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OUR PICK TO BUY NOW - THE ROVER P6
CONTENTS
336 DECEMBER 2018
6 WHEN CARS WERE STARS 1972 MCRAE GM1
18 ‘70S CLASS-A CLASSIC ROVER P6 3500
26 LOVE LETTER TO MIDGETS SPEEDWAY’S GOLDEN ERA
38 MADE IN NZ
TEMPERO’S SOUTHERN STEEL
66 THE DRIVETRAIN DRIVING WHEELS
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COLUMNS 48 54 60 92
MOTORMAN KITS AND PIECES MOTOR SPORT FLASHBACK PRICE ON
EVENTS
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72 86 88
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TARGA NEW ZEALAND REPORT ICEBREAKER 2018 RAGLAN RALLY OF THE COAST
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REGULARS
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READERS’ WRITES SUBSCRIBE AND WIN NEWS EVENTS DIARY BEHIND THE GARAGE DOOR CLUB CORNER AUTOMOBILIA CLASSIC CARS FOR SALE EDITOR’S PICK LOCAL SPECIALISTS
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FEATURE 1972 McRae GM1
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GM1 W H E N C A R S W E R E S T A R S
IN THE SUMMERS OF THE ’50S AND ’60S, MOSS, BRABHAM, MCLAREN, HULME, AND AMON WERE HOUSEHOLD NAMES, A LONG WITH TH E C A RS TH E Y R A C E D . B U T, A S T H E N AT U R E O F THE SPORT CHANGED, SO DID THE CARS. GRAHAM MCRAE’S 1972 GM1 EXEMPLIFIES THE ERA OF F5000 R ACING Words: Terry Cobham Photos: Adam Croy
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FEATURE 1971 Rover P6 3500
The Rover 2000/3500 A
18 New Zealand Classic Car | themotorhood.com
C L A S S I C W I T H O U T C O M P R O M I S E
A TRUE CLASSIC CAR IS MORE THAN JUST OLD; I T H A S T O B R I N G S O M E T H I N G T O T H E PA R T Y. I F YOU A RE LOOKI NG FOR A N A FFORDA B LE CL ASSIC BOASTING ENGINEERING EXCELLENCE; T H AT C A N H A N D L E M O D E R N T R A F F I C ; I S C O M F O R TA B L E , F A S T, A N D R E L I A B L E — A N D V I R T U A L LY I N V E N T E D A M A I N S TAY O F M O D E R N MOTORING, THE T WO - LITRE SPORTS SALOON C AT E G O R Y — A R O V E R P 6 T I C K S A L L T H E B OX E S Words: Ian Parkes Photos: Adam Croy
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he Rover car company might well have a reputation for building worthy but not particularly exciting cars; dignified, proper cars, in which pipe smoking helped to season the leather and walnut interior. The large, square P5 Rover was a natural choice for upper management of the era who thought Jaguars a bit too racy — although the introduction of the V8 engine to the P5 in 1967 converted what Autocar called a “gentlemen’s club on wheels” into the fastest gentlemen’s club on wheels. The P5 Rover never really dropped into the cheap category; it was always a little exclusive — the Queen got around in one for years. The cars attracted drivers who would treat them gently and had garages in which to keep them. They were built like the tanks they resembled — apart from the 3.5 coupé, which achieved a certain elegance. As a result, they have stayed in good condition, and their prices have never really dropped. However, this is missing the marque, if you’ll pardon the pun. Two other Rover products, the Land Rover and the Range Rover, were global game changers. Early examples of these collectible classics continue to shoot up in value. Perhaps it’s time for other gamechanging cars from the stable to go through a positive reappraisal. themotorhood.com | New Zealand Classic Car
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FEATURE Southern sculptures
A visit to the shed
A V I S IT TO RO D TE M PE RO’ S M OTO R - BO DY WO R KS I S A B IT LI K E E NTE R I N G A L A D D I N ’ S C AV E . GLITTERING OBJECTS ARE EVERYWHERE, AND J E W E L S O F T H E F O U R - W H E E L E D VA R I E T Y C ATC H YO U R B R E AT H AT E V E R Y T U R N Words: Quinton Taylor Photos: Brian High
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MOTOR SPORT FLASHBACK
Words: Michael Clark
60 New Zealand Classic Car | themotorhood.com
GRAND TOUR
MICHAEL CLARK AND HIS WIFE’S RECENT GR AND TOUR OF THE UK AND EUROPE INCLUDED CLOSE ENCOUNTERS WITH MCLARENS, BEING DRIVEN BY GROSJE AN’S BROTHER — OR WAS IT ? — AND A VISIT TO THE FAMOUS COLLECTION SCHLUMPF
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s we arrived to sign in, we saw a dark grey McLaren 650S roll up, and my wife enunciated what I’d been thinking: “When you arrive at McLaren, who better to see behind the wheel of the first McLaren you see than the founder’s daughter, Amanda McLaren?” McLaren HQ was very much the brainchild of Ron Dennis, who, sadly, has seemingly been airbrushed out of the company’s history in recent years. Dennis joined the thenstruggling organization in 1981 and built it into the empire it has become. We followed Amanda around the semicircular lake, where her husband, Stephen Donnell, was waiting to take us on a tour. The scale is immense, yet, because it is partially sunk into the ground, there is no blot-on-the-landscape risk. To the edge of campus is McLaren Park. Although it is stating the obvious, you can’t help but stop and think: a Kiwi was behind all this. The atrium features older McLaren Formula 1 (F1) cars — Bruce’s 1969 M7A and Denny’s 1972 M19C — but ahead of them is the only non-McLaren car in the whole facility: Bruce’s first racing car, the red Austin Ulster. We wandered past Can-Am monsters and F1 cars from the Niki Lauda, Alain Prost, and Ayrton Senna days and then on to the Mika Häkkinen and Lewis Hamilton machines. There are also Le Mans cars from the mid to late 1990s — it’s all a bit much to take in. Stephen ushered us to the area where current — sadly, slow — cars were being prepped prior to being sent to Singapore. In an adjacent area, an M8B Can-Am car was being fettled. The man in charge was instantly recognizable. I’d never previously met Neil Trundle, but he’s got orange McLaren blood running through his veins. Trundle and Dennis were running Formula 2
cars back in the 1970s as Rondel Racing, and, within seconds of shaking his hand, I could sense that he would have been the perfect foil for the obsessive and aloof ‘RD’. Neil’s an absolute top man — a total motor racing, and McLaren, nutter, and meeting him was a highlight of our visit. We then started walking — past seemingly endless trophy cabinets, and through a series of doors (the closing sequence of Get Smart soon came to mind) until we reached a staircase that took us to a viewing platform overlooking the road-car assembly area. The activity was astonishing — cars being moved along on wheeled frames from one technician’s station to another. As we watched a kaleidoscope of colour options moving through, Stephen told us that McLaren has yet to build a car that is 100-per-cent identical to another. In the foreground was the waterspray booth that would determine any hint of a leak, while all around was the impression that the place is so spotless that open-heart surgery could be carried out without any thought about sterilizing the joint. It was, quite simply, mind-blowing.
Rome I’d been told not to expect much in the way of car emporiums in Italy’s capital — a police car museum didn’t appeal. After six days, the only slice of exotica we spotted while there was a late model front-engined Ferrari. Apart from the omnipresence of Smart cars, it was looking as if there would be zilch to report on from one of the world’s most historic cities. At least, that was the situation until an evening stroll far from our accommodation meant that the only logical option for getting back was an inconspicuous Fiat Multipla taxi. The ride was largely uneventful to start with, as we headed south-east towards the Castel Sant’Angelo. Our driver was multitasking themotorhood.com | New Zealand Classic Car
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DECEMBER 2018 ISSUE 336
INSIDE OAMAR U'S DREAM FACTO RY • 1972 MCRA
M A DE IN NZ INSIDE O D R E A M A M A RU'S FAC TOR Y
E GM1 • ROVER P6 3.5 • RESUL TS: TARGA NEW ZEALAND 2018
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