2023 Ellerslie Concours D'Eleganza Highlights - 30/04/23

Over the weekend was the annual Concours show held in Ellerslie! I had been going consecutively for the past few years, but because of COVID, it was cancelled during the last 2 years. Some hope finally returned when I heard that it would be happening during February just past. I was also incredibly excited that the MR2 club wanted me to be in the show for display! However, at the time, i had planned to be in Japan, and so I would miss out on said event. Unfortunately, due to the severe cyclones during December and January, my trip ended up being cancelled. I was both devastated but happy that I could attend Concours with my MR-S. Then bad luck struck again, when another cyclone arrived the week Concours was to be held... I had just spent a fortune getting my car detailed, and it was to no use... Truly the worst series of events...

So when the organizers gave us the postponed rain date in April, I crossed my fingers and hoped it would really happen this time, and thank goodness it did! However, since it had been 2 months since i had the detailer come over and do my car, and I had gone on several road trips with it; it was time for another detail. Now, I am not a 'professional' per say, but I do know how to do basic detailing due to having worked as a detailer in the past for Porsche, Alfa Romeo and Maserati. So I took the car to my good friend Harrison's place to get it touched up! Now he and his dad were displaying 3 of their cars in Concours too (a black 997, a white DC2 Integra Type R, and an E30!) After spending a few hours at theirs doing the major body work, I then spent the next 4 and a half hours at my own garage buffing my headlights and taillights, hoping that on the day, it would look the cleanest it had ever been!

All those hours spent detailing proved worthy, as when I arrived at Concours, it turned the most heads out of the MR2 Club. I was not used to that feeling, as the AW11 and SW20 generations of the Toyota Midship range were way more popular; but I appreciated everyone's compliments! Our club display was quite cool, as we had Paul turn up in his immaculate blue Targa Top SW, Ivan in his 5S powered SW, Joel in his all-original two-tone AW and me! (Let's not talk about the horrible black AW in the corner though... the only let down that day...)

Anyways, having parked up at 8am, I decided to go for a walk around before the crowds arrived at 10am. This year's show wasn't too big this time due to it being held in a school holiday, and the people that forked out time for the original date couldn't get time off for this one, so there weren't as many cars.

The first highlight for me was this [1965 Honda S600]. It was originally from Japan, but exported to Australia, then 6 years ago, the present owner imported it here. The S600 was Honda's first mass-marketed car that was shipped to outside Japan. About 11,000 were made into Roadsters and 1,800 Coupes, which was quite the sum, as it was their first exported vehicle. The S600 was the 3rd sports car in Honda's S series, which gave us such awesome cars like the S2000 and the S660. But before the S600 existed the S500 and S350, and its rivals were the Daihatsu Compagno, Datsun Fairlady Sports and the Toyota Sports 800.

The second highlight was this beautiful [1971 Honda 1300 GL Coupe 7 (H1300C)] painted in an equally beautiful shade of Alluvial Gold Metallic! It's unusual appearance was due to Soichiro Honda owning a Pontiac Firebird, and hence the Coupe 7 had a very '67 Firebird-look about it! It came as both Coupe and Sedan and was developed to compete with the Datsun Bluebird, Mitsubishi Galant and Toyota Corona!

The third highlight displayed alongside the last two, was the [1978 Subaru Leone 1600 GFT (A33)] powered by a 1.6 litre EA71 Boxer-4! Its drivetrain was unheard of for the time, as it was 4wd. Normally 4wd cars were reserved for more expensive off-roaders and expensive GT cars like the Jensen FF, but Subaru broke that tradition by giving us this 4wd coupe. Now, Subaru's legacy (pun-intended) heavily involves its continued usage of 4wd in almost every car they make!

Next on the list is this unassuming white sedan, the [1991 Mazda 929 (HC)], better known as the Luce. It was Mazda's flagship executive car, and would be their largest sedan, reaching up to 4.93m in length! Though this particular 929 was powered by the 3.0 JE V6, the car did offer a bunch of other smaller engines, including a 1.3 litre 13B turbocharged 2-rotor! Another fun fact about this car is that it was rebranded as a Kia Potentia in Korea; and when it was succeeded by the Mazda Sentia (still named the 929 in export markets), it was rebranded as the Kia Enterprise. So the most recent car that derived from the now discontinued 929 line is the Kia K8!

Two other cars that intrigued me were parked behind the 929. A [1987 Isuzu Piazza (JR120)] and a [1986 Mitsubishi Cordia Turbo GSR (CY7Z)]. Both are also very unassuming cars that you wouldn't bat an eye in public, but both quite special in their own rights. The Piazza was designed by legendary Giorgetto Giugiaro and had its handling done by Lotus, while the Cordia was an Australian made hot hatch that never made it into Japan!

Parked by the palms were these 4 iconic Group B rally cars: the Group B-regulated but never raced [MG Metro 6R4], the twin-cam turbocharged [Toyota Celica Turbo (TA64)], the 1.3 litre turbo 2-rotor powered [Mazda RX-7 Savanna (SA22C] and last but not least, the pioneering [Lancia-Abarth #037 (SE037)]! All but the 037 had its period correct liveries on and they all looked brilliant! One thing great about concours is that none of the cars had ropes around them, so it was a photographer's dream!

Aston Martin was next, displaying a proper fleet of Q-approved V8's and V12's! Firstly was this [1977 Aston Martin V8 Vantage] that was featured in the James Bond film: The Living Daylights. It was designed by William Towns, who also created the Aston Martin DBS that was in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, and the Aston Martin Lagonda that was featured in Miami Vice! It was heralded as Britain's first supercar, with a top speed of 270 km/h and an acceleration time beating the Ferrari Daytona! It also suspiciously looks like a Ford Mustang!

I didn't want to wander too long and I skipped most of the brands I wasn't so keen on, like Triumphs, Austin Healey's and Mini's; since Brit & Euro had just passed. However, on the North end of the showground, the Euro Car Club was displaying, and they had a [2001 Lamborghini Diablo VT] in Rosso Andromeda. The facelift VT had 529 hp, a 44hp boost from the pre-facelift and acquired headlights from the Nissan 300ZX. Usually the Lamborghini would have a carbon strip covering the Nissan badge, but this one missed out that small detail.

Every year, a car club will take charge and be the main organizers for Concours. This year was Porsche's turn and they turned up in a huge group! There were too many highlights, but I'll run through some of the more special ones:

A [2014 Porsche 911 50th Anniversary Edition (991.1)] in Geyser Grey. Only 1,963 were made, all based on the Carrera S and only came in 3 colours: this grey, Graphite Grey and Monochrome Black.

A [1978 Porsche 911 SC (L-Type)] in Talbot Yellow. The SC stands for Sport Carrera, and it was the second time Porsche had used it since the 356 SC. 

A [2022 Porsche 911 GT3 (992)] in a PTS shade of Bahama Yellow, which were first featured on the 1966 911, which is the first 911.

A [2008 Porsche 911 GT3 RS (997.1)] in GT Silver with Orange accents. 

A [2016 Porsche 911 R (991.1)] which was essentially a GT3 RS Touring. Only 991 were made. 

A [2022 Porsche 911 GT3 Touring (992)] in Forest Green!

As always, Giltrap had an impressive lineup including the new Emira, Artura and Urus Performante, but what was really impressive was the Polestar 1!  Now this car is still a concept car and was released back in 2016. I did see this car during the 2018 Guangzhou Intercontinental Motor Show and I still think it should've been put into production. 

Other highlights were:

A [Citroen DS 21 Cabriolet d'Usine] which was an extremely expensive car and only 1,365 were made. 

A [1990 Lancia Thema Turbo Series II] in Lapis Azure.

A [1974 Ferrari 365 GT4 BB] in Iron Grey with its 6 taillights and 6 exhaust pipes! This was the first 365 GT4 BB I have ever seen, and it has always been in my top 10 Ferrari's!

A [Maserati Tipo 151] with its lengthened chassis designed by Piero Drogo, who also designed the Ferrari 250 GTO SWB Breadvan! These cars were raced by the French Maserati team and the Briggs Cunningham team in the 1962 Le Mans experimental class.

A stanced [1983 Ferrari 512 BBi] in black.

Considering most people didn't actually go this time, the turnout wasn't too bad. And though the weather wasn't as nice as what most people wanted, at least it wasn't bucketing down. All in all, it was a great experience to be able to display my own car there, but next time, I'm definitely bring my own chairs, since standing on concrete for 10 hours does a considerable amount of damage the lower back!

Anyways, I've spent hours editing all my photos and will be posting most up soon! But until the next show, see you!

April 2023 Monthly Toy Haul - 15/04/23

 

I've outdone myself this time and went ahead and got myself 25 more 1/64 diecast cars; so this time's Monthly Haul will be longer than usual. 

To start, let's begin with the only Hot Wheels model out of the 25. The Cadillac Seville was a weird choice for me to pick up, but the main reason why I got it was because the 'Gucci'-collaboration version of it was featured in the Hot Wheels Unleashed video game! Despite its clunky shape, the car itself was quite fast, and its base stats were comparable to that of the Twin Mill, one of the fastest cars in the game! The casting was first featured back in 1982, designed by the famed Larry Wood, and lasted only a few years till the end of 1987. However, in 2012 it got a retool, which included updated wheels. Some real-world information of the Cadillac showed it as the second-generation of the Seville and was a full-size luxury car built on the K-Body Platform, a FWD General Motors platform which was also shared with the Cadillac Sedan DeVille. 

Next, let's move on to some much more detailed diecast models from Tomica. My friend Paul was in Indonesia for a few weeks, and it just so happened that he was visiting some model car shops, so I got him to look out for a few cars for me, as I don't collect Tomica as much. Mostly as New Zealand doesn't actually distribute the cars for sale, and third party importers are just too expensive for me to throw money down!

Firstly, we have the Tomica Premium No.17 Nissan Skyline 2000 GT-R (KPGC110). I chose this car mainly based on the fact that I missed out on the Liberty Walk version from Hot Wheels. Tomica is great in the fact that most of their models feature moving parts, a bit like Matchbox Premium cars. They're also a bit more in scale, rather than Hot Wheels being more of a caricature of the real car. The C110 Skyline was interesting in terms of design, as it was when Japan stopped copying European designs and instead went with the classic 'coke-bottle' styling of American cars. You can clearly see the Dodge Challenger R/T-like inspiration Nissan took when designing the car!

Secondly, we have a car from the 2022 Tomica Nissan GT-R Collection, the Nissan GT-R Nismo Special Edition Stealth Grey Type. Nissan mentions that the Nismo-exclusive bluish-grey references the tarmac that the GT-R has raced and set records on. But I like to think that Nissan is just catching on with trends of solid grey colours like other companies doing similar shades to copy Audi's Nardo Grey. This Special Edition swaps out the standard bonnet for a carbon fibre one to save 100 grams and is sitting on unique 20-inch Rays wheels. Of course, any Nismo car has to have the iconic red pinstriping!

Thirdly, we'll move on to some more exotic cars, starting with the Tomica Premium No.31 F40 (Release Commemorative Version). The Premium No.31 F40 came in 2 colours; Rosso Corsa, which was released for mass production; and this Porsche-colour 'Aqua Blue' pre-release version, which is much much rarer, as it's packaged in a full red box instead of the usual black box. This particular F40 was actually the same on as the 2004 Liberty Walk one in white, before it was painted Blue in 2010.

Onto one of my favourite Tomica finds is this splendid Tomica Limited Vintage Neo LV-N275a Lancia Thema 8.32 Phase II in Blizzard Blue with the gold pinstriping. I briefly owned one at the time I purchased this vehicle, but not anymore as I had sold it not long ago. I absolutely loved the car to bits. It's a bit of a sleeper unicorn, as on the outside it looks like any old European sedan, and that is half true as it shared its chassis with the Fiat Croma, Saab 9000 and Alfa Romeo 164. But a closer inspection showed some interesting features: a stainless steel Abarth exhaust, an automatic adjusting spoiler, and a curious yellow '8.32' badge. That badge stood for V8, 32 valve. Yes, you're thinking correct. This shared its V8 engine with the Ferrari 308 GTB Quattrovalvole and the Mondial Quattrovalvole, but was produced by Ducati rather than Ferrari, and featured a cross-plane crankshaft rather than a flat-plane crankshaft! TLV-N also released this casting in Quartz Grey, as well as a Phase I casting in Winner Red and Reflex Green if you wanted other options!

Next up some Tomica Mainline, starting with this beautiful No.11 Lamborghini Huracan STO in a pastel coloured version of its unveiling colours, namely 3-32 Wellowish Blue over Arancio Borealis. The STO is the hardcore race version of the Huracan, a bit like if the Aventador's Essenza SCV12 was a mass-production model. And whereas homologation cars like this usually take their designs from the race versions, its vice versa in this case, with the STO's design being later used on the GT3 EVO 2 race car. 

Then onto a British car, in the form of the Tomica Mainline No.10 Aston Martin Vanquish Zagato. Sadly this isn't the Shooting Brake version, but the coupe is still beautiful in its metallic red over gold accents combo! 325 of these Vanquish Zagato's were made, 99 of which were Coupes! 

Another well-designed, extremely rare car is this Dutch supercar. No.98 Spyker C8 Laviolette SWB (First Edition Special Colour). These funky looking cars actually have some of the nicest designed interiors, with exposed shift linkages, beautiful diamond quilting and the most immaculate dashboard reminiscent of Spyker's past aircraft designs. Spyker's aircraft heritage can also be seen in the logo and wheels, both depicting the propellers of those planes.

It's only recently that I've really gotten into supercars and hypercars like these. And I think the main reason is because I've now owned a Mid-engined sports car for a bit, and I kind of understand the appeal of having engine right behind your head, and also having the best handling platform ever. Now this next car I actually accidentally bought, and I'll tell you why. 

So when Paul was in Indonesia buying me Tomica, I asked his to try get me the Tomica Mainline No.37 Bugatti Chiron Pur Sport in Blue, and that he did. However, a week later I found that Mini GT was also selling the Pur Sport in a Blue that was closer to the real French Racing Blue actually featured on the car. And because it was Mini GT, I couldn't pass up on the option of have an ultra detailed 1/64 diecast model. Now, I normally don't buy 2 of the same car, especially if they're the exact same car in the same colour; so I've actually agreed to trade it with my good friend Ken, for a Hot Wheels Mainline Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR when I fly to Japan in December. Anyways, the Chiron Pur Sport is like the handling pack for the Chiron, with revised aero and a big wing. Only 60 of these were made, and they all had a higher redline, lighter weight and a closer-ratio gearbox. 

I then went on a Mini GT Bugatti spending spree and bought a few more: the Chiron Sport 300+, a limited-production high-performance version of the base car. Only 30 of these were made and each were built to reach speeds of 300+ km/h. The car also featured a longtail, increasing the total length of the car by 248.9mm to help with the drag co-efficiency.

The Bugatti Vision Gran Turismo was also a must buy, as I play a whole lot of Gran Turismo, having owned every GT game from the 4th installment to the latest, which I still play regularly as my go to simulator racing game! VGT cars were assigned to every brand in the game and the brands were tasked with designing a hardcore, race-focused car, which also held a design language which could be seen many years into the future. Seeing as though the VGT was unveiled in 2015, and now a decade later, the car still looks brand new, I'd say Bugatti passed!

For my final Bugatti, we have the beautiful Bugatti Centodieci, created to celebrate 110 years of Bugatti as a brand. It was also created to pay homage to the equally beautiful Bugatti EB110, which in turn celebrated Ettore Bugatti, Bugatti's founder's birthday. Only 10 of these were built, each costing around $9 million USD! 

Let's move onto the only German car on this list, the Mini GT Audi RS 6 Avant with a Roof-box in Mythos Black. This car is properly cool, and really the only car that suits a roof-box in terms of practicality. And while the exterior looks quite normal, the heart of this beast is a 600hp 4.0 litre twin-turbo V8!

On the topic of luxury, let's now talk about the Bentley Continental GT. This specific version features the 2020 Ice Race livery with staggered-coloured wheels and a 50/50 light blue/black livery with skis on the roof. I am a massive fan of Bentley, and would 100% choose them over Rolls-Royce's anyday! They just look so sleek and elegant, without looking to old-fashioned or trying to hard to look prestigious.

I also love the idea that Bentley takes towards motorsports. Everyone else is putting their flagship lightweight supercars like the Mclaren 720S and Porsche 911 GT3's on track to race in the GT3 class, and then there's this British brand putting their massive luxury sports coupe against them! This particular version of the Bentley Continental is the GT3 variant of the car that participate in the 2020 Intercontinental GT Challenge Kyalami 9-Hrs as No.7 in the M-Sport Team.

On the other hand, proper sports cars are also, and probably more efficient and racing, like this Chevrolet Corvette C8.R that raced in the 2020 IMSA 24-Hrs of Daytona as No.4 in the Corvette Race Team. I had the No.3 version of this in Hot Wheels already, and so I wanted to get the counterpart to it. The Hot Wheels one wasn't even that bad compared to this Mini GT, so I kept it instead of selling. I probably wont buy the Mini GT version of it.

Another extremely efficient and famous American race car is the Ford GT. Ever since they won against Ferrari back in the 1966 24-Hrs of Le Mans in France, Ford has solidified its name in racing history as one of the best! The same can be said about this beautiful Ford GT Mk II that was unveiled at the 2019 Goodwood Festival of Speed. On a site note when looking for this car to buy, try to not get it mixed it up with the 2019 Pebble Beach Concours D'Elegance version, as that one omits the blue in the livery, and instead opts to go with gold instead.

While we're on the topic of history and heritage roots, it's time to turn our heads to one my favorites of this whole haul, the Mini GT RUF CTR Anniversary. This Irish Green car is based on the Porsche 911 (964), but rebuilt with all new parts from RUF and a modern 700hp/880Nm, 3.6 litre Twin-Turbo Flat-6 engine. This also came in Yellow, but I opted for Green, since I am a green paint fiend! The car unveiled at the 87th Geneva Motor Show, exactly 30 years since the original RUF CTR 'Yellowbird', which was one of the fastest cars in the world in its time!

Now RUF isn't exactly Porsche, as they used all original parts, that just look like Porsche parts; but if you're looking for real Porsches, I did buy 2. 1 of them was the 911 GT2 RS (991.2) in the beautiful and iconic Miami Blue with Gold Wheels! The Manthey Racing version of this car was once the fastest car on the N-Ring, setting a time of 6:38.34; second only to the Mercedes-AMG Project One with a time of 6:30.70!

I am also in love with the new 992 GT3, and also the new Shark Blue colour, so when Mini GT released it, I ordered it straight away! These pictures are actually the first time I've used these particular settings and I have to say that colours like Shark Blue just make the car look like it was professionally light-painted! I love how Mini GT also managed to get the Blue rings on the wheels too! Such focus to detail is why I moved to more premium brands rather than staying with Hot Wheels.

Sticking with some of the recent cars, is this Lamborghini Aventador SVJ in Verde Mantis! I know the Aventador is now discontinued and replaced with the V12 Hybrid Revuelto, but Mini GT haven't made one yet, so I went with my favorite Aventador, bar the SV. There's not much to say about this car other than the fact that you don't really need words, because it's simply perfect! Everything, down to the last minute detail!

The same can also be said for this Liberty Walk Lamborghini Aventador in Black on Gold wheels with a huge wing! Each little rivet for the widebody kit is there and also every sticker! There's even some stance on the wheels that really makes it look extra realistic!

We're coming to the last 2 now with another Italian brand, Pagani. As with Bugatti, Horacio has my heart and all I'm missing now is some of Christian's Koenigsegg's. Maybe I'll get some next time if I can find any. Firstly, is this beautiful Pagani Zonda HP Barchetta in Rosso Mars! Only 3 Zonda HP Barchetta's were built, and I believe only 2 are left since one crashed not too long ago. Sad... I know. Barchetta refers to a small Italian speedboat, hence the roof is missing. The car also features a massive amount of carbon fibre, even as rear wheel covers on the rear wheel to help with aerodynamics and straight line speed. 

At last, this long list of 25 cars this month ends with the Kyosho Pagani Huayra. This is my first ever Kyosho Model, and I'm impressed with the quality. The packaging comes in a plastic box which you can display it in, as its transparent and stackable, but I love them out of the box. The build is a bit like Tarmac Works and Paragon 64, especially with how the wheels do not roll, but still have the same about of detail as Mini GT. Would I get more Kyosho? Most likely.

Well, I think that was definitely enough for a read! Until next time!