Following the departure of the red
'74 Triumph 2500 PI (my oh my we had some fun old chap) the clear and obvious step to take was to fill the space left in my garage.
The obvious solution was to slap another red car in there. Who wouldn't? The particular red car that I've purchased to fill the right hand bay of my shed is none other than the ex-forum user kyteler '72 H230 Datsun 260C/Nissan Cedric if you're JayDeeEmm inclined. 95000 original miles, very solid original condition if not a bit patchy paint wise. Massive bonus of a very clean, original interior - possibly one of the most important features in an old car for me.
Bloody hell, I hear you exclaim, but that car is all the way down in Invercargill! How on earth are you going to get it up here?! The answer - roadtrip! You see, some time ago during a beer fuelled conversation forum member "sheepers" and I made a pact of sorts that yeah, we're going to go for a hoon around the South Island in his glorious
1UZ powered RA28 Celica to visit not often visited folk, drink some beers/cider and generally not go to work. Essentially, everything tied in neatly to pick up a car from the bottom of the earth, and bring it back ever so slightly more towards the centre. Of the earth.
And so begins, the chronicles of El Cedrico.
Anyway - on with some photos I suppose?
Poised for departure with the Celica, outside it's old home in Invercargill.
IMG_1619 by
SnoozinRichy, on Flickr
IMG_1622 by
SnoozinRichy, on Flickr
Stopping next to Lake Wakatipu, to enjoy some breathtaking scenery and take advantage of a photo op
IMG_1623 by
SnoozinRichy, on Flickr
IMG_1628 by
SnoozinRichy, on Flickr
Parked outside a historic building in Arrowtown... I heard the girls inside talking about it when I jumped back in... "that's so awesome... what is it?" "I think it's some kind of Datsun...?" so yeah this is a great start.
IMG_1637 by
SnoozinRichy, on Flickr
Up on the Crown Range Road... awesome climb to some absolutely fantastic panoramas of the surrounding areas.
IMG_1656 by
SnoozinRichy, on Flickr
Further up the Crown Range Road, those twisties in the distance were the more tame ones...
IMG_1665 by
SnoozinRichy, on Flickr
Me not drinking Speights (a local beer, a famous advert for it was shot at this building). Outside the famous Cardrona Hotel! Note crafty camera angle to alleviate the obvious Mexican stance the car was exhibiting throughout the journey due to a boot chock with the stock steel wheels and other parts.
IMG_1670 by
SnoozinRichy, on Flickr
More scenery... mountains, snow, bridges and rivers. Just out of Fox Glacier Township. Those of you who have been viewing attentively will notice that the hubcaps are missing, and beneath them is a set of 14x7 low offset Bogan Uglies. Reason - one hubcap flung itself off the right rear rim with reckless abandon as I was negotiating a bend alongside Lake Hawea. That hubcap ended up pitching itself off the cliff, and into the lake. Rats.
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IMG_1737 by
SnoozinRichy, on Flickr
Just proof that the car actually has a rear, as well as a front. This was shot just out of Hokitika, after an officer of the law kindly stopped me on the roadside and informed me that I was travelling at 103km/h in an 80km/h area. After claiming ignorance of the local area, I was let off the fine. He was still grumpy nonetheless.
IMG_1753 by
SnoozinRichy, on Flickr
Family shot, in the campground where our friend Alex is based in Nelson. The Viva is way, way too cool for school, beneath it's English bonnet pulses a 12A with carb turbo setup.
IMG_1802 by
SnoozinRichy, on Flickr
And finally... queueing to board the ferry in Picton. At this point, the fuel pump was playing up and the car was dying intermittently. Massive thanks to KK for organising a replacement electric pump when I got to Wellington!
IMG_1838 by
SnoozinRichy, on Flickr
So that's that for now... all I've done so far is remove the bogan awful wheels and pop the standard 14" steels with some brand new old stock hubcaps back on it. With a set of new tyres, as all options supplied with the car were fairly sub-par... surprising it got home with no tyre problems really.
Plans don't extend to much, a simple whack with the lowering stick, add a panhard rod to the rear, some wide Nascar D-window type 15" steel wheels and suitable tyres.
However - I have to drive it to Cape Reinga first... over NYE, just to say I have driven a 40 year old car the entire length of our country.
