’s Competitor Radiator informed MTA members in May 1922 that ‘the Ford car’ was going to get a tough new competitor in the market, and it wasn’t the small British ‘Baby’ Austin Seven. “Although such a project has been talked about for years, it has never assumed practical form until now,” wrote the editor of Radiator.

William ‘Billy’ Durant was a leading pioneer of the American automobile industry, the creator of the system of multi-brand holding companies with different lines of

In 1925 General Motors arrived in New Zealand building a factory in Petone to assemble and distribute a number of their brands, primarily Chevrolet, to challenge Ford and the Model T

While Chevrolet was one of Ford’s biggest competitors in America, the brand made little headway in New Zealand

cars, and a co-founder of General Motors.

He had a very high public profile, and such was his propaganda power that after he was sacked from General Motors in 1909, newspapers followed his every move with interest.

When he started Durant Motors in 1921 he promised to take on the establishment with his lines of Flint, Durant and Star cars – all were assembled using mainly proprietary parts including continental engines.

Star was the brand that Durant said would challenge Ford’s Model T. But because there was also an English Star, the name for Durant’s car in the UK and British Empire countries – including New

While early trucks were small by comparison with today’s 40 and 50 tonne behemoths, they were still able to carry bigger loads at greater speeds than horse-drawn vehicles, and they were vital to our export trade in getting produce onto wharves for loading onto ships. But in providing intercity and inter-town transport, they ran in competition with the railways and that resulted in the introduction of heavy protectionist policies that restricted their ability to compete

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An elegant Daimler tourer on wire wheels posed outside Ransmon’s Motor Garage in Dannevirke sometime in the mid twenties. Plume petrol is dispended by ‘bowser’ – a brand of petrol pump that became the generic name for all petrol pumps

Zealand – was changed to Rugby. It was a popular enough car, but never challenged the Model T. Durant dropped Star in 1928 and the whole company finally closed shop in 1932.

The challenge to Ford’s supremacy in the market would be a collective one from Durant’s old employer – General Motors.

General Motors In NZ While Chevrolet was one of Ford’s biggest competitors in America, the brand made little headway in New Zealand, although other GM brands – Buick, Oakland and Oldsmobile – had strong followings with Cadillac also making its mark.

However, General Motors had plans to change that and one of the first indications of what they planned was a full-page advertisement in the November 1923 edition of Radiator. It was a non-specific, profile raising advertisement for General Motors showing the company had presence in 18 countries around the world. And from that point on, GM raised its profile in New Zealand by placing beautifully designed ads for specific brands in newspapers and magazines. The giant was poised …

The General Arrives There was no doubt that the biggest news of 1925 was that General Motors was to build the country’s first major car factory. The

Somewhere in the central North Island, amidst forestry ruin, local tangata whenua hook up a couple of oxen to tow a Buick tourer to safety. The irony!

Children bury a Dodge tourer as they clamber aboard and pose for the photographer. More innocent times

number one aim of the factory was to introduce Chevrolet to New Zealand in a serious fashion and at the most competitive price possible. The company bought six acres of land near Petone and began construction of a factory along established American lines The principal car was always to be the Chevrolet and it was announced that it would arrive in New Zealand as parts, in exactly the same way the Ford Model T had, and that its assembly would be at three smaller plants – Auckland, Wellington and Timaru. The chassis and running gear would arrive complete from the United States, but the body panels would arrive just as they left the body press in the factory.

This meant that a great deal of work would be offered in New Zealand as the body would have to be assembled, welded, painted and trimmed. In addition, most of the interior would be sourced within New Zealand. This would become the norm in New Zealand a decade later with the first Labour govern-ment, but obviously GM had looked at the Ford operation and saw there was a case for not just New Zealand assembly, but also New Zealand materials.

The complex would not be just the Chevrolet factory, but also the GM headquarters for New Zealand, which would handle the importation, and distribution of all other GM makes, but they would arrive built-up.

New Zealanders Love Affair With Cars New Zealanders have been at the top of global lists of car ownership ever since motor vehicles began to become freely available.

The reasons for this were many and varied. Initially the wealthy bought cars simply because they could afford to. Then the benefits of motorised transport in helping develop this young country hit our forebears like a smack from a baseball bat.

The next step along the road to automotive freedom was the arrival of ‘the Ford car’ with price that kept falling into the realm of ridiculous affordability. And lastly, there was the sense of adventure that appealed to the daredevil lifestyle of the early pioneers. The motor car provided speed and adventure – and we were up for that.

Figures from May 1923 show that the USA had more cars than anyone else – almost 12.5 million of them. The UK had just over half a million, Canada just under half a million and France 290 thousand. New Zealand was 13th in total car ownership with 34,500 motor vehicles registered. But that’s total vehicles, and on a per-head-of-population basis we shoot up to second behind the USA – and we’ve pretty much stayed there ever since.

Making It Easier To Buy One of the issues the motor trade had to deal with as cars became more accessible and prices dropped, was finance.

At first motor cars were such a novelty and so expensive they were bought by only the wealthy who paid cash, but as time went by and cars became more numerous the ques-tion of trade-ins became an issue, and almost simultaneously came the question of how the sale of cars should be financed outside cash sales.

“No class of business has been more difficult to finance than the motor business, which has been looked at askance by financiers generally,” wrote Radiator in March 1923. “At one time, the ownership of a motor car was looked on as either opulence, or a short cut to the bankruptcy court. The evolution of the motor car from the luxury to the utility class has changed all of this and the ability to buy cars on credit has been made possible by the establishment of automobile banks or financial corporations to allow traders to give extended terms on car sales.”

One of the largest of these early ‘automobile banks’ was the New Zealand Guarantee Corporation, which was specifically set up by financiers to help promote the sale of cars – particularly those second-hand cars that the industry just didn’t like.

Rail And Road The MTA was firmly on the side of the motor industry and road transport in the early days.

A virtual state of war existed (against the railways) from the time transport companies saw the potential of what were termed motor trucks.

A delightful photograph of a toll gate operation. The man collecting the toll has emerged from his house, the driver of the Model T roadster hands over the fee, while a couple of motorcycles, one with sidecar, are parked at the side

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The situation is pretty much summed up in a small editorial in Radiator over concerns that the Waimate branch line had become uneconomic and was under threat of closure due to competition from motor trucks. A deputation of Waimatians called on the General Manager of the NZR asking for the line to be saved. Radiator summed up the GM’s response as “I can’t lower the railway rates on account of the heavy expenses we are under, so you had better do something to get the cost of road transport up, so people will be compelled to use rail and pay the rates needed to make the railways pay.”

Radiator summed it up by saying (even then) that taking goods by road over distances of under 100 miles was cheaper than rail and it was obvious that throughout the country there were many branch lines that would need to close.

It was going to be a long battle with many twists and turns until the deregulation of long distance transport in the 1980s.

Todd Motors Open In Wellington When Todd Motors opened in Wellington in mid-1927, it confirmed the political capital of New Zealand as also being the motoring capital. So said Charles Todd during the round of addresses given at the opening of Todd Motors’ brand new premises that “occupied a valuable site with frontages on Wakefield Street and Courtenay Place.”

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Throughout the 1920s, motor shows were big business in New Zealand with Christchurch holding the biggest and the most regular, where they were annual affairs for some time. Shows continued through the thirties, but since WWII they have been held far less frequently

The move to Wellington from Christchurch – and previously Dunedin and Heriot – was made to accommodate Todd’s new role as the New Zealand distributor for the new and important make, Chrysler.

Charles Todd told the dignitaries – and there were plenty – that he still chose to live in Dunedin, and he was very proud of Dunedin, but Wellington had unquestionably become the most important place in New Zealand to have the head office of a company dealing in motor vehicles.

Car Stripped While cars often went missing in those early days, Radiator reported in February 1929 what was one of the first cases where a car

was stolen and stripped for parts.

The Buick Coupe was reported stolen on January 23, 1929, and was found two days later in an unfrequented part of Wellington.

Radiator published a list of the parts that were taken and asked anyone who was offered any of these parts to contact either the Police, or the MTA. The list of parts included petrol cap, light bulbs, fan belt wheels, etc. but no heavy or substantial parts.

Young Blokes On The Road A great yarn about five teenagers having a road trip holiday appears in the April 1929 edition of Radiator.

The five young fellows decided to have a summer holiday ‘seeing New Zealand first’

This may look very much like a line of Rolls-Royces, but it is in fact a group of cars called the Australian Six leaving the factory to be shipped to New Zealand. The cars were built in Australia from 1919 to 1925, using proprietary American engines and gearboxes

and bought a 1912 Austin tourer for £10.

They spent a month or so checking it over before loading up the car with camping gear and provisions and heading off.

Day 1. Wellington to Taihape.

Day 2. Taihape to National Park.

Day 3. National Park to Wairakei.

Day 4. Wairakei to Rotorua.

Day 5. Rotorua to Auckland.

Day 6. Auckland to Hamilton.

Day 7. Hamilton to Tongaporutu.

Day 8. Tongaporutu to Whanganui.

Day 9. Whanganui to Wellington.

The day’s runs were not consecutive and time was spent at the places they visited.

They covered 1200 miles and the total cost per chap was £10, including the cost of the car, which, apparently, was still good enough for another similar trip.

Ford By Far Figures published by Radiator in November 1926 confirm the remarkable hold that Ford had on the New Zealand market, reflecting what was happening around the rest of the world. And remember that the Model T had been regarded as ‘old hat’ for at least the previous four years and was just five months away from ending production. Radiator said it was estimated New Zealand had around 78,000 cars.

Ford – 27,670 Dodge – 7628 Overland – 4639 Essex – 2442 Rugby – 1830 Austin – 1421 Chrysler – 1046

Buick – 7965 Chevrolet – 7035 Studebaker – 4370 Oakland – 2397 Hudson – 1673 Morris – 1370

Figures published by Radiator in November 1926 confirm the remarkable hold that Ford had on the New Zealand market

But change was on the way, in the United States in particular. Henry Ford had paid the price for refusing to give the Model T sufficient upgrades to keep it ahead in the market place. Ford’s market share slipped and slipped; not even the arrival of the face-lifted ‘New Beauty’ could do anything to stop the slide.

On the other hand, Chevrolet in particular was doing well, and by the end of 1926 – with the Model T just five months away from retirement and Ford going into almost a year’s hiatus while the Model A was rushed into production – Ford and GM (Chevrolet’s parent company) together, shared 49 per cent of the passenger car business. Henry Ford had given away what, four or five years earlier had appeared to be an unassailable lead and his company was never again going to be Number One.

Which Was The Most Popular?

Each year the MTA took careful note of the cars that arrived at the Muriwai beach races

All my own work. A farmer looks proud of his Dodge truck with its load of wool bales. Not sure it would pass for a secure load today

A Karrier truck that has stopped in the middle of a river is, hopefully, being coaxed back into life by a strapping young bloke on the end of the crank handle.

This would have been hard and hot work. But the group pauses long enough for a cheerful-looking photograph

and listed the numbers of the individual makes.

Let’s look at the year 1923 as an example.

The clear favourite was Ford with 102 of the 473 cars in the carpark.

There was, as they say, daylight between Ford and the next most favoured makes – Buick and Dodge both with 37. Chandler was next on 34, Hudson had 19, Oakland got into double figures with 22 while on 11 each were Essex, Hupmobile and Oldsmobile. Jewett and Studebaker each had 10.

Chevrolet was only beginning to make its mark in New Zealand with just seven cars, but that would change before the decade was out when General Motors arrived in this country in force by building a plant in Wellington and overnight Chev’ became a major brand.

English and European cars were all in single figures – Daimler was the most popular with eight cars – and the rare Australian Six was represented by two of the eight cars sent here.

Cuba Street, Wellington, in the early twenties is alive with traffic and people. A policeman in a summer white helmet is directing traffic

Austin and Morris were the only British cars to break the 1000 barrier. Next were Standard (624), Rover (611), Wolseley (502), Humber (420) and Crossley (305).

And the situation was similar with trucks.

Ford – 9747 International – 808 Graham Bros – 411 Reo – 225 Overland – 216

Chevrolet – 1239 Republic – 563 White – 262 Dodge – 224

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E D ON 930 O I R 1 PE ING – NN BEGI

TIMELINE

Significant events in the history of motoring in New Zealand.

W

hen looking back at the history of anything, there comes a time when you’ve got to stop looking back, in order to start going forward again.

With this timeline, it was decided to go back beyond the first cars in New Zealand to a time when roading began – that seemed to be back far enough.

And, reading back over the timeline, it’s obvious that Ford played a major part in the history of the motor vehicle in New Zealand.

This is not to give any favour to the brand, but simply to recognise

1843

The first organised road building as British soldiers begin work on the Great South Road out of Auckland.

1859

It takes a bullock wagon a week to get from Wellington to Greytown over the Rimutakas.

Today, it’s a 90-minute drive.

1859

Early settler William Bishop Black establishes a one-man coach building and repair business in Wellington at 89 Courtenay Place.

1870

1880

1885

1896

Steam buggies are imported from Edinburgh by Mr Empson of Christchurch and J L Gillies of Dunedin.

William Bishop Black goes bankrupt and his business is bought by Frederick Rouse and Henry Hurrell and becomes Rouse & Hurrell Carriage Building Company Limited.

Scottish immigrant Charles Todd opens a wool-scouring business at Heriot in West Otago. This is the start of the Todd Empire.

Timaru engineer Cecil Wood builds an engine and powers a trike with it.

Pitt Street in Auckland and the driver and two passengers off a solid-tyred International bus bound for the wilds of Blockhouse Bay, pose for the obligatory photograph

1896

Vacuum Oil of New York opens a Wellington office.

1897

William McLean MP goes to the UK and returns with two Benz cars, but finds they are illegal to use on the roads of New Zealand.

1898

1900

1900

1901

1901 Timaru chemist C J Wood was another among the early New Zealand motoring pioneers — but his three-wheeler of 1900 was classed as a motorcycle

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the fact that, in the first 25 years of last century, Ford’s dominance of the New Zealand market by both the Model T itself and by its importer and distributor, CMC, was so complete as to make it virtually the only show in town.

The motor vehicle went from stumbling first steps, through growth, into and out of war, then to a period of fantastic growth as it went from being a novelty, to a plaything of the wealthy, to ultimately become a major contributor to our way of life. And it ends with a calamitous crash – the Great Depression

McLean introduces into Parliament the McLean Motor-car Act, which allows people to use the machines under very stringent conditions.

The first electric tram arrives.

Frederick Dennison designs and builds a three-wheeler which he converts to four wheels and drives from Christchurch to Oamaru.

The first motor race is staged between four cars in Christchurch.

It is won by Nicholas Oates driving one of the two Benz Velos imported by William McLean.

Nicholas Oates appears in the Christchurch Court charged with exceeding 4mph and frightening horses. He is fined £1 – about $180 in today’s money. Today his car is in the Southward Museum.

1902

1903

1905

1905

1906

1908

1908

The Motor Cars Regulations Act gives local bodies the right to impose their own local laws.

Dr George Thomas Humphrey de Clive Lowe of Auckland suggests to his friends the formation of an automobile club – the AA is born.

The first recorded trip by car from Wellington to Auckland takes seven days. There seems to be no record of make of car or identities of the crew!

The newly formed AA of Auckland organises a long distance run to Taupo and back. It is won by a Darracq, followed by a Rover.

The Automobile Company of New Zealand is founded in Wellington by Frederick Robert Nathaniel Meadows and becomes the first Ford importer.

Meadows sells the company to Rouse & Hurrell Carriage Building Company Limited who order 12 Ford Model Ts through the New York dealership Peabody’s. Hurrell resigns, leaving Rouse to run the business.

A conference of farmers wants cars locked out of top gear in order to slow them down!

LEFT: More intrepid travellers. Deep in the forest “up north”, travellers in an early Bullnose Morris stop to have their photograph taken. This is one of a series of half a dozen photographs taken from different angles

1910

1911

1912

1912

1913

1913

1915

ABOVE: The news had to get out fast. The stripped down, lightweight Model T racer that was used to deliver the Hawke’s Bay Herald

Rouse & Hurrell Carriage Building Company Limited cease building carriages and trams to focus on Ford cars, and change their name to The Colonial Motor Company Limited (CMC). They also embrace the Belize and Itala car agencies, but give them up two years later.

Shell’s first oil exploration in New Zealand is at the Kotuku Oilfields on the West Coast.

Already there are more than 1000 Ford cars, the Model T, on New Zealand roads.

CMC lends Arthur Chorlton a Ford Model T roadster for a motor car trip from Wellington to Auckland. It takes eight-anda-half days, with the journey through the King Country “almost impossible”.

Charles Norwood resigns as a director of CMC to focus on his new company, The Dominion Motors Limited – later to be the New Zealand agent for all Nuffield products.

Charles Larmour, Managing Director of CMC, braves the Rimutakas to visit Gordon Hughan who has established Ford dealerships in the Wairarapa.

Hughan has just bought a Model T as salvage off the steamship Devon that had gone aground off Wellington Heads. The car had been submerged in the ocean, but dried out, and it is used by Messrs Hughan and Larmour for a 320 mile round trip to Napier and back.

CMC buys a block of land on the corner of Taranaki and York Streets in central Wellington. A major assembly plant is planned and land is also purchased for branches in Auckland (Fox Street, Parnell) and Timaru (Sophia Street).

Herbert McGlashan was the first taxi proprietor in Greymouth in 1912, and he used a modified Ford Model T that was part sedan, part tourer, part van.

This is Herbert with his wife and child

1918

Christchurch City Council lands a Walker Electric truck.

1918

Dunedin man George Scott gains the Austin dealership for all of New Zealand and forms the Austin Distribution Federation.

1918 1916

1917

1917

1918

Six people in two Model Ts set out on a ‘round the North Island holiday’. There is a newly-wed couple in a two-seater and four women in a tourer. Despite there being no recognised network of roads, they make it from Wellington to Auckland up the East Coast and back to Wellington via Taranaki.

The Motor Garage and Cycle Traders Association of New Zealand (later the MTA) is formed in the greater Wellington/ Manawatu region, principally because of concerns among garage owners that tyre companies are selling tyres directly to motorists at discounted prices.

The first famous Parliamentary Tour of Northland is organised for 130 MPs and other important persons to show them that the Far North is not a quagmire of muddy roads but a nice place to visit. Tour organiser Colonel Alan Bell, the public relations manager at Kaitaia, coins the phrase ‘the Winterless North’ for the expedition.

Retail margin on a four-gallon tin of petrol is 6d (six pence).

1919

1920

Charles Larmour sells his interest in CMC to farmer-businessman, Hope Gibbons. Originally from Tasmania, Hope Gibbons and his sons have interests in farms, breweries, flax mills, quarries and a wholesale company, JB Clarkson Limited, that is later renamed Hope Gibbons Limited, and which becomes one of the largest automotive parts suppliers in the country.

Mechanics get a 10 per cent increase in wages. They now get £228 a year.

The MTA launches Radiator magazine with JF Cousins as Editor. It is today the longestrunning trade magazine in New Zealand.

1920

We import more than 12,000 cars in a single year.

1920

The Auckland Automobile Association begins its sign-posting system to help its members.

1921

A change of name – the ‘Motor Garage and Cycle Traders Association of New Zealand’ becomes ‘The Motor Trade Association’ – the MTA.

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1921

1922

1922

1923

1924

1924

1925

1925

First motor races at Muriwai Beach near Auckland.

The new nine-storeyed CMC building in Courtenay Place, Wellington, is opened. The building is constructed to Ford plans and famously is back-to-front for the Southern Hemisphere sun.

The ‘baby’ Austin Seven arrives.

The Apprentice Act comes into being, opening the doors for tens of thousands of young New Zealanders to join the motor industry and receive first-class training.

Motorists gather in Whanganui for a run, perhaps up the river to Jerusalem? Or Pipiriki – they are pointed that way

1925

The Main Highways Board is set up – the Parliamentary Tour of 1917 has shown politicians that New Zealand needs a better network of main roads.

All cars used on the roads must be registered with a central, national register and new pressed-steel number plates are issued every year.

Taking advantage of the boom in roading, the Gibbons family (of CMC) launch a new company, New Zealand Roads Limited.

Surprisingly for a Gibbons’ company, it doesn’t make money and is eventually closed. However several notable projects are completed – the Waioeka Gorge Road, the Great North Road out of Auckland and the Paekakariki Hill Road among them.

The Motor Vehicles Act is passed into law and one of the effects is to ban toll roads.

1926

Profit margin on petrol is 3d (three pence) a gallon. Industrial users to pay a penny-halfpenny a gallon more than resellers.

1926

Mud is the problem! Twelve cars are bogged for several days at Christmas on the Hamilton to Rotorua highway.

New Zealand has the second highest car ownership in the world per head of population.

The USA has 143, New Zealand 71 and Australia 23.

1925

1926 We’ll never know who these people were. It’s the mid 1920s and that’s an expensive car occupied by well-dressed people, obviously a long way from town.

Well-to-do people out for a Sunday drive or a holiday perhaps?

1926

1926

A crowd gathers. A Buick and another car that has come off a lot worse, sit in the middle of the road in the centre of Bulls, after an unplanned coming together

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General Motors opens shop in a large new assembly plant at Petone, opening the door for Chevrolet to challenge the supremacy of Ford in the market place. GM also acquires the British company Vauxhall the same year.

Bulk petrol supplies are introduced to New Zealand by the British Imperial Oil Company Limited under the Shell trade name. They open a major depot at Miramar in Wellington.

Kerbside pumps (bowsers) are on the way.

The first railcar runs on New Zealand railway lines. It is based on a Model T truck chassis and, because of its boxy shape, it is called ‘The Piecart’.

The society that represents British car makers, concerned at the poor penetration of the New Zealand market, decides to embark on a massive ‘Buy British’ campaign to coincide with the end of the Model T when Ford will be vulnerable.

1927

The last shipment of Model Ts arrives in New Zealand.

1927

The New Zealand designed and built Marlborough car, begun in Blenheim, is completed in Gisborne. It still survives.

1927

80 per cent of cars imported come from North America (USA and Canada).

1928

1929

1929

1929

1929

The first Ford Model As arrive, but numbers are small and all are pre-sold. This allows Chevrolet to beat Ford for the first time in the annual sales race.

The Factories Act is changed to allow the employment of boy assistants and apprentices on Saturday.

The MTA introduces a ‘Sunshine Day’ where the motor trade takes orphans, the elderly and hospital patients on outings in motor cars.

Todd Motors opens an assembly plant in Napier Street, Freemans Bay, Auckland for the new Chrysler brand.

The government sets up the NZ Transport Department as a separate organisation to the NZ Police. The ‘enforcers’ will be called ‘Traffic Inspectors’.

1929

October sees the start of the Great Depression – by the end of 1930 its bite is savage.

1930

The Mortgage Relief Act is passed in Parliament saving thousands of farmers and even more home-owners.

TIMELINE – 1931-1948

The

MOTOR VEHICLE

in New Zealand

O W T IOD8 R E P 1–194 193

Gorgeous alloy bodied, supercharged MG sports car of the early 1930s

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Locals met Australian aviator Charles Ulm and his aircraft, Faith in Australia, when he landed on 90 Mile Beach in 1934. Ulm and his two crewmen disappeared later that year flying between California and Hawaii

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CHAPTER CHAPTER 16

W

hereas the first period in this motoring history was one of establishment, the second period was one of constant change. It began with an economic slump, moved into recovery mode, crashed again because of World War Two and emerged once again in recovery mode. It was a period when British cars became more popular than American ones.

Of the 18 years of this period, about one-third saw sales of new cars in New Zealand really buoyant but only three of those years (1936, 1937 and 1938) were ahead of the previous record set in 1929.

It’s interesting to dwell on what might have been, had there not been the Great Depression and then World War Two to interrupt the trajectory that the motor industry was on in 1929. But, New Zealand did not have those interruptions alone. In January 1930, the first issue of Radiator for the new decade predicted the end of the dominance of the American car in New Zealand.

“American cars predominate in New Zealand and for several years the New Zealand car market has followed closely that of the United States of America. The influence of the English car on the New Zealand business has been negligible for some considerable time, but there are signs that a change is coming.

“The advent of the baby car, although a small factor, is still an important one and may well have a considerable influence on other sections of the trade.”

Radiator was right.

Part of the change was a ‘Grand Tour’ of the lower parts of the North Island in the early thirties organised by British industry interests. Wolseley, Morris, Austin, Humber, Hillman, Vauxhall, Armstrong Siddeley, Jowett, Sunbeam, Talbot and Standard cars along with Morris, Leyland, Thornycroft and Guy trucks took part.

The route started and finished in Wellington and looped through Taranaki, Hawkes Bay and Wairarapa.

In another show of support for the British motor industry, the 1930 Auckland motor show would be for British cars only. Eight companies displayed 11 makes of car at the Auckland event, along with four trucks and a dozen motorcycles. The show was called a success with 18,000 people attending. It was blatant manipulation.

The single biggest attraction at the show was the Golden Arrow land-speed record car of Major Henry Segrave, an astonishing looking car that has resided in the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu in the UK for decades. After Auckland, Golden Arrow was sent to

Wellington for a British trade show and then on to Christchurch where it drew large crowds.

In 1930, the Rover Car Company sent Colonel F Searle CBE, DSO to New Zealand to set up an assembly plant in Wellington for Rover Tens and Rover Meteors. This was unexpected because Rover was an expensive car with a relatively small, if enthusiastic, following. The Rovers would arrive without bodies, which would be constructed in Petone using Southland beech for framing.

However, this was a less-than-successful operation, closing a year after it opened, with the premises being taken over by J Gadsen & Co for making tin-cans.

A similar fate had befallen an earlier attempt by Todd Motors to establish a factory in Auckland. It too had been closed and the premises sold to the tin can maker.

While accurately predicting the growth in the New Zealand market for British cars, Radiator got it quite wrong in another forecast!

“There are signs that the zenith of motor production in America has been reached and there must be a reduction in production. It is unlikely this will be voluntary.”

Radiator was totally wrong. The American motor industry just kept on getting bigger and bigger after the Great Depression.

There was bad news for New Zealand motorists and the motor industry in the 1930 Budget, as the government tried to get its books in order. In his editorial, Radiator’s editor first praised the Prime Minister for handling an unpleasant job with courage, writing, “it is believed he is making an honest attempt to meet a difficult situation”.

But from that point on, the gloves were off and there was a full-scale attack on the budget and its effect on motoring.

Rail was being propped up at the expense of the growing transport industry, with no attempt made to understand why rail couldn’t compete with trucks. And how often were we to hear that over the years?

A Bedford truck is parked and empty, while two draught horses appear to be doing all the work in this pastoral scene of building a haystack the old way

But Radiator’s greatest criticism was directed at increased levels of tax on motor vehicles, parts, tyres, petrol and oils.

“The storm of protest which has arisen amongst motorists in all parts of the Dominion has found expression in many public meetings and must have demonstrated that even motorists will turn if the screw is turned too far!”

In fact, there were calls for angry motorists to become politicised and to form groups to pressure the government. Prior to the budget, the tax on cars from the UK was 24 per cent, from Canada 24 per cent, and from America 57 per cent. After the budget, tax on UK cars had gone to 28.5 per cent, cars from Canada 55 per cent, and from America 76 per cent. Radiator describes these as ‘excessive’ – and it’s easy to see why.

The only sector of the motor industry

There were calls for angry motorists to become politicised and to form groups to pressure the government

A patrolman to the rescue! The Automobile Association used 1932 Ford V8 roadsters as patrol cars in the early thirties, and here a motorist and his drowned car are being rescued from a river

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that was ‘sort-of’ happy with the new situation, was that group importing British cars, with predictions of sudden growth to around 40 per cent of the market. But Radiator issued a warning, saying any increases would be slow because of the effects of the slump. The magazine said, “if growth doesn’t match expectations, the New Zealand agents may get the blame and lose their dealerships.”

But oil companies came to the rescue over the increased taxes on petrol. The increase should have seen the retail price of petrol rise by three pence a gallon, but the oil companies offered to pay half of the increased taxes.

But that wasn’t the end of it.

Since the Main Highways Board had been set up, the government had annually paid £235,000 to the Board’s roading fund, but this money was ‘repudiated’ in the budget, an act that was described by Radiator as a breach of faith. In case the term ’repudiated’ is confusing, it means ‘cancelled’.

But life and motoring went on despite the effects of the depression.

In 1932, there was an air of mystery about a new petrol company – Associated Motorists Petrol Company – that was about to be launched. Capital was being raised and tenders had been called for bulk storage tanks in Auckland, Wellington, Lyttelton and Dunedin. No mention was made of who was behind it, but it was later shown to be

There is no explanation why this row of buses is parked on a hillside in Wellington. But they are NZR Road Services buses of varying vintage and colour scheme, with the most modern being the middle one

Todd Brothers who would at first source their fuel from Russia and ‘disguise’ its origin by adopting the name Europa.

By February 1933 and with interest mounting, it was learned that the tanker Reliance had taken on board 2.5 million gallons of ‘first grade’ petrol at a Black Sea port and was heading for New Zealand where the petrol would be discharged at Auckland, Wellington, Lyttelton and Dunedin.

As part of the push for British cars in New Zealand, the British industry appointed a permanent representative here. He was Mr A W Hawley who made his headquarters in Wellington and his job was obviously to lobby whoever he needed to, in order to increase market penetration.

Radiator reported that something in Mr Hawley’s favour was that he didn’t favour any particular make of car – which seems to have been damning him with faint praise!

Although sales were down, they were still occurring and there were figures to be collated.

Ford started the decade with the Model A still doing great things for them. While General Motors (with several brands from Chevrolet to Cadillac) had become the biggest carmaker in the world, in terms of single brands, Ford was still well in the lead.

A Ford advertisement in the July 1930 edition of Radiator, claims that for the first six months of the year, Ford had 41 per cent of passenger car sales in the USA with the ‘next car’ on 23 per cent. The advertisement carefully avoids naming the car, but it would have been Chevrolet.

In New Zealand at that time, Ford had 32.2 per cent of the new-car market, with the ‘next car’ on just 10 per cent – again it would have been Chevrolet.

This gap between Ford and ‘second’ was a peculiar situation for which no clear explanation has ever been given, except that the Ford Model A was simply such an outstanding success it eclipsed everything.

Chevrolet had hoped to dilute the

challenge of the Model A in 1929, replacing the four-cylinder ‘National’ with an all-new car powered by the famous ‘Stovebolt Six’, overhead-valve six-cylinder engine that would last through to the end of 1953.

In New Zealand we grew to know these six-cylinder Chevrolets as ‘Wentworths’, although it’s not recorded anywhere why.

It’s not an American model name.

Chevrolet lore in New Zealand has it that GM, expecting big sales for the new six, ordered so many that when sales failed to meet expectation, excess stock was stored out of sight in a building in Christchurch.

As this stock was drawn on after several months, they were given slight modifications – chroming of some engine parts, etc. – and were given the name ‘Wentworth’ after the building in which they had been stored.

While things would change midway through the decade, in the first half of the decade, CMC continued to serve the Ford brand proudly.

In 1930, CMC announced a Wellingtonbased training scheme for all mechanics employed by Ford dealers throughout the country. This was seen as a major step for the motor industry in assuring the car-buying public of top after-sales service.

Ford dealers were expected to free-up one mechanic at a time for one week, pay their expenses to and from Wellington and continue with their pay, while CMC covered the cost of the week’s tuition in the latest service and overhaul techniques. But there was also news from Ford on the international front that would have a major impact on New Zealand. Henry Ford announced plans to set up a factory in England, at first to build American cars, but later, an all-new small British car. The factory was to be built on a boggy piece of land called Dagenham.

It would be the biggest car factory in Europe, employing 15,000 men.

In April 1932, word about the new small ‘baby’ Ford leaked out when a consignment

A farmer heading for town on the Kaikoura coast with a truckload of wool

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of “12 cars no more than 10 feet in length” was seen leaving Dagenham, destined for Detroit. This was what was to become the Ford Y Model – a 1934 Ford V8 in miniature.

The small Ford was expected to do well in New Zealand where Morris and Austin were doing very well and expected to do better.

New Zealand had weathered the earliest effects of the Great Depression, but as 1930 came to a close we were feeling its icy bite and the motor industry was, with good reason, looking forward to the next two or three years with great trepidation.

An International truck from Ashburton-based Burnett’s Transport. Judging by the load, this might be heading for the Lake Coleridge power station

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Radiator, in a poignant end-of-year 1930 message said; “The difficulties which at present surround us will be best met and overcome by exemplification of the spirit of goodwill and unselfishness not only at the Xmas Season, but throughout the year.”

It really was to be a case of battening down the hatches.

The new year, 1931, got off to a bad start with a prominent business leader calling for the importation of cars to be banned! The call came from Mr Woolf, the president of the Canterbury Manufacturers’ Association,

and although nobody took his call seriously it did show that there was a lingering feeling in some quarters that the motor car was somehow frivolous.

Radiator devoted a full page to refuting the claims made by Mr Woolf and published figures showing the enormous impact the motor vehicle had had on the development of what was still a young country, and also the immense size that the motor industry had become in about a quarter of a century, employing directly and indirectly thousands of people.

But while 1931 was not looking good, the year started with the news that Dominion Motors had switched brands and was now in

charge of the importation and distribution of Morris throughout New Zealand. Dominion Motors had previously handled a variety of American cars in Wellington, but had been approached by Morris to look at a bigger picture. This move was regarded by many as the most significant of the year, Morris had sent Mr S G K Smallbone to New Zealand for two months to negotiate the deal. Previously Morris in New Zealand had been handled by six different importers.

This move made Dominion Motors, founded and headed by C J B Norwood, one of the most important companies in the New Zealand motor industry. There were early casualties. Just a month after the Dominion Motors deal was announced, one of the six previous Morris importers, Britannia Motors, was placed in liquidation.

If 1930 was grim, 1931 was a disaster.

In proportion, Ford continued to dominate the depression-affected local market where sales were well down on the latter part of the twenties. In the first six months of 1931 Ford sold 948 cars, the next year was 625.

British news, meanwhile, just kept on coming.

In May 1932, even though the world was still in the grip of the Great Depression and sales of cars had all but ground to a halt, Todd Motors, with an uncanny gift of prediction, had added British Rootes Group products to their American Chrysler line-up, and were advertising the Hillman Minx and Hillman Wizard at £289 and £415 respectively and calling for enquiries from garages wishing to become Hillman, Humber and Commer truck dealers.

The Hillman Minx was described as having a 9.8hp, four-cylinder engine, with a three-speed gearbox (plus reverse) giving it a top speed of 55–60mph and returning

A lovely, elegant, gracious and oh so desirable Riley Kestrel outside the Anzac Avenue, Auckland, offices of Motor Specialties, circa 1937. Motorspec’s is now part of Repco

35mpg under normal driving.

Not only were Todds showing confidence in the growth of smaller British cars, but decades later Chrysler bought the Rootes Group!

At that time, Todds controlled eight other retail dealerships outside of Wellington – Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin, Whanganui, Hawera, Timaru, Gore and Invercargill.

And, in smaller news, the company that imported Nash had added the British makes Swift and Armstrong Siddeley to their portfolio – the latter to have New Zealand-made bodies fitted – while the company that imported the Willys-Knight and Whippet brands, took up Wolseley.

All of a sudden, British cars were seen as hot property, despite the depression.

But it wasn’t only British cars that were in the news, some British people were as well.

Wellington’s ABC Garages, who were Sunbeam dealers, had been taken over by W H Bowen who had arrived from the UK in

This ugly, top-heavy looking device is the infamous Second World War ‘Bob Semple Tank’ based on a bulldozer. It just didn’t work

late 1929. He had considerable experience with Sunbeam and had crashed one while tuning it for the 1924 Spanish Grand Prix at San Sebastian when he went over a bank and was thought to be dead. However, a second look convinced rescuers he was still alive, and he was taken to hospital where the Queen of Spain sent her personal doctor to look after him. In New Zealand, Sunbeam A very obviously posed photograph of three trucks from Foodstuffs Ltd (at the time, Four Square) with varying loads. This photograph will date from the late thirties. The houses are interesting too

All of a sudden, British cars were seen as hot property, despite the depression

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High on the Paekakariki Hill north of Porirua, a logging truck is stopped and posed just to show how hard it has been made to work

was very much a car for the wealthy sporting motorist and sold in small numbers.

As 1931 moved on and the sales of new cars continued to slow, dealers were finding that the thing they had hated most throughout the previous decade – used-cars – were the ones that were selling. This meant that the first list of used-car prices to be compiled by the office of the MTA was proving to be very useful in this sudden increase in business.

The economic news just kept getting worse and, adding to the gloom, the Arbitration Court announced a 10 per cent cut in everyone’s wages and salaries.

Radiator lamented in its January 1932 editorial, “the year 1931 ended as being the leanest and most miserable on record in every regard and 1932 was looking even worse” – and so it was.

Despite all of this, the ‘Buy British’ programme was in full swing and to such a degree that in 1933 efforts were being made to have British cars imported into New

Zealand at zero tax. That never happened of course.

Such was the sympathy among the public for the cause that Firestone – about as American a company as you could get – launched an advertising campaign in 1933 to persuade buyers of car tyres that Firestone really was a British company. It highlighted the “modern Firestone factory at Brentford in England” and said that the company employed more than a thousand English men and women making tyres from rubber

The first of May 1935 was a red-letter day for the motor industry in New Zealand

Not in the same league as the Riley Kestrel featured in another photograph, but this smaller Riley sports car is still a highly desirable car that would have made enthusiasts weak at the knees in the late thirties

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procured from British plantations in Malaya and Ceylon and thousands of tons of British coal was used each year in the factory.

However, it wasn’t only Britain versus North America with the occasional challenge from Europe thrown in (the Traction Avant Citroën was a big seller in the late thirties) – there was also Australia to be considered.

Earlier attempts to design and build a New Zealand car had failed and there were ongoing attempts to get an all-Australian car launched before Holden in 1948.

One of the most remarkable early attempts at building a car in Australia came with the backing of one of Aussie’s great heroes, Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith. Called the Southern Cross, after Smithie’s own plane, the car was shown in mid-1933 and was a five-seater (either as a two-door tourer or a four-door sedan) with very racy styling, a laid-back radiator grille and semi-enclosed headlights. It was very advanced for the time and looked more European than anything.

Remarkably, it didn’t have a separate chassis and had it gone into production might have challenged the Citroën Traction Avant as the first production monocoque car. But even more remarkable was that the body was made of laminated wood, along the principles used for laminating aircraft propellers. The makers claimed the monocoque (only it wasn’t called that) was 16 times as strong as a conventional chassis.

The body was 1.5 inches thick, comprising multiple layers of pine and walnut, oneeighth-of-an-inch thick, glued and moulded.

And completing the unorthodox specifications of the car, an Australian-designed, flat-four engine of 2.3 litres developing 55bhp powered it, and two of the cars built used a locally developed automatic transmission.

The project folded when Kingsford-Smith disappeared while flying over the Bay of Bengal on a mission to raise funds for the car.

None survive.

Of course not everyone was seriously affected by the Great Depression – there were many who were self-sufficient in funds and were able to carry on.

Luxury camping in motor vehicles in the

Fords lined up in the showroom of Carterton Ford dealer Gordon Hughan. It’s mainly the new Ford 10 on the left-hand side, and a mixed bag of Ford V8s on the right. A 1938 Barrel Nose Ford V8 pickup is in the centre, and a new 1938 Ford V8 Standard breaks the smaller cars

great outdoors was a popular pastime in the early decades of the motor vehicle, for those who could afford them. The joint camping holidays of Henry Ford and Thomas Edison and families in their large, highly equipped ‘camping vans’ were well documented.

In 1933, newspapers in New Zealand carried rather breathless stories about ‘the largest motor caravan ever built in the Dominion’. It was being built for Mr Mathew Wills of Opawa in South Canterbury – a wealthy landowner, car enthusiast and of the W D & H O Wills tobacco family – on a lengthened Nash truck chassis, and provided accommodation for five people in two rooms. The engine was in the forward room, all glassed in and covered with a neat box, which made an excellent table. The driver was seated in a comfortable seagrass chair. There was electric light, coal stove, hot and cold

running water and even a bath, cunningly hidden under a bed. It was constructed of pine, Southland beech, larch and oak. The papers reported that Mr Wills would use it for “travelling about the countryside to pick out the sunny spots”.

Meanwhile, among the hoi polloi …

The first of May 1935 was a red-letter day for the motor industry in New Zealand.

It marked the opening of a new motor vehicle assembly plant, the second in the Wellington area.

For many years the Colonial Motor Company (CMC) had been assembling Fords at three plants – Auckland, Wellington and Timaru – and in 1925 had been joined by General Motors with their new factory in Lower Hutt, otherwise cars were pretty much all imported completely assembled.

The New Zealand coach building trade was a shadow of its former self as fewer and fewer

cars arrived without bodies.

Earlier in 1935, the government announced regulations that allowed lower rates of duty on cars that required complete assembly in New Zealand. There had been hopes that partial assembly would also qualify.

After the abortive attempt with a plant in Auckland, in 1935 Todd Motors became the second major company to open a plant in Lower Hutt for Chrysler and Rootes Group products. At first, the new Todd Motors factory employed 150 people but there were hopes that would increase to 200. Todds stayed on the Petone site for many years before opening a new factory at Porirua in the seventies.

But other assembly plants were on the way.

In Christchurch a shipment of 44 Willys model 77 cars in CKD form had been landed in a joint operation between South Island Motors and the motor-body building company of Stevens and Sons. And a second Christchurch-based joint venture had also been announced. This was between Amuri Motors, Boon & Co of Christchurch, P H Vickery Ltd of Invercargill and Cossens & Black of Dunedin. This project was to assemble Austin cars and was to be located in the premises of Boon & Co, which had previously built tramcars.

By 1935 the economy was well on the way to recovering, and after an absence of several years due to a combination of over-familiarity and the Great Depression, the Olympia Motor Show was again staged in Christchurch, in mid-November 1935.

It proved very popular and it’s worth looking at the exhibitors and comparing them with the 1923 show in Christchurch:

In 1937, work is progressing on the road through Pukerua Bay north of Wellington and the Governor General’s party in the Daimler saloon, with 1935 Ford V8 support car, arrives to check on progress

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Trucks of rival Dunedin trucking operators, Nimmo and Blair Ltd and M Stevenson Ltd, line up for a friendly publicity shot, Christmas Eve, 1936. Nimmo and Blair have British Bedfords, and Stevenson Ltd mainly American trucks

The 1935 Show Ford Motors Canterbury – Ford cars and trucks Todd Motors – Chrysler and Plymouth cars Tench Bros – Singer cars South Island Motors – Willys, Nash and Wolseley cars Amuri Motors – Dodge cars Dominion Motors – Morris, Packard and Hudson cars David Crozier – Austin cars NZ Farmers – Oldsmobile and Vauxhall cars Archibald Motors – Riley and Pontiac cars Adams Ltd – Studebaker cars Blackwell Motors – Chevrolet cars and trucks Christchurch Motors – Reo cars Leyland Motors – Leyland trucks While reports from the time say it was an outstanding success, in comparison with the shows of the mid-twenties, stand numbers were well down, many makes of cars that were available in New Zealand were not represented, and there were very few luxury or sporting models.

1923 Christchurch Show A W Smith & Sons – Rover and Oakland cars Storey & Co – Bianchi cars Tench Brothers – Maxwell and Stephens cars K E England – Chalmers cars South Island Motors – Willys-Knight and Overland cars C Wright & Brothers – Winton, Chandler, Lancia and Cleveland cars Royds Motors – Gardner and Nash cars Amuri Motors – Dodge cars Adams Ltd – Studebaker cars W B Scott & Co – Fiat cars – including one with a polished alloy body Canterbury Motor Co – Ford cars Todd Brothers – Wolseley cars H J Ranger Ltd – Vulcan and Chevrolet cars Dominion Motors – Durant, Oldsmobile and Chevrolet cars Rink Taxis – Hudson, Essex and Hillman cars David Crozier Ltd – Cadillac, Austin, Earl and Briscoe cars Buick Sales Ltd – Buick, Itala and ZL cars Cooper & Price – Dort cars

A family picnic, with the family dog. A 1938 Chrysler Royal, complete with spats on the rear wheels, sits among the trees atop a cliff somewhere in New Zealand

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Leyland Motors – Vauxhall cars Cycle & Motor Supplies – Morris cars HER Buckhurst – Jewett and SPA cars Of those makes of cars, only a handful have survived and none of the distributors, although some were still active in the latter part of last century including Tench Brothers, Amuri Motors, South Island Motors, Dominion Motors and David Crozier.

In 1936 the Ford Motor Company Limited came to town officially, building a plant at Seaview in Lower Hutt and taking over the importation from CMC. CMC had been doing such a good job of running Ford affairs in New Zealand that, back in Detroit, Henry Ford was content to leave us as the last of the British Empire countries to be Ford-ised. Ford had made no secret of its coming to New Zealand as a factory-shop, and CMC had been kept well advised of the move.

Ford’s new then state-of-the-art factory opened at Seaview in Wellington in 1936, but with a surprise for CMC. Throughout

all of the negotiations, CMC had expected it would retain the distribution rights, i.e. the right to appoint dealers, and Ford had said nothing to the contrary. So when Ford advised CMC it was also going to be the distributor as well as the importer, there was a great deal of surprise and anguish.

Ford’s arrival was just one of several benchmark events in the thirties for the New Zealand motor industry with the depression being the most important. The effects of the Great Depression in New Zealand had been savage – we had it all; a dire economic downtown, business failures, unemployment, soup kitchens, poverty, lives ruined, work gangs, people living rough on the road, people living in rags.

As New Zealand shook off the Great Depression, there was a mood for change.

In 1931 the United and Reform political parties formed a coalition government in New Zealand to try and combat the Great Depression. The fledgling Labour party didn’t agree with the coalition’s policies and stood in opposition instead.

During the depression and in its aftermath, the United/Reform Coalition was seen as mean-spirited as it cut government spending, increased taxes and made unemployed men (mainly) work for the benefit as its main policies. The image of being hard-hearted wasn’t helped when it was widely accepted that the Prime Minister, George Forbes, told a group of unemployed men to ‘eat grass’.

It probably wasn’t true, but it was widely believed. ‘False news’ is not new.

Other policies aimed at cutting government spending including raising the school starting age to six years – something that is still legal – and propping up the railways (to justify employing more staff) by restricting road transport to just 30 miles (48km).

If a transport company wanted to carry goods further than that, they had to apply for a permit. And the application had to be made to Railways. This was a situation that prevailed until the late 1970s.

The depression ended with the government being the most unpopular in New Zealand history, and they were shown the door in November 1935 when Labour swept

Service car on the run from Rotorua to Ruatahuna, the driver well wrapped up against the cold. It carries twin side-mounted spares as punctures were a problem

into power under the leadership of Micky Savage, in an election that had been delayed 12 months because of the depression.

The vote split was 46.1 per cent for Labour and 32.9 per cent for the Coalition.

But in terms of seats in the House, it was overwhelming. Labour had 53 to the Coalition’s 16. Labour had a huge mandate for change – and it made the most of it.

Interestingly, the Coalition had won the 1931 election with 55.4 per cent compared to Labour’s 34.3 per cent.

Up went tens of thousands of framed photographs of Savage in lounges all around New Zealand, and in came some of the most sweeping reforms this country has ever seen. The new Labour government was going to take the motor industry and motoring far more seriously than any government before it. There was a great deal of discussion about the New Zealand road death toll with some calling it road carnage, but others taking a more pragmatic view. It seems that back in the mid-thirties we were, in fact, world leaders with fewer deaths on our roads than many comparable nations.

Road deaths per 100,000 cars New Zealand – 66 Canada – 91 Norway – 120 USA – 123 Australia – 138 UK – 317 Germany – 502 But something happened, and by 2010 the Word Health Organisation figures for the same countries show a remarkable decrease in the number of deaths per

As New Zealand shook off the Great Depression, there was a mood for change

100,000 cars across the board, and we were no longer world leaders.

2010 road deaths per 100,000 cars UK – 5.1 Norway – 5.2 Germany – 6.8 Australia – 7.3 New Zealand – 8.4 Canada – 9.5 USA – 12.9 The dynamic Bob Semple was the new government’s Minister of Works as well as Minister of Transport, and one of his first tasks was to issue a statement saying that he was going to call a major conference to look at all modes of transport in New Zealand – sea, land and air. He said that while he had held the post for only a short time, he could see that transport in New Zealand was bristling with difficulties. He noted that petrol tax in New Zealand was among the highest in the world, but that was all right – as long as the money collected was put to the use intended.

He hoped to be able to place the whole 73

The government was determined to introduce an open-road speed limit of 40mph

transport industry on a sounder basis.

Semple was colourful, there was no doubt about that. In 1937 when the Riccarton Borough Council refused to join with the other Christchurch councils to unify a system of traffic flow he got into a state of high dudgeon.

“I am not going to allow a tin-pot outfit to smash the scheme. If they won’t join, I’ll make them. I am called the Mussolini of Transport. Well, I have to be Mussolini, otherwise we’ll never get anywhere.

“We are going to develop this form of control and lead the world.”

Semple was a man on a mission, and there were over a thousand applicants when the government advertised for 12 new traffic police for rural areas across New Zealand in early 1937. In announcing the appointments, Minister Semple said he had been very favourably impressed with their appearance.

“They are not to be ‘traffic cops’ as that term is generally understood,” he said. “But they are to be ‘gentlemen of the highway’ whose duty it is to advise and befriend the motorist.

“This does not mean they are to be weakkneed individuals who will not maintain discipline on the roads. On the contrary, they are to deal ruthlessly with those who transgress. Breaches of the law through ignorance, and trivial offences, will be dealt with through advice and warnings, but the wilful offender, the road hog and the drunken driver will be prosecuted, without mercy!”

But wait, it gets better!

Being patient. The driver of this International log truck can do nothing but wait until the drovers get their mob to its destination. Ah, such is New Zealand

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A Billy Higgs service car at Wellington airport. These fast, powerful, elegant cars were based on Cadillacs, with streamlined New Zealand coachwork and huge headlights, and were used to transport tourists. Newman Brothers of Nelson also used them

“It will be realised that the day of the traffic cop being a pimp, revenue gatherer and prosecutor of motorists is gone, and these men will measure up to exacting new standards and they will be welcomed and appreciated by the public.”

When Semple became the Minister of Transport, there was a curious attitude towards speed limits.

New Zealand motorists haven’t lived forever with speed limits. While there may have been an initial early restrictive reaction from authorities, once motor vehicles became almost commonplace, attitudes were far more relaxed – possibly because of the low top speed of the majority of cars.

Some magistrates were enlightened.

In May 1932, in the Christchurch court, Stipendiary Magistrate, Mr E D Mosley, dismissed speeding charges against Hugh Edwin Kennett, a well-known motor trader.

Kennett had been charged with exceeding

A 1938 semi-streamlined Atlantic petrol tanker based on an International truck cab and chassis

the 20 miles per hour speed limit through Kaiapoi. The judge said it was unreasonable for the speed limit to be set so low. Seventeen similar charges were also dismissed.

Not so fortunate was the driver of a car in Lower Hutt that was ‘full of women passengers’ who was fined £5 for speeding.

A police inspector gave evidence he had to travel at 70–80 miles per hour for four miles to catch the car.

Colourful phrases were often used to describe errant motorists with ‘speed cranks’ being a favourite.

In late 1932, the South Island Motor Union saw no reason for speed limits at all.

The annual meeting of the organisation heard that speed limits had been abolished in many overseas countries and those motorists in ‘the Dominion’ were over-legislated and over-regulated.

However, the government was determined to introduce an open-road speed limit of

Feilding Central Garage in the late thirties with a 1936 Ford V8 Coupe parked outside, and an array of petrol bowsers in the corner drive-through. Advertising proudly proclaims that Dunlop Tyres were as British as the flag

40mph to ‘save wear and tear on the roads’, citing the lack of money in the Highways Fund after a raid of more than £1.2 million earlier in the year to top up the Consolidated Fund. Predictably there was opposition from the various motorists groups to this proposal, but surprisingly the police and the Highways Board also opposed the move. The latter said imposing a speed limit would not have the effect the government wanted while the police said it would be a law that would be impossible to enforce.

The new Motor Vehicle Act ignored all of this advice and did introduce an overall speed limit of 40 miles per hour, although the government was having a bit of the proverbial bet both ways as the new law only applied to loose-surfaced roads – those that were not tar-sealed or made of concrete. But that was far from the end of this matter, as time would tell.

It took many years before there was a standardised approach to speed limits throughout New Zealand. As an example, in 1926 a speed limit of just 20 miles per hour was slapped on the Great North Road out of Dunedin – now known as Mount Cargill Road. Authorities thought that with its “narrow turns and steep grades” some sort of limit was needed in order to prevent accidents. At first this road was gravelled.

It was tar-sealed just prior to the Great South Seas Exhibition in Dunedin in 1929, but the speed limit was retained in order to now save the road from damage. That speed limit was lifted in 1932.

However the attitude towards breaking the speed limit remained mixed for much of the decade, as a Timaru court case showed.

In August 1937 the magistrate hearing a case of dangerous driving brought by the Transport Department against the chief engineer of the Timaru Borough Council for driving at a dangerous speed near Selwyn, dismissed the charge. Evidence showed the man had been travelling at 80 miles per

hour (135km/h) but the magistrate said that speed, in a modern, safe car on a clear piece of road was not, in itself dangerous.

The magistrate added it was up to the government to fix a maximum open-road speed limit. At that stage, there still was none.

However, not all magistrates were as enlightened.

A week later another magistrate hearing a similar case thundered, “Travelling at 60 miles an hour is suicidal and I’m going to deal harshly with people like that.”

Semple, perhaps summed up the New Zealand attitude towards our relatively easy driving tests when, in 1936, he said, “We have to get over the difficulty of imposing hardship on young or old, man or woman” – implying that the country had to toughen up on driving licence tests.

His comment came after a somewhat heated discussion over the age of driving in New Zealand. At that stage it was 16 years of age and Semple supported a move to

increase it to 18 years of age. That didn’t happen. Instead it moved to 15 years of age, making New Zealand a country giving the youngest drivers in the world the right to drive.

Semple also suggested that eyesight tests should to be part of the licence test.

Labour’s approach to motoring was broad – from increased local assembly of cars to a closer look at road safety, as well as new regulations governing the sale of petrol, which included licensing resellers and setting up a board to approve applications.

It is interesting to look back and see the brands of petrol that were on offer in New Zealand when the new petrol regulations were introduced: • Super Power Chief • Texaco 400 • Shell • Big Tree • Plume • Atlantic • Europa

As part of British support for the 1940 New Zealand Centennial, one of the two fastest cars in the world - Captain George Eyston’s Thunderbolt - was sent to showcase British engineering. Because of WWII, it was decided to store the car in New Zealand, but the building it was stored in was destroyed by fire, along with Thunderbolt. Its remains were dumped in an unknown landfill site somewhere in Wellington. Subsequent searches for the car have proved fruitless, and it’s thought the wreckage may be buried beneath Wellington airport

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For the first time, retail prices were fixed at 1s 10d for a gallon of standard grade and 1s 11d for premium grade. Selling petrol in 44-gallon drums attracted a discount of one penny per gallon.

One thing that was missing from the fuel scene in the mid-thirties was diesel.

Newspapers and magazines covering early motoring in New Zealand are almost devoid of mention of diesel, either as a fuel or diesel-powered vehicles. That’s because diesel engines were heavy, slow and not particularly powerful. It was Englishman A New Zealand-built van for Whittaker’s Chocolate and Confectionery company, based on a 1937 Dodge truck chassis.

Frank Perkins who developed Whittaker’s has long been known for the style of its vehicles the modern high-performance, high-speed diesel engines in the early to five-ton truck and had it repowered with a mid-thirties.

Gardner diesel engine by John Chambers.

However, there were some serious The Gardner was a four-cylinder unit with The thirties was a attempts to get diesel established in 38 brake horsepower at 1000rpm giving a period of extensive New Zealand using the older technology. top speed of only 17 miles per hour – but road building in New Radiator describes “the first diesel-engined with an outstanding reduction in running bus chassis to be brought to New Zealand” costs. It went twice as far on a gallon of Zealand – and it was in some detail. It was called a “Crossley crude oil than on a gallon of petrol. But needed! heavy oil bus” imported into the country it would still be some years before diesel

by James J Niven & Company. The chassis power became common. was very heavily constructed, 26 feet long Interestingly, the Radiator edition of April and designed to carry 31 passengers. The 1936 carries a lengthy article headlined Dunlop tyres, being twin at the rear, were for around two shillings a gallon at that time “The Diesel Has Arrived” which is reprinted 38 x 7 with a spare tucked away under the (about four times the price of the crude oil). from the British paper, Motor Commerce. tail.

Radiator claimed there would be a fuel The writer had a vested interest; he was “An electric starter is all that’s needed to saving of £600 over 50,000 miles and, Frank Perkins of the British company of start the engine from cold which is a shock because of the torque, gear changes would the same name – Perkins Diesels. While to the preconception that a diesel engine be reduced by 75 per cent. the principle of diesel engines was well needs pre-heating before starting.”

Shortly after the Crossley was demonunderstood, as we have seen they were Top speed was governed to 35mph and it strated, Mockett Motors in Culverden, not popular for road transport. However did around 16mpg with crude oil (which it North Canterbury, put the first diesel-enFrank Perkins refined many of the features used) being five-and-a-half pence a gallon – gined truck into service. and was the creator of the modern diesel much cheaper than petrol, which was selling Mocketts bought an AEC petrol-engined, engine and within a very short time diesel

This is The Exchange, the commercial and transport centre of Dunedin for many years. It’s just after midday, and there are plenty of electric trams, a lone Y-Model Ford, a couple of American cars about a decade apart in age, a motorcyclist, and plenty of pedestrians and cyclists

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engines using his ideas and technology had transformed the world of heavy transport, although it would take decades before diesel engines had any real impact on family cars.

The thirties was a period of extensive road building in New Zealand – and it was needed.

Just how bad some of the main roads around New Zealand were in the 1930s, can be judged by an incident involving Mr F J E Smallbone of Smallbone Brothers Garage in Ashburton. He was found unconscious, facedown under his breakdown truck, which was against a post at the side of the road. There were no skid marks and it was assumed that when his truck struck a pothole, he was propelled upwards, his head hit a crosspiece in the roof of the truck, he was knocked unconscious and fell out the open-sided cab.

But, there was some progress – the Main Highways Board proudly proclaimed on March 15, 1932 that of the 240 miles between Christchurch and Dunedin, 100 miles of it was of ‘dustless road’. But if they expected praise, they would have been disappointed. “It’s not enough!” cried Radiator.

But it wasn’t easy – new roads required large sums of money, a commodity that the government was short of.

There was outrage in May 1932 when the government raided the Highways Fund of £1.27 million and deposited it in

Wellington’s Courtenay Place in the late thirties with a tram in the centre of the road. Most of the cars are still American with a motorcycle policeman just edging into the picture on the far right

the Consolidated Fund. The money had been taken directly from taxes on petrol and motor vehicles and was to have been spent on building new roads, but the Great Depression was making it difficult for the government to make financial ends meet.

This wouldn’t be the last time there was outrage over this sort of behaviour.

There were plenty of roads that needed attention. Today the Otira Gorge is one of the most spectacular pieces of road engineering in New Zealand – but it wasn’t always that way.

In 1933, traffic through the Otira Gorge was light by today’s standards – just 1000

A superb example of the art of the New Zealand coachbuilder – a service car from the Masterton-based Martin Smith fleet, which operated services between Masterton, Carterton and Palmerston North. These were usually based on American makes, Cadillac and Buick being the favourites, with heavy duty wheels and tyres, special coachwork with doors along each side, and huge English headlights. Few of these elegant vehicles remain

vehicles used the road in all of 1932 and when the gorge was closed by slips in early 1933 there was “a rumpus” when it was learned that the Public Works Department didn’t intend re-opening it. However, the powers-that-be heeded the ruckus and work commenced. At that stage, the Bealey River was “a stumbling block” as it had not been bridged and had to be forded.

While New Zealand struggled with building roads, a report in the December 1933 issue of Radiator outlined the approach in Germany, now under the control of the Nazi Party and Adolph Hitler.

Hitler showed the importance he placed on efficient roading by appointing an Inspector-General to oversee construction of an entirely new network of roads based on a new principle. Although the term motorway/autobahn was not used, these would be the first in the world. The report told of a new stretch of modern highway that would be built, and funding for this was being redirected from the railway fund. The writer told of driving the 13-mile stretch of new highway between Cologne and Bonn – which was restricted to motor cars only – and could only be entered at its start and finish terminals plus one point midway. The old road had over 40 intersections.

In New Zealand, some roading work was going on, with the question being what areas got the money. Claims of favouritism were made following a meeting of the Main Highways Board in Wellington, which approved new roading projects and allocated funds, and the MTA drew attention to

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A damaged car is pulled into the panel shop of Monteith & Parker in Barton Street, Hamilton about 1944. The company still exists, and is now in Lake Road, Frankton

what it saw as inequalities in some of the projects.

Auckland was to get eight miles of new concrete road costing £63,078, with half the cost to be met by the board and half from local councils. However, Wellington had just completed 5.5 miles of bitumen road at a cost of £40,000, which was paid for by a direct tax on Wellington motorists with neither the board nor councils contributing a penny.

The rest of the report outlined a large number of significant roading projects.

One major project that was started in the final stages of the Great Depression was the Milford Road, including the Homer Tunnel. Under pressure from the Southland Progress League to take advantage of unemployed men to open up Milford Sound for tourism, the government used the special hardship funds that had been set aside.

Once New Zealand was completely out of the depression, the government announced it was handing the Milford Road project over to the Main Highways Board for completion.

This caused outrage because the Milford Road was seen as something of a luxury when there were other more important projects in other parts of the country. The road wasn’t opened until 1953 when the Homer Tunnel was completed.

Once the depression was over and the new Labour government sorted its priorities, road building became one of the most important tasks, opening up the country and making travel far more efficient – and comfortable.

And there were some major projects.

The news that a start would be made on the new bridge over the Rakaia River in Canterbury was welcome news for motorists in 1937. A newspaper report says, “Tenders have been called by the Public Works Department and the contract will ask that the job be completed in two years.

“The new structure would be situated two chains downstream from the present bridge (a combined rail/road affair). The new railway 78

bridge, which is already under construction, is one chain further downstream.

“The new bridge will have 148 spans and the total length will be 5722 feet and two inches. The deck of the bridge will have a width of 24 feet and there will be no footway, but there will be pedestrian refuge spaces at intervals.”

The rest of the report went on to specify how the piers would be built, how much concrete and reinforcing steel would be used and how, for the first time in a construction of this sort, the concrete would be compacted by vibration.

New Zealand car dealers sold more British cars than those from North America, the USA and Canada combined

And so the bridge stands today – all 1.1 miles of it – carrying more cars and more and far larger trucks than ever envisaged.

But the Rakaia wasn’t the only Canterbury River that needed bridging.

From Radiator, March 1938: “The highway deviation at Rangitata, one of the largest roading schemes so far in the Dominion, is now well advanced. It is anticipated that the new route will be open in about twelve months and save nine miles on the Christchurch to Dunedin trip.

“The cost is about £125,000 and entails the building of a new highway, sealing the existing highway between Hinds and Winchester and the construction of two new bridges over the branches of the Rangitata River.”

At the time, the main road south swept inland from Hinds to Arundel, through Geraldine to Winchester.

All of this was being carried out at the same time that the new road and rail bridges were under construction across the Rakaia.

And there were others: “This is the greatest and most important road engineering job ever undertaken by the Main Highways Board,” said Radiator of the closing of the old Ngahauranga [now Ngauranga] Gorge Road north out of Wellington in July 1938, for a complete realignment and rebuild.

“The old road is one of the most tortuous, difficult and busiest stretches of highway in New Zealand. Until the work is completed in an estimated 18 months time, motorists must use the detour.”

It’s always been understood that tolls on roads in New Zealand were abolished in 1922 and didn’t return until the opening of the Auckland Harbour Bridge in 1959. But there was one that remained after 1922.

In 1938, Minister of Works Bob Semple visited the last tollgate in the country, at a bridge across the Manawatu River at Opiki near Palmerston North. But this was more than just the last tollgate – it was a private tollgate across a bridge owned by the Akers family and had initially been put in to give access to flax factories for which the area was famous. In more recent years, Opiki has become a major potato crop region.

Semple said it was unacceptable to have a privately owned toll bridge anywhere in New Zealand and something needed to be done about it, but admitted that ownership of the road, before and after the bridge, needed to be “sorted out”. In the end, it wasn’t until 1969 – 29 years later – that the road was realigned and a new bridge constructed. Remains of the Opiki toll bridge can be seen 200 metres off the road.

These days SH2 from the foot of the Bombay Hills on towards Tauranga is one of the busiest stretches of highway in

New Zealand and is in a constant state of upgrade.

Here’s the situation in early 1938 from newspaper reports: “An effort that is much appreciated by motorists is the improvement on the road from Pokeno to Paeroa. A few years ago this stretch of road was notorious in wet weather and chains were needed with a blind faith in one’s capacity to overcome the worst.

“Many of the curves and twists in the Pokeno Valley have been straightened or eased while the steep pinch by the Anglican church after you turn off the South Road, has been eliminated.

“The Mangatangi River hill is being eased with the aid of a steam shovel, there is still a bridge near Maramarua that is narrow and built at right angle to the road, but, for the most part, the road across the plains from Waitakaruru offers long stretches of well paved road in direct contrast to ‘the bad old days’.”

Meanwhile, in the South Island, work was continuing on a dozen new bridges across smaller rivers between Christchurch and Bluff. Road gangs lived on the job in camps provided by the PWD – the Public Works Department – and conditions were so good and wages so consistent that there were almost waiting lists of workers wanting jobs.

This hit the motor industry with staff shortages for the car plants. Radiator warned that this could lead to reduced output at the car factories causing delays in delivery.

With roads and bridges being built and cars again selling, the figures for the New Zealand

People, cars and a Lancaster bomber at an air show at one of the airports near Palmerston North shortly after WWII. Smaller English cars are beginning to dominate

car industry for 1937 make interesting reading.

New Zealanders may have favoured American cars because they were more suited to New Zealand conditions, but Britain (and her Empire) were family, and we were going to drive her cars – by hook or by crook. By 1937 the car-buying tide had turned and for the first time, New Zealand car dealers sold more British cars than those from North America, the USA and Canada combined.

Overall, we imported 30,335 new cars.

The previous high had been the year before, 1936, when 24,229 had arrived, but the third highest figure (23,361) was back in 1929. During the Great Depression, imports had slumped to around 3000 with 1934 being the turning point.

The year 1937 also marked a record for

British cars – 18,000 were imported. The local assembly industry was growing as well – 1937 saw 18,500 cars imported in CKD form, well up on the 11,240 in 1936.

And which was the biggest selling make?

Ford continued to be our preferred brand with 6405 cars sold. Morris was second with 5167, then came Chevrolet (3885), Austin (3760), Vauxhall (2321), Hillman (1790), Singer (730), Dodge (657), Standard (611), Chrysler (564), Plymouth (550), Pontiac (394), Nash (393), Terraplane (383), Willys (312), Oldsmobile (296), Buick (291), Studebaker (214), Wolseley (198), Citroën (146), de Soto (140), Graham (137) and Others (600) – a total of 29,944 sales.

An interesting addition was the popularity of Citroën, the first European make to appear in this list.

Taking the salute. A parade of military vehicles and American soldiers through downtown Wellington in 1944. The Hotel Waterloo can be seen in the background 79

While Ford was the biggest single make, the most successful manufacturer was General Motors by a considerable margin, with Chevrolet, Vauxhall, Oldsmobile, Pontiac and Buick totalling 7731.

Of some significance at that time was the growth in the number of used-cars imported into New Zealand – 320 in 1935 and 694 in 1936, but a huge leap to 1616 in 1937.

Austin was the most popular used-car brand with 6791 sales, followed by Morris on 221, then Ford (171) and Hillman (114). The balance was made up of a dozen or so other makes.

Once again, industry observers were in a state of concern over this, saying New Zealand had too many used-cars and they were overpriced compared to other nations, which was why there was a growing business in importing used-cars from the UK and selling them here at a handsome profit.

There were calls for a compulsory scrapping of many older cars and people were encouraged to buy new cars.

Commercial vehicle numbers were also increasing. In 1937 we imported 6447 trucks, etc. compared to 6036 in 1936.

In terms of actual sales, Ford was again our preferred make with 1391 sold, then came Chevrolet with 1096, Bedford on 879, International (558), Morris (353), Fargo (236), Dodge (163), Reo (156), Diamond T (94), Leyland (72), Austin (68), Stewart (63), Commer (58) and Others (314).

And as with cars, the combined Chevrolet/Bedford figure showed GM was the market leader with 1795.

Diesel was still not a big player in the motor vehicle world. In 1938 only 66 new diesel trucks were registered, with Leyland

British Bedfords all! The Rongotea Dairy Factory fleet of trucks and drivers, circa 1948

being the biggest seller (25) – the rest were largely ones and twos. And at the end of that year there were only 162 diesel-powered motor vehicles in total. But, the ‘Perkins’ factor was about to kick in.

A letter from a friend in the USA to a garage owner in Auckland sheds some light on the used-car issue in New Zealand in 1938: “I don’t envy you fellows down there in New Zealand with your car prices. I have had a look at the newspaper advertisement you sent me, and that 1926 Buick for £85.

Dealers up here wouldn’t advertise a car older than 1930. If they got a car older than that they would just stick it on the lot at £15 and let it go.”

There was also an advertisement on the page for the new Cord: “I’d sure hate to pay for that new Cord, that’s the most expensive car I have ever seen advertised. They are

Queen Street, Masterton in 1947. Pre-war cars dominate the scene with a Humber Super Snipe cruising past a Ford Prefect, a ‘big’ Austin, and a variety of American cars

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built extremely low and are fitted with every conceivable extra – hell, even the headlights are hidden in the fenders.”

History doesn’t record who in New Zealand was advertising the Cord, but it’s known that at least two new ones (maybe three) were sold in New Zealand in 1938.

Several others have arrived as classic cars in recent years.

And that’s the way the market stayed until the war interrupted things. Well, almost. Despite the naked aggression being shown by the Nazis in Germany and their soul mate Fascists in Italy, the New Zealand government was keen to do trade with them.

While Fiats had been sold new in New Zealand in small numbers for several years, it wasn’t until the late thirties and the launch in Italy of the Topolino (the baby

Fiat) that the brand began to get organised.

Radiator reports that the New Zealand Fiat agent, John Gamble, had been travelling the country looking for dealers wanting to sell the car. He had landed several of these in partly knocked down state and would have their bodies assembled and fitted in Auckland by D McL Wallace & Company Limited. Although no price was mentioned, it was said to be ‘attractive’. Mr. Gamble told Radiator of visiting the Fiat factory in Turin and being taken for a high-speed ride around the test track – a banked oval – on the roof of the factory where every new car was given a shakedown run.

The deal with the Italian company, so close to the start of the war, didn’t raise the same concern and speculation as the trade deal with Germany, possibly because Italy wasn’t seen to be as belligerent as Germany.

As late as August 1938, New Zealand signed a major deal with Germany – our primary products (wool) for their manufactured goods (Opel Kadet cars).

Radiator reported that there was great concern about the dumping of cars on the British market by the Germans and the impact that would have on the British motor industry, and the possible repercussions here. Dumping is a process where a (usually) country places goods into a market at artificially low prices, sometimes just to get rid of surplus stock, but it can be a strategic move to undercut and damage existing industries. There was a belief that Hitler had a plan to dump German products on a global scale to weaken the economies of the countries he perceived to be his enemies.

What made the concern even more serious was the planned production and worldwide marketing plan for the upcoming people’s car, the Volkswagen (also KdF in Germany). However, war intervened before more than a handful of Volkswagens was completed and the global invasion of the Beetle was put on hold.

While we had very few German cars in New Zealand by the close of the decade, that wasn’t due to a lack of trying. Prime Minister Savage was trying to do trade deals with Germany because it was such a large and expanding economy. In fact New Zealand continued to have something of an ambivalent attitude towards Germany even after the invasion of Poland, and it was only after the death of Savage in March 1940 and the elevation of Peter Fraser to Prime Minister that we took an absolutely hard line against Germany.

The wool-for-cars deal with Germany resulted in about 200 Opel Kadet cars arriving here in CKD form and being assembled at Petone. Compared with similar-sized British cars, these were quite advanced with two-door, monocoque body (no chassis) and featured streamlined styling. The engine was a 1074cc side-valve, four-cylinder with a three-speed gearbox.

There were hydraulic brakes. Top speed was 63mph and it would do 30 miles to the gallon. There was a bench front seat and a split bench in the rear to give access to the boot.

Their arrival created a great deal of worry for some in the motor industry with concern that ‘dumping’ would be replicated here and would gut established businesses. General Motors was quick to refute this, saying they would not want to do anything to damage an industry they had been part of creating.

However, the war put a stop to all of that worry. The New Zealand wool the Germans got for the cars was used to make German military uniforms.

The cars would have been built to typically high German standards but they had a very short life on New Zealand roads, presumably because people didn’t want to be seen in them. By 1950 there were very few left, compared with the numerous similar-sized British cars of the same period.

As the thirties came to a close there was still no direct ‘main’ route through the centre of the North Island. The Desert Road crossing the North Island Central Plateau was a stretch of road that struck fear into the hearts of New Zealand motorists for

As the thirties came to a close there was still no direct ‘main’ route through the centre of the North Island

decades, and most opted for Taranaki and the dreaded Mount Messenger route. It wasn’t until the mid-fifties that the Desert Road began to be used on a regular basis.

A report in the January 1939 Radiator illustrates why.

A group of Auckland people travelling in one car decided to take a ‘short cut’ over the route on their journey from Auckland to Wellington, but a storm blew up and because the road was pumice, they got caught in a sandstorm that bogged their car down and eventually infiltrated every part of it. The storm lasted for two days before it eased and they could be rescued by a team from the Public Works Department. So much for that shortcut.

The end of the thirties was celebrated in Wellington with the opening of two major roads that are still vital to everyday use: the Ngauranga Gorge and the coastal road from Plimmerton to Paekakariki. Both were opened on November 4, 1939.

In 1940, Wellington was to play host to a major exhibition to mark the centenary of the nation – 100 years since the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi – and while these highways were not created specifically as centenary memorials, they did have the effect of making the arrival into Wellington by road from the north more attractive.

Despite the war in Europe, huge crowds were expected in Wellington for the Centennial Exhibition, and the council employed an additional 20 Traffic Inspectors.

Following appearances earlier in the decade of Segrave’s Golden Arrow, another land speed record car was sent to New Zealand as part of the Centennial celebrations – Captain George Eyston’s Thunderbolt – but this didn’t end happily.

A 1939 Chevrolet sedan at an open row of bowsers, clearly showing the range of petrol brands available

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After it had been exhibited, Thunderbolt was put into storage in a Wellington woolstore rather than risking sending it back to the UK by ship. Sadly the building burned to the ground and Thunderbolt’s remains were dragged off to a landfill site somewhere around Wellington. No records were kept and there have been several unsuccessful searches for the car’s last resting place.

April 1939 was a record month for motor vehicle sales in New Zealand. Even though war was looming in Europe, we bought up vehicles in numbers never seen before. A total of 3110 cars were sold that month

along with 514 commercial vehicles. The sales boom had been predicted as buyers bought new vehicles while they could, before tough import restrictions took hold and before the expected conflict in Europe broke out.

It was predicted that sales for the second half of 1939 would be down – and seriously down. It wasn’t only cars that were affected by the import restrictions: parts also were down to just 60 per cent, and that caused greater concern in the trade than the fewer cars.

Figures published by Radiator in August

1939 show just how expensive – and heavily taxed – petrol was in New Zealand. The retail price was 2s 5d per gallon, of which 1s 3d was tax.

The price in Canada was just 10d with the government taking 3d in tax. In Australia, the price was 1s 4d with the government’s share 6d. In Great Britain it was 1s 7d with the government taking 9d. Only Germany was more expensive than us at 2s 10d a gallon with the Nazi government taking 1s 6d in taxes.

The New Zealand retail price of 2s 5d equates to about 25 cents in decimal

Camping boomed after WWII, with families packing up and heading for the outdoors at every opportunity. Tents were big, heavy and awkward, and dedicated campers had caravans. Here’s a group of happy campers at a beachfront somewhere in New Zealand in 1946, with a gleaming 1937 Ford V8 to the left

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currency, but that doesn’t allow for inflation. In 1939, a Traffic Inspector was being paid £6/2/- a week, which meant that if he spent his entire week’s wages on petrol, he could buy about 50 gallons of petrol, or about 230 litres (there were 12 pennies to the shilling and 20 shillings to the pound).

Fast forward to today: an equivalent wage would be about $1500 a week. With petrol at say, $1.90 per litre, that wage would buy you about 790 litres of petrol! Per litre, the government today gets 15 per cent GST which amounts to 28.5 cents, plus taxes and levies of around 68 cents a litre - in total, around 96.5 cents per litre. So in real terms, the price of petrol is far cheaper today than it was in 1939, and the collective government taxes are just slightly below where they were in percentage terms.

And it’s worth looking at where New Zealanders bought petrol in 1939. Today’s service stations are virtually small supermarkets, but that’s a recent step in the history of the car in New Zealand. At first garage owners were reluctant to sell anything other than their time and the parts they used in repairs. It took some time to convince them to sell petrol and tyres, but once they got the taste for making a profit on these items, they were away.

In the late thirties, New Zealand had come to terms with the 40-hour week and restricted shop hours. We were unable to buy much on Sundays because there was a strict list of things that couldn’t be sold, and apart from dairies, few retailers were open.

However, some garages and petrol resellers were doing good business stocking camping outfits, car polishes and even food. In June 1939, the Department of Labour, which enforced the tough laws, wrote to the MTA asking it to warn members not to sell goods other than the permitted petrol and oil.

“The Department asks that if proprietors of garages and service stations wish to keep open after hours when other premises are

A General Motors publicity shot taken in Lower Hutt around 1947. The focus is the new Vauxhall J, while the Chevrolet Fleetmaster plays second fiddle

Radiator was reeling at the news that the world was again at war

required to be closed, they must confine their business to that of garage proprietors and discontinue the stocking and selling of lines recognised as the stock-in-trade of those premises who are not exempted from closing under the act.”

But then … WAR! The September 1939 issue of Radiator

After WWII a group of returned soldiers set up their own taxi company in Christchurch and called it Kiwi Taxis.

Here they proudly line up – all nine of them – in white coats and caps. There’s a variety of cars, and all are American, including three 1939 Mercury’s in the centre

was reeling at the news that the world was again at war. After dispensing with generalities, the magazine focussed on how new, swiftly enforced laws would affect motorists.

There had been a general tightening of trade for months in the expectation of war, but New Zealand’s declaration of a state of emergency and the actual declaration of war on September 3 saw some swift extra measures taken, the first being total control of the use of petrol (and kerosene).

From Radiator: “As a first step petrol resellers may not supply petrol or kerosene to anyone who is not officially authorised to use it – at the present time, the private use of motor vehicles is not allowed.

“The effect of the action is to paralyse the motor industry and motor traders are stunned by the suddenness of the blow that has been dealt them. It is expected that the stringent conditions may be relaxed to allow the reasonable use of motor vehicles in the near future when stocks and future supplies may be more accurately gauged.

“In the meantime, employers in the motor industry are at their wits end to know what to do. There is no work for salesmen or mechanics and, unless there is a change in the situation it will be necessary to discharge employees and carry on with a skeleton staff.

“It was possible for reasonable use of motor vehicles in the years of the World War (the First World War) and it may also be possible this time. In the meantime we know our (MTA) members will meet these difficulties with courage and determination.”

Under the emergency regulations, the Registrar of Motor Vehicles was given absolute power to requisition any motor vehicle for use by the armed services for any national purpose. This was to be either 83

Two unidentified passengers climbing into a Union Airways taxi, Palmerston North Airport, Milson in 1947. The car is a 1939 Mercury painted in the colours of the taxi company, including the silver bonnet

All over the country, cottage industries sprang up

by purchase, or by loan. Provision was also made for any repairs along with a supply of petrol and oil.

So despondent was the mood that some members of the MTA felt like suspending regular meetings, but it was decided that everyone should try to continue with as much normality as possible. However, the introduction of such stringent laws proved to be a panic approach and within three months all restrictions on the sale of petrol and kerosene were lifted – at least for December 1939 and January 1940 – with a warning that petrol coupons should not be thrown away, but reserved for ‘the future’.

In the end, as the war expanded and ground on and on, restrictions were again imposed.

And so the decade ended as it had begun – with the world facing grim times.

While conditions had changed dramatically and the use of motor vehicles had all but ceased following the declaration of war, everyone seemed determined to make life go on. In the motor industry, some garage owners canvassed their clients advising this was an ideal time to have their cars overhauled, repaired or repainted. Others offered to store cars securely until such time as they could be used again.

The South Island Motorists Union at its Annual Meeting in Christchurch suggested 84

a scheme to beautify the sides of our major highways by planting ornamental shrubs and trees. That was an idea that went nowhere, but curiously it resurfaced in the late eighties under the Labour government of David Lange. That also went nowhere.

At first there was minimal change in New Zealand, but with conscription in mid-1940 the mood of the country changed with the realisation that we really were at war and the country was put on a war footing. In 1942, petrol rationing finally settled at two gallons (nine litres) per month and stayed there for most of the war, and that set in train a variety of things from black market and illegal storage, to even more illegal theft.

Plenty of other things were also rationed – goods made from rubber, along with meat, eggs and butter. To buy a pair of gumboots, you had to prove you owned 12 cows.

Motor vehicle plants and many other engineering workshops were switched to turning out vehicles and ammunition for the war effort. Car and truck production was stopped, but tractor production was increased. The General Motors factory turned out 1200 Bren gun carriers along with other light-armoured vehicles, machine guns and armaments. Ford produced over 10,000 vehicles for the war effort, with part-subcontracting works spread across the country. Steel Brothers in Christchurch built false aircraft and tanks, usually made of plywood, for stationing at aerodromes to fool the enemy.

American forces in the Pacific sent troops to Wellington for R&R along with damaged vehicles for repair. Ford repaired Jeeps, General Motors repaired heavy trucks and Todd Motors, the weapons carriers. Every heavy truck that was repaired and sent back to the war zone, carried either a Jeep or a weapons carrier on its tray.

All over the country, cottage industries

sprang up. At Irishman Creek in the Mackenzie Country, run-holder and former racing driver Bill Hamilton turned his expansive farm workshop into producing brass ammunition shells, which were then loaded with explosive and stored at a munitions dump down the road at Fairlie.

The dump can still be seen down a side road near the town. Later, Bill Hamilton gave us the Jet Boat. Wellington’s smaller airport at Rongotai became a factory producing de Havilland Tiger Moths for pilot training.

When Japan entered the war in late 1941, the tension increased.

The grass airstrip at Ashburton became New Zealand’s major pilot training centre and dozens of Tiger Moths were stationed there. Inland from Ashburton, at Te Pirita, Seven years later, back in Queen Street Masterton, traffic is heavier, and English cars have well and truly taken over

a huge aerodrome was built in total secrecy, its three, hard-packed gravel runways in triangular formation. There were no hangars, but blast banks were constructed to shelter aircraft in case of bombing. Fuel was to be supplied by an enormous underground fuel tank at Bankside, near Rakaia between Christchurch and Ashburton. Te Pirita was built as a fall-back for the American B-17 bombers but was never used. After the war it was used once or twice for motorcycle racing.

Emergency airstrips were built in several locations. A tractor/bulldozer driver in Ashburton, who had essential work, told the writer he drove a D8 bulldozer from Ashburton to Karamea at the top of the South Island West Coast to build an airstrip there. He loaded the bulldozer with heavy planks that he used to strengthen bridges en route and slept beneath his machine at night.

Once the job was completed, he did the return journey, taking two weeks each way!

After the Battle of the Coral Sea, when it was obvious the Japanese were not going to reach New Zealand, the mood relaxed.

It’s unfortunate that Works and Transport Minister Bob Semple, who had achieved such great things from 1936 on, is perhaps best remembered for a failure – the ‘army tank’ he designed around a Caterpillar D8 bulldozer as something that New Zealand could contribute to the cause of WWII, other than men and women. Pretty much nothing was right about it; it was too slow, too lightly armoured, too heavy, too unstable, and it never went into production.

After the war, the relationship with Britain became even more clear cut. We were Britain’s strongest Empire ally during the war, sending the bulk of our fighting men to the Northern Hemisphere to help Mother England, causing the USA and

Family memories from Donn White of Tauranga – “Dad with 1935 Austin 10, at 52 Hinemoa St, Hamilton March-April 1952”

Australia to get a bit grumpy with us as they took over the bulk of the war against Japan. When peace was restored and the New Zealand car market spluttered back into life, its domination by British cars

After the war, the relationship with Britain became even more clear cut

escalated – partly because of the strength of the American dollar, but also because we were still very firmly tied to Mother England and Mother had to ‘export to survive’ – so we bought from Mother.

The other phenomenon of the immediate post-war period was the growing acceptance of the used-car market that really started to gain a foothold in terms of legitimacy.

The government had requisitioned all 1938 and 1939 motor vehicles for the war effort, and when peace returned these came back onto the market, joining the tens of thousands of older cars that had been put into storage ‘for the duration’. There were also unrequisitioned ex-military vehicles, perhaps best seen in the vast purchase of GMC army-trucks by the Oamaru company G T Gillies. Gillies bought so many of them that they didn’t finish restoring the last of them until 1979.

There were huge numbers of vehicles for sale, matched by eager buyers – men who had returned home from the war wanting to resume a normal life, and personal/ private transport was part of that dream.

The used-car dealers were happy to make that dream come true.

The first three years of peace were golden years for New Zealand. Returned servicemen adapted to family life, and cars became more essential to our way of life than ever before.

One of the first things a returned serviceman did after finding a job was to buy a car and learn to drive. But keeping a car going wasn’t easy – most of them were old, petrol was still rationed, and tyres were impossible to buy, but they all had that great freedom that only a car can give.

The first cars that arrived in showrooms after the war were pre-war models with minimal updating, but they were still eagerly sought-after. The next year, 1949, saw massive change in car design.

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WO OD T 48 I R E P – 19

1931

TIMELINE

Significant events in the history of motoring in New Zealand.

R

ebirth; the world struggles through, and then emerges from the trauma of the Great Depression, and life and cars are both better than ever. Sadly, the respite is sweet but brief, before the world is plunged into the most devastating catastrophe in history – World War Two.

1931

1931

1931

1931

1932

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A census shows that Wellington East is the most motorised place in New Zealand with one car to every 7.1 persons. Wellington West and Auckland South are the least motorised with one car for every 12 people.

Mount Victoria road tunnel in Wellington opens.

A side effect of the depression is the work-schemes that see unemployed men conscripted into an army of road builders.

In the Great Depression the government spends £10 million on road building, the money is raised through taxes on tyres and petrol. Wages are cut 10 per cent and a proportion of that is put into a special fund to pay the conscripted men. There are riots over food shortages around the country. The government blames communists, but it is obvious the country is unhappy at the way it is being run.

Partly as a response to high petrol prices, Todd Brothers create the Associated Motorists Petroleum Company and import 77 octane (there is also 66 octane) petrol, initially from Russia, calling it Europa, and they cut prices. Two years later, petrol prices in New Zealand have dropped 21 per cent to 1s 7d a gallon.

The first Ford V8s arrive. These are officially called the Model B, but it’s a term that’s seldom used.

The car is available with either a four-cylinder or a V8 engine.

There are also two sizes of each engine, but the smaller sizes sell in very small numbers – so few as to be almost non-existent.

Taxis on parade — all prewar and American, including a Chrysler Arflow

1932

Todd Motors close their Auckland factory and sell the premises to J Gadsen & Company for making tin cans.

1932

Rover is one of the earlier companies to start assembling cars in New Zealand with a factory in Jackson Street, Petone.

1933

1933

1933

1933

1933

1934

To combat the financially draining effects of the depression, the government introduces a sales tax and increases duty on petrol.

In an attempt to cheer the populace, the Prosperity Grand Prix is staged on roads around the Auckland suburb of Orakei and is won by Arthur Dexter in a Riley.

The government starts to look to the motor industry for change.

They want greater New Zealand content, which means increased local assembly. At that stage only General Motors and CMC are assembling cars here. The government also makes it clear that ‘Home’ (British) makes are going to be encouraged by way of favourable duties and taxes.

This is looking after ‘family’.

1935

Todd Motors open their large factory in Petone.

1935

Looking for a new direction, the country votes in the first Labour government and great change is on the way.

The Rover factory closes and is occupied by J Gadsden & Company, making tin cans.

A start is made on the Milford Road using the unemployed under the emergency laws of the time. It is an opportunist work creation scheme and is only partly finished when the depression ends. The unfinished project is handed over to the Main Highways Board for completion, but this draws howls of outrage and critics feel there are more pressing roading schemes for ordinary motorists, rather than a tourist highway.

With an end to the Great Depression in sight, trading conditions improve, cars are being sold again, and Reidrubber establishes a tyre and rubber-goods factory at Penrose in Auckland.

1936

Ford arrive in New Zealand as a factory shop and open a large assembly plant and office in Petone, taking over importing of product into New Zealand, and eventually leaving CMC to look after their impressive retail chain of dealerships and other interests.

1936

1936

1936

1936

A nameless bank loses the New Zealand business of the Ford Motor Company because when the two Ford North America executives arrive at the bank at the appointed time, the manager is out for lunch. The two go next door to the Bank of New South Wales and open the Ford account there.

Motor Assemblies Limited is formed to assemble Dodge and Standard cars in Christchurch.

Studebaker is later added.

The Motor Vehicle Amendment Act is passed into law setting a maximum speed of 30mph in built-up areas. As yet, there is still no open road limit.

The MTA puts a case before the Arbitration Court over the then novel 40-hour working week, which results in a 44-hour week for garage and petrol station attendants, and a 40-hour week for mechanics and assemblers.

Ex WWII GMC articulated lorry with a load of wheat. G T Gillies of Oamaru rebuilt hundreds of these for civilian use

1938

1938

1939 1936

The Dominion Motors opens a new factory to assemble Morris cars in Mortimer Pass, just off Broadway, Newmarket. The building is today a shopping mall.

The Ford V8 finally gets hydraulic brakes.

Home on leave. A soldier, his Aunty and ‘big’ pre-war Austin 12 (of England)

1940

Another name change, this time the MTA becomes the RMTA – NZ Retail Motor Trade Association.

1941

To save steel in wartime, new number plates are issued once each five years.

A windscreen wiper becomes compulsory on all vehicles.

1939 1937

The government introduces import control and exchange controls to try to stop the flow of money out of New Zealand.

A Traffic Code is published and delivered to every home in the country.

The contents of imported CKD car packs is reduced meaning upholstery, seats, batteries and many other items now have to be sourced from within New Zealand, but …

1940 to

1937

1937

Seabrook Fowlds open a factory to assemble Austins on the corner of Great South Road and Manukau Road in Auckland.

The government introduces a Warrant of Fitness scheme that, by today’s standards, is cursory at best – headlights must be dipping. The testing to be carried out only by A-Grade garages.

1939

The world is thrown into turmoil – WAR!

1941 1940

1939

The government passes the Emergency Regulations Act that rations petrol and then food and clothing. Petrol is rationed according to the size of the car, allowing about 150 miles per month. The government requisitions all 1938 and 1939 model vehicles.

to 1945

Difficult times now with the war in the Pacific. Many able-bodied persons (mainly men) are in the military and overseas.

Factories all over New Zealand are put to producing goods for the war effort. Ford and General Motors produce huge quantities of military machinery and armaments.

In the remote Mackenzie Country, at his Irishman Creek property, Bill Hamilton turns his impressive workshops into producing shell cartridges. Later, he invents the world-famous jet boat in the same workshops.

The start of an era: farmers gather near Masterton in the Wairarapa in 1949 for a trial of aerial topdressing using two RNZAF-supplied Grumman Avenger fighter-bombers, chosen because they were considered dispensable. It was the first public display of aerial topdressing, and was deemed a success

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Eclectic mix of British and American cars in this beachtown scene from the late thirties

1942

1944

1944

1945

The RMTA is 25 years old.

1945

Those New Zealanders who are prisoners of war in the Mühlberg Prison Camp in Germany and are passionate about cars are involved in producing their own immaculately crafted, hand-drawn regular motoring magazine. It is a work of art.

With the war in Europe and the Pacific seemingly going to be won, men are released and return home, easing skill shortages. Babies are expected and are to be called ‘baby boomers’.

The war ends and peace is declared.

1945

1946

Christchurch finally has a rail link with Blenheim as the difficult and dangerous Kaikoura Coast is conquered. This is the beginning of the end for the traditional ‘Steamer Express’ link between the North and South Islands when motorists watched with bated breath as their precious cars were loaded and unloaded onto the ferries that sailed between Lyttelton and Wellington.

In June the government announces car Import Licences that are 75 per cent of that of the first six months of 1938, and only for CKD vehicles. Trucks get 100 per cent and British product is favoured.

1946

1947

1947

BP arrives in New Zealand – and is still here.

1947 1945

A new assembly plant opens in Christchurch to assemble Standard and Studebaker cars.

Happy picnicker with a drink and a Chrysler Royal

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1946

The used-car industry (as we know it today) is established as men coming home from the war want transport, and this is supplied by cars released from government requisition and also from out of storage. There’s a car-buying spree, and because there are so few new cars the previously despised used-car is now an object of affection.

1947

All motor mechanics holding relevant qualifications will be eligible to apply to the NZ Motor Trade Certification Board for registration as a Certified Mechanic.

The back-to-front Studebaker arrives in New Zealand and we are perplexed – which way is it going?

French designer, Raymond Loewy gives the world a car in which the boot is the same size as the bonnet, creating the classic threebox design that still exists.

Two Ford giants pass on. In New Zealand, Hope Gibbons of CMC dies at the age of 90, and in Michigan, Henry Ford dies at the age of 83.

The Association of New Zealand Car Clubs is formed, giving the country its first national motorsports body.

The country’s first traffic lights are installed and switched on.

They’re at the intersection of Queen and Victoria Streets in downtown Auckland.

1938 Ford Standard V8, with antlers indicating a successful hunt, at Hawk’s Crag in the Buller Gorge

TIMELINE – 1949-1980

The

MOTOR VEHICLE

in New Zealand

REE H T IOD9 8 0 R E P 9–1 194

I

n romantic terms, this third period saw our love affair with the motor car settle into what was almost married life after a lustful introduction, followed by courtship through the thirties.

However, by the end of the war, the adventure was over and we settled into our lives together.

This is a period that began with us buying mainly British cars while our beloved American cars appeared to now be made of a new-to-us metal called ‘unobtainium’ – and it ended with Japanese cars totally dominating our market.

By 1949, the bulk of our motoring infrastructure was in place: the rules had been wrestled with, most roads had been created (even if in varying stages of development), most of the systems and laws covering the use and operation of the motor vehicle were in place, and we had grown to accept the car as a part of our daily lives. But there were major changes to the way we bought cars.

The shift towards British cars we experienced before the war became a stampede, as the high value of the US dollar and our

heartfelt desire to see Mother England back on her feet as quickly as possible, meant cars from North America became luxury items.

Farmers and Important City People got first bite at the big car cherry, and they were regarded with a high degree of envy. The late forties, the fifties and even into the early sixties was a time where anything American set the style in terms of everything we wanted.

We were the wide-eyed innocents, standing outside in the cold, dressed in rags, noses pressed up against the window looking at the world of the Americans driving flash, chrome-laden streamliners, wearing high-fashion clothes, smoking Camel cigarettes, eating hamburgers and drinking Coca-Cola.

America was Nirvana.

A British 1949 Austin A70 Hampshire was just plain dowdy compared to a 1949 Ford V8. And, surprisingly, the cost difference between the two cars was not all that great, despite the Ford price having a far higher tax component.

If you were lucky enough to be able to buy a new American car from 1949 to the mid-sixties, you had to be prepared to be treated like a celebrity. Park your new American car in town while you went to see your banker, lawyer, or just plain old shopping, and you had to fight your way back through the admiring throng.

The government was determined we would drive British cars, imported from ‘Home’ in CKD packs and assembled here by New Zealanders.

The year 1949 saw the arrival of the first all-new, post-war designs from both sides of the Atlantic.

For the first two-and-a-half years of peace, most carmakers had to make-do with models that were Passengers board an International bus operated by the Newman Brothers after a Trans-Tasman flight from Sydney in a QANTAS Lockheed Constellation named Charles Kingsford Smith, sporting its original unpainted metal livery. This photo was taken at Ohakea Air Force base in December 1947 or 1950. The Constellation was one of the most elegant of all passenger aircraft

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CHAPTER 7

Still one of most beautiful cars of all time – Jaguar’s iconic E-Type was very much a part of the Swinging Sixties

only slightly modified versions of the cars they had been selling before the bullets started flying.

The relatively small American company, Studebaker, beat everyone out of the starting blocks in 1947 when they released the totally restyled, double-ended car that had been designed by the Paris-born genius Raymond Loewy. With a boot that was similar in size and shape to the bonnet and with mudguards that blended so well into the sides they became invisible, the ’47 Studebaker caused a design sensation and became the topic of conversation around dinner tables all over New Zealand when the first examples began appearing on our roads in mid-1948.

The 1949 model cars of every other major American carmaker had boots that were almost as long as the bonnets, and mudguards were fast disappearing.

The British company Rover was honest about where it got its new design from. Management cheerfully admitted Rover bought two ‘47 Studies’, shipped them to England and used them as inspiration for their new Rover 75, the ‘Cyclops’ model, that appeared in 1949.

Given the order to ‘export or die’ by their government, Rover wasn’t the only British car company to realise they needed a more

An airshow at Masterton in 1950. All eyes skyward, but there’s also plenty to see on the ground, including four De Havilland Mosquito fighter-bombers. The vehicles appear to be mainly pre-war – although there’s a 1947 Ford coupe in the distance – and American, including an ex-Army Jeep converted into a flat-bed truck

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BELOW: An Austin truck of Feilding Transport with a load of cigarettes from the Godfrey Phillips factory.

Godfrey Phillips’ big brand was Greys

ABOVE: 1950 in Christchurch and every car in this photograph is a pre-war model, with the exception of a Morris Oxford, which, ironically, has its bonnet up. The most prominent car is a Ford Y Model that is a rare tourer. Cyclists and pedestrians galore. Sadly, almost none of this exists anymore after the earthquakes

international – read American – look, if they were to succeed in far-flung markets like New Zealand.

British Ford and Vauxhall (General Motors) had it easy – their new cars, to be ready a little later in 1951, were being designed in Detroit, but for many of the other UK car companies a lack of design talent was a serious problem.

The Standard Car Company said their all-new Vanguard was inspired by an American Plymouth. But years later they admitted a little-known Soviet car, the Gaz 20, had been their ‘inspiration’. Copying an American car was all right, but admitting to cheating off a Soviet carmaker was too embarrassing.

Singer, which surprisingly had been a pre-war favourite in New Zealand, post-war produced the SM 1500, which was a mish-mash of American design cues. But this was a big miss – it was simply too American for Singer customers and the company panicked, ordering a cheap restyle. This saw a traditional pre-war, vertical radiator grille replace the low and wide American-style one.

Singer customers were bewildered by the back and forth changes and this was the final blow – the company folded and was swallowed by the expanding Rootes Group.

The smaller Jowett company also looked to America for the style of their new four-door saloon, the Javelin. However, they went back to 1939 and the long, slippery fastback style of the Ford V8.

Some British car companies, however, refused to Americanise.

The smaller Jowett company also looked to America for the style of their new four-door saloon, the Javelin.

The Morris Minor and Austin A40 Devon were both next-generation British designs, and in New Zealand we liked them – even if Lord Nuffield, the Boss at Morris, hated the Morris Minor saying it looked like a poached egg.

But even as Morris Minors, Hillman Minxes, Austin A40s, Triumph Mayflowers and Armstrong Siddeleys were being unloaded onto the wharf – and the few American cars we got were being delivered directly to customers – that major post-war phenomenon, the used-car dealer, was booming.

Servicemen were anxious to get back to as normal a life as possible. For many, that meant a car for transport – if not for weekday going-to-work transport, at least for weekend family drives, picnics and camping holidays. Caravans and camping had become increasingly popular in the thirties – a social side-benefit of the motor

BELOW: After WW2, the demand for better roads became deafening, and the country became a vast work-in-progress. Here at Glenside, just north of Wellington, the road is being realigned.

Motorways were on the drawing boards by this time too

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vehicle as cars became more affordable.

In the fifties, if you couldn’t afford a factory-built caravan but were handy with your hands, you built your own. Many were constructed using the front axle out of a very old car under a wooden frame, which was covered with plywood if you could afford it, hardboard if you couldn’t. Those old plywood chests that bulk tea came in, found a second life as cupboard doors and interior trim in the family caravan! Some were well built, but no matter how high the home-built standard was, they inevitably needed repair once the holiday destination had been reached. The jiggling as they were towed behind the family car loosened screws, unwound nuts and worked nails loose.

Camping grounds sprang up everywhere, filled to overflowing every summer. There was no controversy in those days over Freedom Camping – if you camped alongside a river, or at the side of the road, nobody minded. These holidays tended to be a home away from home and it was the kids who got the greatest benefit. Mum’s holiday was still spent cooking meals, washing dishes and clothes, and being tired-out at the end of the day. Dad’s day would be filled with carrying out repairs to the car that had towed the caravan there, and/or to the caravan itself.

With life returning to normal, the last piece of the peacetime puzzle was a change of government. In November 1949 Canterbury farmer Sid Holland became the first National Prime Minister with a 12-seat majority over Labour.

The National party had been born in 1936; a merger of the right-wing parties

It wouldn’t be allowed today, but here seemingly hundreds of cars are parked on a popular beach around 1956, while families enjoy the sun, sand and sea. Of the 10 or so cars that are identifiable in the foreground, most are small, late-model and British. There’s also a pre-war American car – a 1935 Chevrolet – and a VW Beetle

that Labour had ousted and Holland had taken control of in 1939.

By 1949, with New Zealand at peace, there were ongoing shortages, petrol was still rationed, and Prime Minister Peter Fraser was clearly tired. It was time for a change, particularly as National made it an election promise not to touch the wide-ranging social policies Labour had introduced.

One of National’s election campaign targets was the cars that the Labour cabinet ministers were using – “It’s your money they are using for the Super-Duper cars for Cabinet Ministers,” said one slogan. That, of course, went down a treat, as it continues to do today.

In 1950 any hope of an increase in the number of new cars was dashed when the new government introduced tough new import controls, creating a situation from which we haven’t really recovered even today.

Waiting lists for new cars got longer and longer. The only relief was if the prospective new-car buyer had some sort of money overseas – funds in a bank account, shares that could be sold – that could be used to buy a car in the country of origin and bring it to New Zealand. This was the No-Remittance Scheme that lasted through the time of these import restrictions. It was a scheme that became more popular as

the tight availability of new cars continued.

In 1955, around 2000 cars were imported under the scheme, and the figure grew to 14,000 in 1965.

Buyers under this arrangement had to keep the cars for a minimum of two years and the Registration Form (ownership papers) had to be stamped accordingly. But so great was the demand for ‘new’ cars, that even after two years they could be sold to any number of buyers at a handsome profit.

There was money to be made here and many people took advantage of it.

By 1951, the two big players in the local market, General Motors and Ford had their new cars here – Vauxhall had the popular EIP model available as the Velox with a six-cylinder engine or the Wyvern with a four.

Ford had planned to have a ‘big’ British Ford after the war, and while Detroit was designing the ‘Five Star’ cars (the new Zephyr Six and four-cylinder Consul) they cobbled up the Ford Pilot. It was based on pre-war V8 components and cloaked in a body that was styled after the 1936 Ford V8, but with British touches, like huge Lucas headlights. It was cynical stopgap measure that would never have found buyers if there had not been such a dire shortage of new cars.

It wasn’t totally impossible to buy a new car, providing you were willing to look

BELOW: Max McKay, a partner in a garage in Manaia in South Taranaki, had a drive of a Light 15 Citroën in 1950 and became a fanatical convert. Citroëns had had a steady following in New Zealand through the thirties, but Max’s enthusiasm saw Taranaki end up with more Citroëns per head of population than Paris. Or so the story goes. Taranaki is still the Citroën capital of New Zealand

A British Fordson van that has been converted for use as a school bus in a rural community. Hardly the height of comfort, but easier – and drier – than walking

New Zealanders watched with interest as the Australian motor industry kicked into gear in 1948 with the launch of the first FX, or ‘Walrus Grille’, Holden. We heard good things about them, but had to wait until the launch of the revised FJ model before we got Holdens in any numbers in New Zealand. Some FXs did come here, but as private imports. This is a magnificent, restored example

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To many Ford fans, this ‘Twin-spinner’ is a 1952 model, but in fact, it’s a 1951 model. Government import regulations were eased briefly in 1951 allowing in more cars than we had seen since before WWII. But that window was brief and it snapped closed tighter than ever, and we saw no genuine 1952 or 1953 American cars. Ford imported enough CKD packs of the 1951 Twin-spinner that they were still assembling and selling them in 1952

Auckland traffic circa 1961. There’s an awful lot of it, and more to come. There’s barely a single American car in this lot, but there is a scattering of Australian Holdens — and a Jaguar

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past the popular models at what the motor trade described as ‘orphans’. Unpopular and little-known makes could be bought off the showroom floor – but the neighbours were never going to be envious. These included a growing number of European makes, some excellent, some not so good, that initially ranged from Peugeot and Borgward to the Lloyd Hansa, Glas Royal and the tiny Goggomobil.

BMW sold its first cars in New Zealand in this period with shipments of the ‘bubble car’, the Isetta. So desperate were we for ‘a new car’ that New Zealanders with cash would buy anything that was available.

However, there was one European car that was destined to become a star in the fifties and into the sixties. In 1954 the first Volkswagens arrived, creating enormous interest and, unlike the first Japanese cars a decade later, there wasn’t the same ambivalence directed at the German vehicles over war memories.

By every rule in the ‘How to Succeed in the Motor Industry’ book, the ‘Beetle’ should have failed. It was weird looking, it had two doors, it had its engine in the wrong place, it wasn’t fast and powerful and it had dodgy handling. But it did have incredible build quality, reliability and character. The world loved it as a sort of ‘anti-car’.

So popular was it that the Auckland Turner

Left: While most of the cars we bought in the 1950s were English, there was an increasing number of people who bought European. Many of these were bought simply because they were available, but there were some makes that were sought out and admired.

The Borgward Isabella in particular was a highly-regarded car, but the company eventually collapsed. Power Motors were Borgward dealers and here a wagon and a sedan are joined by a used 1955 Vauxhall. Circa 1957

family created an empire out of it. The former bus depot at Otahuhu on the Great South Road was converted into an assembly factory and a centrally controlled chain of dedicated VW outlets called Five Star Motors replaced independent dealerships in the main centres. Before VW, the Turners previous brands had been Jowett, Bradford and Skoda. But more on this fascinating story in the chapter called ‘The Giants’.

The waiting lists continued and there is a story about a wealthy South Island farmer who wanted a ‘good car’, a luxury car, but there were waiting lists for all of his preferred makes. An enterprising car dealer was importing an Allard saloon – a specialist, hand-built British car created by racing driver Sydney Allard on the chassis and running gear of the unloved Ford Pilot. The dealer described the car to the farmer as being hand-made, exclusive, with aluminium body, leather upholstery, a polished wood dashboard, V8 power with luxury and sporting characteristics – all of which was true.

He was paid for it and waited for the

The 600cc German-built Lloyd Alexander was bought in impressive numbers by New Zealanders, simply because they were available. In an attempt to get the car taken seriously, the importer ran a car continuously around Auckland’s Western Springs Speedway, setting impressive distance and speed records. Eventually Lloyd was bought by Borgward and disappeared in 1961

A Bedford milk truck of the Wellington City Council in a posed shot. There’s a bit of a beaten-up look to the truck, with damage to the front mudguard. Amazingly, some Wellington milk runs were still being done by horse drawn wagons as late as the 1960s

phone call from the dealer to say his car had arrived. They were so eager to see this new car, he went to the wharf to see it being unloaded from the ship. When he saw it as it was craned ashore, he could not believe his eyes. What the dealer had neglected to tell him was that the Allard had looks that only a mother could love! Most were intimidated by the appearance of this car with its bulbous cabin, long narrow nose, and a huge waterfall radiator grille.

The farmer refused to take delivery, the dealer refused to refund the purchase price, so a compromise was reached where the dealer agreed to sell the Allard ‘on behalf’.

It sold.

From 1950 to 1953 inclusive, so tight were imports that just 80,000 cars were landed in total – and 50,000 of those arrived in 1952 when there was a brief relaxation. It was very much a seller’s market – including used-cars.

Used-car dealers were now a familiar part of the motoring landscape and there

are countless stories that have become ingrained in legend about the wheeling and dealing of some of these people who were real characters. There was more than a touch of the Wild West with very little consumer protection.

It’s easy to label used-car dealers from this era as ‘sharks’ because cars were patched up, shonky cars were sold with no comeback, and there was a touch of the ‘Arthur Daley’ about some of them. But it’s unfair to lay all the blame at their feet.

The shortage of new cars meant we held on to cars longer and the average age of cars in New Zealand got older and older. In 1953, New Zealand had about 350,000 cars on the road; of that number about 180,000 were over ten years of age and 50,000 were over 20 years. By anything but Third World standards we had a very old car fleet – and that’s a situation that has continued until today.

Today, the average age of a car in New Lambton Quay, Wellington, 1956. The tramcar lines are empty, vehicles are double parked and not an American car to be seen, but there is a Hillman Minx, Austin A40 Somerset, Ford Thames 100E van, Morris Oxford, Standard Vanguard, Zephyr MkI, an FE Holden and, in the distance, a Rover 75 angle-parked

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Zealand is over 14 years; in Australia it’s around ten and in the UK about seven.

Back in the fifties the reliability of cars was nothing like we enjoy today, so many New Zealanders were forced to use the numbereight-wire method of car maintenance. We became a nation of backyard mechanics.

When a car was so worn out we could no longer keep it going, we poured mysterious brown-paper parcels of ‘stuff’ into the sump to silence noisy bearings, filled differentials with banana skins, and these worn-out cars were driven gingerly to a used-car dealer to be traded in for Hard to imagine that this is the car that saved BMW from financial oblivion. In the mid-fifties, BMW was in financial trouble so, while they continued to make their luxury sporty cars, they went to the other end of the spectrum and built the hugely successful Italian Iso Isetta under licence, repowered with their own engine. Other manufacturers in other countries also made the Isetta under licence, but after Iso, BMW sold more than anyone else. New Zealanders bought them because they could. Many survive

something slightly newer and slightly better.

Fibs were told – ‘Oh, it’s a very good car, uses no oil, no, it’s never been in a crash.’

And it was left to the dealer to patch it up and sell it on to someone who managed to extract another couple of years’ life out of it before the cycle was repeated.

The life of many cars was extended simply because the Warrant of Fitness regulations of the time were so unchallenging by today’s standards.

But it wasn’t all bad news. In 1950 petrol rationing finally ended and while import restrictions were tough, some of our exports were booming – notably wool that, during the Korean War, reached the price of a pound per pound. Each pound weight of wool fetched one pound (£1) of New Zealand currency. The wool was needed to make uniforms for soldiers fighting in the bitter Korean winter.

This explains the brief relaxation on imports in 1951.

Despite all of this, it was a fantastic time because almost everyone in New Zealand loved cars. Thirteen-year-old boys went to high schools that specialised in trades and many took an engineering course so (at 15 years of age) they could leave to become an apprentice in the motor trade as a mechanic, a panel-beater, a car-painter or an engine reconditioner.

These were all respectable, keenly sought-after jobs. Parents didn’t mind at all if their daughters wanted to go out with an apprentice mechanic – as long as he scrubbed his fingernails. And it was the apprentice’s

The shift from American to British cars after WWII is very obvious here. It’s 1955 and there’s not a single American car in this city scene. It would have been different in smaller towns and rural areas where driving ‘the latest’ wasn’t so important

Some would say that the third generation of the Cadillac Series 62 was the last of the truly great Caddies, before quality slipped and stylish became garish. These were the cars that gave the world the distinctive upswept tail fin, and were built from 1949 to 1954, with minor annual differences. These are the luxury long wheel-base limousine version that had a wide variety of uses, in this case wedding cars in Wellington

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Parents didn’t mind at all if their daughters wanted to go out with an apprentice mechanic – as long as he scrubbed his fingernails

job to go out to pick up parts from the large number of companies that supplied parts and accessories to the trade. Often a new lad would be sent to get ‘a box of high-speed revs’.

The first traffic lights had been installed in 1947 at the intersection of Queen and Victoria Streets in Auckland. Others were to follow, as were parking meters. Both subsequently spread like the plague.

The increase in car usage demanded an upgrading of many of our roads and the introduction of the wonder of the modern motorway. Auckland needed motorways north and south of the city, but it was Wellington that got the first one in 1950 – a short stretch from Johnsonville to Porirua, but it would be extended by 1969.

Auckland’s northwestern was the second, opening in 1952, with the first stage of the southern motorway (Ellerslie to Mount Wellington) a year later, 1953.

From that point on, Auckland’s motorway system has been a work-in-progress with continuing extensions and refinements in a project that will probably never cease.

The centrepiece in the Auckland motorway system, the Auckland Harbour Bridge, was opened in 1959, which included the first section of the Northern Motorway. The bridge had been a dream of Aucklander’s for many years but finally under the mayoralty of John Allum it became a reality.

Dunedin was the fourth place to get a motorway, although it was later downgraded to a State Highway. This replaced the notorious, if beautiful, drive into Dunedin from the north via Mount Cargill. The ‘motorway’ was opened in 1957 and while locals were proud, visitors were bemused because it was a single lane each way with roads branching off it in places. Still it was originally given ‘motorway’ status.

Christchurch was the last of the four main centres to get a motorway – the northern opening in 1967.

But there were other significant roading projects outside the four main centres.

In 1954 it was proudly announced that the road through the centre of the North Island was, at last, completely tar-sealed.

Prior to this the Desert Road had a scary reputation and motorists making the intercity Auckland to Wellington run tended to avoid it and use the alternative

Another German car that had surprisingly good sales in New Zealand simply because they were available off the floor, was the Auto Union. They were everything that our beloved ‘Yank Tanks’ weren’t – front wheel drive, three-cylinder and two-stroke. The brand morphed into Audi

route through Taranaki, although Mount Messenger with its tunnel also had a reputation.

The Taupō to Napier road was totally reconstructed in one of the biggest single roading projects of last century. This had been a difficult road – twisting, climbing, and falling – a pumice dust nightmare linking the central North Island with the closest port at Napier. Completed, it was almost a super-highway by comparison.

Meanwhile, for interisland travel, either by car or by the more popular train, the overnight interisland Steamer Express service between Lyttelton and Wellington was pretty much the only way to go.

Cars were hoisted by crane onto the two ferries that plied the coast, passing in the night somewhere along the Kaikoura Coast.

Whether you wanted it or not, cups of tea and wine biscuits were brought to each cabin at 5am by grumpy stewards in stiff starched, white jackets, waking passengers in order to be ready for the 7am berthing.

There was a one-ferry service from Wellington to Picton using the Union Steamship Company ship, the Tamahine, but it was ‘local’, taking passengers and a few cars to Marlborough with few venturing south down the tortuous gravel coast road to the gritty, tough railway and fishing village of Kaikoura.

While the Kaikoura coast rail line had been completed in 1945, this wasn’t considered a main link to the North Island.

Lyttelton was the main port of entry.

But in 1956, the Union company gave everyone plenty of notice saying Tamahine was going to be withdrawn from service in 1962. The government decided that the state-owned New Zealand Railways would take over the run and ordered the first ro-ro (roll on/roll off) ferry – Aramoana. The huge back door opened, a bridge was lowered and you drove on and off.

The Aramoana was an instant success. A three-and-a-half-hour journey replaced the 11-hour overnight service, plus you got the added bonus of a coastal drive that ranked among the finest in the world. But the main

Rare, lovely and expensive cars continued to trickle into New Zealand even through the dark days of rigid import controls of the fifties — cars like this gorgeous Bristol, built by the famous British aircraft company to plans acquired from BMW under war reparations. This example from the Nelson WOW and Classic Car Museum

feature of the Aramoana for its owners, NZR, was the rail deck. For the first time a wagon loaded in Auckland could be sent by rail all the way to Invercargill.

The Aramoana was joined by the bigger Aranui, followed by the Arahanga and then the Aratika.

The Kaikoura coastal road underwent an ongoing upgrade, as the route became the number one choice for a growing number of car travellers – and trucks.

The tragedy and the loss of the Wahine in 1968 hastened the end of the original Lyttelton-Wellington Steamer Express service, ending with the Rangatira in 1976 – and there are still some who miss the touch of glamour that went with an overnight ocean voyage.

But the interisland services, both Lyttelton and Picton were not without issues – and not just the chance of rough weather on this notoriously fickle stretch of water, but also the human factor. Unions wielded considerable industrial muscle and if it wasn’t the seamen, it was the cooks and stewards who caused problems for travellers.

So much so, that it was suggested renaming Cook Strait, ‘Cooks and Stewards Strait’. At

Above: Circa 1958 and the carpark at the foot of The Bruce ski area. No American cars here, but there are some interesting British cars among the usual brands - in the foreground is a rare six-cylinder Morris Isis, and alongside the A30 is the Austin version of the Isis, the far prettier A95

Porsches were very rare in New Zealand through the sixties and seventies. Even though its cousin, the VW Beetle was much loved and commonplace, few really ‘got’ what a Porsche was about. But car enthusiasts did and gasped when they saw one. This restored example is from Napier

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A sunny day in Taranaki, circa 1956, and mostly English cars – Vanguards, Ford Tens and even a Ford Pilot – with a Mk1 Jaguar in the background and a pre-war Service Car to the right. But of real interest is the 1947 Packard with boat on tow in the centre. Even though it’s almost a decade old, this was a very classy and very expensive car

It was the late forties when Jaguar hit our shores, although their predecessor - the Swallow - had been available in the thirties. Jaguars were appreciated for their luxury and performance, and they were surprisingly available and affordable. The XK120 of 1948 launched Jaguar’s modern image, and 10 years later it became the XK150. This restored XK150 is from the WOW Classic Car Collection in Nelson

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times the strikes occurred without warning leaving passengers stranded at the terminals for days with no indication of when service would return.

The government considered giving the service ‘iron bridge’ status, or an essential service status, meaning it just had to carry on even if that meant calling the military in to man the vessels. But that didn’t happen until the deregulation of the labour market in the economic reforms of 1980s, which ended the iron-like grip of militant unions in New Zealand. Travel aboard the ferries today is a much different – and more reliable – experience to what it was back when unions wielded so much power.

Throughout the fifties, it was British cars that virtually controlled the New Zealand market, notwithstanding the success of the

VW and the not insignificant sales of some European marques like Citroën, Peugeot, Renault, then the arrival of Fiat as a serious brand. But in 1954 there was another new arrival that would have a profound effect on the New Zealand motoring scene, and which we are now seeing in its final stages. General Motors added the Australian FJ Holden to its six-cylinder Vauxhall model.

The first FJs came here as completely assembled cars and New Zealanders were curious to see what sort of job our transTasman cousins had made of building a car.

We liked them so much, we started assembling them in 1957 – with the arrival of the FE model – and their popularity just grew and grew.

By 1957 the mood of the country was again grumpy, there seemed to be no end

The De Havilland Dominie was a reliable flying workhorse in New Zealand well into the sixties. Here a Motorspecs CA ‘sliding door’ Bedford van is backed up to one, and is either being loaded or unloaded

to the tough times and restrictions and we were seeking another change, so, hopeful of a repeat of the 1935 election, we voted in our second Labour government.

But instead of reform and relief, we got medicine. The Prime Minister was Walter Nash, but it was his Finance Minister, the former Presbyterian Minister, Arnold Nordmeyer whom we remember.

His ‘Black Budget’ of 1958 addressed the financial ills and balance-of-payment issues of the country but we didn’t thank him for increasing taxes on alcohol, cigarettes, cars and petrol.

The government did plenty of good things – it saw industry as a way out of our malaise – and by 1960 the country was on the mend with retail sales at record levels and the taxes of 1958 being reduced. But we still didn’t like them when it came to the vote and we showed Labour the door – ‘Kiwi Keith’ Holyoake became our new leader. One of the last acts of the Labour government had been to bring some sort of order to the used-car industry by passing legislation called the Motor Vehicle Dealers Act that required all people selling cars for a profit to be registered. The public felt this was more a case of keeping tabs on dealers to ensure they paid their taxes, rather than looking after the car-buying public.

There’s no actual recording of when the first Japanese vehicle arrived on our shores, but it’s thought the first was a small private shipment of Mazda pickups in 1962. Few people knew what a Mazda was and many wondered if it was the same company that had been making light bulbs for years.

The first Nissan car arrived in New Zealand shortly afterwards. This was the Bluebird 312, a boxy little sedan with a four-cylinder engine and a three-speed gearbox, with column shift and a bench front seat. Its lineage was directly traceable to the 1949 Austin A40 Devon.

They sold in surprising numbers partly because they were available off-the-floor, but also because they were good value, and word-of-mouth had it that Japanese cars were built to high standards. The same could not be said of many of the British cars then on offer.

The first Toyotas arrived without any hint as to how large this company would become nor how the very name became a by-word

for product excellence – the automotive equivalent of a Swiss watch.

Honda was a name we knew because of motorcycles and small jewel-like sports cars like the S600, so when the company announced it was going to become a mainstream manufacturer, we took notice and embraced the first ‘real’ Honda car – the Civic.

At first, we didn’t really take a lot of notice of the Japanese cars; we were trying to come to grips with how a car as small and ugly as the new Mini could be so effective as daily transport, but also be a giant-killer on the racing track.

The cheapest car was the primitive Ford Popular, a pre-war Ford Ten with a very mild makeover, which was almost Third World, while at the other end of the scale was the luscious range of Jaguar cars.

Jaguars had started arriving in New Zealand in the thirties as the SS, but numbers were very small. SS stood for Swallow Sidecars, the company from which it all began. After the war, SS had connotation to the Nazis, so company boss William Lyons changed the name to Jaguar and

Then came the E-Type Jaguar, a car that today is still regarded as the most beautiful car the world has ever seen, and it became our pin-up car

George Horne was an Englishman who lived in Auckland for several years and was prominent in the motor industry. In the mid-fifties he had the franchise for a little-known make of Italian car called Ferrari.

The marque was only six or seven years old and would go on to great things. It’s not clear if Horne actually sold any

introduced the highly styled cars that quickly established the marque. The sensational XK120 sports car was followed by the large MkVII sedan and then the smaller, more lithe Series I sedan, but it was the Jaguar Mk2 of the early sixties that cemented the brand in our hearts as the car we would all love to drive – if we won the Art Union lottery.

A red Jaguar Mk2, on chrome wire wheels with the 3.8-litre XK motor and four-speed gearbox with overdrive, was a practical supercar.

Then came the E-Type Jaguar, a car that today is still regarded as the most beautiful car the world has ever seen, and it became our pin-up car. There will be few who don’t remember the first E-Type they ever saw in the metal.

Jaguars were available from Shorters in Auckland and Archibalds in Christchurch, and these dealerships became a mecca for car enthusiasts – most just to stand and stare. In Wellington, Sybil Lupp, who tuned and raced Jags, was known as the Jaguar lady.

However, between the extremes of the Mini and the Jaguars, people were still

The sleepy main street of Hikurangi in Northland in the mid-fifties. A Morris Oxford van hauls a caravan past a Morris Minor and a yellow Leyland truck and, in the distance is a Consul MkI parked behind a VW Kombi towing a boat.

Hikurangi became even quieter when SH1 bypassed it

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waiting impatiently for their MkII Ford Zephyr, or PAX Vauxhall Velox.

While we were largely unaware of the blossoming Japanese car industry, we knew about the Australians.

The Holden brand was flying high but Ford wasn’t going to sit back watching, and in 1960 they marketed, in Australia only at first, a slightly revised version of their new American small (er) car the ‘compact’ Falcon. It was nowhere near as Aussie as the Holden, but that was changed over the next six or seven years until competition between the two brands, on both sides of the Tasman, exploded into all-out war.

Both Ford and GM customers now had a multiple choice of six-cylinder car. The Ford buyer could choose between a British Zephyr or an Australian Falcon. A GM customer had the British Vauxhall or the Australian Holden. Surprisingly, this duplication and in-brand competition lasted for several years.

But Chrysler wanted a piece of the action as well and in 1962 they did a Ford and introduced to the Australian market their American ‘compact’ car, the Plymouth Valiant, rebadged as a Chrysler. We got just a handful these almost-Italian looking cars with phony ‘spare wheel’ on the boot.

Like the Falcon, the Valiant was altered to be more suited to Australian (and New Zealand) conditions and it joined the Holden/Falcon battle in New Zealand in 1963 after the AP5 model had been launched.

In New Zealand, we loved the AP5 because it was the closest thing to our beloved Yank Tanks that we could buy. It was big, powerful and flashy and set new standards in this six-cylinder class for performance.

In 1970 a fourth contender joined this trio of Aussie’s Own, but it was a damp squib.

British Leyland gave us the X2 Tasman and Kimberley, two of the automotive world’s lost

Regal Motors upmarket used-car showroom in Auckland in the mid 1960s. Australian and British cars dominate, with a 1958 Chevrolet on the left, next to a Consul MkI and the headlights of a 1964 Chevrolet just peeking in on the right

causes – basically an Austin 1800 body shell with longer bonnet and boot, powered by a transverse six-cylinder engine.

It may have had some merit, but not the sort of merit that Australian or New Zealand motorists wanted. There was the clear indication that British bosses back in the UK dictated too much of the car’s design without really understanding the needs of the local market.

The X2 was replaced in 1973 by the large and almost grotesque Leyland P76, a car that was most famous for being able to carry a 44-gallon drum in its boot. But it was a better car than just having an odd appearance – it was big, roomy and powerful, with a 4.4-litre version of Rover’s aluminium V8.

However, the Australian market was proving tougher than many expected. The P76 was axed in Australia in October 1974, just over a year after it was launched.

In New Zealand, we got so many P76 CKD packs, in exchange for our Nelsonassembled Rover SD1s, that we were able to continue production until 1976! Despite its ogre-like looks, the Leyland P76 was a very popular car here.

So with British Leyland out of the picture, the Aussie war was down to three players

Although it was a commercial failure, the ill-fated Leyland Force 7 Protoype that was designed and built in Australia, had a hardy group of fans on both sides of the Tasman who loved it then and love it even more today. The mystique that surrounds the P76 is largely based on the models that never quite eventuated, like this fastback coupe version. Produced in the dying months of the P76, most were crushed and only a handful escaped. This is thought to be the only example in New Zealand

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After BMW had been ‘saved’ by the decision to build the Isetta under licence, the company set out to design the car that was to define what BMW stands for today – that car was introduced as the 1600, but became the 2002. They arrived in small numbers at first, but the supply grew steadily when New Zealand champion racing driver Ross Jensen took up the franchise for his Newmarket dealership in Auckland

again, Holden (now with the Commodore), Falcon and Valiant. But by the end of our third period (1980) the future of the latter was looking bleak and a year later it joined the P76 in the dusty pages of history.

The Commodore and Falcon engaged in a huge war that was to become increasingly tax-payer subsidised until 2016 when Falcon manufacture ended, with the Commodore poised to follow in 2018, leaving fans of both brands bewildered.

“How could this happen?”

It happened because the Australian and New Zealand markets were finally too small in an era of globalisation.

It began back in the early sixties, when rapid change was occurring, and we watched as the slow train wreck of the British car industry unfolded.

The fifties merger of Austin and Morris to form BMC became British Leyland – a giant catch-all of many British brands – with Leyland and Rover as the dominant brands, leaving Austin and Morris to fade into a not-so-glorious sunset along with Wolseley, Riley, Standard, Triumph and other names we had grown up with.

Of the whole package, sadly only Jaguar and Mini were saved under different ownership, while MG was to finally become a Chinese brand.

And it was no better at the other major British manufacturer, Rootes Group.

Financially wounded trying to match the success of the Mini with their Hillman Imp,

Jaguar dealer showrooms were popular places in the years 1950-80 - Shorters in Auckland, Archibalds in Christchurch and Shelly Motors in Wellington. Jack Shelly eventually controlled a large network of used-car dealerships, but the Wellington showrooms where Jaguar and VW were sold, was the jewel in the crown. He eventually retired to Hawaii where he had the franchise for BMC sports cars, leaving his racing driver son, Tony, to run the New Zealand business

Rootes was absorbed, first by Chrysler with the bits Chrysler didn’t want going to Peugeot. As a result, we lost Hillman, Humber, Singer, Sunbeam, Commer and other lesser brands.

In New Zealand, there was nothing we could do but watch with mounting dismay.

The death of the British motor industry was caused by a lack of vision by management and a bloody-minded attitude by the trade unions. Designs became mediocre and quality fell to an appalling level. British Ford and GM weren’t immune from these ills, but at least they both had father figures in Detroit to step in when needed for survival.

But as we saw and felt the decline of British cars, we also experienced the rise and rise of Japanese cars, along with an increasing number of European brands, made possible by the major easing of import licensing requirements in 1971, under the stewardship of Keith Holyoake as Prime Minister with Rob Muldoon as his Finance Minister. At first Japanese cars were imported and assembled by local companies, but gradually they were to become factory

shops with New Zealand management, answerable to Japan.

The other major development in this period was our coming face-to-face with just how vulnerable we were in regard to our fuel supplies.

Oil-producing nations, particularly Arab countries, had shucked off their colonial masters and began to realise what a powerful tool they had with oil. In 1973, the Arab oil producers reacted to the support of Israel by the West (mostly the United States) and shut off supplies. This was serious and became known as The First Oil Crisis – because another was to follow!

In New Zealand, our reaction was to lower the speed limit from 55mph to 50mph and ban all petrol sales from 12 noon on Saturday until Monday morning.

Then in 1979 the Iranian Revolution provoked another crisis. This time our reaction was to introduce carless days. You nominated the day you felt you could best do without your car and you got a sticker for your windshield showing your carless day of choice.

Although like the Holden, the first Ford Falcons were described as ‘Australian’, they were really American ‘compact’ cars manufactured Down Under. Head office back in Detroit had much more say in the design and engineering of both Falcon and Holdens than was commonly assumed

Although an Australian photograph, this is a moment that was to have a great impact in New Zealand as the Falcon went on to become one of our most loved cars.

For more than a decade, both Ford and GM covered their six-cylinder bets with Ford marketing the Falcon alongside the Zephyr, and GM the Holden alongside the Vauxhall

A line-up of restored Ministry of Transport patrol cars at an Auckland car show, with an XA Ford Falcon prominent

These crises worried us deeply and showed just how much we relied on oil. Experts and pub think-tanks conjured up all sort of ways of producing alternative fuels – ethanol or methanol from New Zealand’s abundance of plants and trees. Our pine forests, our great swathes of coal, even gorse and broom were all fodder, which would allow us to become fuel independent. Then there was LPG and CNG – sales of conversion kits for both homegrown fuels soared.

It’s not too much to say a state of near panic descended on the country.

Once again we heard the story of a Christchurch man, Archie Blue, who it was claimed had found a way of running his Mini on water. However, unlike many other people who ‘disappeared’ after making a car run on water, Archie Blue died a natural death of old age.

But once these oil crises were over, we forgot about these alternatives and went back to petrol – and increasingly diesel – and resumed complaining regularly about the price.

This was a fascinating 31-year period that had taken us from the sun-filled days of post-war New Zealand into the space age, and we had learned to worry about life without our (mainly) Japanese cars if our fuel supplies were ever cut off again.

Much of the latter part of this period is still well within living memory of many readers and there are literally thousands of different aspects to the story of this period.

Check the Timeline for events not covered in this chapter.

101

EE THR D O I PER 1980

– 1949

TIMELINE

Significant events in the history of motoring in New Zealand.

W

e emerge from war and it takes us a while to find our feet and pick up from where we left off. This is a period of economic start/stop in New Zealand and we watch as the British motor industry self-destructs, and then embrace the excellence of Japanese car making.

At the end of this period, we forget what it was like at the start. And we marvel that we have survived without our great love of the earlier periods – the American car.

1949

1949

1950

1950

1950

The first Ford Fortyniners arrive (the first actually arrived late in 1948). This is the car that saves Ford – a company in a parlous state. Henry Ford had become too old to make the right decisions, so his grandson, Henry Ford II, was pulled out of the military to take over running the company. He knew the company needed a new and winning car – and that was the Fortyniner.

Fueselage of WWII Lockheed bomber turned into a mobile home

The Morris Minor arrives in New Zealand. It’s a car that will set ride and handling standards for all cars, regardless of size, for the next 10 years. It becomes a much loved and admired car.

New Zealand’s first compulsory STOP sign is erected.

New Zealand’s first stretch of official ‘motorway’ is opened – Takapu Road to Johnsonville in Wellington. It is just five kilometres long.

The No Remittance scheme is introduced in New Zealand as a way of easing the shortage of new cars. If you have funds overseas, you could use them to buy a car and bring it back.

1950

1952

1952

Petrol rationing, introduced as a wartime measure, finally ends.

1953

It becomes possible to renew both driver’s licences and vehicle registration by post.

Ford begin New Zealand assembly of the Five Star Cars – the Consul and Zephyr.

Despite some faults, the cars – the Zephyr in particular – quickly earn huge followings.

1953 to 1954

The Royal Tour. The Queen and Duke use Daimler, Humber Super Snipe, a Sunbeam Talbot convertible and Land Rovers – as well as trains.

Matching Ford blow-for-blow in the British ‘big car’ stakes is the all-new EIP Vauxhall, which, like the Ford, is available as a four (the Wyvern) or a six (the Velox).

And like the Ford, the EIP is Detroit designed with a massive chrome grille. This is ‘Little America’.

1954

The entire length of the highway between Auckland and Wellington is, at last, fully tar-sealed.

1954

The Main Highways Board (established 1922) is replaced by the National Roads Board.

1952

The first stage of Auckland’s northwest motorway is completed.

1953

The first section of Auckland’s southern motorway is opened.

1954

1954

American chrome. Toothy smile of 1950 Buick

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The first Volkswagens arrive in New Zealand as both the ‘beetle’ sedan and then the box-like Kombi.

Owners are so enthusiastic they want to gather, talk and swap notes, so Volkswagen Owners’ Clubs spring up everywhere!

The government authorises 6000 individual import licences for cars – 1200 from North America – and this is repeated in 1955.

1959

1959

The Motor Vehicle Dealers Act becomes law – selling cars for a profit now requires a motor vehicle dealer’s licence.

The first Minis arrive and New Zealanders aren’t sure what to think. What we initially see is something small and boxy with folded edges. But we learn to love it, just like the rest of the word.

1959

The Kapuni hydrocarbons field is discovered by Shell, BP and Todd.

1959

Auckland Harbour Bridge opens – with toll gates. We now have two toll bridges (see 1969).

1962

The Aramoana, on the Wellington to Picton run, is New Zealand’s first roll on/roll off ferry.

Fifties radio personality Selwyn Toogood showing the boot room in a Standard Vanguard Spacemaster

1954

1954

The first Holden arrives fully built-up. It’s the FJ and, while we might have missed the FX, at last New Zealanders can judge for themselves what the fuss across the Tasman is all about.

New Zealand gets the last Ford to be powered by the side-valve V8 motor that was introduced in 1932. American Fords in 1954 get all-new overhead valve engines, but we have to make do with the old motor.

1954

Tariffs are removed from four-wheel-drive vehicles as they are needed for farm work.

1956

Import licensing is reduced by one third!

1956

Electric trams in Auckland and Dunedin make their last regular service runs.

1956

Motorcyclists must wear crash helmets when travelling at over 30mph.

1962

The first Ford Cortina arrives.

1956

The first purpose-built, permanent motor racing circuit in New Zealand is opened at Levin.

1962

1957

Obviously we like Holdens, so we’re now getting them in CKD form. The first New Zealand assembled Holden, an FE, is completed at Petone.

First Nissan arrives in New Zealand – a Datsun Bluebird 312.

1962

The open-road speed limit increases from 50mph to 55mph.

1957 1956

1962

Mark II Consuls and Zephyrs arrive.

1957 1956

1955

1955

Buck Rogers comes to town.

The first of the unbelievably futuristic Citroën DS19s (Goddess) arrives and owners could charge a fee to let people watch as they raise and lower them on their hydropneumatic suspension.

Motorists passing a stopped school bus must slow down to 10mph.

Russell Wright riding his Vincent sets a new world speed record for motorcycles on Tram Road near Christchurch of 185mph (298km/h). His mate, Bob Burns sets a side-car record of 162mph (253km/h) the same day.

‘GIVE WAY’ signs now appear, supplementing the words painted on the road surface.

1958

The first permanent motor racing circuit in the South Island is opened at Teretonga on the outskirts of Invercargill.

New Zealand gets its first Ferrari, ten years after Enzo Ferrari first started building cars under his name. But it’s a racing car, not a road car, and is imported by wealthy Christchurch garage owner Pat Hoare.

1958

The year of Arnold Nordmeyer’s infamous ‘Black Budget’.

1958

A large factory is established in an old bus depot to assemble VWs on Auckland’s Great South Road, near the Otahuhu shopping centre.

The Austin and Morris 1100s arrive in New Zealand – basically ‘bigger Minis’ that are more practical and comfortable, they sell well and become family favourites.

1962

The MTA approaches the government for more vehicle imports.

1963

Annual licensing or registration is introduced. The annual licence period is from July 1 each year.

1963

The end of an era – service stations offering a variety of petrol brands are no more, and along with them go branded petrol vouchers.

1963

Campbell Motors establish an assembly plant at Thames to build Ramblers. Toyota, Peugeot, Hino Contessa and Isuzu Bellets will soon follow.

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1967

The modern face of the Ministry of Transport in the mid-50s, with the introduction of new technology such as microwave speed detectors the size of searchlights, that were mounted on the outside of parked patrol cars

1963

1964

1964

1964

1964

1964

1964

1964

Another Royal Tour. This time a Ford Zodiac MKII convertible is among the tour cars, and everyone wants to buy it.

The MTA organises a questionnaire to get an accurate picture of the motor industry so as to present a better case when it lobbies government.

Marsden Point oil refinery opens.

Permanent aluminium number plates are introduced – permanent, they aren’t.

The Lyttelton Road Tunnel opens, ending the long drive up and over the Port Hills from Christchurch.

The first Chrysler Valiant AP5s roll off Todd Motors Petone assembly line, bringing new levels of performance to the six-cylinder market.

Steel Brothers of Christchurch start assembling Prince Glorias.

Bigger things are to follow.

1965

1965

The abandoned cotton mill at Nelson becomes the new assembly plant for Triumph.

Jaguar and Rover are to follow and then Honda.

1965

All new cars must have seat belts fitted. Diagonal will do to start with.

1965

Henry Ford II visits New Zealand for the first time and vetoes plans for local expansion. Observers say he’s in a bad mood.

1966

The first Ford Falcons roll off the New Zealand assembly line and battle begins against the Holden and Chrysler.

1966

1967

The first Toyota is sold in New Zealand. It’s a Corona.

1967

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1967

Burt Munro rides his Indian motorcycle at Bonneville to set a world speed record of 295.453km/h that still stands today.

1967

Decimal currency replaces the old pounds, shillings and pence.

1967

Denis Hulme becomes New Zealand’s first, and only, Formula One World Champion.

1967 1965 – the Lyttelton–Wellington ferry Maori is converted to roll on/roll off. But more and more travellers are preferring to drive up and down the Kaikoura coast.

One of New Zealand’s greatest sporting achievements, Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon win the 24 Hours of Le Mans driving a Ford GT40 MkII.

BMW is officially represented in New Zealand when Ross Jensen gains the franchise and opens a showroom in Newmarket Auckland.

The golden jubilee of the MTA and the opening of the association’s eight-storied office block on Kent Terrace. This is named Motor Trade House and is home to the association for 34 years.

The Trekka is launched. Using Skoda basics, it is New Zealand’s most successful home-grown car in terms of numbers built and sold.

The open road speed limit increases to 60mph (96km/h) on selected stretches of suitable road. It’s eventually rounded out to 100km/h.

1968

The first New Zealand assembled Toyota Corolla leaves the Campbell Motors plant in Thames.

1969

The generic MTA Gift Vouchers are introduced.

1969

The Maui natural gas field is discovered.

1969

The privately owned Opiki toll bridge over the Manawatu River near Palmerston North is superseded by a national highway and bridge, 31 years after the government said it had to go.

1970

Bruce McLaren is killed in a testing crash at Goodwood in the UK.

1970

The New Zealand Motor Corporation is created out of the Austin Distributors Federation and The Dominion Motors.

1970

British Leyland, anxious to get involved in the Australian market with a dinkum Aussie, create the Tasman and Kimberley and they are launched simultaneously on both sides of the Tasman.

1971

The new car situation begins to ease for the first time since the war – in some cases it is possible to buy off the floor, but it’s inconsistent for many years.

1970

Nissan sets up a factory shop in New Zealand at Felton Mathew Avenue, Glen Innes, Auckland.

1971

Todd Motors adds Mitsubishi to its Chrysler and Rootes products. The first model is the 1.6-litre Colt.

1971

Henry Ford II visits again. This is a happier visit and he approves the new plant at Wiri in South Auckland.

1972

The first course conducted by the Institute of the New Zealand Motor Industry for motor vehicle merchandising.

George Street, Dunedin, with interesting cars in frame, including Hillman Imp, Mark II Jaguar and an 1100

1972

1973 1972

1972

1972

The first official imports of Mercedes-Benz which follows a number of private imports over the previous decades.

The wearing of seat belts becomes compulsory from June 1 in cars first registered in New Zealand after January 1, 1965.

There’s a marked preference for built-up cars as opposed to CKD because of the higher specification (and quality).

1973

1973

When the Mangaweka Deviation is being planned, the government approves lowering the height of the crest by 20 metres because it is calculated that $15 million a year will be saved in reduced fuel consumption!

The Motor Vehicle Dealers Act makes it tougher to be allowed to sell cars for a profit and various categories are introduced along with window sheets.

1973

1973

The country reels from the first oil shock. Petrol soars from 48c a gallon to 79c.

1974

The government introduces a new sales tax regime designed to favour small cars.

1975

Yet more control on car dealers – the dealer section of the MTA is forced by statute to join the Motor Vehicle Dealers Institute (MVDI).

1975

The country undergoes metrication of road signs and speeds.

Ford opens its new plant at Wiri in South Auckland to assemble Falcons, but keeps Seaview in Wellington operating.

New Zealand’s first road-going Ferrari is a sleek Daytona owned

by Napier businessman Bruce Lindeman who also represents the factory.

Steel Brothers in Christchurch produce the first of 93 Lotus Seven sports cars, using kits supplied by Lotus. The last is sold in 1979.

1975

1977

The government introduces differential motor registration, with smaller cars less costly to register. It’s another attempt to get New Zealanders to start ‘thinking smaller’ about the cars we drive – and it works.

The government launches a Commission of Enquiry into the way car parts and accessories are marketed and freezes profit margins for 12 months.

1978

Road User Charges come into effect.

1979

The second oil shock. This time we have carless days – you get to choose your own. Sales of CNG and LPG soar.

Kerikeri Inlet with the stone store in the background. A 1954 De Soto parked in the foreground and a 1961 A60 on the other side of the road

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TIMELINE – 1981 TO PRESENT

The

MOTOR VEHICLE

in New Zealand Clearing the Deck A time of dramatic change!

T

his final period in the look back at the history of the motor vehicle in New Zealand will be fresh enough in the memories of many readers to not need too much detail.

But, apart from the arrival of the first cars, this was the time of the greatest change.

It was a case of clearing the decks and beginning all over again.

And it all began with an announcement that the Industries Development Commission had recommended to the government that the motor industry be deregulated!

This was such an unprecedented move that we wondered if,

New Zealand has made huge progress with the standard of roads given the small population and diverse geography of the land. This is winter on the fabled Gentle Annie between Taihape and Napier, for decades a road of nightmares. Not so today

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UR O F IOD r e s e n t R E P 1 to p 198

in fact, we were getting the news of another country by mistake. However, it paid not to hold your breath as the country faced three years of increasingly difficult times – the Springbok tour, the opening of the first Warehouse (so everyone could get a bargain!), a wage and price freeze, the sight of Rob Muldoon calling a snap election and the result of that election – before we saw the move to deregulate become a reality.

But that wouldn’t be all.

The period began with a battle for the minds and wallets of Australians and New Zealanders over which Big Aussie car to buy, ending in a two-horse race.

The Leyland P76 had come and gone leaving the Falcon, Commodore and the Australian patient, the Valiant, in the race. By 1981 it was obvious that the Valiant’s life support would need to be switched off and in August the car passed peacefully into the night, opening the way for one of the greatest two-brand car wars the world has ever seen.

For decades, enthusiasts in North America, Australia and New Zealand had argued over the relative worth of products from Ford and General Motors, at first Ford versus Chev’, but that was nothing to what was brewing on both sides of the Tasman.

The other major developments in this final period were the total capitulation of the British motor industry, followed by the deregulation of New Zealand’s petrol industry, a move that was at least as momentous for New Zealand as the deregulation of the motor industry.

Then, in the mid-eighties something totally unexpected happened in New Zealand – the walls of the dam broke allowing a trickle at first, then a flood. We got cars, more cars than we knew what to do with, with the arrival of used-cars from Japan.

And the car that represented the change more than any other was the Mazda RX-7 – a small, rotary-powered sports coupé with a huge rear window.

Introduced in 1978, it was only available in New Zealand in very limited numbers. It was so rare in fact that owners of the few

CHAPTER CHAPTER 18

The magnificent Porsche 911, totally iconic sports car of the latter part of the 20th century

that did come here, were envied and any that were sold-on fetched It had also been in production long enough for the earlier examples incredibly high prices. to be very cheap and readily available in Japan. Virtually overnight, The lack of new cars was one of the penalties we paid for living in owners of New Zealand-new RX-7s saw their ‘investments’ halve in a country that was sometimes described as the ‘Albania of the South value, then quarter and then, as we suffered a glut of them, become Pacific’ – a country with a heavily regulated and protected economy. almost valueless.

While we had steadily been getting more new cars since import Many New Zealanders discovered Japan as a ‘tourist destination’, regulations were eased in 1972, we still had iron-clad protectionism flying there, spending a day or two, buying cars that they never and the emphasis was still very much on cars that arrived here as dreamed of owning at prices they had to pinch themselves were real, components in wooden crates to be assembled by large teams of and shipping them home. workers in places like the Hutt Valley, Auckland and Christchurch, The Mazda RX-7 wasn’t the only car that arrived here in increasing but also smaller centres like Thames and Waitara. On New numbers, but in the first year or so, it was the most popular. The Zealand’s scale of things, motor vehicle assembly was one of the Mazda MX-5 sports car was another niche-market car that was biggest industries we had. brought back in large numbers, making new ones difficult to sell.

But the Mazda RX-7 became the symbol At first it was high-performance and (to of the change that was to end that. a lesser extent) luxury Japanese cars that At first, the requirements were that you were the most popular. had to go to the country of origin (almost Those New Zealanders who went to On New Zealand’s always Japan, but also the UK for some Japan really were living a dream akin to luxury and sports models), buy the car and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. scale of things, motor arrange to bring it back to New Zealand.

They were spoiled for choice. vehicle assembly was These vehicles became known as ‘baggage By then we had accepted Japanese cars one of our biggest cars’. as mainstream – the doubts of the sixties, industries Why was the RX-7 the first car of choice? that they were ‘orphans’ or ‘oddballs’, had Because New Zealand was gripped by a been totally erased. Japanese design teams craze for the Mazda rotary engine, and the were producing pleasant looking cars, to a RX-7 represented the peak of development. build quality that was totally foreign to us, 107

A quartet of one of New Zealand’s favourite cars, the Ford Falcon, seen here in various high-performance GT forms

and their reliability levels were unbelievable. In addition, most were crammed with items that we were starved of and were only available in true luxury cars. Things like air-conditioning, electric windows, power steering and powered rear-vision mirrors were things we had learned to live without and fooled ourselves that rugged Kiwis didn’t need such sissy frippery.

However, given them, we learned to love them overnight.

The things that made second-hand cars in Japan so attractive were the variety, the low prices (because of rules in Japan that encouraged devaluation), and the fact that Japan drove on the same side of the road as

us. As in the USA, Japan created planned obsolescence (in order to maintain demand for new cars on their domestic market) and many cars were being sent to the crusher that would have fetched thousands of dollars in New Zealand.

Soon the baggage-car era was over, the floodgates were fully open, and the importation of Japanese Used Cars (JUCs) became big business.

The Japanese welcomed the interest because, at first, New Zealand was the only country interested in what were, in many cases, cars that had very little value in Japan. Many established New Zealand dealers either sent a buyer to live in Japan

Kiwis were ambivalent to the XJ-S Jaguar, the E-Type replacement, but it remained in production for years

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or established a good relationship with an agent there.

Investors also entered the market, financing new operations that bought cars in Japan in bulk, shipped them back to New Zealand, and wholesaled them to smaller dealers around the country as well as retailing them off their own yards. In some cases, these bigger operations had several yards. Dealer auctions were held for the latest shipment of cars to arrive – and still do so. Huge, slab-side car carriers were sailing on a regular basis between Japan and New Zealand bringing 100,000 and more cars here each year. The number of JUCs imported and sold soon overwhelmed the number of new cars sold.

Not everyone was happy – particularly the new-car industry.

But, after half a century of standing in line begging for the same car-buying opportunities as other OECD-type nations, the public wasn’t complaining, and in fact turned a blind eye and a deaf ear to some of the trenchant criticism that was on the way.

It was a very profitable business and there’s no doubt that some people made fortunes in the first decade or so.

The new-car industry reacted badly, calling JUCs ‘the junk of other nations’ and generally trying to discredit the JUC trade and the traders. A bitter war erupted with a lot of name calling – and worse at times.

No real blame can be attached to the new-car industry. For decades, the players had abided by the rules set by the government – restricted numbers of cars which

For many years our favourite mid-size family car was the Ford Cortina, but by the time it became the Ford Sierra, the Japan-sourced Ford Telstar had replaced it here. Many of the high-performance versions of the Sierra developed by Cosworth Engineering came here and were in high demand

Japanese cars have become such a part of our culture that they are now being lovingly restored. This early Mazda ute belongs to a young Auckland woman

mostly arrived in wooden boxes for assembly in factories that cost the manufacturers millions of dollars to set up, and employed large numbers of workers at additional millions of dollars each year.

At that time, New Zealand had 14 car factories assembling close to 100,000 vehicles a year.

Criticism of the build quality of the locally assembled cars was justified but unfair, because cars hand-assembled in jigs can never match those built on a non-stop production line by robots. And New Zealand -assembled cars, lacking the extras that the JUCs came loaded with, were already expensive enough because of the local assembly factor, and adding power steering, power windows, etc. would have pushed prices even higher.

To be fair, the manufacturers were victims of half a century of restrictive government policies, which were overturned virtually overnight. Manufacturers tried their best, but in the end, were beaten by what could be called cynical government plotting to undo the restrictions of the past.

Manufacturers demanded higher levels of excellence on the assembly lines – and achieved them; when New Zealand assembly finally ended, locally produced cars were of a very high standard, but still couldn’t match the expertise of robots.

Meanwhile, there were other issues, and ‘odometer clocking’ was the big one. There is no doubt that many imported JUCs did have odometers that were wound back either here or in Japan. Not all this clocking was done knowingly by the New Zealand car dealer, but some was. As the Japanese learned what New Zealand wanted, they began winding back mileages themselves, before presenting the cars for sale.

Everyone knew it was going on, but nobody seemed to really care, or at least care enough to do something serious about stopping it. Eventually the government did act, but it was largely the media who made

and they might have had weird wing mirrors and odd ‘parking guides’, but we went mad for them and bought them in huge numbers.

Eventually it all settled down and peace was declared.

Throughout the nineties, New Zealand assembly was gradually phased out and the manufacturers imported their stock, loaded with equipment and the latest technology and built by robots, from large factories overseas. The JUC trade still exists in New Zealand and runs parallel to the new-car trade, co-existing quite happily.

A major change that occurred directly as a result of the torrent of JUCs was an overhaul of our Warrant of Fitness checking system, as well as a regime of inspection for cars that were first registered in New Zealand. Cars that had been new in New Zealand but had lapsed registration were also subjected to the same inspection.

This move followed a number of upheld complaints of badly repaired cars that were either imported that way, or repaired in

The Mazda RX-7, the car at the forefront of the Japanese used-car revolution. It was the car of choice for the first New Zealanders who went to Japan to bring back used-cars. Prices plunged when used examples arrived, but today they’re increasingly valuable

the biggest fuss about ‘clocking’. Oddly, the public didn’t seem too fussed. They kept buying the cars in increasing numbers with few complaints about incorrect mileages.

The reasons for the lack of a serious public backlash were probably twofold – firstly, the public (wrongly) perceived the new-car industry as being responsible for the decades of car shortages, and secondly, they were so glad to get a huge choice of cars at reasonable prices that they didn’t really mind a bit of odometer fiddling.

In the finish, those first few Mazda RX-7s turned out to be the advance guard of a revolution. They heralded the breaking down of the walls of Fortress New Zealand, and in the space of about two years the car-buying public could buy cars of their choice and at cheap prices.

They might have had badges that we weren’t used to, they might have been models we knew nothing of, they might have had radios that couldn’t reach all of our stations, they might have had Japanese characters on the air-conditioning controls,

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110

The Wild West days of the late eighties and early nineties are gone

New Zealand to a standard that was not acceptable.

These inspections were thorough and included the partial dismantling of the vehicle, particularly to check on possible rust damage. Each inspected and passed vehicle was given a VIN plate and number.

This change resulted in a new branch of the motor industry being created, specifically dealing with VIN inspections.

Another offshoot of the freeing up of the import restrictions was that used components for cars were also able to be sourced, mainly from Japan. Container loads of engines, gearboxes, steering parts

When Toyota set out to build ‘the best car in the world’, they succeeded with the Lexus LS400. The build quality and silence with which it operated took critics by surprise. It was backed-up with superlative after-sales service and communication. That, coupled with legendary Japanese reliability, had other luxury carmakers taking a long, hard look at themselves. This is the first Lexus LS400 to come to New Zealand, owned again, and refurbished, by Toyota NZ

and body panels were shipped from Japan and many were stuffed with used tyres as packing to stop the parts moving about in the container during transit. It then turned out that there was a ready market in New Zealand for the used tyres as well, and that also became a lucrative business opportunity for many people. But it was a bad lucrative market and dangerous, as

The Ford Falcon BA of 2002 represented everything we loved about the Falcon and Commodore – big, brawny, solid, reliable, simple by global standards, and offering a lot of rear-wheel-drive motoring for the price

people fitted unsuitable tyres to cars.

There were critics who complained that these were steps too far. But it was all part of the huge revolution we went through.

Things have changed. The Wild West days of the late eighties and early nineties are gone and with them, the cowboys. In Japan, there is also a different environment.

Older cars there are now understood to have real value and other countries are now the bottom feeders, while our JUCs these days are from the upper end of the market, and many are models we don’t get here, meaning there is a strong demand for them.

If you were to ask a Japanese carmaker visiting New Zealand if they approve or disapprove of JUCs, you’ll get an ambivalent answer. On one hand the brand name is put out there and they’ll sell parts, while dealers will provide service, so it’s not all bad.

Take the case of the Nissan Leaf, a small electric car. When it launched in Japan, Nissan sent representatives around the world talking to governments and local authorities telling them of the pending need for things like charging stations.

But when the Leaf came here, it was priced so high and sales were so slow that

The Ongaonga store in Central Hawke’s Bay with what look like Mobil pumps outside. Kerbside pumps outside country stores lasted decades after they had been banned in our cities.

111

Repco bought up and merged most of the old established automotive parts warehouses that were visited daily by young apprentices and today have 84 stores across New Zealand.

Nissan pulled the car off the New Zealand market. However, once used examples arrived from Japan – tens of thousands of dollars under the price of the new ones – there has been a brisk trade in them. And there is no doubt that JUC examples of the hybrid Toyota Prius have also established a market for these cars, because they are much cheaper than a new one.

However, there is still a large sector of the market that prefers ‘new to New Zealand cars’ and that has been the case since those first RX-7s.

But there have been other side effects.

JUCs introduced us very quickly to a bewilderingly wide variety of cars, and because they were ‘cheap’ (read affordable) we quickly adopted a cars-are-disposable attitude that we never had before. Cars needing repairs that previously we would have nursed along with loving care, were either parked under a hedge, sold to a dismantler, or sold for scrap metal. We are no longer a nation of backyard DIY weekend mechanics. Because the standard of living had increased and we had (slightly) more disposable income, any minor repairs that were needed were done in workshops.

The increased reliability, changing technology and longer-life factors that started with the JUCs also influenced how workshops operated. Engine reconditioning has almost become a lost art – most engines just don’t wear out any more. And motor mechanic apprentices who used to be sent out on wild goose-chases to warehouses for parts like ‘a box of high speed revs’ no longer do it. Over this period there has been a mighty amalgamation of just about all those old, once proud automotive parts warehouses, into Repco.

A timeline of how Repco became the company it is today makes fascinating

Engine reconditioning has almost become a lost art – most engines just don’t wear out any more

When BMW bought the Rover Group, it resurrected the MG brand with the MG TD and the facelifted TF. But they couldn’t save the company and eventually BMW bailed out. The Chinese now own the MG brand. This MG TF – seen here in Harbour Street, Oamaru - was the last sold new in New Zealand

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reading. In New Zealand, we first became aware of the Australian company Repco, a large parts manufacturer, through motor racing. After a decade or more of being on the fringe of the sport, in 1965 Repco was convinced by Jack Brabham to develop a Formula One engine based on the lightweight Oldsmobile production car engine.

Using this engine, Brabham won the 1966 Formula One Championship, and a year later our Denis Hulme took his title, also driving a Brabham Repco V8.

At one stage in the eighties, Repco was owned by the New Zealand Paper Tiger, Judge Corporation.

In 2017 Repco includes companies like General Accessories, Motor Specialties (Motorspecs), Andrews and Beaven, Watson Steele & Ganley, Paykel Brothers, John Chambers, Don Agencies, Wibroc, Ace Traders, J & A P Scott, Young Brothers, and more. And today, Repco is part of the giant GPC Asia Pacific Group.

Another spin-off from the first fleets of JUCs was that the average age of our car fleet became younger. However, that’s a trend that has bottomed out and today we are starting to hold on to cars longer than

Morgan started building three-wheelers with motorcycle engines by hand, back in 1911. Their cars are still made by hand in England, but have long been four-wheeled and powered by grown-up motors. Despite being expensive, there’s a small market for them in New Zealand

Camping in tents today is vastly different from earlier times. Affordable 4WD vehicles means campers can get to places that previously would have involved long tramps to reach, and tents are roomier, sturdier, lighter and easier to put up. This is the writer’s Nissan Pathfinder and camp set up in the Lindis Pass

ever – something that is of concern to road safety experts as it means many of our cars don’t have the most up-to-date safety equipment.

Looking back over the past 30-odd years since those first Mazda RX-7s arrived, the car market in New Zealand has changed dramatically. There was, initially, a great deal of pain (along with the fortunes that were made), but looking back and remembering what it was like, you’d have to say it all worked out OK. In the finish JUCs became such an integral part of the automotive food chain that Toyota New Zealand got involved, importing used vehicles, refurbishing them to a high standard in the former assembly plant at Thames and marketing them as ‘Signature Class’.

Yes, it all worked out OK. As the period opened, in New Zealand all we could do was stand and watch, teary eyed, as the British motor industry self-destructed. Rootes Group (Hillman, Humber, Singer and Commer) was taken over piece by piece by the American Chrysler Corporation and then sold to the French PSA Group who finally put it out

of its misery. Todd Motors in New Zealand thanked the vision that had seen them take on Mitsubishi earlier.

However, the saddest case of all was the companies that started as Austin and Morris, merged to become BMC (British Motor Corporation), then BMH (British Motor Holdings), then BLMC (British Leyland Motor Corporation), then BL (British Leyland) then Rover and finally MG Rover before it went up in flames, leaving only MINI, Jaguar and Land Rover to survive, if you ignore the latest Chinese offerings of MG. MINI, Jaguar and Land Rover only survived because they were sold off to other interests.

The decline and decline and further decline of this once all-powerful conglomerate of car makes that – like the British Empire, the sun never set on – is a collapse matched only by the fall of the Roman Empire. It was a long, slow, painful and sad death that really had its beginning back with that first merger between Austin and Morris in 1952.

The surprising thing about it was that it was truck-maker Leyland that in the sixties acted as the kingmaker, when merger and

State Highway One along the coast between Kaikoura and Blenheim is a magnificent route - surely one of the greatest coastal drives in the world. It was extensively damaged and closed after the November 14th 2016 Kaikoura earthquake.

The $1 billion reinstatement is scheduled for completion by January 2018

The fabled Citroën 2CV found willing buyers in New Zealand after the deregulation of the car market. Though they were decades old and primitive, they were cute – and fashionable. This example is in the Bill Richardson World of Transport in Invercargill

The Ford Mustang has had a fanatical following in New Zealand since it was launched in the USA in 1964

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The Nissan Qashqai is a perfect example of the modern mid-sized SUV. Although available with four-wheel drive, the majority sold are front-wheel drive. This is photographed at Akaroa on Bank Peninsula

Going places. A Ford Ranger pulls a load of mountain bikes up a rutted back country mountain road in the South Island’s Lakes District high country

name changes were a regular occurrence in a bid to save all the brands. Leyland had earlier bought Rover as its entrée into the world of car manufacturing (ignoring a couple of halfhearted efforts back in the thirties).

In New Zealand, we largely mirrored the events of the UK in terms of mergers and amalgamations with the creation of the NZMC – New Zealand Motor Corporation – which offered a full line up of the BL cars, plus the relatively new Japanese brand, Honda, which we had taken a great liking to. The impressive thing about NZMC was that they had the confidence to assemble

While we had to be forced into British cars via government policies, we learned to love them despite the fact their styling was often plain awful, they burnt valves, wore out low gear, burnt oil and they rusted. Our attitude towards the Japanese cars that replaced them has, for the most part, lacked the warmth we felt for British and American cars.

And that can be seen in the world of classic cars. A 1982 Ford Cortina could be seen gracing the pages of a classic car magazine, but a 1982 Toyota Corona, unlikely.

Some Japanese cars are collectable of course, but they tend to be high-performance

their luxury brands, Triumph, Jaguar (XJ6) and Rover (P6 and SD1) in their Nelson plant – a rescued non-commissioned cotton mill. Later the building became the Honda assembly plant and now is part of the WOW and Classic Cars Museum.

Today only the remains of the once-great British Motor Empire still operate from the Old Country; the Germans (BMW) own MINI, while Jaguar and Land Rover (including Range Rover) are owned by the Indian company, Tata. Adding insult to injury, Rolls Royce is also owned by BMW while Bentley is owned by Volkswagen.

While Land Rover is credited with creating the city-friendly 4WD vehicle with the Range Rover, it was Suzuki who sophisticated and popularised what we now call SUVs, with the Vitara. This is a Suzuki Jimny photographed at Cannibal Bay in the Catlins. Few buyers ever use the off-road ability of the SUVs, and many SUVs sold today are two-wheel drive only

A revolution that has taken place in the motorcycle world is the evolution of the quad – essentially four-wheeled trail bikes that, at first, put farmers on wheels and cost horses their jobs, but today they are also widely used for recreation. Here’s a lad at Ngawi on the south coast of the North Island

variants like the Mazda RX-7, Subaru Impreza WRX, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo, the Nissan Skyline range and all Mazda rotaries.

Even so, many traditional classic-car enthusiasts still tend to be a bit sniffy about any Japanese car.

At first the Japanese car brands in New Zealand were largely represented by local companies, but as British cars vanished and Japanese cars took more and more of the market, head offices back in Japan bought out the local operators so we became a factory shop.

The other phenomenon that occurred while the British motor industry was self-destructing and taking itself off global markets was that European cars started to gain in favour in New Zealand after deregulation. They had tended to come and go throughout our motoring history – prominent at first, then fading through the thirties and emerging again in the fifties and sixties when Renault, Peugeot and Fiat had loyal followings here.

At first, it was the sophisticated buyer who wanted something a bit different, exclusive perhaps, and could afford to indulge their fancy because everything

By the early eighties, Colin Giltrap was becoming a major force on the New Zealand motoring scene

about these cars was so expensive due to higher import duties and taxes. However, along with everything else, there’s been change and today everything is very much in line and it’s a level playing field.

Even so there is still a perception that European cars are something special and not necessarily mainstream, despite the fact that in their home nations you find them very much mainstream. For example, in Germany the Mercedes E-Class is the most popular taxi.

So while Britain faded, Japan dominated, Europe provided sophistication, and the

USA hovered in the background, another country was emerging that is today a major player in New Zealand.

By the early eighties, Colin Giltrap was becoming a major force on the New Zealand motoring scene, initially specialising in spectacular, late-model American cars but increasingly, new cars. Around 1983 he obtained the New Zealand franchise for a previously unheard-of make called Hyundai.

Instead of joining the ranks of other unknown makes that have come and disappeared, Hyundai remained and today South Korean cars – Hyundai and Kia – are among our most popular brands. A third South Korean carmaker, Daewoo, also provides us with a large number of our most popular brands, but badged as Holden.

Another example of the topsy-turvy world of the latter part of this period was the increasing number of sales at the very top end. For many years, New Zealanders

A factory publicity shot taken in Italy, but several examples of the Ferrari 458 Italia have been sold in New Zealand despite the high price. New Zealand has one of the highest Ferrari ownership rates in the world based on population. We love our cars

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Volkswagen has come a long way since the company was restarted after WW2, and is today a giant in the motor industry and very popular in New Zealand. A VW Passat wagon at the grand old Waitomo Caves hotel

were loath to be obvious with money, but that has changed and today there’s a growing market for the very top end cars.

BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi fight it out to be the biggest-selling luxury car in New Zealand, which is just as important as being the most popular outright brand.

Today, the Auckland-based Giltrap Group represent more luxury and exotic brands under ‘one roof’ than anyone else – including Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche, Seat, Bentley, Lamborghini and Aston Martin. At one stage the group also had Mercedes-Benz and Hyundai. Richard Giltrap, son of Colin, once told the author, “Not so long ago you could count on one hand the number of Porsches we sold each year – and we knew each buyer by name. Not so any more.”

And then there is Ferrari, perhaps the most glamorous car brand in the world.

Continental Car Services of Auckland, the company that handles Ferrari in New Zealand, was started by a personable young man called Tim Bailey in the mid-sixties, repairing cars, but specialising in European makes and selling Fiat 500s. Before his death in the nineties, Tim saw his company

grow to sell several luxury makes, including Ferrari, which he built into a huge success.

At one stage, Tim Bailey sold more Ferraris per head of population than anyone else in the world.

There were two other phenomena in the second half of this period that weren’t unique to New Zealand – we followed overseas trends.

The first was the growing appetite we developed for Australian ‘utes’ based on the Holden, Falcon and Valiant, and also the more work-horse-like Toyota Hilux, Ford Ranger, Mazda BT-50, etc. particularly when they evolved the double-cab versions.

Toyota’s Barry Crump and Scotty TV ads had a lot to do with it, cemented by the famous ‘Bugger’ ads.

But the other significant factor was how we joined the global rush to what are known variously as SUVs or 4WDs. Range Rover is credited with taking the idea of a rugged 4WD vehicle and creating day-to-day luxury transport, but this was a car for the wealthy. If any manufacturer can lay claim to inventing the modern, popular SUV/4WD it would be Suzuki when they

ABOVE: The Lindis Pass that links North Otago with Central Otago was for decades one of our most difficult roads. It was totally rebuilt in the seventies and has been upgraded since then to become one of the finest driving roads in the country. This is an unusual photograph because it’s now one of the busiest tourist roads in the country and carries a lot of traffic

created the enormously popular Vitara out of a small-selling 4WD vehicle. The Vitara was an immediate sales success because it was affordable, reliable and cheap to run.

Other manufacturers joined in, building similar 4WD vehicles across the full range of sizes. At first buyers wanted the ruggedness of a true 4WD, even if they never went off road. Today all that matters is that an SUV looks tough and has all that space and practicality.

The deregulation of the petrol industry has also had a major impact on the way we do our motoring.

There’s a great deal of emotion involved in the purchase of petrol, with many motorists firmly believing there is a conspiracy to keep

New Zealanders’ love of cars is shown in the proportionately high sales we have of luxury and sports cars. And given a range of engine sizes, the typical New Zealand buyer will invariably opt for one of the largest, if not the largest. This is a Porsche Cayman at Highlands Motorsport Park in Cromwell

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Subaru has earned a strong following in New Zealand because of its early adoption of only all-wheel-drive models, which makes them particularly popular with active Kiwis as a check of any skifield carpark will attest.

This one is photographed in the Karangahake Gorge

The truth is that for most of last century, profit margins in petrol were so thin you could see through them

prices as high as possible. But petrol is one of the cheapest and most efficient packages of ‘energy’ in the world. A litre of petrol will power your car a distance of about 15 kilometres, depending on the size of the engine, and (at say $2.20) it’s much cheaper than bottled water, fizzy drink or milk – none of which have anything like the production, or distribution costs of petrol.

Because of this ingrained attitude there was a great deal of delight when the petrol industry was deregulated with high expectations of massive change. However, change was slow. The long-awaited challenge to the established brands came with Fletcher’s Challenge brand! But those hoping for 25, 20, 15, 10 or even five per cent lower prices were disappointed.

The truth is that for most of last century, profit margins in petrol were so thin you could see through them. It’s only in recent times, with a plunge in global oil prices, that we have seen reasonable levels of profit, but by comparison with other retail goods, it’s still not huge. Recent increases in profit come against a background of the established oil companies pegging back, the exit of Shell, the sale of Caltex, and the introduction of new, independent distributors who are opening stand-alone, card-only operations, or re-opening garages that have been closed for a long time.

The biggest single change we saw following the deregulation of the petrol industry

was the massive upgrading in service station facilities – spearheaded by BP with their Wild Bean Café chain and quickly followed

by Shell (now Z) and Mobil. Modern-day service stations really have become an oasis for the traveller.

But, we return to an earlier topic for our last look at this final period and that is the Holden Commodore versus Ford Falcon war that raged for so many years.

This was a tribal thing that exploded across both sides of the Tasman and, for a while it seemed that compulsory wear for fathers and sons was either the red of Holden, or the blue of Ford. The battle raged on motor-racing circuits, across leaners in pubs, in garages, around dinner tables, at 21st birthday parties, in buses and trains.

Friendships were made and broken.

It’s still a part of our national psyche, but not as much as it had been a decade earlier.

Followers of the faith feel betrayed that Ford has axed the Falcon, and Holden is about to do the same to the Commodore.

The sad fact is that the world has changed and left these two motoring icons behind.

Audi has become one of New Zealand’s top selling luxury brands. This is a high performance RS5 photographed, appropriately enough, at Hampton Downs Motorsport Park

The markets (a) weren’t big enough for the development costs that went into each model and (b) weren’t big enough to sell without a hefty $7000 Australian taxpayer subsidy on each car.

The Commodore/Falcon battles were epic and we’ll never see their likes again.

But, it’s a brave new future we face.

The Mazda CX-9 represents the further re-defining of what is, or was, a 4WD vehicle or what is an MPV people mover. Available with four-wheel drive (as well as two-wheel drive) it marries that technology with the space and load carrying of a people mover. It’s a seven-seater. Photographed at Millers Flat in Central Otago

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EE THR T D O I EN PER PRES

– 1921

TIMELINE

Significant events in the history of motoring in New Zealand.

S

till more change. Perhaps change, as we had never expected.

Free markets and deregulation become the economic catchphrases. Japanese cars are our automotive cornerstone giving us quality and reliability undreamed of, at affordable prices. What’s a spark plug? Haven’t seen one for decades. British cars – what were they? Basic cars with no extras – what were they? Local assembly

1981

1981

1982

Datsun rebranded globally as Nissan. Datsun owners can get little black and gold ‘Nissan’ badges to put on the grilles of their cars, if they want to be part of the change.

The Industries Development Commission recommends to the government that the motor industry be deregulated.

In a bid to hold down rampant inflation, the government introduces a wage and price freeze.

1984

General Motors move from the plant at Petone to a new one further up the Hutt Valley at Trentham.

1986

New Zealand gets a new tax.

The Goods and Services tax of 10 per cent is applied to everything, without exception.

1984

Tolls are taken off the Auckland Harbour Bridge, which means the country is now ‘toll free’.

1987

A three-stage driver licensing system is introduced.

1984

The country gets another Labour government, which sets about deregulating everything.

1986

New reflectorised number plates are issued. These are pressed steel with black figures on a white background.

1986

A record 795 people die on New Zealand roads.

1987

Todd Motors is bought by Mitsubishi Motors Corporation of Japan and becomes Mitsubishi Motors NZ Limited.

1984 1983

1983

1983 to 1986

1984

1984

1984

We enter into Closer Economic Relations (CER) with Australia.

New Zealand reaches peak local assembly with over 100,000 vehicles produced. From here on, it’s downhill as we import more and more built up vehicles, as well as masses of used cars.

Over a period of three years, heavily restrictive Transport Licensing that had been introduced in the thirties to protect rail, is finally phased out.

The first EFTPOS transaction is between a Shell service station and the ASB. Wally Sutherland of Whakatane is the first RMTA national president to have also been president of the NZ Motor Body Builders Association (now CRA).

Colin Giltrap imports the first of a new brand of car from a country we’ve never seen a car from before – it’s the Hyundai Pony from South Korea. It takes us a long time to (a) appreciate them and (b) learn the name is not pronounced to rhyme with high and dry.

– what was that? European cars? Yes please, in big numbers thanks.

Oh yes, the Americans still do make cars, we’ll take some thanks.

How about some South Korean cars as well? The road toll soars – and plunges.

Electric and self-driving cars? That’s them ringing the front door bell! The speed of change is dizzying.

In a remarkable move the ‘Baggage Cars’ period starts.

Organised trips are made to (mainly) Japan and travellers return with late model, low-mileage, highly spec’d cars, many being luxury or sporty models unobtainable in New Zealand. In the space of a few months, cars like the Mazda RX-7 rotary-engined sports car are parked in almost every street!

Many people can’t believe it. The JUC Revolution – Japanese Used Car – is underway and changes everything.

1985

Open-road speed limit increases from 80 to 100km/h.

1985

Honda Japan acquires 25 per cent of New Zealand Motor Corporation. Soon it will have 100 percent.

1985

New Zealand has 14 motor vehicle assembly plants.

1984

The first Nissan Mobil street race is held in Wellington. It is a huge success.

1985

Computers make their mark on day-to-day business life and the New Zealand motor industry is no exception.

1987

1988

1988

1988

1988

Since the new Labour government’s massive policy of deregulation began in 1984, life and lifestyle in New Zealand has changed dramatically, with thousands of overnight paper millionaires. It all comes down to earth via an international share market crash.

The Tauranga Harbour Bridge is opened.

Japanese-controlled Subaru New Zealand takes over importing and distribution of all Subaru vehicles in New Zealand. Subarus are assembled in the small Taranaki town of Waitara.

Personalised number plates are introduced.

The organisation that began as the Public Works Department (1870–1948) and then became the Ministry of Works and which was responsible for building so much of the country’s roading infrastructure, is dismantled.

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1988

1988

1988

The Ford plant at Seaview in Petone, opened in 1936, closes and all Ford (and Mazda) production is centred on new premises at Wiri in South Auckland – this is called Vehicle Assemblers of New Zealand – VANZ. The government ends 55 years of tightly controlling petrol prices in New Zealand and deregulates the industry. Oil companies can now own service stations. The public expects massive change – but is disappointed. Fletcher Industries become the first significant new player in decades with the Challenge brand.

Colin Giltrap’s company is named Mercedes-Benz dealer for New Zealand. Later this becomes a joint venture with the factory and then factory-owned through Australia.

1989

Unleaded petrol is introduced.

1990

The four major oil companies, Mobil, Caltex, BP and Shell join with the RMTA to offer branded gift vouchers.

1990

1991

1992

1992

1992

1992

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General Motors become the first vehicle manufacturer in New Zealand to walk away from local assembly. Other manufacturers follow swiftly, leaving Nissan and Honda to be the last. The GM plant at Trentham is eventually used by the NZ Army and Weta Workshops.

1993

1993

Toyota New Zealand Limited is created out of Campbell Industries in Thames, Consolidated Motor Industries (a joint venture between Cable Price Downer and Wright Stephenson, later owned by Challenge Corporation), and Steel Motor Assemblies Limited of Christchurch.

Carrying out an election promise, Minister of Police John Banks gives the country more ‘police’ – by merging the Ministry of Transport officers with the regular police.

The Police Department now assumes road enforcement.

Ford lifts a ban on dealerships using their name – old established companies change their name; for example, Napier Motors in Dunedin becomes Dunedin City Ford.

Speed cameras are introduced and, generally, the public is happy – until they start getting speed camera tickets in the mail.

Few people realise how often they unknowingly break the speed limit.

1994

Vehicle Testing New Zealand Limited (VTNZ) is launched as a State-Owned Enterprise.

1995

The registration plate ‘1’ is sold at auction for $630,000. It had been a great investment!

1996

David Loughlin of Tauranga becomes first National RMTA President to do more than one term. New RMTA Training Passport introduced.

1996

The sale of leaded petrol is banned and not everyone is happy – particularly owners of older cars.

1997

The joint Ford/Mazda (VANZ) plant at Wiri closes.

1997

Subaru New Zealand adopts an exclusive All-Wheel-Drive philosophy.

1997

An Auckland man pays $111,111 for registration plate ‘1’. Many people think this is a wanton waste of money.

The New Zealand Motor Industry Training Organisation is launched.

The VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) system is introduced.

1998

1998

The government introduces the new system of Continuous Licensing for cars. Cars not used must now have registration put on hold to avoid a costly re-registration and ‘re-vin’.

The RMTA’s first woman National President, Trish Campbell of Palmerston North, is elected and Brian Nelson retires after eight years as CEO. New vehicle standards are signed into law covering frontal impact, exterior projections, steering systems, interior fittings, head restraints and door retention systems.

1998

The last Mitsubishi to be assembled in New Zealand leaves the former Todd Motors plant at Porirua.

1998

Gull Fuel Company established, opening fuel sites in the North Island only.

1999

RMTA purchases VTNZ from the government for $19.2 million.

1999

Photographic driver licences introduced to much public debate.

2000

The car market is upside down from where it was 20 years earlier, with imported used-cars, mainly from Japan, dominating the scene. The new-car industry is not happy about it.

2001

MTA House on Wellington’s Kent Terrace sold and the RMTA moves to a new building at 79 Taranaki Street.

2002

RMTA opens National Office Call Centre for consumer enquiries.

2003

RMTA merges with the MVDI before the Motor Vehicle Sales Act, which pretty much deregulates the car sales industry and undoes the bureaucracy, which had been put in place in the early 1970s.

2004

The RMTA rebrands as the MTA and introduces the current MTAassured logo and cyan becomes the theme colour.

2007

There are 32 new Ferraris registered in New Zealand.

2007

MTA marks its 90th anniversary.

2009

The Northern Gateway Orewa bypass opens; bringing tolls back onto public roads.

2010

New Zealand now has 15,600 road bridges.

2010

Shell sells its network of service stations etc. to Infratil and the ‘Guardians of NZ Super’ and becomes Z Energy Limited.

2013

MTA sells VTNZ to German vehicle inspection company Dekra SE, the world’s third largest inspection company.

2016

The last Ford Falcon in either New Zealand or Australia is built.

2016

Sale of Caltex and Challenge petrol station chains to Z Energy

2016

Sale of Gull’s Mount Maunganui import fuel terminal and the 77 North Island retail sites to Caltex Australia.

2017

The MTA is 100 years old!

WARRANT OF FITNESS

SAFETY CHECK The story of Warrants of Fitness in New Zealand

Newly arrived from Japan, a Honda is being “vinned” at VTNZ in Dunedin. The process is thorough

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Towards a warrant of fitness The Motor Act of 1924 set out everything about the way a car was to be operated and incorporated all that had been learned in the previous quarter of a century.

In 1928 the Act was overhauled because of changes that were needed, but then the new decade of the 1930s began with a three-day conference aimed at completely overhauling the laws and regulations pertaining to motor vehicles. Hardly time to catch your breath.

The motoring public waited impatiently for the Minister of Transport to announce the new regulations which came out in early 1933, and even though it was 38 years since the first cars arrived in New Zealand, there was still a lot of experimenting going on.

The new regulations covered plenty of automotive territory, but there were three main issues.

This is a typical workshop where the very basic safety checks were carried out in the twenties and thirties

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CHAPTER CHAPTER 19

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ew Zealand was world leading in 1937 when the government introduced six-monthly Warrant of Fitness checks.

Few, if any, other countries did this and certainly not as frequently as we did.

By the standards of 2017, those first checks seem almost laughably casual and it seems incredible that for decades tyres were not part of the test schedule. Today it just seems so obvious that tyres should be sound and have good tread. And rust was another. Until comparatively recently, cars could look like sieves because of rust holes and still pass a Warrant of Fitness check.

However, those were different days – cars were made from materials that wore out quickly and the fact that New Zealand always had an old car fleet meant that for many car owners the six-monthly warrant check was about as welcome as was going to the school dental clinic (the murder house) for school kids of the same era.

There were some aspects of the warrant check that owners dreaded – kingpins were one item. Replacing worn kingpins in those older cars was not a job for your average backyard, weekend mechanic.

Today it is vastly different. In the 80 years since Warrants of Fitness were introduced, changes to the system really only started to occur in the second half of that period, and they have accelerated in the past 20 years, culminating in the recent graduated frequency of testing.

As with everything about the earliest days of the motor vehicle, the 1937 decision to issue Warrants of Fitness was a case of learning, testing the water, and then more learning. Everyone was dealing with something new.

So, let’s look back at that path towards the Warrant of Fitness checks through the pages of the MTA magazine, Radiator.

It’s not a Warrant of Fitness check, but this photograph illustrates what many workshops were like in the twenties

The first was the deletion of a requirement to have a red reflector facing the rear – a rule that had been the butt of much controversy and derision ever since it was introduced. Initially, the law didn’t make it clear that the red lens of a taillight was not sufficient and that a separate reflector was needed. Hundreds of motorists, who thought they understood the vague law, were prosecuted before the government made it clear. Then there was a rush on garages and parts stores for red reflectors and the entire stock in New Zealand was sold out in days, leaving thousands of motorists clamouring for them. Stocks finally arrived from overseas, but meanwhile authorities had been busy convincing

cynical motorists of the need for them and police were busy prosecuting those whose cars lacked them.

Against this background, the new Motor Vehicles Act did away with them, earning a blistering broadside from Radiator, which railed against “whims” and poured scorn on the authorities that “appeared to have learned nothing”. Radiator Completing the process, signing off and placement of the WoF sticker also felt sorry for stockists who were left holding thousands of pounds worth of red reflectors, which would made to try and get brighter streetlights in now not be sold. towns and cities to do away with the need A second major issue was car brakes. for cars to use headlights at all, and allow The new Act clarified what was them to drive on park lights, as was the case meant (in the earlier rules) by in Britain for many years.

The Warrant of Fitness check cars having “two independent In mid-1934 Traffic Inspectors from all list starts the process brakes”. Even though by 1933 over the country were called to Wellington all new cars were fitted with for a conference on the best way to stanfour-wheel brakes, the new Act dardise these issues. had to take into account the It was agreed that roadside checks were to thousands of older cars that were be implemented to check cars. If motorists still in daily use that had only could not present documentation that their two-wheel brakes. But what the brakes had been recently tested or adjusted, new rule did was clear up was that then the vehicle was to be subjected to an there had to be a footbrake and a immediate roadside braking test. separate handbrake.

The roadside brake testing showed some For decades, the efficiency alarming results. The regulations stated that of brakes had been a worry a laden car travelling at 20mph should stop and there was also the equally within 40 feet on the footbrake and 75 feet long-held issue of headlights that on the handbrake. But one vehicle checked dazzled oncoming drivers. This in Christchurch took 285 feet on the footwas before dipping lights became brake and 304 feet on the handbrake. mandatory and headlights had Headlights were also to be tested – for only fixed beams. Late in the small cars, headlights were to be set at 80 thirties, several attempts were feet and larger cars, 100 feet.

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Does the expression ‘dark satanic mills’ come to mind

By the end of 1936 Warrants of Fitness for every vehicle became a reality

But the third road safety matter that was to be dealt with from this gathering was the matter of drivers’ signalling – both turn and brake signals. Today as we travel in the air-conditioned cocoons that cars have become, with indicators and brake lights, we forget the old days when you stuck your arm out into the open air and signalled, regardless of the weather. Traffic Inspectors were told to take a tougher stand with motorists who failed to signal.

With British cars it was easier – they had those semaphore-like trafficators that sprang out of the pillar between front and rear doors. There were also some after-market devices in square boxes that you bolted to the side of your car. But they were all notoriously unreliable and by the mid-fifties winking ’traffic indicators’ had become the world standard.

The first person to speak officially in favour of a six-monthly Warrant of Fitness check seems to have been Mr A E Ansell who was the MP for Port Chalmers. Speaking in the House in August 1935, he urged the government to introduce a plan where every

vehicle in New Zealand would be checked for safety equipment every six months and this to be tested by a ’special plant’.

At first, the MTA, through Radiator, was against the move saying the present system was working very well and there was no need to change. The Editor of Radiator thought that it was simply too big a job.

“There are over 200,000 vehicles in New Zealand,” he wrote. “And to check every one of these to a consistent standard across the length and breadth of the country every six months would be nigh on impossible.”

However, by the end of 1936 Warrants of Fitness for every vehicle in New Zealand were to become a reality. New safety requirements were introduced and the government gave the onus of carrying out

In the thirties, before Warrants of Fitness, car owners had to have vehicles checked for headlights and brakes only – and carry a form showing a test had been done

these six-monthly checks, to the motor industry itself.

The checks would cover more than the lights and brakes. Among the requirements were that cars had to be fitted with dipping headlights – ending the decades old concern about headlight dazzle. Various systems were tried, including headlight reflectors that swivelled downwards, before the two-filament bulb became standard.

There was a great deal of discussion between the Minister of Transport (Bob

A customer getting advice at VTNZ Highbrook. VTNZ ensures that customers know their next steps after their assessment, so they can leave feeling confident and empowered

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A car running through for its Warrant of Fitness check

Semple) and the MTA over the introduction of these checks and it was finally agreed that the MTA would be responsible for overseeing the work, provided that all accredited garages had to be financial members of the Association.

Under the agreement, garages already certified as A-Grade would be automatically accredited, and garages not certified as A-Grade would undergo an inspection by a government officer to ensure work would be up to standard. Garages displaying the

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A-Grade sign would automatically be able to carry out Warrant checks; garages that had to pass the government inspection would get a separate Warrant of Fitness sign. The cost of a Warrant of Fitness would be two shillings and six pence and that was a relief, as the government had allowed for a cost of up to five shillings.

However, the matter of tyres will surprise today. It was decided that unless a tyre was obviously unsafe it should be passed even though it was devoid of tread. “Unsafe” was

very much in the eye of the beholder and usually a tyre was rejected if it had a serious bulge, the wire bead was broken or if it was through to the canvas. This was a situation that lasted well into the sixties.

The March 1937 issue of Radiator carries a list of the garages that had been approved to issue Warrants of Fitness up to that time and it makes remarkable reading – a large number of the firms are still either operating today or were up until recently.

These lists were updated each month for years.

The value of the new Warrant of Fitness scheme was clearly shown in April 1937, just four months after the start, when of the more than 100,000 vehicles tested, 81 per cent needed some sort of repair or adjustment.

But, as with everything in this era, there was a lot of learning to do. A year after the introduction of the Warrant of Fitness scheme, it was still not widely understood that the regulations regarded trailers and caravans as ‘motor vehicles’. And some vehicle testers were initially a bit wary about rejecting vehicles for faults.

In October 1937 the Commissioner of Transport, G L Laurenson, wrote to the MTA asking it to stamp out the practice of testers issuing Warrants of Fitness but writing on

The MTA had a very hands-on role in the introduction of the Warrant of Fitness scheme

the test form “Car needs new kingpins” or such. Laurenson wrote that either the vehicle is up to standard or it’s not.

A year after the introduction, most vehicles had completed two Warrant of Fitness checks and the scheme was declared a success. However, there was still some confusion over what items of the car needed to be checked and which items didn’t.

Radiator in April 1938 wrote that a vehicle inspector had to issue a Warrant of Fitness if, at the time of the examination, the vehicle passed on seven points – brakes, lights, wheel alignment and steering, windscreen wiper, rear mirror, warning device and door locks (a windscreen wiper had only become mandatory in 1933). “Although a vehicle may be faulty in some other respects, a warrant cannot be refused,” said Radiator

Getting a Warrant of Fitness today is a far more comfortable experience than earlier days, when car owners stood and waited in a drafty workshop

The VTNZ Story The MTA had a very hands-on role in the introduction of the Warrant of Fitness scheme and it has been involved ever since.

So much so, that in 1999 the Association brought the network of VTNZ testing stations owned as an SOE by the government.

Welcome signs show that more than just WOFs and COFs are dealt with

An old MOT Vehicle Testing Station in Wellington, alongside an old fire station being demolished

It’s an intriguing story.

In 1990, when National came to power with Jim Bolger as Prime Minister, a strategy of increased asset sales was formulated – and this included those held by the Ministry of Transport. At that time, the Ministry was in two divisions – the Policy arm, and the Commercial arm, which looked after the Ministry’s car and truck vehicle testing stations across the country.

Warrants of Fitness for cars were issued by three outlets in those days – Ministry of Transport-owned testing stations, local council-owned testing stations, or private garages. Heavy truck testing was all done

by Ministry-owned testing stations.

Before any Ministry of Transport assets could be sold, first a case had to be made for commercial viability because up to this time it was simply a government department, not particularly concerned with profit.

Under the then Minister of Transport, Maurice Williamson, a three-member Establishment Board was set up to see if the Ministry’s testing stations could be turned into a profit-making State Owned Enterprise, with potential for sale. The chairman of the board was John Cameron – a businessman with many years in the heavy transport industry and with around

30 board appointments to his credit. The board decided that there was a case and so Vehicle Testing New Zealand (VTNZ) was created and a new larger board formed, with John Cameron as chairman.

In a short space of time, the previously virtually invisible Ministry of Transport vehicle testing stations became high profile, and business boomed.

The government had sold some of the smaller sites to former staff members and the Establishment Board established new sites where it felt there were business opportunities.

There was a sharp change of culture within the organisation. Previously, owners who brought their vehicles in for inspection hadn’t necessarily been regarded as customers by staff, and that had to change, and there was some reluctance by some staff to accept role changes.

But there were also other changes. The Policy arm of the Ministry of Transport had tightened up in many areas of Warrant and Certificate requirements, and standards across the board were both higher and much more consistent than they had been.

This was the beginning of a much more professional approach to Warrants of Fitness – no more taking your old car to a small 127

garage, or a mate, knowing there were things you could get away with.

With Vehicle Testing NZ established and performing well it was decided it should be sold, but the sale was delayed as the government had other issues to deal with because of the complexities of power sharing under MMP, which had been introduced for the 1993 election.

When Vehicle Testing NZ was created in 1994 it had around 300 staff. When it was put up for sale in 1999, staff numbers had doubled to 600 operating from a network of 52 branches. There was plenty of interest in the sale including some from overseas, but in the finish, it was the MTA that was the successful purchaser.

The MTA board decided that Vehicle Testing NZ should be operated under a separate board, and to give some continuity to the previously successful model, John Cameron was asked to stay on as chairman for the next three years. Brian Jackson, a successful Toyota dealer from the Hutt

There was plenty of interest in the sale but it was the MTA that was the successful purchaser

FOUR-WHEEL BRAKES If you have ever driven a car with just rearwheel brakes, you will wonder why there weren’t more accidents in the early years of motor vehicles. Applying the brakes to the rear wheels only sees transference of weight to the front, the rear becomes lighter and the rear wheels are consequently locked up easily and the car just skids and skids.

By 1924, more and more manufacturers were switching to four-wheel brakes, mainly – but not exclusively – as hydraulicsreplaced mechanicals for brake actuation.

A list of four wheel-braked cars per country in 1924 is remarkable.

America had 18 carmakers with fourwheel-brake models (all expensive makes), Britain had 13 (again the more expensive makes), Italy had five, Germany three, but France had a monster 43 different makes!

Valley and former MTA chairman came on as deputy chairman, to become chair when Cameron retired.

Under MTA ownership, the business continued to grow. In 2008, the company rebranded with all branches displaying the new VTNZ livery and the range of products and services was extended. It was a smart business move for the MTA – VTNZ was performing well and generating good profits, but some members who were also issuing Warrants of Fitness, saw a conflict of interest and this caused considerable discussion for some time before a compromise was reached.

The compromise was that in 2013, the MTA sold a 60 per cent majority shareholding to the German automotive company DEKRA. DEKRA specialises in automotive safety, was founded in Germany

GARAGES AND MECHANICS TO BE CLASSIFIED At the end of 1932 the New Zealand Garage Proprietors Association (an antecedent of the MTA) announced a plan to examine and classify garages and mechanics.

In announcing it, the organisation said that there was no way of knowing which garages and mechanics were meeting the growing high standards that car owners were expecting, and that a two-man committee had been set up to introduce examinations and subsequent classification.

Examinations would begin in the New Year (1933) and would result in grading, with A-Grade being the highest. Mechanics who achieved that level would know they had secure positions and would be given a wage increase of two pence an hour, or a minimal rate of two shillings an hour. A centralised record would be kept of those mechanics that passed the examinations and became A-Grade.

Garages would also be subjected to examinations and those premises that passed would be issued with enamelled emblems for prominent display on the outside of the building, so motorists could be assured of top quality attention.

After testing the first 250 mechanics it was found that only 14 were up to the standard required for Class 1, or A-Grade.

There were 27 Class 2 and 154 Class 3.

But there were also 55 failures, which was described as “fairly high”.

Interestingly, it was country garages where the skill levels were the highest.

in 1925 and employs 32,000 people in 50 countries.

Today, VTNZ has expanded to 80 branches and employs more than 1000 staff in big bright orange buildings.

Orange is the VTNZ corporate colour. One of the two VTNZ operations in Dunedin

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The Rod Tempero-built Ferrari GTO replica

Crowther Toiler small pick-up truck

Homemade Acorn uses Triumph parts

Steel Brothers Lotus 7

The Rotarymotive Heron GT – designed and built by Ross Baker

Jim Bennett’s Furi – the last in a long line of Furi cars

The one-off Sabre designed and built by Barry Walker, and powered by Ford Zephyr de Joux GT car

One-off Marlborough/Carlton

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New Zealand converted Triumph TR2 GT

Fraser Cars continue to build this successful model

The legendary New Zealand-built Trekka

The Anziel Nova

Homemade car of Trevor Barker Appleby of Kurow Ferrari P4 built by Rod Tempero

NZ BUILT CARS The Fiat 125T – an exclusive New Zealand model

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MOTORSPORT

McLaren cars dominated Can-Am racing in the late 1960s – this gorgeous 1969 McLaren M12 still resides in New Zealand

MOTORSPORT

New Zealand’s place in the world of motor racing is something we can be proud of.

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The Stutz of Bob Wilson and Reg Grierson after winning at Muriwai in 1928. The car is now in the Southward Museum

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CHAPTER CHAPTER 10 1

T

his is the story of the rise and rise of motorsport in New on foot had been able to go before, presented a real challenge. Later Zealand. In the sixties, we produced three of the best these city-to-city events became social runs and then semi-races Formula One drivers of the era – Bruce McLaren, Denis and then record-breaking runs before authorities stopped them.

Hulme and Chris Amon. McLaren and Amon won the However, many think that rules are meant to be broken and these 1966 24-Hour Race at Le Mans, and Hulme was the 1967 Formula types of runs continued on for years as an underground, secretive One World Champion. Amon, famously, ‘drove for Ferrari’. activity.

In addition, New Zealanders were in high demand as mechanics The last of these city-to-city runs that was publicly recorded was internationally. They had the universal ‘Kiwi can-do’ attitude of being the midnight run in the mid-fifties by former New Zealand cricketer able to tackle all manner of tasks with high levels of excellence. This Frank Mooney. Mooney took a wager with a friend he could drive his had come about because of a need to make-do and adapt in a country Jaguar MkVII from Auckland to Wellington in under seven hours. He on the other side of the world. did it and the wager was paid before news of the run leaked when it Even today, New Zealand boxes well above its weight in many became a media sensation. Politicians were embarrassed and eventually aspects of the sport. Look at Scott Dixon in IndyCars – probably the the police charged Mooney, who pleaded guilty and was fined a best-known New Zealander in the USA. And then there’s the number portion of his winnings. of Kiwi drivers in the top echelons of the Aussie V8 Supercar scene.

However, prior to about 1930, intercity runs were commonplace Our lasting legacy is the McLaren company, founded by Bruce and the competition was as much about overcoming conditions as it McLaren with a small team of New Zealanders. was about the times taken.

As soon as the first motor vehicles were running on New Zealand So, using that as a broad basis for ‘motorsport’, the first ‘winner’ soil, owners wanted to have the was Frederick Ridley Dennison of Oamaru, opportunity to ‘see what they could do’. who, in 1900, built the first New Zealand car.

During the first 20 years, the In June 1900 he set out to drive it from opportunities for this took many forms Christchurch to Oamaru. Today the trip takes – races (mainly on horse racing tracks three comfortable hours. In June 1900 with and beaches), speed trials, gymkhanas, few bridges, river crossings, appalling roads, This is the story reliability runs, hill climbs and city-tomechanical failures, and in the middle of of the rise and city runs. At first the latter were simply winter, Dennison took six days. He should examples of men and machines against rise of motorsport have put the car on the train and travelled in the odds – roads were primitive and comfort back to Christchurch, but he decided in New Zealand for a new-fangled automobile to get to drive. Unfortunately, the car exploded on through where only horses and men the return journey and was destroyed by fire.

Racing at Muriwai was big time – this is a racing special based on a Model T built and raced by the Auckland Ford dealer, John W. Andrew

Flat to the Boards It was inevitable that once there were two cars in the same place in New Zealand there’d be a desire to see which car was the fastest. In the book Flat to the Boards authors Dick Messenger and Douglas Wood record that one of the earliest races was along Ferry Road in Christchurch some time in deepest winter, between two Benzo Velo machines – one, driven by H J Shaw, was an 1898 model while the other, driven by Nicholas Oates, was a slightly earlier model and one of the first two cars to arrive in New Zealand, imported by William McLean.

Oates won.

There was nothing organised about these first head-to-head races; they were often done for bets. Given that any motor car was

an expensive device, it’s safe to assume that those who raced their vehicles were landed gentry rather than the common old working bloke.

There’s long been doubt over where and when the first organised motor race took place, both Dunedin and Christchurch having some claim to this honour – Dunedin at Forbury Park trotting track, or Christchurch at Hagley Park – or was it Lancaster Park? Records claim both venues.

However, as far as Dunedin is concerned, only rumours remain, so the honour goes to Christchurch as a date is known and several reports exist.

The organisers of the Christchurch race were the Pioneer Amateur Bicycle and Athletic Club at their Gala Gaslight meeting

The Ford V8 Special built in Wellington and used by John McMillan to win the first New Zealand Grand Prix at Ohakea in 1950. The car still exists, but with Jaguar power

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Christchurch remained at the centre of New Zealand car culture through to the present day

on November 13, 1901 – just three or four months after the Oates victory on Ferry Road.

Four vehicles were entered for this handicap race – one car, one motor quad and two motorcycles.

Ferry Road hero, Nicholas Oates was back with his Benzo Velo, A Lowery drove a De Dion powered quadricycle, H J Shaw rode an 1899 De Dion-engined tricycle, while R H Every drove a motor bicycle powered by a single-cylinder Minerva engine with belt drive. This vehicle had, in fact, been built in Temuka – the other three vehicles were all imported.

Every won, finishing a clear quarter mile ahead of Lowery who was in turn just 20 yards in front of Shaw, with Oates well back despite having been the first away with a lead of 200 yards.

About 5000 people watched the event, and it was deemed to be a thoroughly engaging sight. Christchurch remained at the centre of New Zealand car culture through to the present day and is specially noted as the national home of the Vintage Car Club of New Zealand.

From then on, the floodgates were well and truly opened – more motor vehicles were being imported and there were

Left: Bob Wilson and his co-driver Reg Grierson surrounded by admirers after winning the New Zealand Motor Cup for the third time at Muriwai

Gordon England’s neat little Austin Seven-based racer at Muriwai

also plenty of local engineers capable of building one-off cars using proprietary imported components such as engines and transmissions.

Clubs and associations were formed all over the country, aimed at giving car owners and drivers the opportunity to extract the most from their vehicles – either in terms of social runs, or, for the more daring, speed events. Somewhere in between the two extremes, were the first organised runs between towns and places.

Motorsport rapidly grew in popularity.

There were Auckland to Wellington Reliability Runs – a week was allowed for this journey, which was keenly contested.

People took advantage of loopholes in regulations and there were a lot of arguments.

Nothing has changed.

Long four- and five-day events, focusing on both performance and fuel consumption, were popular over the next decade or so, and there was a proliferation of hill climbs right across the country.

Beach Racing Motor races continued to be added to programmes of existing events – particularly A&P shows – but on March 9, 1912 the Canterbury Automobile Association held what would eventually prove to be an historic meeting, a dedicated motor race meeting on Brighton Beach. There was no circuit, it was a straight, point-to-point, five-mile run.

One more Brighton Beach race meeting was held before World War One, in December 1912. This event saw the first appearance in New Zealand of two purpose-built racing cars – a brand new Coupe de l’Auto Vauxhall imported by W (Wally) B Scott and Company and a Delage imported by J S Hawke. These were the two fastest cars in New Zealand at that time with top speeds of around 80

The legend! Burt Munro of Invercargill and his fabled Indian motorcycle

miles per hour. There were also meetings at Warrington Beach near Dunedin.

By comparison, the North Island seems to have been slow to stage motor race meetings, but everything was about to change.

World War One was a cruel, devastating, murderous affair and by the end of it, the world would never be the same again. But the development of both aircraft and motor vehicles took massive leaps with 10 or 15 years’ work being crammed into four years.

Motorsport in New Zealand also took a massive step forward in 1920 when the Auckland Automobile Association organised a pleasure trip around the Far North.

On the return leg to Auckland, some of the participants made a side trip to Muriwai

Beach on the west coast for a fast run along the black iron sands.

One of these participants, Bill Miller, saw the potential for organising a beach race meeting as had been done in the South Island. The Auckland Automobile Association – which was largely made up of motor dealers – loved the idea and formed a committee to organise what would be the biggest and most important motor race meeting in the country up to that time.

Come March 5, 1921 and the stream of motorists leaving Auckland for Muriwai was non-stop. Eventually about 6000 people lined the course that was laid out on fast, hard- packed sand on an ebbing tide. There was nothing fancy about the layout – a straight two-and-a-half-mile sprint up the 135

beach, around a marker and a sprint back to complete a five-mile lap. There were races for all manner and class of car, with the feature event being a ten-lapper contested by outright, stripped-down, hotted-up racing cars for a brand-new trophy – the New Zealand Motor Cup. The fields were large and comprised a cross section of the finest cars from Britain, Europe and North America – Hudson, Chandler, Daimler, Ford, Premier, Essex, Austin, Peugeot, Lancia, Wolseley and Cadillac. The field for the main race comprised two Cadillacs, two Hudsons, a Premier, an Essex and a Lancia.

The winner was Howard Nattrass, a real character and a motor dealer, driving a Cadillac that, it was rumoured, he had used without the permission of a customer who was overseas at the time. Nattrass was a prominent figure in the Auckland motor dealer scene throughout the twenties and thirties, and even designed a rotary engine that went nowhere in a commercial sense.

Adams in a Hudson was second, and Billy Ah Chee finished third in another Hudson.

W Boyle (father of sixties and seventies racer Alan Boyle) was fourth in the second Cadillac.

Arthur Dexter’s low-slung Riley 9 Brooklands at Henning’s Speedway, circa 1934

Without any doubt, this was a turning point in the development of motor racing in this country – big fields, big crowds and a proper motor racing atmosphere. Muriwai became the major motor racing venue in New Zealand, with at least one race meeting a year until 1939 and the start of World War Two. Such was the importance of Muriwai and the competition for the New Zealand Motor Cup, that highly specialised racing cars were imported from Britain, Europe and the United States, for owners and drivers who

were from Auckland’s business community and high society.

When the New Zealand Motor Cup was first donated, it was presented to the winner of the main race at Muriwai on an annual basis, but, to increase the level of competition, the organisers stipulated that if anyone won it three years in a row, it became theirs in perpetuity. The lure of the beach and of winning the New Zealand Motor Cup was so successful that the flood of new cars arriving in the country each year

Jim Boyd, forever associated with the Lycoming Special, in an early Buckler Sports car at a hill climb in Northland around 1955.

A Cooper-Bristol and rare Austin-Healey 100S line up behind

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Pat Hoare in his Ferrari at Dunedin’s Wharf circuit in 1957. Hoare always had very good cars

has probably never been matched since. All makes and models of successful racing cars were imported – Bugatti, Miller, Mercer, Ansaldo, Sunbeam, Alvis, Austin, along with local cars that were stripped and lightened versions of fast and powerful road cars – very few, if any, were brand new, but some were just a season or two old.

Showing the social acceptance of motor racing at that time, Auckland businessman, Bob Wilson (the ‘Wilson’ of Wilson & Horton of the NZ Herald) bought an ex-Indianapolis Stutz that had been imported for the 1924 Muriwai race by Selwyn Craig. Wilson bought the car for the 1926 race after it had failed in 1924 and 1925 and had it thoroughly overhauled in a search for reliability.

His efforts were rewarded when he won the 1926 race and then again in 1927.

Wilson earned the right to keep the New Zealand Motor Cup by winning his third straight race in 1928.

His first win in the Stutz was against Matthew Wills (of the tobacco company) driving a Sunbeam. Wilson won by half a mile. In 1927 he easily defeated Australian Hope Bartlett driving a Grand Prix Sunbeam, and he completed the trifecta in 1928 by winning from Bill Hamilton (of Hamilton jet boat fame) who was also driving a Sunbeam, a car in which he had competed at Brooklands in England.

However, this was a tighter race with Wilson being pushed hard in the early stages by

Road racing at Mairehau, Christchurch, with George Smith in his Gee Cee Ess Special about to lap Fred Sharmann in the Roper Ford. Circa 1951

Keith Cutten driving one of the fabulous American Indianapolis Millers – until it retired.

Muriwai continued into the mid-sixties as a race venue, slowly decreasing in popularity and appeal following the establishment of sealed-circuit racing in 1949.

In the twenties, motor racing was also organised on 90 Mile Beach in the Far North, Waikouaiti, Karitane, Long and Warrington Beaches near Dunedin, New Brighton at Christchurch and Oreti Beach at Invercargill.

There were also occasional, localised race meetings at places like Ohope Beach.

Ninety Mile Beach saw the first recorded fatality in New Zealand motorsport on February 17, 1927, when a Hudson driven

Track racing arrived officially at Henning’s Speedway in Mangere in 1933 …

Popular driver Johnny Mansel with the truly awful TecMec at Dunedin’s Oval circuit in 1961. He crashed fatally near this spot a year later

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down the beach at high speed by a Kaitaia garage proprietor collided with a Dort being driven in a race. A female passenger in the Hudson was killed.

This era was notable for the entry of a ‘factory team’ into New Zealand motor sport.

Todd Motors had acquired the Chrysler agency for New Zealand and inspired by the performance of Chrysler roadsters in the 1927 Le Mans 24-Hour Race, had their

chief engineer Bob Wraight prepare and race a Chrysler that appeared at beach races and hill climbs throughout the late twenties.

On Track Track racing arrived officially at Henning’s Speedway in Mangere in 1933, and then Gloucester Park in Onehunga.

Many decades later, during an interview in Driver magazine, Miller driver Gerry Mathieson gave a clear insight into how An outstanding New Zealand special – the RA Vanguard driven by Hec Green in the 1951 Lady Wigram Trophy Race

Rod Coppins in one of New Zealand’s most famous racing saloons — the Zephyr-Corvette

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social some of these events were. As an instance, before the Gloucester Park late afternoon/evening meetings, some of the top competitors, including Mathieson and a man who was to become a legend, George Smith, would meet at a pub in Onehunga for a couple of beers before heading to the track.

In the mid-thirties, full-time speedway came to Auckland with Western Springs where meetings were promoted by A J Roycroft, a prominent member of the Auckland motor dealers network. Roycroft was a powerful and dominant figure in New Zealand motor racing during the thirties,

In 1953, a new event was added to the calendar – the first-ever round-the-houses road race

forties and fifties, as a racer himself, but also as a promoter, car dealer and owner of racing cars made famous by his son, Ron Roycroft.

Hill climbs were also popular, with perhaps the most important being Bethunes Gully in Dunedin.

In 1933, as the Great Depression was beginning to lose its bite, the combined powers within the sport in Auckland decided to hold a ‘Grand Prix’ in order to lift the spirits of Aucklanders. This was the Prosperity Grand Prix and it was staged on gravel roads around the up-and-coming Auckland suburb of Orakei.

There were races for several classes of cars, but the main event, the Grand Prix itself, was won by Arthur Dexter in his Riley Nine despite clouting a lamppost and buckling a wheel. This was the only attempt at forming a road circuit in New Zealand during that era and it would be 1949 before it was attempted again.

However, this period cannot be left without some reference to the great Australian hero, Norman ‘Wizard’ Smith.

Smith came to New Zealand in 1927 armed with a modified Chrysler that he’d used for special intercity records in his homeland.

On January 11, he set a record time of 12 hours and four minutes for the 504 miles from Wellington to Auckland. A week later, he drove from Christchurch to Bluff, taking

Above: One of New Zealand’s greatest-ever international sports victories – Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon, with Henry Ford, acknowledge the crowd after winning the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans

eight hours and 30 minutes for the 402 miles.

Not satisfied with that, Smith returned to New Zealand in 1929 with a specially built car using a Cadillac chassis and a Rolls-Royce aero engine he called the ‘Anzac’. He had identified 90 Mile Beach as a venue on which to attack Malcolm Campbell’s Land Speed Record. He achieved It wasn’t only drivers who succeeded internationally – motorsport a speed of 148mph (238km/h) writer Eoin S Young became a legend and is probably this country’s most widely-read author – fast, but not fast enough.

He returned two years later with a brand-new car powered by An Australian newspaper claimed he a Napier aero engine that he called the hadn’t been brave enough to really put his ‘Fred H Stewart Enterprise’ and achieved foot down, and Smith sued over that – but 164.084mph (264.06km/h). Once again the truth was that the beach broke his heart fast, but not fast enough. by being too bumpy and/or too wet, so creating too much drag on the car’s tyres.

With the outbreak of the Second World War, racing cars were packed away in sheds and garages while people got engaged in far more serious matters.

Post War

The wail of the complex 1.5-litre BRM V16 was heard all over the Wigram airbase in January 1954

From 1946, interest was rekindled in motorsport and, as after World War One, there was a fresh passion and a new direction.

By 1948 there were so many clubs that it was decided the sport needed an umbrella organisation. The Association of New Zealand Car Clubs (ANZCC) was created, to which all clubs around the country were affiliated, and which ran events under a standard set of regulations. The office of the ANZCC was in Dunedin with the administrators being the husband and wife team, Percy and Sybil Lupp. Sybil was to become famous as New Zealand’s first successful female racing driver.

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By the late forties there were race meetings at the previously highly secret RNZAF base at Seagrove on the shores of the lower Manukau Harbour. These spasmodic meetings appear to have been largely small time ‘club’ affairs and continued into the fifties.

Other little known racing circuits in the Auckland area at the time included the access roads through the former American Army store at Wiri called Cambria Park – today part of a large industrial complex.

There was also a race meeting on new roads built for an extension of Mount Wellington.

Few records can be found of these meetings.

To find the event that really fired off motorsport after the war we have to go back to 1948 when a group of enthusiasts, members of the newly formed Canterbury Car Club, joined forces with the Vintage Car Club to organise the first-ever New Zealand Championship Road Race on a road circuit at Harewood.

Skill! Chris Amon’s delicate touch as he drifts a Formula One Ferrari

Planning was complete and entries were in, but just 10 days out from flag drop the police objected, advising the Waimakariri County Council that their road closures were against the law – and the race meeting looked like being called off. However, an urgent deputation to the Prime Minister

of the time, Peter Fraser, headed by former Army Officer Pat Hoare saw the RNZAF base at Wigram being made available, and on February 26, 1949, big-time motor racing arrived in New Zealand with the successful running of the first Lady Wigram Trophy Race.

Over 24 entries were received with 22 actually starting. The cars in the field were an eclectic mix of pre-war models that included pure racing machinery, road-going sports cars, and some home-built cars – the ubiquitous New Zealand Special. This was called Formula Libre – Free Formula. Pat Hoare, who had pretty much saved the

On February 26, 1949, big-time motor racing arrived with the successful running of the first Lady Wigram Trophy Race The opening lap of a saloon car race at Ardmore in 1962, with a pre-war Chevrolet coupe ahead of a mixed bunch of cars

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Start of a hill climb at Houghton Bay, Wellington, with a Sunbeam Talbot just moving off the line and a Morgan behind

meeting, had commissioned local engineers Hec Green and Frank Brewer to build him a car for the event. It was the first in a line of successful racing cars from this team, with each subsequent machine being more advanced than the last. Green and Brewer finally designed and built a car that was revolutionary, even by the then standards of Grand Prix racing. This was the RA Vanguard.

The drivers for that first Lady Wigram came from all across the country and included Ron Roycroft in an ex-works supercharged Austin racing car that had been competitive in the hands of George Smith at Muriwai before the war. The

race was named for the trophy that was presented to the club by Lady Agnes Wigram, the widow of Sir Henry Wigram who had made the ground available for the air force base. Morrie Proctor won that first Lady Wigram in a Riley Nine. Wigram would become one of the most important motor race meetings in New Zealand from 1949 until the RNZAF closed the base in 1994.

From 1949, motor racing in New Zealand started coming thick and fast. In 1950, the Manawatu Car Club copied Christchurch by getting use of the RNZAF base at Ohakea for a race meeting. The feature race was given the title of the New Zealand Grand Prix. The

winner was Wellington driver John McMillan in a superbly designed and built single-seater racing car that used Ford V8 components – a design that would pretty much become a New Zealand standard over the next decade.

In 1951, motorsport in Canterbury really took off with a road race at Mairehau, a northern suburb of Christchurch, joining Wigram on the calendar. The first Mairehau main event was the New Zealand Championship Road Race and was won

by Ron Roycroft in a new and sensational Jaguar XK120 sports car.

There were now three proper motor racing circuits in New Zealand in addition to the beach races that continued to be staged.

As well, by now, a driver pecking order had been established and it included Hec Green, John McMillan, Ron Roycroft and George Smith, with the latter two being particularly competitive – Roycroft in one of his father’s cars and Smith in his famous Gee Cee Ess, another self-built, Ford V8-based New Zealand special.

Local Heroes Roycroft and Smith couldn’t have been more opposite. Roycroft lived in the hill country south of Auckland where he ran a garage at Glen Murray, while Smith lived in Auckland where he ran a garage in the city centre. Roycroft was slight, shy and partly deaf after working with aircraft engines during the war – he almost looked anguished at times. By comparison, Smith was big, burly, loud, ebullient and would

Crowded grid at Teretonga, 1968 – from left to right, Frank Gardner, Bruce McLaren, Jim Clark and Chris Amon. (Photo – Bob Woodford)

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race with a bagful of apples in the cockpit, munching away and tossing the cores at spectators and marshals.

In 1952, in addition to the feature races, programmes were extended to include support races for saloon cars (often called stock cars), sports cars and anything else the organisers could find a home for. New cars were being imported such as the new, small, Cooper-type cars with a motorcycle engine in the rear, and a growing collection of 1930s Grand Prix cars, such as Alfa Romeos and more Bugattis.

In 1953, a new event was added to the calendar – the first-ever, round-thehouses road race. Staged in Dunedin it was described as the New Zealand equivalent of Monaco – a stretch of the imagination.

Monaco was run in a millionaire’s paradise; the Dunedin circuit had the wharves on one side, the railway on the other and grimy old warehouses in the middle.

The date for the inaugural Dunedin race showed great faith in the weather – June 1, the start of winter. But the weather was clear and fine, if cool, and Ron Roycroft, driving a pre-war Alfa Romeo P3 easily won.

Denis Hulme and Chris Amon ‘tog up’ before the start of the 1968 Lady Wigram race

International In 1954 the sport took a major leap forward with not Huge crowds only Auckland joining the fold with yet another circuit descended on Ardmore on an airfield, but also the airfield with numbers first truly competitive interas high as 100,000 national field. being recorded There had been Australian competitors at Wigram and Ohakea, but for the first-ever The grimly determined style of Denis Hulme at Levin in 1966. He would become world champion the following year. (Photo – Digby Paape) New Zealand International Grand Prix at Ardmore there were established British Grand Prix drivers new trophy; instead, Bob Wilson donated perfect – particularly when it came to the in current Formula One cars. the New Zealand Motor Cup he had held lap scoring.

Big-time international motor racing since winning it outright in 1928 to the Australian Stan Jones was judged the had finally arrived in New Zealand. While organisers for presentation. winner, famously driving a car originally there had been two earlier Grands Prix at Huge crowds descended on Ardmore powered by a Maybach engine taken from Ohakea, it was the word ‘International’ that airfield with numbers as high as 100,000 an abandoned German scout car in the differentiated this event. The winner of the being recorded and the event was judged North African desert. But British driver Grand Prix was not to be awarded a special a marvellous success. However, it wasn’t Horace Gould driving a Cooper Bristol Sports cars at Wigram, with Geoff Mardon leading in the Stanton-Corvette from Jim Boyd in the Lycoming, and Barry Porter third in the Lotus 15

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claimed the lap-scorers had got it wrong and that he was the winner. A dispute raged for months but was eventually put to one side in the ‘best interests of the sport’. Today, motorsport historians quietly agree that Gould was right.

The next ten or twelve years were remarkable – it really was a golden era.

The first move from temporary circuits using either airfields or closed public roads occurred a couple of years later with the opening of a purpose-built, permanent circuit within the confines of the Levin horse racing track. This was a project driven by an expatriate ‘Brit’ Ron Frost. Frost went on to rule the sport in New Zealand for decades.

Watching this growth were members of the Southland Sports Car Club in Invercargill. They identified land on the southern outskirts of Invercargill as being suitable for the construction of New Zealand’s second permanent motor racing track, Teretonga, which opened in late 1957.

To help raise funds, in 1956 and early 1957, they ran international meetings on public roads at Ryal Bush on the Southland Plains.

As the fifties closed, a pattern was set that saw the New Zealand international motor racing season begin with the Grand Prix at Ardmore, with many of the drivers staying over and moving south to a race meeting each weekend, at Ardmore, Levin, Wigram, Dunedin and Invercargill.

The scene was set for the creation of the famed Tasman Series of the sixties that saw

Ken Smith has been racing in New Zealand for more than 50 years. Here the Smith family (Ken and father Morrie), confer with the Murdoch family (Wayne and father Bill). (Photo – Terry Marshall)

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Saloon car racing great, Jim Richards, in his workshop with the still-secret Sidchrome Mustang hidden under covers

large fields of the best Formula One drivers in the latest Formula One cars. This was a fantastic period, and quite unthinkable today. New Zealand embraced the sport almost as much as it had embraced rugby sixty or seventy years earlier.

Driver to Europe Emboldened by the success of the Grand Prix at Ardmore and encouraged by the skills shown by a rising number of up-and-coming young drivers, the New Zealand International Grand Prix committee instituted a ‘Driver-to-Europe’ scheme,

subsidising a year overseas for young drivers with special talent.

Australian Jack Brabham had competed in the first Ardmore Grand Prix and had made many friends in Auckland, particularly the McLaren family who ran a service station in Remuera, and he also forged what was very much a working relationship with Charles and John Cooper in England.

The Coopers were gradually up-scaling their racing cars, moving step by step from the tiny, rear-engined, motorcycleengine-powered Formula 3 cars into larger classes. At first, the motor racing world

LEFT: A gathering of greats – Chris Amon, Stirling Moss and Denis Hulme at a motor show in Auckland BELOW: The great Jim Clark at Teretonga 1967 in the Lotus-Climax

The Tasman Series saw large fields of the best Formula One drivers in the latest Formula One cars

looked on with tolerance as these unusual little cars started taking on the established, front-engined racing cars, but the smiles faded when the rear-engined Coopers started to win in the hands of drivers such as Jack Brabham and Stirling Moss. This was the beginning of the rear-engined revolution, one that would be complete by the end of 1960.

Compared to the other established teams like Ferrari and Maserati, the Coopers ran what was virtually a backyard team where drivers pitched in and helped build the cars they raced. A very young Bruce McLaren was named as our first Driver to Europe and the family friendship with Jack Brabham got him a drive with Cooper in the lesser Formula 2.

Famously, when McLaren arrived at the Cooper factory and asked where his car was he was shown a pile of tubing and told “there it is, you have to build it.”

Back in New Zealand, the airfield at Ardmore became unavailable for the 1962 event, so a new permanent circuit for Auckland was established under the direction of Ron Frost. As he had done at Levin, Frost utilised the established facilities of a horseracing track, this time at Pukekohe.

By the late sixties, we had permanent

In recent years, the one-make Toyota Racing Series has provided the backbone of our international motorsport.

This is Christchurch driver Peter Knight. (Photo – Terry Marshall)

facilities at Pukekohe, Baypark (Tauranga), Levin and nearby Manfeild, Ruapuna Park (Christchurch), Levels (Timaru) and Teretonga (Invercargill). Road racing was out of favour.

Modern Times The fantastic growth of the fifties and sixties slowed during the seventies and since then the sport has undergone constant revision.

Rallying became an alternative discipline in the early seventies, and today has grown to become equally as popular as motor racing.

In the nineties, the number of spectators at events dwindled and we lost some of the key categories, but the sport survived

simply because of the love that most New Zealanders have for their motor cars.

Today the sport has been reinvigorated and we are now within a new, more professional era with increasing levels of investment from the motor industry that continues to see the sport as an integral part of the overall New Zealand motoring scene – just as it had in the early days at Muriwai Beach.

While the sport has become far more professional, there are still drivers who do everything themselves and go racing the traditional way with oil and grease under their fingernails.

Like the motor car and the motor industry, the sport has come a long, long way.

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PROFILES – PEOPLE AND COMPANIES

MTA PEOPLE AND COMPANIES Some of the people and companies who have made the New Zealand motor industry what it is today, from the entrepreneurial pioneers and garage owners, to the giants and personalities of the industry.

Todd Motors Timaru branch in the late twenties

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Todd Motors

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lthough no longer active in the New Zealand motor industry, Todd Motors played a pivotal role through the formative years and then the years of change.

Charles Todd senior emigrated from Scotland to New Zealand, via Australia, landing up in Central Otago to manage a gold mine at Bendigo. In 1884, he took a break from gold mining to move to Heriot in West Otago where in partnership with his

16-year-old son, Charles Junior, he set up as a fellmonger. In 1890 Charles senior returned to the gold mine at Bendigo leaving his son to nurture a flourishing group of businesses.

Charles Junior established Todd Brothers, which bought farms and grew into a stock and station agency that was later sold to Dalgetys in 1927. The farms remained in Todd ownership until after WWII when they were bought by the government for resettling returned soldiers.

At the same time as he and his brother were busy developing the farms and the stock and station agency, Charles Junior imported the first cars into the West Otago area (around 1912) and then established a garage to service them as well as to hire them out. By 1914 the garage was the sub-agent for Commer trucks and BSA motorcycles, along with Studebaker and

CHAPTER 1 1

Ford cars. Garages were opened throughout Otago and Southland after the exclusive Ford agency was obtained.

While Todd Brothers were enjoying great success with their stock and station company, operating its branches in parallel with the car business, they decided there was greater potential with the latter. So the head office of the Todd Motor Company was established in Dunedin in 1922, where the company lost the Ford dealership but gained the New Zealand franchise for Gray and the South Island agency for Wolseley.

The move to Wellington was quick, just a year after establishing in Dunedin, and there they added Maxwell to their range.

This gave them access to the new Chrysler brand when it was established, and in 1925 the decision was made to focus, with great success, on Chrysler. However, the company read the future well and in 1931 added the British brands Hillman and Humber to Chrysler, so they had both British and American bases covered.

In the mid-thirties they expanded into petrol importation and distributorship with Europa – famously named as such to hide its Russian origins.

In 1945, David Brown tractors were added to the group’s portfolio.

A Todd Motors showroom in 1949 with a new model Hillman Minx, Humber Super Snipe and Sunbeam Talbot lined up, along with a display of accessories

After WWII, with import licensing restricting the number of cars available in New Zealand, Todds introduced us to the world of badge engineering, which seems to have first occurred around 1948. They had a big seller in the small Hillman Minx and could have sold more, but their licence for Hillman capped the number of imports.

Although it was the smallest Humber, the Hawk was a bigger car than the Minx and wasn’t in such demand. So, Todds imported extra CKD Hillman Minx packs as Humbers and gave us the Humber 80. It was identical

The brand was Europa, it was part of the Todd Group, but the company was Associated Motorists Petrol Company

Denford McDonald

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fter the Todd family themselves, the other human powerhouse in Mitsubishi Motors Corporation was Denford M cDonald who held several high-ranking posts in the company, ending up as managing director.

Those close to McDonald equated him with Chrysler’s Lee Iacocca in the USA – both were brilliant at sales and engineering and were able to achieve good things with small budgets and plenty of ingenuity.

He was responsible for the development of a uniquely New Zealand car – the Mitsubishi V3000. Launched in 1988, the V3000 remained in production for eight years.

McDonald was a top engineer and he also had a very good understanding of the New Zealand market – and he wanted a six-cylinder car to offer some opposition to the entrenched Falcon/Commodore double.

He figured that the Sigma, originally fitted with a big four-cylinder motor, was up

to the Minx save for badging and some other minor trim changes. It was a smart move and the Humber 80 became more popular in New Zealand than the Hillman with its younger image.

While American-built cars were in ever shorter supply, Chrysler were building older-model cars in Australia and these were more readily available than current USA models and were bought up by eager buyers.

In 1963 Chrysler stopped making the old cars in Australia and started production of the Valiant, which was possibly a larger success in New Zealand than in Australia.

In 1970, with Rootes Group products fast disappearing, Todds took on the Japanese Mitsubishi franchise – a stroke of genius as this was where the future lay, and they managed the brand to have the highest market penetration in the world, on a per capita basis.

In 1987 Todds exited the car and truck industry. Rootes Group products had long gone, Chrysler had killed off the Valiant six years earlier, and Mitsubishi wanted to run their own shop in New Zealand.

Today, of course, the Todd Corporation is active in other areas, but the story of Todd Motors is a hugely exciting and satisfying New Zealand success story.

to the job of being powered by a 3.0 litre V6 – but Mitsubishi Motors back in Japan doubted that such a conversion was possible.

However, McDonald had other ideas and pushed ahead with the project, which turned out to be highly successful.

The resulting V3000 was successful enough to be chosen by the Ministry of Transport for patrol cars and also resulted in a memorable TV campaign based on the ‘more tow than an Aussie tank’ theme.

The development of the V3000 gave Mitsubishi an image as a true New Zealand company and overcame any resistance to the idea of a Japanese company taking over a New Zealand business icon such as Todd Motors.

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The Colonial Motor Company CMC

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he Colonial Motor Company – CMC as it is now – was one of the most important companies in the first half of last century as both the sole importer of Ford cars, trucks and tractors, and owner of some of the retail outlets as well. Even after Ford set up as a factory shop, CMC remained powerful and continues to do so today, retailing mostly Ford products, through 20 dealerships, but having added other brands to some dealerships across the country.

It’s fair to say that The Colonial Motor Company is a company that operates well under the proverbial radar.

It began with a Wellington-based

The excellent book by Roger Gardner that tells the previously untold story of The Colonial Motor Company

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Aerial view of a CMC Ford dealership – New Lynn Motors, later West Auckland Ford

blacksmith that evolved into Rouse & Hurrell, a coach building business in the 1880s. In 1908 they acquired the Automobile Company of New Zealand, established by Fred Meadows, which held the agency for Ford vehicles in New Zealand. The timing was perfect, as hardly had Rouse & Hurrell got established in their new business when Ford launched the Model T. Rouse & Hurrell appointed Hope Gibbons, seated at right, and his sons – left to right, Hope Jnr, Norman, Robert and Alfred Charles Corden Larmour to run the company and with the Model T he could hardly fail. In 1911 the in New Zealand for a decade after virtually name was changed to The Colonial Motor every other national Ford operation had Company. Wind back the clock to 1904 and been taken over by Ford. Takeover of the in Whanganui, a successful family group assembly operation was inevitable, but what headed by Tasmanian-born Hope Gibbons CMC didn’t expect was that Ford also took with his four sons – Hope, Norman, Robert control of distributorship in New Zealand. and Alfred – had a family conference, which CMC had expected to be able to continue set out a plan of business expansion. By appointing and handling dealers.

1918 they were highly successful, owning Today, CMC continues to be a giant of farms, breweries, quarries and flax mills, as the New Zealand motor industry and is well as being the majority shareholder in a still largely in the control of the Gibbons wholesale company JB Clarkson and Co. family. Members of the family have had They made a bid for the shares in CMC an active association with the MTA with held by Larmour who sold and retired a Jim Gibbons, chairman of CMC, being vice wealthy man, to Scotland. chairman of the association. Initially Jim The Gibbons family consolidated Gibbons was going to be involved with the their control of CMC, and in 1920 family’s farms, but he changed his mind built a 9-storey assembly building at and entered the motor industry, firstly as Courtenay Place in Wellington, folan accountant in one of the Ford dealerlowed later by smaller assembly plants ships, moving into sales then working up to in Auckland and Timaru. So successful was management roles and then head office. It’s this operation, that Henry Ford in Detroit a fascinating story of a company you may let the Gibbons family continue to run Ford never have heard of.

The Giltrap Group

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t’s unlikely there’s a person in New Zealand, who knows a spark plug from a clothes peg, who hasn’t heard of Sir Colin Giltrap. He and his two sons, Michael and Richard, head the largest and most successful group of car companies in New Zealand importing luxury brands like McLaren, Lamborghini, Bentley, Aston Martin, Audi, Porsche, (and others), and also operating several successful large dealerships, selling and servicing a myriad of more mainstream brands. The core value underpinning such a successful group has been a passion for the motor car and a love of motorsport.

Colin Giltrap was born in Taranaki, virtually

with a steering wheel in his hands and set about involving himself in the world of cars.

By 1966 he had established the legendary Monaco Motors in Hamilton, dealing with late-model glamorous American cars, as well as British luxury brands. In an era when such cars were rare in car-starved New Zealand, Monaco Motors became a mecca for every car enthusiast. Monaco Motors newspaper advertisements were read and digested avidly. Colin was known for two things in those early days – a remarkable memory and for never missing a deal. He was not only passionate about cars: he was also a consummate salesman.

Growth came quickly. In 1971 he bought Matamata Motors and soon after made the move on Auckland with the purchase of P Coutts & Co who imported and retailed Daimler cars, and retailed Triumph and Rover. The New Zealand agency for Audi, Volkswagen and Porsche soon followed, then Mercedes-Benz. The growth of the Group was bewildering. Over the years other agencies were acquired and others

Colin Giltrap and former Formula One driver turned television commentator, Martin Brundle

sold off along with continued expansion into retail. Colin Giltrap’s contribution to the car culture and the motor industry of New Zealand has been immeasurable. He’s one of today’s giants of the industry. It would have been fascinating had he been born 80 years earlier to see how he would have handled the arrival of the motor car into New Zealand.

Colin Giltrap has long been a motor racing enthusiast. In this 1962 photograph Colin (centre, with hand on his shirt) watches as Jim Palmer’s Lotus racing car is tied down on its trailer

Northern Automobiles

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orthern Automobiles was an Auckland company that specialised in English cars from the early days of motoring right into the seventies. The company was founded by Mr T A Low. He was described as “popular” and “the straightest man in the game”.

Tom Low was originally in the hardware business in Whanganui, but in 1916 was persuaded by the then head of The Colonial Motor Company (Charles Larmour) to run CMC while he, Larmour, was on holiday for an extended period. While running CMC Tom Low negotiated the Ford dealership for John W Andrews Ltd. After Mr Larmour returned, Tom Low found that the motor business had entered his blood – no more hammers, nails and hinges for him. He met George Henning, one of the key figures in the Auckland motor trade and operator of Henning’s Speedway at Mangere. They went into partnership in a dealership in lower Queen

Street, where Queen’s Arcade now stands, and handled Dodge and Daimler.

Although favourably located, the premises flooded each time there was heavy rain or high tide so they moved to Albert Street.

Low bought out Henning in 1923 and changed the name to Northern Automobiles and was now dealing with British Standards as well as American Dodge.

Tom Low liked cars and changed his own frequently. He counted among his personal friends Sir Henry Segrave, Walter Chrysler and Billy Rootes.

The company stayed true to Standard, later to become Triumph, for the rest of its existence.

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Cooke Howlison

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ookies’ is a part of Dunedin history, established in 1895 by Fred Cooke and Edward Howlison, originally dealing in push bikes from a showroom and workshop on Great King Street in the central city.

They imported parts of the BSA bike, added some of their own and called it the Record.

But, like so many other cycle dealers of the time, the move to cars was obvious and in 1907 they sold their first car – a small 8hp Rover. The buyer was the highly regarded Doctor Robert Valpy Fulton whose family names are recorded in several places names around Dunedin – Valpy Corner, Fulton Home, etc.

This was a time of test-it-and-see and after the Rover, Cookies changed to Buick and had so much success with it they stayed with the brand, adding Chevrolet later. They did well with General Motors products up until WWII – selling a record 370 Chevs in 1938 alone – but relied increasingly on used-cars, parts and service in the car-starved years after the war.

With the arrival of the Australian Holden in 1955, they were up and running again, and by 1960 were again an automotive powerhouse in Dunedin.

Cooke Howlison were very much a familystyle company, continuing to operate for decades from expanded premises on Great

Mitre 10 and then H & J Smith’s appliance shop.

Starting from 1914 they were agents for Phoenix 11/9hp cars, Rover and Cadillac, then Morris, Hupmobile and Briscoe cars.

In 1920, they became sub-agents for Ford one-ton trucks, Overland and Chandler cars, Federal Knight and Thornycroft trucks were added in 1923, then in 1930 Hudson, Packard, Dodge and Pontiac agencies were held. In 1951 it was back to Morris, MG and Pontiac, then around 1965 they became sub-agents for the first Mitsubishi Colts.

The company also held agencies for Hart-Parr, Nuffield Tractors, and Terratrac and Case Crawler tractors. But it was Morris and other BLMC products, including the

Leyland P76 that they were best and longest known for.

In 1937 Mr C E Watts celebrated 25 years as managing director of the company and the staff arranged a ball in his honour. At that affair he told of his early days.

He said he first went to work for a cycle company in another city (sadly the story identifies neither the city, nor the company), but he got his ‘first sniff’ of petrol in 1898 and then went to work for a company that made motorbikes which sold at £65 and then made several cars that they sold at £120 each.

But when the company went broke Mr Watts moved to Invercargill where he met Mr Grieve and in 1912 they went into partnership. It was a partnership that lasted many, many years.

Cookies staff pose for a group photo in 1914

Watts & Grieves Ltd

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atts & Grieves Ltd was one of the earliest, largest and longest-standing Invercargill dealerships and represented many makes.

The company was formed in 1912 and closed in 1977. In 1919 the company moved into Esk Street premises, which after the company closed became a liquor outlet, a

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LEFT: The Cooke Howlison showroom in Hanover Street (left) and a newer one (lower) built on the site of the original bike shop in Great King Street.

Today, the company operates from several sites on Andersons Bay Road

Honorary

A King Street, connected with a quiet and name Oakwood Motor Group and managed rather dignified showroom in adjacent

by Graeme Marsh’s son John, the group Hanover Street. has 10 dealerships throughout Otago and In 1963, the old family business was sold to Canterbury, and has the Toyota, Holden, a new family, brothers Eric and Graeme Marsh Hyundai, BMW and Isuzu franchises, with who inherited their business skills from about 115 staff, including 10 apprentices. their parents who were successful grocers in Cooke Howlison was one of the MTA’s Dunedin, Eric being the salesman and Graeme founding members and Graeme Marsh is a taking care of business. They already had an past chairman. established presence in the Dunedin motor Cooke’s is a very loyal Dunedin company industry with a large Shell service station and and a great corporate citizen. workshop (Marsh Brothers) and a flourishing used-car business (Glen Motors).

The brothers proved to be adept at managing the affairs of the company which quickly expanded with additional new premises along the burgeoning ‘car strip’ of Anderson’s Bay Road, and then added the local Vauxhall/Bedford dealership (operated by Wrightcars) to the portfolio, and then Blackwell’s Holden in Christchurch.

Cookies management and a luxury version of the HQ Holden Today, operating under the

list of the companies that were honorary members of the MTA in September 1931 makes interesting reading.

• Adams Ltd of Christchurch – long-time Studebaker importers.

• Atlantic Union Motor Oil – petrol and oil.

• Dominion Motors – Morris importers.

• Hope Gibbons & Co Ltd – the parts and accessories arm of the Colonial Motor Company • Magnus Motors Ltd – Dodge, Rolls-Royce dealers.

• Jas J Niven & Co – engineering supplies.

• Northern Automobiles Ltd – Dodge and Standard, but later Triumph.

• AS Paterson & Co – long time Big Tree petrol importer.

• Scott Motor Agency Ltd – Austin importer.

• Shell – petrol and oil.

• Teagle Smith & Sons – parts, accessories and equipment.

• Texas Oil (Texaco) – petrol and oil.

• Vacuum Oil Co – petrol and oil.

• Wakefield & Co – Castrol oil.

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Armstrong Motors and the Hill

The Passing of a Pioneer

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here’s very little documented history of early pioneers in the New Zealand motor industry, but Radiator’s June 1937 edition pays tribute to one of them.

He was Tom Inglis who, with his brother Hugh, founded a company called Inglis Brothers and became New Zealand agents for Star, Enfield and Scat cars.

The first Star car imported came equipped with a taxi-meter and was the first petrol-driven taxi in New Zealand.

It was a novelty and was said to have earned £130 in its first week.

Tom Inglis was born in Dunedin and was a fine athlete at Otago Boys High School.

After leaving school he went to England to train in the soft-goods business, but didn’t find this to his liking; instead he became fascinated by the motor car, returned to New Zealand and set up in business with his brother.

Radiator says of his passing, “With his death, the ranks of the pioneers of the New Zealand motor industry are rapidly thinning.”

Campbell Motors

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t’s fair to say that not every New Zealander has a penchant for history but Bob Armstrong of Hamilton does. Bob contacted the MTA when he learned of this book that was being published as part of the association’s centenary celebrations and through the mail came a parcel of carefully prepared material detailing much of the history of his family company. Armstrong Motors had been the Ford dealers for Hamilton from 1934 to 1967 when the franchise was sold. Subsequently, they became Fairview Motors that today represents Ford across the entire Waikato region.

However, the information in the parcel covered more than Armstrong Motors – it also detailed a period when the landscape of Hamilton changed with the removal of Garden Place Hill, resulting in today’s modern and open cityscape.

It wasn’t always that way.

This story begins in 1934 when William Harold Armstrong moved from Whakatane and bought the Hamilton City Ford dealership from Fred Baker who operated as Ford Sales & Service Ltd. Baker’s company operated from premises that were awkward to say the least – up a narrow, cramped alleyway and squeezed by the side of a hill that had been left in the centre of the growing town after earlier levelling work.

Ford V8 trucks sold by Armstrong Motors, lined up to carry the excavated hill away.

(Photo Bob Armstrong Collection)

The hill was right in the middle of what was obviously prime real estate and, while some people liked it, others saw it as a serious impediment to Hamilton’s progress.

Under the directorship of Mr W H Armstrong, the company had become very successful, including, in 1937, the sale of 15 Ford V8 sedans – the entire fleet of the Hamilton taxi company, Checker Cabs.

After that sale had been negotiated, the fleet of 15 Fords, all painted black, was assembled at the Ford plant in Petone and driven to Hamilton where the occasion called for a street parade before the cars went into service.

However, as successful as Armstrong Motors was, Mr W H Armstrong knew things would be better with newer, larger premises.

So, the decision in 1939 by the Hamilton City Council to remove the hill was greeted warmly by Mr Armstrong. Not only was he

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mong the new members confirmed at the December 1936 meeting of the MTA was Campbell Motors of Auckland.

Campbell Motors went on to become one of the biggest players in the New Zealand motor industry with a major assembly plant in Thames where a variety of vehicles were assembled including Rambler, Peugeot and Toyota.

This is the plant now owned by Toyota where used cars are refurnished.

A variety of 1936 Ford V8 models in the Armstrong Motors workshop. (Photo Bob Armstrong Collection)

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The art deco frontage of the ‘new’ Armstrong Motors after the hill was removed.

(Photo Bob Armstrong Collection)

going to have a far more open site for his business, but he also sold a fleet of ten ‘barrel-nose’ Ford trucks to the successful contractor, Charlie Grinter of nearby Karapiro.

In the earlier levelling of Hamilton central, approximately 60,000 cubic metres of soil was removed but the removal of the remaining hill was a much bigger job.

Grinter’s contract price had been $178,000 and, working 24 hours a day, it took the best part of a year to remove the 330,000 cubic metres of soil which went to fill in various gullies and dips around the city.

This was a big contract and those Ford trucks had to work for their living – broken rear axles were common.

Armstrong Motors kept a mechanic on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week during the contract and, at one time, the company held the complete stock for Australia and New Zealand of spare axles for that particular model truck.

Loading of the trucks also saw incidents where the trucks themselves were damaged and the local panel beating company, Montieth & Parker Ltd, were kept busy pushing the cabs back into shape.

When completed, there was a wide-open space between Anglesea and Victoria Streets.

While there was initial indecision over what this open space should be used for, Mr Armstrong knew exactly what he wanted

– Armstrong Motors soon moved into stunning new, art deco-styled premises.

However, WWII had broken out and the Army and then the RNZAF took over most of Armstrong Motors buildings for repairs and maintenance, forcing the company into temporary premises where they remained until 1945.

When the franchise was sold in 1967 to Fairview Motors, Armstrongs had expanded with a truck and tractor branch at Te Rapa.

In 1969, new owners, Fairview Motors vacated the Garden Place site and the buildings were demolished.

However, pride in the 35-year legacy of Armstrong Motors still runs deep.

The original entrance to Armstrong Motors, almost buried under the hill.

(Photo Bob Armstrong Collection)

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H Hatrick & Co

atrick & Co of Whanganui had a long and illustrious involvement in the transport industry, initially as operators of various boats on the Whanganui River, for which they are still best known today, and then with a major involvement in the motor industry. Alexander Hatrick was born in Victoria of Scottish parents, but moved to New Zealand in 1875 at the age of 17.

At first he was engaged in menial labouring work, but became involved in trade and transport, eventually establishing a business empire that involved shipping, farming

Dominion Motors

and motor vehicles. By 1918 his motor division was one of the largest motor companies in the country. Over the years it had branches or agencies in Wellington, Auckland, Waitara, Raetihi, Sydney, Melbourne and London.

For 16 years Hatricks were the New Zealand agents for Willys-Knight and Overland cars as well as Firestone Tyres. But in 1928 that ended with a new company set up in Wellington to handle the cars, while the American Firestone company itself arrived in Wellington to handle the distribution of its own goods.

D McL Wallace

A

I

two-line report in the December 1938 issue of Radiator gives no clue to the significance of the event. It merely says that the new assembly plant for Dominion Motors in Auckland is nearly complete and will be occupied shortly.

Today, the one-storeyed building still stands in Mortimer Pass, just 20 metres off busy bustling Broadway in Newmarket, and is home to an eclectic bunch of retail shops from Farmers to trendy boutiques and cafes.

You can still see the saw-tooth roof with huge windows to let in light and outside the words Dominion Motors are cast in concrete on the front.

It is incongruous to think that a mid-weight industry like the unpacking, assembly and delivery of motor vehicles ever took place right in the heart of one of the trendiest shopping areas in New Zealand.

And yet this building produced Morris cars of all shapes and size for decades with production only ending in the seventies

n 1937 Singer, Wolseley and Rover cars were being sold in Auckland by former Ford dealer D McL Wallace Ltd and they were given praise for the job they were doing – particularly with Singer. In July of that year their gross sales for the brand had shown a higher percentage of growth per head of population than anywhere in the world. The reason for this success was down to the company’s enthusiastic marketing of the new Singer Twelve Four.

The company still exists and today deals in pumps.

Kirk Motors

T

he November 1939 issue of Radiator reports on the opening of a new dealership in Auckland, Kirk Motors which was dealing in the Todd Motors vehicles – Chrysler, Hillman, Plymouth and Commer.

The report contained a glowing description of the spacious new premises at 428–432 Queen Street with a large showroom off the street and a spacious workshop below.

The business was under the management of Phil Ornstein who was to later establish his own Todd Motors dealership in Pukekohe – Ornstein and Greenwell Ltd. Phil Ornstein was also a highly-regarded racing driver and his fifties and sixties exploits in a Humber 80 were legendary.

Macdonald Halligan

I

n February 1939, Radiator announced that a new company had been formed in Auckland to handle De Soto cars and Fargo trucks for Todd Motors and also a sub-dealership in Hillman cars. The company, Macdonald Halligan Motors Limited, had been established by A G Macdonald, who had been Todd Motors sales manager, and F Halligan, formerly of Shell Oil in Wellington and Dunedin.

The company first set up in Cooke Street, Auckland and in much later years in Greenlane and Panmure. The company still owns the Greenlane premises operated in 2017 by the Armstrong Group, and Macdonald Halligan still operate from premises in Ellerslie, the business is still controlled by the sons of the original founder.

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THE FUTURE – TECHNOLOGY

THE FUTURE A look into the crystal ball

The Rinspeed Budii autonomous car, based on the BMW i3

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CHAPTER 12

T

here has always been ‘The Future’.

In the thirties, cars of the future were the vehicles that Buck Rodgers travelled in.

In the fifties, cars of the future had jet, or rocket engines, with huge tail fins.

Our cars of the future won’t be from some sort of wild daydream; there are two certainties, the cars will be powered by electricity and they’ll be self-driving, or autonomous.

But, before we open the door on the future, we La Jamais Contente, the specially-built electric racing car in which Camille Jenatzy – the Red Devil should back up a little and look back to the beginning – set a new land speed record of over 100km/h in 1895 of the motor vehicle and wonder “what if . . .?” driving a Jeantaud electric car powered by a single electric motor As the 19th century was coming to a close and the world was gearing up for a future without horses, the electric car was a major generating 36bhp. contender.

Chasseloup-Laubat had an arch-rival, the Red Devil, Camille Putting aside steam cars, the two main contenders to rule Jenatzy and over the next six months the pair engaged in a furious the beckoning future of the motor vehicle were the simple and battle with speeds increasing each time. straight-forward electric cars and the complex, unreliable machines Jenatzy settled the duel on 29 April 1899 when, driving an powered by internal combustion engines (ICE), fuelled by a liquid all-new, streamlined car called La Jamais Contente (the Never that was highly explosive; gasoline.

Contented) he achieved 65.79mph – the first man in the world to If you look back to the year 1898, you would have to say that travel at more than 100km/h and live to tell the story. of the two propulsion systems, electricity was the winner. The His car was the first to be specifically designed to go fast and had cars were simpler, quieter, they had no smell, they were two direct drive Postel-Vinay 25kW motors, running at 200 volts, reliable – and they were fast. drawing 124 Amperes each for about 68hp, driving the rear wheels.

The first World Land Speed Record It was a weighty number at 1000kg, or one Imperial ton. Much of was established on 18 December the weight coming from the battery of batteries needed to power it.

1898, by Comte Gaston de This was not your archetypal car of 1899. It was streamlined, in Chasseloup-Laubat at that it was tubular in cross-section with a nose that looked like it 39.24mph. He was had been sharpened in a large pencil sharpener.

To compensate for the weight of the batteries, the car was constructed of a light alloy, called partinium – an alloy of aluminium, tungsten and magnesium. Unlike other cars of the era, it rode on small diameter wheels fitted with large cross-section Michelin balloon tyres.

Compared to other cars of the era it was positively futuristic, even if the streamlining was all wasted by the bulky, exposed chassis, and the fact the driver sat bolt upright, thrust into the airstream from his waist up!

History doesn’t appear to record how it was that the oil barons won the battle to provide the fuel (and thus decide the technology) for the motor vehicle for the next 110-plus years.

Porsche – a name that is synonymous with raw speed and power – but also with electric cars that bracket 117 years of design. In 1905, Ferdinand Porsche designed the Lohner Porscher with electric motors in the front hubs – today the company that bears his name has developed an electric concept car

If you look at the development of the ICE (internal combustion engine) over say the first 90 years of last century, it is truly remarkable. Those noisy, smelly, smoky unreliable and slow ICE engines were developed into units with a high level of reliability, relatively silent operation and with prodigious power dependent on engine size.

Yes, the ICE has served us well. As has gasoline – petrol. However, it has its

drawbacks – supplies that can too easily be disrupted and now that there are so many of them, environmental damage.

But for almost all of last century, the electric car was consigned to being a mere curiosity, hampered by the need for bulky batteries that only provided sufficient storage capacity for a short distance.

For most of last century there was minimal advancement in battery technology and we are left asking, if the motor industry had

collectively decided in 1898 to go electric rather than ICE, where would the motor vehicle be today?

And what sort of world would we live in?

While electric cars today have a somewhat nerdy image among many car enthusiasts, they are really rewarding to drive. Just like ICE powered cars, the bigger the engine, the more performance, but the advantage that electric engined cars have over ICE is that maximum power and torque is developed

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The Nissan Leaf was sold new in New Zealand, but proved too expensive. However, used-models coming in from Japan are selling well

instantly – from the very first revolution.

This means that the electric vehicle (EV) is extraordinarily accelerative and it does it in a remarkably quiet and no fuss way.

Some car enthusiasts are facing the future with fear and trepidation; they love the thrust and increasing noise of the ICE as engine revs increase and they just can’t imagine life without that. But, for most, when the time comes, the change will be seamless and painless.

There has been ongoing development in the search for an alternative to the ICE, and it took a step or two up with the oil crises of the seventies and really accelerated through the eighties and nineties, with some vacillation over what exact shape the power plant of the immediate future would take.

Nissan had a delivery van powered by batteries back in the fifties

But the underlying thread has always been that the car of the future will be powered by electricity; the biggest questions have always been over how that electricity is supplied to the electric motors.

While there has been significant development in battery technology in the past 20 years, it’s still not at the point where a fully charged battery pack will take an EV the same distance as a tank-full of petrol in an ICE car.

The final answer to how you generate electricity on the move to power the EV of the future is something that all carmakers have been struggling with for at least the past two decades.

The answer seems to lie with a fuel cell, which, at this time, still requires a basic fuel

The immediate future lies with electric cars using battery packs that require recharging on a regular basis

to operate. So, that’s still a long-term solution.

However, the decision seems to have been made that the immediate future lies with electric cars using battery packs that require recharging on a regular basis.

Modern EV cars are now considered advanced enough for new car owners everywhere to be urged to consider buying one, instead of an ICE. Engineers are steadily increasing range and reducing charging time, the two main reasons for the EV syndrome known as “range anxiety”.

Quietly and without fuss, a network of charging stations has been established across the country ending the argument that you can’t do long-distance, intercity travel in an electric car. Today you can, quite easily – but you need to plan your trip to coincide with coffee and meal breaks while the car is recharged.

One major issue here that carmakers have yet to decide on is a universal plug-in connector.

The other deterrent on the purchase of electric cars is their cost.

They are more expensive to make than a similar-sized ICE vehicle; However, there’s now a steady stream of late model, lower

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PERFORMANCE REIGNITED

Suzuki’s philosophy of delivering fun and efficient vehicles is now re-ignited with advanced direct-injection BoosterJet Turbo engines. Delivering instant torque for improved driveability, more power, and even greater fuel efficiency, Suzuki are the leaders in small car and SUV technology.

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This electric truck cruised silently around the Manawatu early last century delivering butter. Electric milk trucks were also common in New Zealand in the first half of last century

priced used examples arriving, mainly from Japan, which makes them a far more attractive case. Without getting bogged down in too much detail and confusing acronyms, here’s a thumbnail sketch of the EV situation in New Zealand in February 2017.

There are three types of EV cars available.

BEV – is battery electric car, a car that uses batteries only, with a limited range that varies from car to car and battery size to battery size. The Nissan Leaf, the biggest selling BEV in the world, does between 140 and 170km depending on battery size.

EREV – is an extended range electric vehicle that uses a small, on-board ICE to run a generator to charge the batteries. The size of the fuel tank allows the range of an EREV car to be doubled – with the added advantage of being able to refuel the petrol tank more easily, more often and more quickly than recharging the batteries.

PHEV – this is a plug-in car that is similar to a hybrid in that it has both electric and ICE engines that operate separately. You use the

electric motor around town, the ICE engine on the open road. A hybrid constantly mixes and mingles both power sources.

New Zealand is particularly suited for EVs of all types because most of our electricity is supplied by renewable resources, unlike other countries where the argument against EVs is strengthened by the use of coal-fired and other polluting electricity generation.

And, in a nutshell, the advantages of EVs in New Zealand where 90 per cent of car journeys are less than 90km are that they’re quiet, they’re powerful, they are cheap to run (equivalent to paying 30 cents a litre for petrol) and they have 80 per cent fewer CO2 emissions.

The practical disadvantages are the high cost of purchase, lack of consistency of the plug hardware, and the time it takes for a recharge on a journey, providing the charging station is compatible with the hardware of your car.

But there’s no doubt that after almost 120 years of standing in the shadows, we are

Twenties America and, in a rural setting, an electric car gets a recharge via a power cable from within the barn

New Zealand is particularly suited for EVs because most of our electricity is supplied by renewable resources

finally making real progress. In May 2016 the government announced the Electric Vehicles Programme, which is aimed at speeding up the uptake and the integration of electric vehicles in New Zealand.

The programme has targets that include: • Doubling the number of EVs in New Zealand each year to reach around 64,000 by 2021.

• Making EVs exempt from RUCs until they make up two per cent of the light vehicle market.

• Having a budget of $1m annually to promote EVs and provide information.

• A contestable annual fund of $6m to encourage and support innovative low emission vehicle projects.

• Allowing local authorities to nominate EV-only road lanes.

However, the targets set by the government of doubling our EV fleet by 2021 may be too modest. Internationally there has been a recent surge in demand for EVs and carmakers are now revising predictions.

At present, about one per cent of new car sales are for EVs and this was expected to increase to four per cent by 2025. However, that 2025 figure is now looking likely to be seven per cent.

Ford boss, Mark Fields said in January 161

The EV1, which was built by General Motors over three years in the mid to late nineties. Just over 1100 were built and they were leased – not sold – in a handful of cities only, but were then withdrawn and crushed, leading to conspiracy theories

this year that the “era of the electric car is dawning” and predicted the number of EVs made each year will surpass pure ICE powered cars within 15 years.

Ford is promising 13 new electric cars over the next five years.

The increase in demand internationally is thought to have been driven by the increasing costs of meeting emission regulations and the falling cost of batteries.

Predictions are that by the year 2020, EVs will have batteries with a range of 500km, leaving only the emotional, tactile, arguments to be overcome.

But if car enthusiasts, those people the popular press likes to call ‘Petrolheads’, baulk at the thought of EVs, they have nightmares over the arrival of self-driving/driverless, or autonomous cars.

For many of us, the act of driving a conventional car with ICE and a manual gearbox is an art form, but so many people today rely on the private motor car to get from A to B they don’t care about art form, they want transport and the easier it is, the better. The take-up of automatic transmission over manual gearboxes in New Zealand in the past 30 years shows clearly where our preferences are.

We have been moving towards self-driving transport for years. Many commuter trains around the word are totally computerised and have no driver, but they are on a set of rails and don’t require steering, so it’s a slightly different set of rules, but they do indicate a transport trend.

For 15 years, the writer went to many international car launches where the manufacturers were keen to show off the latest developments in technology.

It was the mid-nineties when I had my first experience of technology that was heading in the driver-less direction. It was at a Honda test facility in Japan where a car 162

The widespread use of self-driving cars will pose a wide set of complex legal questions Power companies are setting up EV chargers in strategic areas around New Zealand, such as this one in the main street of Waimate in South Canterbury

followed a path around a road circuit, maintaining position in its lane.

This technology is part of the overall mix as the era of the autonomous cars arrives.

And the writer clearly remembers the first time he drove a car with adaptive cruise control that used infrared technology to monitor the road ahead.

It was totally unnerving to set cruise control at, say, 100km/h and, on a test track, come up behind a car that was travelling more slowly and let the technology, firstly slow the speed and then apply the brakes if needed.

It was even more unnerving to have cruise control set and to bear down on a very solid, unavoidable, stationery object and not either (a) apply the brakes yourself, or (b) steer around it. But the technology was faultless and today, along with other things like ABS and stability control, is making its way down

the automotive food chain, as the costs get cheaper.

It’s not only trains today that are driverless – visit many factories and you’ll find small, self-driving vehicles gliding around delivering components to various stations. And, of course, we’re regularly sending spaceships to Mars without pilots, so in many ways, the motor car is one of the last autonomous breakthroughs.

The New Zealand Ministry of Transport has identified five levels of autonomy – from full manual (driver) control to none.

Level 0. Where the driver is in full control at all times with nothing automated at all, the sort of driving that most of us do (enjoy?) today.

Level 1. This car will have one or two specific control functions – e.g. stability control, but the driver can regain control.

Level 2. The car will have automation of at

The electric cars that have commanded the most attention in recent years are those from the start-up Tesla company in the United States. The arrival of Tesla has been a phenomenon, but so far the company has yet to make a profit – the Tesla 3 is the car the company says will do that

least two primary control functions working in unison – e.g. adaptive cruise control with lane centring. The driver is temporarily relieved of these duties. Vehicles with these levels are already operating in New Zealand.

Level 3. Limited Self-Driving. Expected from 2020 or so. This car will have technology that enables all safety-critical functions to be automated – including brakes, steering and throttle. The vehicle monitors any changes in conditions. However, the driver must be able to take over the controls.

Level 4. Full self-driving. This vehicle is expected around 2025. It will be designed to perform all safety-critical functions and monitor conditions for the entire journey. This will apply to cars that are both occupied and empty. The driver is not expected to take control at any time.

In creating this series of levels and a possible timeline, the Ministry is aware that each manufacturer will adopt a different approach and that there are non-car companies like Google who are not involved in the existing industry, but are developing an autonomous car as their entrée into the market.

The Ministry says the widespread use of self-driving cars will pose a wide set of complex legal questions – for example, who will be liable in the case of a crash?

But crashes will be fewer with autonomous vehicles. In Europe, there has been a

dramatic reduction in the number of nose-to-tail crashes since the introduction of technology like adaptive cruise control.

New Zealand is open to being a test-bed for these new technologies because, unlike many other countries, our legislation does not actually require a car to have a driver.

Someone had an eye to the future there.

If New Zealand were to become a test

bed, public roads would not be used. There are forestry roads that could be used, and there’s always the Cardrona Snow Farm, high on the Pisa Range in Central Otago.

Farm owner John Lee originally promoted this complex as a cross-country skiing operation. Lee then founded the Cardrona skifield on the other side of the Cardrona Valley and once that was operating, sold it

This looks like a Renault Dauphine, but it’s a Henney Kilowatt built for the American market in 1960 and based on the Dauphine. They built just 32 of them

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and returned his attention to the Pisa Range.

Here he quickly established a winter testing complex of tracks and circuits for tyre manufacturers offering them continuous northern and southern hemisphere winter testing.

There was a great deal of trust involved here as often competing tyre companies were operating at the same time, separated only by good will.

But carmakers got to hear of this place which operated well below anyone’s radar and which was virtually unknown even in New Zealand.

For more than a decade, Lee and the Cardrona Snow Farm hosted all manner of secret cars, undergoing all manner of secret testing and not just in the winter when the place is under a metre of snow, but all year round.

The remarkable openness and level of trust continued with sometimes two or three manufacturers testing new cars, or new technology at the same time, operating on different tracks and using separate buildings.

The highly-secret Porsche Panamera was partly developed here and examples of it were frequently seem in Wanaka, but never made news in Europe where competition to photograph the car was cut-throat.

Eventually security arrived, cars started arriving in enclosed trailers and it all changed. John Lee had an offer he couldn’t refuse and today it is known as the Southern Hemisphere Proving Ground, and is run under strict security.

So, could this facility play a part in the final development of self-driving, driverless, autonomous cars?

Almost certainly.

We are on the cusp of change.

As we move to EV and then autonomous cars, the emotional attachment that we have had for cars for the past

This T25 is an evolved city car that uses traditional engine design methods, but can achieve an economy of 107 mpg with a very low carbon emission output. This model from Gordon Murray who worked with Shell for this concept vehicle. Murray also designed the McLaren F1 supercar

120 years will weaken. It began to weaken and fade in New Zealand with the arrival of JUCs in the mid-eighties. More and more the cars we use will become simple transportation devices. As that happens, designs will change quite rapidly and cars will become more capsule-like.

Life will become easier, more practical, transport will be cheaper, the road toll will become an unpleasant memory and there will be many people, like the author, who

will think, “well, we lived through the best part of it”.

But given the human spirit, there will always be people who will find a way to engender excitement and competition.

But it’s not only the car itself where we will see changes – computers and the internet will also play a major role.

As we enter the second century of the MTA and around 120 years of the New Zealand motor industry, one of the major

A sporty design in this brand-less, generic concept car with with gull-wing doors

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If consumers ever reach a point where function is more important than style, then this is the sort of car we might be using. It’s the Google Auton, an electric autonomous transportation pod

The cars will become simple transportation devices. As that happens, designs will change rapidly and cars will become more capsule-like.

changes that the industry has already adopted has been the use of computers and the internet. But this ‘modern technology’ is set to play an even bigger role.

While the rest of the world had a relatively steady uptake of early computer use, the New Zealand aftermarket motor industry had a huge early surge in 1997 and 1998 with the advent of the WoF online system.

To keep up with developments in the industry, New Zealand workshop owner/ operators were forced to learn how to use a Windows computer long before most other industries did, and because motor mechanics are generally problem solvers and fast learners, many surprised themselves with how quickly they learnt to drive a PC. It’s easy to forget how foreign the movement of a computer mouse was back then. Everyone had to learn some new (unnatural) fine motor control skills. For people over 50 – the typical age of the established business owner at the time – this was sometimes difficult.

Combine this with Microsoft moving

This is the Electric concept car coupé 2-seater called Trezor, from Renault, displayed at the Paris Motor Show in 2016

from its original home-PC model to increasingly better small business networking, and suddenly in New Zealand we had a much earlier technology opportunity than in comparable countries and markets. By the end of last century, most people involved in New Zealand’s automotive industry were comfortably wielding a couple of new tools called a keyboard and mouse.

While software developers in other countries basically had to wait for the 50+ aged owners to retire before computers and business software were taken in a serious way, New Zealand already had a relatively mature market by 2005.

This early traction is still evident when comparing the New Zealand industry to our overseas counterparts. For example, the typical Australian automotive business continues to trail New Zealand both in the

application and effectiveness of how they use specialist software. In short, we’re better users of technology and we expect more of it.

The next big technology change was the mainstream emergence of the internet along with email. A bit later, SMS text messaging and smart phone technology came along.

As the MTA turns 100, email is now recognised as a vital operating requirement for a business to succeed. Losing the internet for any significant period of time can have as much impact on the operation as a power cut or major phone outage. Perhaps more.

Almost every business now has a web presence. Often this is just a simple website set up as a shop window but it also feeds into an online presence of the likes of Google Maps, and increasingly this is how new customers locate businesses in the first instance. The Yellow Pages, once critical 165

Toyota displayed this futuristic concept car at CES 2017, in Las Vegas. The vehicle features a friendly co-pilot designed to assist the driver and improve safety

to most businesses, has been displaced by technology.

As a further offshoot of this web presence, we’re starting to see increasing use of functionality like automated bookings and social media, allowing more regular contact and enhanced marketing opportunities with customers.

Today, virtually every part of the industry supply chain is connected. Most ordering of parts and supplies is done online, and sometimes this is completely automated.

Purchase orders, invoices, statements and virtually every other type of document can be sent electronically, speeding up transactions, shortening payment cycles and ultimately lowering the industry’s environmental impact.

Email and SMS provide immediate connection with customers and suppliers, and the use of these communication tools continues to increase.

Darryn Crothall, general manager of TSI Group, a supplier of software and technology services to the motor industry says TSI processes over 4500 SMS messages for clients every business day with around 20 per cent of these receiving a reply.

The majority of these are system-generated messages such as ‘Your car is ready for pickup’ and ‘Your vehicle is due for service on 14/2/2017’, which saves a staff member making these calls or putting reminders into envelopes.

It’s now clear that an automotive revolution is underway and that by around 2030 major changes are going to have a major impact on the industry.

There are four major trends coming, all driven by technology. These are: • Electrification • Self-drive vehicles • Intelligent transport systems/connected vehicles 166

Toyota’s FV2 concept proposed a radical advance in personalisation – mood mirroring; the vehicle’s exterior lighting can be changed to suit the driver’s mood

The New Zealand motor industry has repeatedly demonstrated both ability and willingness to adapt to new technology and make it work

• Diverse mobility/car sharing As with every major change, there will be opportunities and threats from all of these.

Cars are about to start sending and receiving huge quantities of data, which, once aggregated, will become a huge asset in itself, or more accurately, controlling access to this data will become a huge asset.

Governments all over the world are currently wrestling with issues like the ownership of data generated by a vehicle.

Does the vehicle owner own all the data it produces? Does the OEM have any

ownership/copyright? What data must be made available for traffic, legal or safety reasons?

Broadly speaking, we can expect some consolidation across the industry simply because there will be fewer individual owners and therefore more ‘fleet deals’, plus the vehicles will require less servicing and repairs.

This may not be a negative in the long term however. Faced with earlier disruptive change, the New Zealand motor industry has repeatedly demonstrated both ability and willingness to adapt to new technology and make it work.

Why would the future be any different?

And so, we come to the end of our lengthy look back at the development of the motor vehicle, specifically the car and its impact on New Zealand. The motor vehicle – car, truck, bus, motorcycle and tractor – has had such a huge impact on the geographic and social development of New Zealand that it’s impossible to imagine New Zealand without it.

So, let’s finish with a quote from General Motors about the motor vehicle and New Zealand.

35 Years 3,000 Clients 10,500 Users can’t be wrong!

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TSI Group’s own computer hosting and cloud services division, and NZ’s largest automotive industry specialist IT services company.

congratulates the Motor Trade Association on 100 Years and looks forward to working together to further improve automotive industry businesses in the future.

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MTA 100 CENTENARY PUBLICATION Proudly produced by RnR Publishing Ltd on behalf of the Motor Trade Association of New Zealand April 2017.

ISBN Soft cover 978-0-473-38511-8 ISBN Hard cover 978-0-473-38512-5 ORDER ONLINE W: rnrpublishing.co.nz Hard cover collector’s edition available – $49.95 + post and packaging CONTACT US RnR Publishing Ltd PO Box 220 Martinborough, New Zealand P: +64 6 306 6030 W: rnrpublishing.co.nz PUBLISHERS Robyn Dallimore E: robyn@rnrpublishing.co.nz Bruce Mountain E: bruce@rnrpublishing.co.nz

EDITOR Robyn Dallimore ADMINISTRATION Laura Atkinson E: subs@rnrpublishing.co.nz SUB-EDITORS Tom Clarke, Allan Walton and Thiers Halliwell DESIGNER Shirley Ng – Machine Media FRONT AND BACK COVER DESIGN Wayne Collins Special thanks also to Wayne Collins for his images used in chapters five, six, seven and eight.

W: collinsphotoart.com IMAGE AND PRINTING PMP Maxum, Auckland

AUTHOR Allan Dick ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND THANKS FROM THE AUTHOR: Firstly, thanks to Ross Cameron of the MTA as well as the management and board of the MTA for having faith in me for this project. Thanks also to Robyn Dallimore and Bruce Mountain of RnR Publishing Ltd, for making it happen.

Although I’ve been writing about motor cars for 50 years, I didn’t have everything in my head, and would like to acknowledge the incredible assistance I received from the following when researching this history: The bound volumes of Radiator; Flat to the Boards by Dick Messenger and Douglas Wood; Ford Ahead (A History of The Colonial Motor Company Limited)

by Roger Gardner; and autoNEWS, Driver and NZClassic Driver magazines. I also acknowledge the enormous resources now available online. This project would have been a lot more difficult without the aid of Google.

For the photographs, a very large thank you to Max Youle, for unfettered access to his vast archive of historic photographs, and to the unknown photographers whose work makes up most of my 50 years of motoring and motorsport photo collecting.

Last, but by no means least, thanks to the Navigator (Kerry) for putting up with me when I was the proverbial bear with a sore head.

Allan Dick Oamaru April 2017.

PHOTOGRAPHS All photographs supplied by Allan Dick, and various private collections as detailed above as well as Shutterstock.

RnR Publishing Ltd has used due care and diligence in the preparation of this magazine, but is not responsible or liable for any mistakes, misprints, omissions or typographical errors. RnR Publishing Ltd gives no warranty and makes no representation to the truth, accuracy or sufficiency of any description, photograph or statement in this publication. All articles and photographs have been supplied and/or approved by the author Allan Dick who was contracted by the Motor Trade Association, as the parties who contracted RnR Publishing Ltd to produce this publication.

RnR Publishing Ltd accepts no liability for any loss that may be suffered by any person who relies either wholly or in part upon any description, photograph or statement contained herein. The views expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of the publisher. All material gathered in creating MTA100 magazine is copyright 2017 RnR Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved in all media. No part of this magazine may be reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the publisher.

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