Our speaker on Monday 27 July was Patrick Harlow.
Patrick is an automotive historian and has written books about cars and frequently writes articles in NZ Classic Cars magazine and Classic Driver magazine. On Monday he spoke to us about Forgotten New Zealand Designed cars.
Patrick talked us through the cars he has built and showed us videos and photos. He told the stories of a number of New Zealand designed cars including the Trekka (around 2500 were built between 1966-1972), the Fraser, the V8 Escartus, the supercar Heron MJ1 and the Hulme Supercar, named in tribute to New Zealand’s only Formula one World Champion Denny Hulme.
He also talked about the Almac Cars, which from 1984 up until 2024, (when the business was sold to someone in Matamata) a number of vehicles were produced up the road in Upper Hutt. The Cobra replica, the Almac TC and TG (which was the first kit in a box). They also made a sports car, the Sabre (series 1, 2 and 3).
Almac Cars