Northern Advocate
  • Northern Advocate home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Sport
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings

Locations

  • Far North
  • Kaitaia
  • Kaikohe
  • Bay of Islands
  • Whangārei
  • Kaipara
  • Mangawhai
  • Dargaville

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Kaitaia
  • Whangārei
  • Dargaville

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Northern Advocate

Massive auction for old Norman Motors equipment

Danica MacLean
By Danica MacLean
Multimedia Journalist, Newstalk ZB·Northern Advocate·
2 Jul, 2017 06:00 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Pete Norman surrounded by the vintage Norman Motors items up for auction. Photo/Michael Cunningham

Pete Norman surrounded by the vintage Norman Motors items up for auction. Photo/Michael Cunningham

An auction for vintage items from an iconic Whangarei business is attracting huge interest online.

Whangarei Traders and Auctions is auctioning the contents of a large shed full of Normans Motors items at the end of the month.

Auctioneer Darryl Penrose put a post on his business' Facebook page last Saturday with some pictures and he said that post had already had 120,000 views.

In one week, the business' overall Facebook page has gained 350 new likes.

"I'm getting 20 emails every time I've turned my computer on to be added to the catalogue database."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

He said it's getting more interest than the Reva's and Shotgun Betty's auctions he has held in the past.

"I've never seen that (level of interest) before."

Norman Motors' Pete Norman said there is a "vast" variety going up for auction. Items include hubcaps, lights, lenses, switches, tools, spark plugs, gear boxes, glass cleaner and much more, including old vehicles.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Mr Norman and his wife bought the business in 2011 from his father and moved into a purpose built building. They needed somewhere to store the parts his father wanted to keep so they leased the shed the parts are currently in.

Two and a half years ago, Mr Norman's father passed away.

"We're paying for a lease on the shed to store the stuff, it's better to be in somebody's possession who wants it."

He said it "is and it isn't" tough to be selling it.

"There's stuff here that I would love to keep, and there are memories."

Mr Norman worked alongside his father for more than 20 years.

He said the business was started 90 years ago, and most of the stuff being auctioned would have been collected by his father and grandfather.

Mr Norman said he thinks most of the items will be "valuable in the possession sense rather than the monetary sense".

Mr Penrose said his website crashed the night after he made the Facebook post, and when he went into the back of the website, the analytics showed a huge increase.

He said when he starts emailing antique and vintage clubs he expects he will get more interest from all over the country and around the world.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"I think there will be people travelling up here for it and just to get the rare parts."

He said he has one enquiry from a person in America who is interested in the bus, but he expects he will get more international interest. Mr Penrose said he expects the vehicles to be popular.

Two of those are a Diamond T bus and a 70-year-old Chrysler Airflow.

Some parts, although old, are brand new, and still in boxes. "They don't make these parts anymore."

He said people would usually have to go to swap meets or wreckers to find the same parts. Mr Penrose is hoping to keep the number of auction lots under 500.

"If it goes over that I would make the lots bigger."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

He said he can get through about 100 in an hour, so there is 4 to 5 hours of auctioning.

He started the cataloguing on Tuesday and expects it will take just over two weeks - the longest he has ever done.

"I like to have the catalogue released a couple of weeks before the auction."

The auction will be held on July 30 on site at 10am, with viewing available the day before.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Northern Advocate

Northern Advocate

Man pleads not guilty to charges in death of Bay of Islands nurse

25 Jun 04:00 AM
Northern Advocate

Northland woman's plan to tackle boy racer culture gains traction

25 Jun 03:00 AM
Northern Advocate

Northland’s council water shake-up: Big changes, bigger bills ahead?

25 Jun 01:52 AM

Kaibosh gets a clean-energy boost in the fight against food waste

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Northern Advocate

Man pleads not guilty to charges in death of Bay of Islands nurse

Man pleads not guilty to charges in death of Bay of Islands nurse

25 Jun 04:00 AM

A 59-year-old is charged with careless driving, causing the death of Mandy Rita Mackenzie.

Northland woman's plan to tackle boy racer culture gains traction

Northland woman's plan to tackle boy racer culture gains traction

25 Jun 03:00 AM
Northland’s council water shake-up: Big changes, bigger bills ahead?

Northland’s council water shake-up: Big changes, bigger bills ahead?

25 Jun 01:52 AM
Student-led art project challenges stigma around mental illness

Student-led art project challenges stigma around mental illness

25 Jun 01:24 AM
Engage and explore one of the most remote places on Earth in comfort and style
sponsored

Engage and explore one of the most remote places on Earth in comfort and style

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • The Northern Advocate e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Northern Advocate
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The Northern Advocate
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP