Articles
Having worked on some priceless projects in the past, Auto Restorations has a collection of articles relating to these restorations. Feel free to download the article in PDF format.
Christchurch about to be shipped back to England
One of the most priceless classic cars ever restored in the southern hemisphere is about to be shipped to England after a total restoration project in Christchurch .
The 1927 Grand Prix Delage has undergone massive rebuilding at Auto Restorations Ltd. The owner, who wishes to remain anonymous, lives in Monaco and...
Click here to read: 1927-Grand-Prix-Dealge.pdf (160kb)
Rare Alfa Resurrected in Christchurch
Five years ago Christchurch firm Auto Restorations Ltd received a consignment of a few parts in various states of disrepair. From these starting pieces they were given the task of performing a miracle - bringing back to life one of only three remaining Alfa Romeo Tipo C race cars.
Many of the parts were manufactured in-house from original drawings, or from measurements taken from another complete car...
Click here to read: Alfa-Romeo-Tipo-C.pdf (146kb)
The Aston Martin DB3S Story
Aston Martin can trace its racing heritage back to 1913 when Lionel Martin, a Singer dealer, decided to improve on his product. His modified Singers must have been an improvement (it wasn't difficult to improve a Singer), but he decided that he could do better with a car of his own "design" and installed a 1400cc Coventry-Simplex engine in an Isotta-Fraschini chassis and called it The Hybrid. His next car, built in 1915 and dubbed The Coal Scuttle because it looked like one, became the first Aston-Martin. Martin after Lionel, of course...
Click here to read: Aston-Martin-DB3S-9.pdf (159kb)
Aston Martin DB5 – Licensed To Thrill
Most James Bond film aficionados still see Sean Connery as the quintessential 007 - the slickest in a long line of smooth gentleman spies who always got the exotic car, the megalomaniacal villain and the beautiful woman, usually in that order. It was just another day at the office, but boy, that DB5 made quite an office. If you watch Goldfinger; when the gadget-man Q explains to Bond about his new DB5's many optional extras, such as the .30 calibre Browning machineguns, bullet-proof...
Click here to read: Aston-Martin-DB5.pdf (174kb)
New Lease of Life for OSCA
It took more than two years, but the 1958 OSCA FS372 has emerged from a beaten-up cocoon fully restored to racing standard.
The penultimate Italian OSCA model, it is one of only three or four ever made and you would be hard-pressed to find another like it in the world...
Click here to read: OSCA-372-FS-Morelli-Spider.pdf (201kb)
Tom’s twin TT Sunbeams
Tom Wheatcroft, owner of the Donington circuit with its superb Grand Prix museum, seldom does things by halves. When it comes to Tourist Trophy Sunbeams he doubled his bet and when he bought a complete car with a host of spare bits in New Zealand two years ago, he commissioned Auto Restorations in Christchurch
to build a matched pair of the 1922 cars...
Click here to read: TT-Sunbeams.pdf (167kb)
Globe Trotting Racer
Globe-trotting classic motor racing enthusiast Peter Giddings has been coming to New Zealand for 20 years with a variety of exotic machinery.
But the priceless 1933 Type 59 Bugatti grand prix racer, which will make its New Zealand debut in the Skope Classic at Ruapuna Park this weekend, is in a class of its own.
Click here to read: Bugatti-Type-59.pdf (97kb)