Kit and replica cars of New Zealand

Among the first of these early manufacturers was Weltex Plastics Limited of Christchurch, which imported a Microplas Mistral sports car mould and began making bodies and chassis in 1956, along with Brian Jarvis.

A number of new companies entered the market in the 1980s - Almac 1985, Alternative Cars (1984), Cheetah (1986), Chevron (1984), Countess Mouldings (1988), Fraser (1988), Leitch (1986), and Saker (1989).

He achieved considerable success in Formula 5000 racing, winning the Tasman Series each year from 1971 to 1973, and also the 1972 L&M Continental 5000 Championship in the United States.

McDonald's interest in kit cars started while he was living in England, having purchased a Jem Marsh Sirocco.

Initially the company operated from the owners home, until moving to a small 600 square foot workshop in Auckland.

It is rumoured that this car was first made by an Air New Zealand employee and the body extensively modified by Hook when he acquired it.

It was a BRG Jaguar E-Type S1 convertible that had been stripped of all chrome, had a roll bar installed, a set of lake pipes out the side and flared wheel arches and was being used for classic car racing.

Chevron Engineering Specialties Ltd is a New Zealand based kit-car and race-car manufacturer owned by Dan, Evan, and Barbara Fray and founded in 1980.

[18] It is based in Massey, Auckland and manufactures three different models, with the Aprisa and Cypher competing in New Zealand sports car racing.

[1][2] Models built to date include: A replica Ford GT40 made in the early 1990s and marketed in the US by Awesome Imports.

[22] Countess Mouldings Limited made replica Lamborghini Countach sports racing cars in Feilding, New Zealand from 1988 until about 2009.

[26] Short is now involved in manufacturing and development of innovative portable sheep shears through his company Handypiece Holdings.

[31] A wedge shaped design V8 powered coupe made by Don and Graeme Ross of Challenge Custom Cars; Onekawa, Napier from 1978 to 1982.

[citation needed] Production stopped after Donn Ross suffered a debilitating stroke, but his enthusiasm for cars and racing remained with him until his death in the 1990s.

Returning to England Ware approached GT40 kit car manufacturer KVAs owner Ken Attwell about acquiring moulds to produce GT40's in New Zealand.

[44] In the late 1980s, in Auckland, New Zealand, a few cars called the Ibis Berkeley were made by Ian Byrd and Tim Monck-Mason.

After they had made a few mould themselves they had Rob Trainor and Bruce Stratton of Replicar Developments Limited Ardmore make the bodies.

Super Sprints were originally available as either a kit, partially built, or fully road registered, all with several specification levels.

A Lotus 7 replica made by Kevin Martelli and Bob Bateman at Western Glass Fibre between 1985 and 1988. approx 100 kits were sold.

[10] They used a Triumph Herald donor chassis, and John Palmer developed kits to graft in Nissan 180b differentials.

[51] Graham McRae imported a replica McLaren M6B made by US based Manta Cars and called the Montage.

McRae approached David Harrod of Fibreglass Developments Limited (FDL) of Bunnythorpe in the late 1970s to make a mould of the Montage.

Harrod set about making the moulds and redesigned the doors, front headlight position, lowered the seat mounts.

McRae sold his interest to Harrod as he had been offered a mechanic position with US Skoal Bandit racing team of Paul Newman.

[52] A Dunedin company, Emslie and Flockton Limited, also made and sold the Mistral under licence after Blackburn had moved to Australia, possibly with Weltex's mould.

[55] One of the Weltex Mistral bodies was fitted to the Stanton Special, which set the New Zealand land speed record at that time.

[citation needed] Sam Lyle of Gisborne built replicas of the 1938 Alfa Romeo Millie Miglia Spyder between 1999 and 2003 named the SL.

In recent time, based at Oamaru, they have produced hand made replica Jaquar C and D-Types, XJ13 and XK180, Aston Martin DBR2, 1953 Maserati A6GCS Pinin farina Bertietta, and Ferrari 250TR and California spiders.

[60] John Stewart and Tony Miller of Tron Exotic built a Countach replica called the Trontach between 1988 and 1997.

[64] The Low Volume Vehicle Technical Association (LVVTA) was set up in 1990 to create the standards, provide training, and support to the LVV Certifiers and produce the LVV plates in response to the Ministry of Transport's (now Land Transport New Zealand) requirement that all new vehicles meet certain safety standards.