Owner's delight as car returned

Relief and gratitude - those were the two strongest emotions as Kerikeri car enthusiast and Formula One veteran Phil Sharp was finally reunited with his beloved 1966 Ford Lotus Cortina.

The theft of the painstakingly restored classic from the Bay of Islands Golf Club carpark on June 27 spawned a nationwide campaign calling for sightings of the distinctive green-and-white car.

That paid off three weeks later when a tip led police to a garage in the Whangarei suburb of Tikipunga.

After a forensic examination the car was trucked to Kerikeri where Mr Sharp was finally reunited with it on Thursday.

Apart from fingerprinting powder and a bit of mud, it appears unscathed.

"As much as I'd like to thump the guys who took it, I do appreciate the fact they didn't damage it."

Mr Sharp said he wanted to thank everyone who had helped in the search for his car.

"The response was fantastic. I was a little doubtful whether it would be recovered in one piece, but we never gave up hope."

A small group of friends, in particular, had put in a huge amount of work. They had travelled all over Northland and even contacted car clubs overseas in case it was shipped out in a container.

"It's silly to get so attached - it is only a car - but a huge amount of work went into it, and it's not like a new car. You can't just collect the insurance and get a new one."

It appeared the car had first been taken west, with six sightings between Kerikeri and Kaikohe.

The lack of sightings between Kaikohe and Whangarei, and the mud caked on the bottom of the car led him to believe it had been driven south via back roads.

He suspected the thieves did not realise what they had taken or how hard it would be to sell.

"They just thought it was a nice shiny car," he said.

Mr Sharp bought the car in 1990, spent 10 years restoring it in the UK, and brought it to New Zealand in 2003.

"It had sat in a field in Florida for 10 years.

"A chap in England bought it, and I bought it off him for £4000 [$7782] "It arrived on a trailer an absolute wreck. It was literally a box of bits."

The experience would not stop him using the car, Mr Sharp said.

"It's to be used, not hidden away - but it might get a few extra immobilising features."

With a 1600cc twin-cam engine producing 110hp, the Ford Lotus Cortina was the fastest car of its day in saloon car racing.

Mr Sharp's racing career started as a 14-year-old helping top Kiwi racing driver Kenny Smith.

He raced Formula Ford in New Zealand, joined McLaren's Formula One team as a mechanic in 1972, worked with Indie cars in the US, then returned to the UK in 1980 as chief mechanic for McLaren's Formula One team.