retro-classics - automotive blog

Delivery from zeppan.jp!

February 13, 2009

Direct from Japan!

After Orion kindly posted about the closure of zeppan, I jumped onto their website and ordered what I could in the slim selection that was left. They arrived today, thankfully my boss is Japanese and she happily transferred the money into Takeshi’s account for me. The whole process took no longer than a week, even with several back and forth emails to add more on and comfirm details. It’s such a shame that zeppan.jp is closing up but I guess thems the breaks.

Anyway, here’s what I got;

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: Automotive Documentation

Teretonga; Classic Speed Fest.

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February 12, 2009

by kyteler

IT RETURNS!

February means it’s time for the Classic Speed Fest. Invercargill’s portion of the Southern Festival of Speed. An annual event that goes through Christchurch, Timaru, Invercargill and Dunedin. Though in recent years the Dunedin section has been somewhat missed out. They don’t have a track, there’s a street circuit that gets laid out and.. as with most things, the few whingers ruin it for the on weekend of the year that it happens. There’s also a Hill-climb in the Dunedin segment, but I believe at least last year that road was being re-done.

To give a taste of the Classic Speed Festival, here’s a few snaps of cars from some previous years events.

Maserati 8 CM

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: Events

The “scene” that NZ forgot.

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February 11, 2009

by kyteler

It’s not surprising that it was missed really, a scene that exploded in Europe and the UK went by relatively un-noticed here in NZ. Reasoning was likely due to the lack of need or requirement.

After-all, why get into small, compact, low capacity cars when there’s no insurance or congestion reason to do so. So, whilst NZ and Australian (and America) were still kicking about in V8s and large saloons, the UK and Europe got onto something altogether different, no doubt the Mini was a contributing factor to it all, however the 205GTi, the Golf GTi, the Alfasud’s and others kicked this up a notch.

VW Golf GTI - MKI

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: Automotive History

Remember the ATCC?

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February 9, 2009

by kyteler

Do you? I do. It was once upon a time, a fantastic spectacle of multiple manufacturers. Everyone I’m sure is well aware of what lead to it’s demise. If you’re not, the brief answer to that is narrow minded Australian folk and industry who tried to save their own manufacturing and design by ruling out any technological advancement brought forth by opposing nations automobiles. The crux being the Sierra vs. Skyline battles. The Aussies didn’t mind the Sierra so much, irrespective of the fact that it had nothing at all to do with them, it still had a blue badge on it that circled their problems. It really wasn’t until the Skyline started it’s similar destruction of the fields that they changed the rules entirely. They were fine with the Skyline and with Nissan in general when it competed but was further down in the standings. Winning was a different kettle of stingrays. Afterall, a 4cylinder Turbo had taken pole position in qualification in the form of the Fury 910 Bluebird one year and no-one cried foul then. Why? Well it didn’t win the race, it just qual’d really well and subsequently failed come race day. I digress.

I was browsing about the other day and happened upon this website which I thought I would share with you all.

Evidently a 2008 round of the Australian V8 “Supercars” had an invite for some of the old Group A and Group C cars to take to the track. I hope you enjoy these as much as I did. The link to the gallery is at the bottom of this post.

BMW 635 leads the pack

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: Automotive History, Car Spotting

Yard spotting…

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February 5, 2009

by Orion

Wouldn’t it be a pleasant surprise to walk into a car yard and stumble across a tidy nostalgic hidden amongst the late-model plastic fantastic? Here are three such picks from vendors across Japan.

on offer this week from Mibu, Tochigi-based yard GARAGE-SUCCESS is this mint condition 1984 Mazda Savanna RX-7 GT-X. Mileage is 81,000km. Asking price? 840,000 yen.

1984 SA22C Mazda Savanna RX-7 GT-X turbo - click to view ad

12A turbo RX-7s, as always, command a healthy premium in the homeland and 840,000 yen is pricey given the current NZD-JPY exchange rate ($18,400 after conversion)… but nowadays you’d be hard-pressed to find another S3 turbo in similar condition on a Japanese yard for any less than around 750,000 yen – especially the mid-range GT-X model with its plush maroon velour interior, full electrics and removable sunroof. This one seems to have escaped serious modification apart from the aftermarket strut brace in the engine bay.

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: Car Spotting