Muscle car rounds out the collection

REMEMBER KITT, the thinking, talking smart car that featured in the TV series Knight Rider? (The show also featured actor David Hasselhoff).
The latest addition to Peter and Shirley Pope's stable of classic cars is the model used in that show, a 1984 Pontiac Transam Firebird.
Peter Pope's new car doesn't think or talk, but it's still a mighty impressive beast. It runs a 145bhp four-carb 5 litre V8 coupled to a three-speed automatic transmission packed into a long, sleek 2+2 body with removable targa-top tinted glass roof panels. It is a 15th anniversary limited edition model, imported to New Zealand in 1985.
The car completes an interesting collection of classics, joining a 1942 Willys Jeep and Midge, Shirley's gleaming red 1972 MG Midget MkIII sports car.
Peter developed an affection for V8s during his offroad competition days in a Landcruiser and decided the collection wouldn't be complete without a muscle car. He looked at Mustangs, Camaros and the like but found them overpriced. The Transam was rough and the owner anxious to sell.
"The guy needed money, so I got it for a real good price," said Peter.
The car was a mess and needed a lot of work to bring it back to its best.
Fortunately the Popes are a talented family. Peter's brother Garry, a coachbuilder, did all the panelwork on the Jeep and the MG, and his son Reece straightened out the Transam.
Peter and Shirley tackled the hard work of rubbing the car down, before the deep purple/blue Phantom paint was applied by Paul Field. (Paul has painted all three of the Pope cars). Original graphics were computer-generated and applied by the Sign Shop.
Replacement parts and rubbers were sourced through Magoos and direct from Australia.
A big job was cleaning the light-coloured interior. It's original, but was filthy, almost black. More elbow grease, but the finished result made the big car worth every drop of sweat.
"It looks so good the guy I bought it from wants to buy it back," said Peter.
The Transam completes an interesting lineup of cars. Shirley's MG has featured on this page in the past, and she loves it as much today as she did the day Peter completed assembling "a million pieces" to get it back on the road.
(A previous owner had had it dismantled, with a view to restoration, but then lost interest).
Shirley has achieved a long-held ambition, taking the little car to Manfeild racing track and zooming down the back straight at 80mph.
"I love it, I drive it all the time," she said.
The Jeep has an interesting history ... and a spookily-appropriate number plate, MA4077. That's the number of the M*A*S*H unit in the long-running Alan Alda show, so a M*A*S*H 4077th designation was stencilled onto the scuttle.
The Jeep served in the Solomons during World War II, after which it was 37 of a batch of 38 shipped to New Zealand for sale (our first used-imports, perhaps? "One careful owner.")
The offroaders were snapped up by farmers, with 4077 ending up on the Borthwick property east of Masterton. Peter found it as a rust-bucket sitting under a tree in Paeroa. He bought it and another severely-crashed example from Hamilton which provided the running gear.
The restoration was a major one, service in the islands having taken a heavy toll.
"You could smell the salt in the chassis," Peter said.
Garry rebuilt whole sections of body for that job, and Peter replaced every nut and bolt with stainless steel, leaving the Jeep all set for another 60 years.
The Transam completes the Pope collection.
So that's it then?
Well, not quite. Just recently Peter acquired a partly-restored Triumph GT6 ? the "poor man's E-type" ? and it's in pieces on the garage floor.
Peter and Shirley dream of doing a Targa Rally in that car when it's finished. The light body is powered by the same 1270cc motor that went into the Cooper S ? mounted north-south in this application ? so should be quite a goer
It's not a priority, but it's hard to see Peter resisting making a start for long.
It's in the blood, you see.
"My father loved cars," he says.
"It's a hobby. It keeps me out of mischief and out of the pub."