"I didn't have a place to put it so I ended up working on it at my boyfriend's mum's house. Then we moved in there because we were trying to save money for a place of our own."
The search for a house proved difficult, and influenced how the work came out.
The exterior of the car remains largely unchanged, except for a hood ornament featuring a spinning, praying girl.
"I was manifesting and praying for a house, so it has nods to new-age religion or something like that."
A chandelier hangs from the interior, the front seats are gone, the back seats have been sewn with satin and Ranginui added a frilled steering wheel cover.
Ranginui attended Whanganui High School before moving to Wellington to study Fine Arts at Massey University.
She returned to the capital at the start of this year after finally finding somewhere to live.
"I've got a house and I'm one of the lucky ones. I'm really thankful for that. It feels like that's a rare thing to happen."
The exhibition was curated by Walters Prize-winning Pōneke artist, writer and curator, Shannon Te Ao.
Te Ao said Matarau was "visually fun and big on scale and ambition".
"Matarau follows a number of exhibitions in Aotearoa that are highlighting the significance of Māori art. This is part of that bigger picture."
The word 'Matarau' refers to a multi-pronged spear used for fishing and eeling by early Māori.
"As a hunter or wayfinder must understand the shifting conditions around them to fulfill their purpose, the artists in Matarau draw from a strong sense of who and where they are as a compass for their own practice," Te Ao said.
