Readers' Photos # 15: New Zealand Car Museum

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These magnificent photos, captured by reader Matt during a recent trip to New Zealand, put UMPH in mind his own late 1960s childhood when early British cars were still popular in Tasmania.  They were taken at the British Car Museum (http://www.britishcarmuseum.co.nz/), near Napier, on the eastern side of the north island.  From memory (having been to the Land of The Long White Cloud but once, twenty-odd years' ago), Napier is a delightful city that was rebuilt in Art Deco style after having been razed to the ground by an earthquake in the 1930s and sits in the Hawke's Bay wine region.

The museum's collection features many early British marques, with quite a number of Vauxhalls, Morrises, Austins and further offerings from BMC and other makers.  If UMPH's understanding is correct, NZ's restrictive automotive import regime meant that when the rest of the world was swamped with Japanese and other countries' vehicles from the 1970s onwards, British cars - many of them quite old - continued in regular use.


That's no longer the case, however, and NZ's car fleet now closely resembles that of Australia's (even if they pronounce some car names very weirdly!).  Thankfully, the legacy of their connection with British motoring endures.  

Enjoy ... !      












































































U M P H

(uppermiddlepetrolhead.blogspot.com.au.)

Photos by Matt O.

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