Significant pieces of military history will be both firmly on the ground and in the skies above at this year’s Auckland Brit and Euro Classic Car Show.
More than 1200 classic vehicles are set to be displayed to the public at the annual show staged at Lloyd Elsmore Park in Pakuranga.
This year’s show was set to be held on March 7, but due to Auckland moving to Covid-19 alert level 3 it is being postponed to April 11.
The event’s organising chairman Reverend Dr Richard Waugh says he’s delighted to publicly announce that for the first time it will feature a flyover of the park by an NZ Warbirds historic aircraft.
“NZ Warbirds will also have a display stand at the car show,” he told the Times<ITALICS>.
“The new partnership between the NZ Warbirds and the Brit and Euro Classic Car Show is exciting.”
The link between classic vehicles and historic aircraft is a natural one for Waugh, given his 1954 Jaguar Mark VII car will feature in the show, and he serves as an aviation chaplain who has authored books on civil aviation in New Zealand.
People who go along will also be able to get a close-up look at a former NZ Army Scorpion light tank.
“The NZ Army is making a special effort and transporting it up from Waiouru and will have a display tent alongside,” Waugh says.
“We are anticipating the tank will create enormous interest at the show.
“It’s manufactured by Alvis and with a Jaguar XK engine, like in my 1954 Jaguar Mark VII but modified.”
According to the National Army Museum Te Mata Toa in Waiouru, the Scorpion tank was designed in 1969.
More than 3000 were manufactured by Alvis in the UK from 1973.
They were introduced to combat during the 1982 Falklands War and came into service with the NZ Army in 1982 to replace the Ferret armoured car and the M41 tank, before going out of service in 1998.
It’s powered by a 4.2 litre, six-cylinder Jaguar petrol engine matched to a seven-speed gearbox.
The tank weighed 7.8 tons. When in service it had a three-person crew and a maximum speed of 72km/h.
This year’s show will feature a spectacular collection of classic British and European cars, including an immaculate 1967 Jaguar E-type convertible owned by Beachlands man Laurie Hayward and Jim Banks’ classic 1969 Mini Cooper S.
It will also have a special section paying homage to the Goodwood Revival motorsport festival held in the UK each year, and a large display of Jaguar E-types to mark the 60th anniversary of the model’s launch.
The Auckland Brit and Euro Classic Car Show will be staged at Lloyd Elsmore Park in Pakuranga on Sunday, April 11.
It’s sponsored by Times Newspapers, NZ Classic Driver magazine, Protecta Insurance and the Howick Local Board. Entry is free.
