Flash Cars in Queen St - 1970s photo-essay

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i-n-horz, Dec 9, 4:17pm
Could be one without the badge.
http://www.silogic.com/MGB/Alan%27s%20MGB.jpg

paull, Dec 9, 4:26pm
carjam shows nothing

owene, Dec 9, 4:43pm
!Scitmar

rob_man, Dec 9, 4:43pm
Mine was Crest Blue, would appear black in the photo. Those pics were taken a couple of years after my cruising days so I don't see any familiar faces in there. Notice how healthy the bogans looked back then, fresh from being outdoor kids who ate their veges.

chris.f, Dec 10, 2:54am
That was an awesome flashback to the days of Queenstreet and when Mainstreet Cabaret and the island of Real were the places to hang out. Even more awesome was seeing the '59 Caddy, which I am positive was the car I owned after this pic was taken - weren't many '59 Caddies back in those days, let alone a black with white roof 4 door. When I sold the car it ended up being cut up to make good a 2 door parts car - they swapped all the parts over from the 4 door to what was left of the two door. I bought that Caddy for $1800!

andrewph, Dec 10, 3:08am
Talkin of dumb stuff we used to do. long jumps. where you ask. Fishermans warf in Northcote. From the bottom to the top of the access lane and see how far we could jump our old cars across the Turning circlewith a car blocking any traffic from the road. It was fine until one of my dumb mates tried it in his rusty old anglia. When it landed one of the struts came away from the tower and puched through the bonnet. The old anglias had a minor rust problem around the shock tower and were prone to rusting out. planned oboslesance by Ford LOL. If you did it today .

roadkillcafe, Dec 10, 3:13am
great pics, things were so much cooler then.what about the zephyr that took flight at top of newton rd around then and hit tree on ponsonby road!ring any bells!

roadkillcafe, Dec 10, 3:25am
maybe i imagined it

mugenb20b, Dec 10, 3:26am
Scimitar.

sleuth, Dec 10, 3:29am
Yes I remember that - finished up beside the reservoir. Apparently if was airborne as it crossed K road. There was talk that it was doing close to the ton coming up Newton Rd. Hard to imagine.

roadkillcafe, Dec 10, 3:33am
apparently it had a v8 fitted which could certainly make it possible,do you know any thing else about it!

sleuth, Dec 10, 3:38am
Having a bit of a hunt - its mentioned at
http://www.vask.org.nz/index.php!topic=23174.0

chris.f, Dec 10, 3:50am
My most memorable Queen Street cruiser was a 1961 EK Holden Station Wagon - Matt Black - with lake pipes that used chicken wire as muffling material.
If you gave it death you had to get out and stuff the chicken wire back in as it blew out.

roadkillcafe, Dec 10, 3:52am
wow!i wonder what the hell they were thinking as they went up newton road at that kind of speed-you gotta know you're not going to make it in one piece.

urbanrefugee54, Dec 10, 4:26am
I used to take my Mk3 zep [named Zepplin 111] down Queen St about 75/76 with my sister & baby in back seat [was cheaper than finding a babysitter, or going to movie]. used to be soo funny as the blokes wanted to pick up the chick without the baby - & both of us would claim to be the mother. dragged a car off at the lights on Queen St hill & they thought they were sooo clever beating us. we were towing a v8[blokes were pushing the damn thing up Queen St]. what was the name of the night club that was on the edge of Aotea square!

mariska67, Dec 10, 4:26am
a taxi driver who was waiting at the lights reckoned it flew threw almost level with the top of the Ponsonby rd side traffic lights, a mark iv i believe and the tree still has the scar today.

urbanrefugee54, Dec 10, 4:29am
wasn't there a thread about this a year or so ago on here!

urbanrefugee54, Dec 10, 4:39am
there used to be a small older car [similar to a prefect] that had a v8 & had 'Lil Abner' on back, plus a vdub wagon with a key that turned.

roadkillcafe, Dec 10, 5:07am
does anyone know what they were thinking/doing, travelling at that kind of speed in that area!

roadkillcafe, Dec 10, 5:25am
i'd love to know what they were thinking. cos when you stop and think about it, they were either brave, in some crazy situation, or stupid and i wouldn't assume stupid.hmmmm.intriguing.

rob_man, Dec 10, 1:13pm
That was a MkIV Zephyr with a 351 in it that did the big jump. Four dead from memory, one survived.

roadkillcafe, Dec 10, 2:08pm
interesting.crazy antics,did it ever come as to why they did it/whythey thought they needed to go that fast !

tractor9, Dec 10, 3:21pm
They probably saw the cop at the bottom of the hill on Newton Road. Remember the geography of the area was a lot different then to now and there was less traffic/population. I was an apprentice at this time and remember the incident well. There was a lot of discussion on this messageboard regarding this accident about a year ago.
Murray Cammick's photos are excellent, a great look back at a neat era.

roadkillcafe, Dec 10, 3:57pm
yeah, those photos really take you to a different (much cooler) time-i was too young to be involved then. those people.didn't know how lucky they were.possibly the height of western civilisation.surely they'd have had to have been on the gas bigtime BEFORE the bottom of newton rd to get that far off the ground in a mark (4!) zephyr !what the hell must any passengers have thought on the way up the 'ramp' !

jmma, Dec 10, 4:08pm
Just like the young ones today, we were all bullet proof (o: