Just before 5pm on Tuesday, March 12, Ed's Auto Barn in Great North Road received an influx of more than 35 classic cars — the once ubiquitous, fastback Ford Capri.
Anybody who has owned a Ford Capri remembers it with fondness, and many regret getting rid of them, but a large group of New Zealanders have taken the memory once step further — they are Ford Capri owners, reliving the car's glory days, and to celebrate 50 years of the fastback marque, they have driven their cars from one end of New Zealand to the other.
Along the way they called in to Whanganui and parked up at the Auto Barn of Ed Boyd and Hinemoa Ransom-Boyd for a social catch-up and refreshments.
"It's certainly been exciting thus far," says Tony Bell. "We ended up on the Auckland motorway on Friday afternoon at 4 o'clock." While cars around him developed overheating problems, the Capri he was in chose that moment to have a flat battery. The day before Whanganui the power steering hose ruptured, spraying fluid everywhere.
"We had 31 cars at Whangamomona and we should have 31 cars here," says Colin Worthington, who was in charge during the Whanganui leg of the trip. "It's been 50 years since the first Capri was made so we're doing North Cape to Bluff. It's the New Zealand Ford Capri Club." He says Whanganui Capri owners come under the Manawatu branch of the club. Colin is from Colyton, near Feilding.
"I drove to my daughter's place at Maungaturoto then headed north. We had 23 cars at Cape Reinga on Sunday morning and we've had cars come and go each day." Cars from 1969 through to the last year they were made were represented on the long drive.
Lindsay Lyons, former club president and chairman of Fish & Game NZ Council, is proud of his car and his family's association with the Ford Capri. He and wife Adele own one of the latest models. Adele is the club's secretary treasurer.
"It's a Brooklands Capri, one of the very last of the Capris to come out. It was built in 1987." He pointed to another one in the line-up. There are only about five in New Zealand and they're all painted Brooklands green, which is a registered colour.
"This car was in the Brooklands museum [Surrey, UK] and it was owned by an RAF pilot based in Berlin." Lindsay not only bought it but he drove it for six laps of the Nurburgring race track in Germany before driving around France then on to England.
