The Shed - Cars

A Legend Returns

15 October 2025

A Legend Returns
A Historic Ferrari Monza 750 Joins the 2026 Ayrburn Classic Line-Up – 20-22 February 2026
The Ayrburn Classic, one of the most anticipated motoring events on the New Zealand calendar, is set to take things up a gear in 2026 with a line-up that promises to captivate enthusiasts and the general public alike. Following the success of the inaugural event, the Ayrburn Classic returns with a recently confirmed feature that is nothing short of extraordinary: the historic Ferrari Monza 750 – a masterpiece of motorsport and one of the most significant vehicles to race on New Zealand soil.
Legendary status
This particular Ferrari Monza 750, which arrived in New Zealand in 1957 and has remained here ever since, holds a legendary status in motorsport history. It competed in the Mille Miglia, Le Mans, and the Targa Florio – the ‘Big Three’ of European endurance racing during the golden era of the sport. Few cars can claim such provenance, and even fewer have such a deep and poignant connection to New Zealand’s own racing legacy.
Tragically, the Ferrari Monza 750 was involved in a fatal accident at Ardmore in 1957, marking the final moments of British driver Ken Wharton, whose last photograph was taken next to this very car. The vehicle has since been meticulously preserved, with images from the aftermath of the crash etched in motorsport history. Today, it stands as a symbol of both the bravery of that era and the enduring beauty of Italian automotive craftsmanship.

Recreating history

9 October 2025

It seems the Phoenix Bus Company was well named, as like the phoenix bird of legend, the new bus has been reborn from the ashes of the old, so to speak.
A former principal of Piopio College, a local boat builder, and the whole community rallied around to recreate the Model T Ford bus, identical to its forebears.
It began when Brian Tegg, an ex-principal of Piopio College, found a 1921 Model T Ford restored transport truck for sale in Auckland and brought it on impulse three years ago.
Realising it was a unique opportunity to transform it into a bus, he got the Piopio College Trust and the local community behind the project.
Local fundraising by the Piopio College Trust, a Givealittle crowdfunding campaign, and support from many local people and businesses made the project happen.
Piopio is a small town of just 400 people but they have pride in their history.
Local boat builder Max Laver became involved in the project, transforming the truck into an exact copy of the early buses.

Race cars made in NZ

31 July 2025

Craig Greenwood is one of the best examples of someone who turned his passion into a business. He is also one of New Zealand’s most prolific racing car builders.
Craig got into motor racing in the early 1990s, progressing from competitive cart racing to Formula Vee (now Formula First). The class is based on a 1200 cc VW motor and uses a collection of stock parts to form a competitive car from the engine, transmission, front suspension, brakes and wheels built into a space frame.
The body is fibreglass or carbon fibre. It’s a racing class that allows an enthusiast to build and maintain his own car. Craig bought his first car but soon decided to build his own, working nights and weekends in a cramped single garage with little more than an oxy-acetylene welder, a hacksaw and a hand-held drill.
“I wasn’t all that successful at first. Of 18 starts I made, I only finished four,” says Craig.
“I realised that just knowing how to weld a chassis wasn’t enough, so I started to read about designing and building race cars.”

Child’s play

9 May 2025

When you are a carpenter by trade with an interest in cars and still young at heart, making wooden toys has to be the perfect retirement occupation—although many of Alan Gray’s “toys” are not the sort of playthings you would put in the hands of small children. His meticulously crafted vintage vehicles, fashioned mostly from native timbers, mahogany and macrocarpa, can take around 60 hours to make and are more collectors’ pieces.
To keep the real kids happy, he has a more robust range mostly made from pinus radiata— diggers, trucks, pull-along hippos and the like.
Alan, 71, and his wife, Lesley, have been living in Cromwell for the past six years. Originally from Dunedin, Alan trained as a carpenter but turned his hand to fishing after moving to Stewart Island. He then spent the best part of three decades skippering boats for the Department of Conservation.

The Ayrburn Classic announces dates for 2026

7 May 2025

Save the date: Friday 20 – Sunday 22 February 2026
That’s right. The Ayrburn Classic returns next February for what promises to be another world-class celebration, scheduled slightly earlier on the calendar to bask in Central Otago’s long golden evenings and late-summer glow. This festival will once again transform Ayrburn into a playground for car enthusiasts, food lovers, and seekers of high-end hospitality alike.
The 2025 edition set an incredibly high benchmark, and is fast becoming one of the leading reasons to visit Queenstown – amongst New Zealanders and international travellers alike. With over 250 classic and contemporary luxury vehicles on display – collectively worth more than $250 million – the festival was a visual and visceral feast for attendees.

My car the barbecue

13 December 2024

A mobile barbecue built out of an abandoned Holden Statesman? Why not. This clever conversion by Scott Edwards, a former freezing-worker-turned-motor-mechanic, was the pin-up attraction at a car, bike, truck and boat Show Day held in Riverton, the popular coastal resort town about 32 km west of Invercargill.
Scott is currently completing an adult motor mechanic apprenticeship but has always had a flair for anything to do with engines. He began early. Scott’s partner, Nicola Swain, says his mother had told her that Scott pulled apart every toy he got as a child, then put them back together again to see how they worked, before he played with them.

Small vehicle, large challenge

28 November 2024

The miniature Land Rover is called a Toylander and two lucky grandsons in Australia will soon be taking delivery of a toy that most kids only dream of. Toylander is based in the UK and sells plans and kitsets for a variety of vehicles. Graham came across their website and bought a set of Land Rover plans on impulse, thinking he could knock one up for one of his grandson’s birthdays.
Rather than being a quick job, the project got under his skin and became a bug that has seen the house renovations put on hold, the new shed delayed and a couple of birthdays slip by in the year and a half it has taken to complete.
Although the Toylander plans are comprehensive and highly detailed, Graham’s version has gone far beyond the basic instructions.

Steampunk toys

22 November 2024

A steampunk toy (for want of a better term) combines two passions of mine. I love making things that are a bit different, even a bit quirky. Something that stands out from the run of the mill stuff that you buy at the shops. Secondly, I enjoy the challenge of bringing together bits and pieces to make seemingly disparate objects into a semi-plausible whole toy. Steampunk toys give me the opportunity to do both.

Ayrburn Classic Car Festival

4 October 2024

The Ayrburn Classic Car Festival will take place on the scenic grounds of the Ayrburn Winery in Arrowtown, Queenstown Lakes District, on Friday 21 to Sunday 23 March 2025, coinciding with Otago Anniversary Weekend. Set to become New Zealand’s premier classic car event, this festival promises to be reminiscent of some of the most prestigious motoring events globally, thanks to its stunning location and world-class execution.
Chosen for its breathtaking views and lively atmosphere, Ayrburn Winery adds a unique dimension to the experience, offering visitors not just a car show but an immersive day out. A celebration of motoring heritage set against the spectacular backdrop of one of New Zealand’s finest estates, the festival will showcase the exceptional craftsmanship of New Zealand’s automotive industry.
Prestige and classic car owners are invited to participate in this inaugural event. If you own a special vehicle and wish to be part of this landmark festival, please contact the event team to secure your spot.

Getting floored

22 August 2024

After Christchurch’s 2011 earthquake many of the city’s brick structures were damaged beyond repair and were pulled down and almost every chimney in our part of town was demolished. Before the earthquake, clean red bricks were more than a dollar each; after, there were so many of them, they had no value. Many property owners left piles of bricks on the kerb in the hope that they would be taken away.
The carport of my shed was meant to have a concrete floor but because of the many free bricks and the unavailability of pre-mixed concrete for weeks, I decided to make the floor out of recycled “earthquake” bricks.
The original scheme to incorporate the numbers “2011” for the year in yellow glazed bricks was too complicated in the time available. But a paved floor can be relatively easily re-worked so the number may yet appear.

On the road

16 May 2024

When Des and Kath Thomson decided to take to the road in their retirement, they wanted a campervan that was comfortable. They didn’t want to be clambering up ladders, tangoing at tea-time in too-narrow aisles, or struggling to turn tables into beds at night. But nor did they want to trundle around the countryside in a cumbersome mobile mansion.
They wanted a small, manoeuvrable vehicle that had masses of space inside. Space for everything, including the kitchen sink plus another in the bathroom, a separate shower, toilet, cooker, microwave, barbecue, table and chairs, wardrobe, drawers, hot and cold water on tap, plenty of storage…oh, and a queen-size bed.

Mr Fix it

21 March 2024

Ian Chamberlain’s shed is upstairs in the second storey of his double garage in Whanganui. Ian certainly needs all the room on the ground floor to park just a few of the vintage and classic cars he has restored over the past 30-odd years. And while the styles of car evoke a walk down memory lane, the vehicles look brand-spanking new.
There’s a fire-engine red Mark 1 Zephyr convertible, a more staid looking green and black 1917 Buick, the red and brassy 1906 Reo, and its miniature look-alike.

Going glamping

23 November 2023

What do you do if you want a caravan but drive a Mini? You make one to fit. That’s just what Michael Wolfe of New Plymouth did – turning out a real dinky little teardrop-shaped caravan that matches his 2004 Cooper S and has all the mod cons for a decent holiday.
Michael saw pictures of little campers on the net and decided that was what he wanted – a cross between a caravan and a tent.
“I got some ideas from little caravans online and decided to go a bit more high-tech,” he says.
He built it to have the same lines, wheels and colour as his car and it looks just the part.
“I never really planned it in detail. I sketched it out originally and a lot of the construction I worked out as I went along.”

His worship – the shed and vintage cars

25 October 2023

The morning we visited this particular sheddie, the bloke was under fire. In The Press, he was being slagged off on the front page. Inside the paper, a swag of writers was pinging him this way and that in letters to the editor. Christchurch is a hotbed of political discontent these days and the buckshot stops with the mayor Garry Moore.
So he’d be in no mood to spend a lovely spring Saturday morning talking to a complete stranger about something as mundane as his not-quite-finished shed? Wrong.

A king-sized country shed for an ex city boy

11 July 2023

When Phil Kindberg decided to escape the Auckland rat race and retire to rural Taranaki with his precious collection of old Studebaker cars, he didn’t dream of the massive shed that was waiting for him.
Two years ago he made the shift south and purchased the 100-year-old Riverdale dairy factory, not far west of Hawera.
The big factory, which in its heyday specialised in cheese production, already had a bit of a past with motor vehicles, having been a panel beating shop for a while and also once housing a huge collection of old Citroen cars.
Now on display in the factory are Phil’s seven Studebakers from 1947 to 1962, a 1958 Packard, a mate’s collection of 40 motorbikes, including some classics and home-made bikes, and other weird and wonderful machines.

Cars