John - was fascinated by your findings in New Zealand. I spend 18 years
in NZ (mostly Wellington), 1972-90, before moving to Sydney where we now
live. I was born in Los Angeles in '41, so was over 30 when I moved.
Originally planned a one year "working holiday", but just never quite
managed to "go home". Like you, I found many fascinating cars on the
streets, and still remember many surprises:
- Although things have "improved", import restrictions and $$$ really
dictated which cars could (and couldn't) be sensibly bought, and there
was definitely a bias then towards British imports. When I arrived,
Triumph sedans (esp. 2000) were everywhere. Kiwis keep there cars a lot
longer, so there are still plenty around. Costs prevented there being
many TRs (or any other sports cars for that
matter).
- High car costs meant many people didn't have one. In '72, there were
more boats registered in NZ than cars. Good training ground for
Americas' Cup yachting?
- Having grown up on Road & Track and Car & Driver (was it Sports Cars
Illustrated then?), I remember, whenever C&D talked about a large,
ungainly car, they used the term "Humber Super Snipe". I always thought
this to be a mythical car until one day, walking along a Wellington
street I saw one - in the flesh!
- I married a Kiwi in '74 (now you might understand why I didn't return
to the U.S?), whose father was the local Holden dealer in Nelson (small
South Island town). Holden is the GM of Australia/NZ, and the biggest
seller of family cars. Occasionally they got an interesting used car
through some means or another, and even once a Corvette. I imagine that
would be a bit of a handful on your average NZ road!
- In the seventies, it seemed as though every second car was a Morris
Minor.
- Speaking of roads John, you didn't specifically mention them, but at
least by comparison with the U.S., they are narrow, winding and bumpy.
The South Island in particular has many one-lane bridges with roads not
a lot wider. While this surely contributes to NZ's high road accident
toll, I has also been the training ground for some pretty notable
drivers. I'm sure that Bruce McLaren spent considerable time at
considerable speed on some of these roads.
- That TR7-V8 you mention is quite likely the same one that won the
Australian "Targa Tasmania" which is one of our really big rallies.
So, as with John, I'm always happy to provide travel advice for NZ or
Australia, and would welcome any FOT people coming to Sydney with a
cuppa and a meal!
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