Remembering Kiwi Cars of the 1950s to the 1980s

Stephen alongside his own 1964 Rover P4 110.

In the summer of 1958 Kelvin Brown and a group of friends made a trip from Christchurch to Queenstown in a 1935 Ford V8 roadster and a 1938 Fiat 1100, via the Crown Range.

Gerard Richards alongside his 1985 Nissan Silvia Gazelle S12, iconic Japanese performance/race car of the 1980s, which he acquired in 2003. Good examples of these cars will sell in the US or Japan for up to US$75,000 today.

The road holding on Martin Drew’s 1951 Citroën Light 15 was superb. It was the only car he has driven while sound asleep at the wheel going down past Meremere at night on the straight. He woke from a pleasant dream to the sonorous hum of the engine and was still in the correct lane.

In February 1967 Grant Cornwell and his mate Peter Coles set off from Auckland for a trip around the South Island in Grant’s 1964 Fiat 500D.

Stuck in the mud at Palliser Bay in the early 1960s. The Twist family Morris 1000 spluttered going through the first ford which was deeper than Steve’s dad thought, and then came to a stop at the next one, and had to be towed out of trouble by a farmer in his Land Rover.

Muzz Bishop’s modified 1958 Ford Gold Flash (right) and his brother’s 302-powered Zephyr Mk IV on the Benmore Dam in 1977. Their dad had taught them to drive in the paddock in his Willys Jeep, and Muzz was a good driver by the time he was eight or nine.