Jon

I think you'd need to be 'quirky' to import some FSOs into NZ in the late 1980's. Anyway, here's the adverts, slightly wonkily scanned from NZ Car, February 1989: Love the generic wheel trims, as seen on most slightly tramped up shit cars of the late 1980's. Lol at advert barrel scraping: "Tough as old boots" "Side indicator repeaters" etc. In line with my nerdish credentials, I've run the reg plate of that blue beauty and it comes up on carjam as never being registered, so I guess that's a system glitch, or it didn't even last long enough to be remembered on a computer system. To add further to my nerdishness, I checked the price plus GST (10% before July '89, if you're bothered) and that ute would've cost almost $29000 in today's dollar! That Polonez is RHD and has the same gash trimz, so there's a chance that at least one of them made it over here. Doesn't even have a reg plate, so maybe there's a NOS unregistered Polonez kicking around in some quirky Barry's shed somewhere....

Because I'm such a spotting nerd, here's a pic I took of yours last year: And that yellow CCH one, with a 125 front end, which I took a few years ago (and totally got busted doing so by the driver): Gotta say, I much prefer the original front, as it reminds me of the way they looked when littering the streets back in my childhood in the UK. Does anyone know if a Polonez exists in NZ? I'll fish out the FSO advert in an NZ magazine I've got somewhere...

Link to discussion: //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/47476-jons-vb-station-wagon-ld28-out-308-in/

With my lightning quick reactions, I pressed this plan into action a mere 21 months later than expected: Note the kayak on the roof for extra internet cool points and also the headlights, grille and bonnet removed, to make the job look more involved. That's not me on the ground doing stuff by the way; that's my cousin, who did a vast majority of the work, whilst I pondered over various bits and did a small fraction of removing stuff, plus took some terrible photos on an outdated camera phone, for the benefit of a few people who like to read about old cars on the internet. Here's a very similar photo, just prior to the one above (where 'we' were removing the Nissan gearbox) which shows the LD28 freshly removed and testing the load bearing capabilities of some old seatbelts, whilst I pause to take another photo. There's a bit more to say about the 308 motor but that'll have to wait for another time, as I've had a few drinks tonight to celebrate/commiserate the LD28's passing.

I'm working in Kingseat on the 8th, 9th and 10th Nov, so could always come up in the Commodore, if that'd fit the bill and nothing else comes up?

Here's a JDM one a mate bought last year, after I saw it for sale on Trademe: Pillarless doors and entry levels steels combo only further ingratiated it to me . 2 litre V6 for bonus #orionfapfactor. Sadly, the interior was disappointingly subdued and as an extra kick in the nuts, it smelt quite a bit of old people, since it had only had one retired NZ owner since importing, hence the fantastic condition. I should've bought it off him when he sold it and definitely would've if it had been a manual. Despite being bought and sold in Auckland, it was bought by a bloke living in the next town who has a Sigma too, so I think it's being looked after.

I hope for the sake of my bank balance that you're intending to keep this! Looks bloody good.

I'm incredibly tempted to do similar next year, too. Will have to have a chat about next time we meet.

Lot 74 was one of those things I'll never forget. Was chatting to Bigfoot and Chris R about this whilst the bidding was going on, asking about costs for re-reg, as I was really interested in it but thought it'd go over budget; I'd looked over it the day before and it seemed solid. Bigfoot mentioned the 'on hold' writing in the windscreen, which I'd forgotten about, so I turned round to put up my hand to bid but the winning bidder was putting his bidding number up a few people in front and the auctioneer didn't see me, so it went for $500, which was a bargain; the whole camper interior was still in the back, etc. Anyway, I got home and saw my overly full driveway despite being one car down at the moment and thought that I'd probably dodged a bullet, in all honesty. Being amongst so many projects yesterday also made me realise that the junk I have isn't actually that bad.

Yeah, the fifth one was dark metallic blue, so a late one perhaps? Paint was pretty scruffy and it was an auto but had WOF/reg until next year.

Wow, my hand writing really is excellent. RNM is reserve not met, by the way. Only a few had reserves.

OK, I've expertly removed Ben's bids on his fleet acquisitions using Paint, just in case he didn't want someone else spreading the news. Here goes: And no, my pen wasn't running out; the double figures I've written down really were the prices the cars sold for.......

OK, quickly. Lot 80, advertised as a Tii. $3500 reserve not met (but close, apparently) Lot 81, 2002 auto, rego on hold. $1000 Lot 86. Baur(?) convertible dereg $900 reserve not met. Lot 92 rolling body only $30

Careful now, that sounds like common sense kicking in! Wife is hangry, so best make some tea then I'll see what I can do.

Yeah, I scribbled away at my bidding sheet, so got all the prices of the cars if anyone's interested? Not sure if I can be bothered to list them all right now but post some requests and I'll let you know what I recorded.

I had the afternoon free, so took a look over the preview today. Sorry, didn't see the MR2 post, as I walked straight past it so would have happily peered through the window at the gear stick, poked a few panels etc. I did take a look at the piles of wheels and couldn't see any listed specifically for 2002s but there was a lot 145 - Set of BMW Mag wheels. I could find every number but lot 145 but there were 3 x Enkei 4 stud 14" mesh rims sitting amongst the other wheels and a 2002 steel rim set aside nearby, so I'm guessing that's it. 3 wheels is probably no use but from what I remember, they looked a but like these: Except 4 stud and I'm pretty sure not split rim. Helpfull, eh?!

It's my wedding anniversary that day, so what a day trip treat for the missus. If I can wrangle it (she does want an old camper van), I may see you there. Regardless, I should have Friday afternoon free, so will hop over for a look. If you have to pay to register, can we all share the same card for ultimate Dutchness?

I know the fella that owns this LHD twin pot Visa but it's down in the south Waikato: Period perfect though, being a 1982 model. Less perfect and more RHD is my Visa GTi but it's not in new condition by ANY stretch of the imagination....

No, I'm not 2300 crazy, apart from the fact that I think they're really good looking, especially in wagon and coupé form. I'd posted a load of photos of my 3 visits to Horopito on a UK forum but there's not really much point posting others up on an NZ, since it's so accessible to us. If you're into old cars and haven't been, I'd say it's a must to visit - costs all of a couple of bucks in the donations box to drop in. Right up there with the Transport & Toy Museum in Wanaka - make sure you visit during Warbirds over Wanaka like I did, to save megabucks on the ticket costs, as it backs on to the air strip.

I thought I had a few photos to add of the one in Horopito but you've already found one of them already! Anyway, to re-cap, this was how it looked like when I visited in 2008: Then in 2011, I saw it again and it wasn't looking quite so great (or even quite so green, as my camera settings were obviously wrong): I know it looks to have moved but actually the trees in the background have just been cleared. Sadly, the 'screen is smashed and the rear's caved in. I revisited this time last year but didn't seem to have taken any photos but I'm guessing another 4 years haven't done it many favours, sadly. Someone on here bought a Honda N600 from Horopito and got another one in worse condition thrown in to the deal, so despite their reputation for asking stiff money for stuff, perhaps it'd be worth giving them a call and asking about buying it for some useful spares.

Can't add too much more to what others said, we had a great day out too. Job done in convincing my wife that our collection is rather small and she'd be up for increasing the collection if I can find space to put them. So that's not exactly a 'no', which is victory in my eyes! Thanks for the coffee (excellent), company, shed passes, organisation skills and generally being made to feel welcome, despite driving a modern to the event. Finally, we managed not to bend any of the new rims on the way home in the dark, successfully dodging all the craters on SH2 & 27, so smiles all round.

Late to the show but I've had some dealings with Neal (Holden 308 related) so hopefully he could vouch for me and I'll happily dip in to our frozen cow supply and bring along some steaks. Does the members only bit extend to partners? Would really love to show my wife that my car collection is NOTHING compared to others and she'd be up for the trip. No worries if too full etc. I'll try my best and see if I can get a few more meets under my belt.

Looked at the gold paint, wondered if that was the colour you were going to paint it and thought that it looks better as is. Then I read that it was going mustard, which I reckon is my favourite HQ colour. I fell in love with this beauty at beach hop a couple of years back, which in my eyes is perfect: Yours will look even better with a four character number plate though!

Sounds interesting. I doubt I'll have it all assembled any time before the winter, so may well keep an eye out and see what you think, if you go ahead.

Sourcing H series brakes was really a bit of a backup plan if it proved impossible to get V8 spec. Commodore brakes under my 14" rims - I figured that if they could stop a heavier car (which I guess an HQ is) then they'd be OK for a Commodore. Anyway, sounds if I've already solved the issue, if Tom's info is true, as I'm already running 270mm x 22m discs up front. That's not to say that I wouldn't be spending a bit of cash on getting things sorted in the braking department, as they're quite shit at the moment but I reckon that's probably the condition of the existing components than poor design. I think I was getting a bit hung up on the rears being an issue simply because that's where I'll be making the change, from drums to discs. Of course, applying a bit of logic and assuming that fronts are always bigger than rears, I should've worked out that there wouldn't be any clearance issues. But then that's a major failing of my scattergun attempts at problem solving when it comes to working on cars and doing research, etc. and why I'm so grateful to be virtually spoon fed all this useful info from this forum!