July

The name Royal Enfield may sound as British as the Hillman Hunter and Morris Marina but it’s actually made in India and, despite the vintage looks, is still being made today and is as popular as ever. This one year old Classic 500 is selling now at Turners Tauranga, so what’s the big deal with these new/old bikes?

There’s no shame in admitting it. I’ve been guilty most of my life of choosing a car based mainly on price and I probably always will - once a bargain hunter, always a bargain hunter. Sometimes it works out well and sometimes it’s a terrible mistake. There’s much to consider when buying a car, especially an older one, and price is just a small part of it.

It’s considered by some, including the old Top Gear, to be the only true Japanese Supercar. Its performance puts it up there with some of the most exclusive supercars in the world. It’ll sprint from 0-100kph in around 4 seconds and keep going to over 300kph. And you can have all this for less than the price of a used Commodore Clubsport.

It’s not often you come across a 58 year old car that has had more written about it than the miles it has travelled but that is the case with 1958 Studebaker Champion that has just 74 miles on the clock. Much has been written about this car and it has possibly changed ownership more times than it has been on the road. It’s being auctioned online by Turners and the question is; will the next owner break the spell and drive it or will it end up in a museum?

So you see a TV ad for a new Audi or Toyota and you think, wow, that looks fast, agile, good looking and better than everything else out there. After all, you assume the car you’re buying is going to be the same as the one in the ad, right? Well, no. There’s every chance the car in the ad is a Blackbird. But what the hell is a Blackbird?

Turners Napier seems to be the home of old American cars right now. Last week we featured this Corvette and this week there are two very different cars representing two very different eras of American motoring. One is from the 1950s and the other is from the 80s. Can you guess which is which?