Technical Tell me about New Zealand... might be moving there

Right, so I know all about the ridiculous fuel prices, rego, etc...

But how does WOF/rego/etc work for a hot rod? I've a feeling there's some bureaucracy that'll get in the way. Say if'n it was an A roadster, juice brakes, fenderless, mild V8... and built at home, with parts I bring over from the States.

I also have a feeling parts aren't as easy to find there. Tin, for one.

If all works out, we'll be loading a shipping container with my motorcycles/tools/equipment (it's all 240), some boring stuff like furniture and housewares... and moving sometime around June. Just in time to miss the summer here, and hit the winter there.

--Dan

 

Visited several years ago to both North and South islands. Enjoyed both, but they are quite different geographically.
Where you planning to nest?

 

We'll likely be on the North island, somewhat of a commute distance from either Wellington or Auckland, because of work.

 

Great. We are just north of Wellington, though some of our roads leave something to be desired.
To cut a long story short it would much simpler to fill a container with parts to build a car, glad you also said 220/240V tools. Building the car here would mean discussions with the certifier who checks and approves most of the work and advises along the way and makes sure its up to the code. Parts are not impossible to find , body parts somewhat harder. There is a fairly good parts network here . A few decent swap meets.
There are guys that bring in built cars , some have major dramas others get by ok. Of course you wont be building a LHD car ,thats out. Plus as far as a highboy goes you need to be a member of a club for 12 months.
Yes you can work through the build and have fun doing it , just be ready to meet compliance , sometimes over form , as regards seat belts etc.
If you need better info check nz LVVTA site, dont get put off by screeds of info.
June sounds a long way off at present. Look forward to updates.

 

need to find one of those old Driver's Ed cars that had steering wheels on both sides of dashboard, then practice driving on the wrong side of the road

 

I lived in Warrawong NSW Australia for 10 years.... Not that far from New Zealand....

 

Theres 3 main NZ islands........North, South and West Island, that extremely large island with Tasmania at its bottom..........living in West Island we see a large number of our NZ mates visiting here regularly............on that note I'll go sit in my corner........lol..............Kiwis ain't a bad bunch of guys actually.........andyd

 

NZ Cert rules are pretty tight. But really I believe its a good thing. The guys who know how to build are generally fine. Everything to me makes sense and its to keep you and other safe on the road and to keep either roadkill style danger bombs or younger kids throwing crap together and killing there selves.

As for Reg & WOF. Car reg has different categories. For old cars its half price or under of what it costs to do a new car for similar period from memory its like $54NZ /yr so thats like $37.
Saying this if you did a scratch built that is totally building a new car it is wouldn't fit into this category i think. Unsure to tell the truth. What I do and many others is bring the car in from the states or find some old barn find that hasn't been in the system for XX years. Get it in the system with a VIN that shows it as a 1930 Ford. then go ahead and start chopping into it. This can make all kinds of things easier. You do need some old paperwork for this. If you tell the guys who do the VIN its a project that will be certified they will enter all the info in the system give you a number but wont test it. You need a VIN for cert.
A WOF is every 6 or 12 months depending on the year of the car. Its a basic safety check. lights, brakes, glass, wipers, seatbelts, horn, tires, wheel bearings, hubs, suspension, steering and all that kinda junk. It aint to bad and again helps keeps your car and other cars safe.

Your aloud to bring in LHD cars. If it came from the factory. From memory only cars older than like 1984 or something. Just a lil bit more testing when they test it for a VIN.

The roadster you speced out is fine I would imagine. Many others have them.
Standard old Ford hotrods seem easy enough to get aftermarket parts for. Its more when you go into something a bit more different like Hudson, Nash, Kaiser and I guess anything that came with a Straight 8 etc. It is a bit cheaper generally to bring it in from overseas but then you cant really return the junk if its dosnt fit etc.
Alot of guys buy from NZ equivalent of ebay https://www.trademe.co.nz/motors

Bringing stuff in is pretty easy these days. Just keep in mind that NZ Customs will take a flat 15% on car parts and cars over a certain value. And if you are bringing in over a grand NZ then you need a importers cert that you can get free.

Other than that. hmm. Cops dont have guns is one thing I find mates from the states note a bit. Also comment on our farms being farms and not factories with animals eating corn mash.

 

Cool place, cool people magnificent scenery-been there ten times since 1987-made heaps of good friends in the Rodding scene-attended three hot rod nationals and two pre 48 nationals.........
You need more?

Ash

 

There is a large hot rod scene in NZ, I think you would be impressed with the number of hot rod events that are on around the country (mostly in the summer).
I am 45 minutes south of Auckland, let me know if I can help in any way.

Russell

 

Get yourself some Redband Gumboots,you will then fit in fine!

 

Just take some insect repelent and you will be fine.

 

It's a dangerous place....Be warned! We all run around in grass skirts chucking spears at each other.
And where I live [Tauranga/ Mount Maunganui] is also dangerous. You get whiplash eyeballs driving around the beaches and there is no known cure.

I see that you're from Oregon, the North Island of NZ is very similar to the Pacific Northwest.

Don't sweat the gas prices over here, our driving distances are a lot less than the USA and toll roads are almost non-existent [about 8 in the whole country]
I actually spend more $$$ on gas when I'm in the USA

Cars are easy to comply over here as long as it isn't a P.O.S ,the NZ Govt set up all the rules with the Hotrod associations years ago. We just don't want dangerous hack jobbed cars on our roads.

You can't build a LHD car in NZ ,but you can import one built overseas. Anything over 20 years is exempt from LHD permits [understand building a hotrod would be NZ assembled and less than 20 years old]
I just complied a '16 Corvette which is LHD and there was a few loops it had to jump through to be eligible [sports car/coupe , less than 20000 per year of that model variant, not available in RHD etc] but because the car fitted those categories it was easy.

What NZ doesn't want is our roads filled with LHD people movers driven by soccer moms. If you are a genuine enthusiast it will be easy

If you've own and used a vehicle for a continuous 6 months prior to importing it is allowed into NZ as personal belongings [you must own it for 12 months in NZ] Bring in a 2010-15 F150 and you'll make some coin when you sell it

 

We have one poisonous spider that is endangered. No snakes. No large predators like wolves big cats etc.
Makes tramping around the back paddocks looking at old parked up cars a bit more fun knowing you aint going to get bit.

 

I've no issue with RHD; done it before, not the worst thing ever... Nor is driving on the opposite side of the road from the States.

I'm glad to hear there's a decent amount of hot rodders there. I'm not sure what I'll bring, as admittedly I'm more into motorcycles than cars, but I have a need... a need, dammit... to build an A roadster.

So far it's all sounding good!
--Dan

 

RHD is easy as long as you drive on the LH side of the road. I have the same scenario when I come to the states [ backing out of a driveway and turning the wrong direction will get you initially]

To be honest, trying to cross the road is more dangerous, you'll have a tendency to look to the Left when our vehicles are approaching from the right.

If you're into bikes, bring yours down with you [they're cheap to freight and don't need RHD conversion]
You'll have to wear helmets in NZ [even on a bicycle] , that is a trade-off for the Govt picking up the tab on accident compensation.

 

write Brian at ajays fordz. He does a lot of importing and lives in Waihi. He can help you with all the regs, and early Ford stuff. Tell him Tom in Ohio says Hey.

 

My kids should be golden with crossing the road; they all look right first, for some reason

I'm OK with the Govt insurance, and wearing helmets. There will be a handfull of motorcycles coming with me, from old Harleys to dirtbikes. I've heard about how impeccably clean they'll have to be for inspection... I think the dirt on a couple of the bikes might be structural, though...

 

Yep they customs worry about a little dirt or wood etc to protect our primary industry ,which is important, yet they fail to stem the devious hidden flood of P that constantly batters our border.

 

I'll be in NZ at the end of November, for a trip with the family. No itinerary yet, just reckon we'll figure it out. The idea is to just check out the North island, likely near Auckland as that's probably where the work is (I'm in IT).

I've no desire to live in Auckland, just based on it being a city and all... I'm more a small town or country guy... But work is where the work is...

 

We seem to have a huge number of cool cars for our size. We don't have snakes, but to correct Alex on spiders, we have our native Katapo, which means, night stinger in English, and two Australian imports, the White tail, and the Redback. The Whitetail is an aggressive nasty bastard. Redbacks seem to be thriving down lower South Island, and our native Katapo, which I have five or so living in the pit in my shed, are endangered, and not very aggressive. They are a pretty neat critter. But your asking about the automotive side, not a nature lesson.
Fenderless cars must be 1935 or earlier, you have to be a member of a club for, I think two years, and have two club members of good standing vouch for you. Then there's half the speed going through roadworks, and only the owner gets issued with the exception, so no one else can legally drive the car.

I'm in the S Island, and though we have some great Hot Rod events, the N Island has more, same with dragstrips.
You won't be disappointed, life down here is pretty sweet.

 

If you were living just out of Auckland (more country area) and depending on what part of Auckland you had to commute to, the daily drive will do your head in. Auckland population is exploding and the motorway system isn't coping with it.
If you can work north or south of Auckland and live close by you will be a lot happier (also housing will be cheaper).

Russell.

 

I went to a lot of LHD countries, and no matter whether it was walking or driving, my biggest problem was figuring which way to look before stepping out into the traffic. If you can imagine a guy stuck on a crosswalk with his head on a swivel, right to left, or is it left to right. I still have emotional scars from the trauma.
Bob

 

Last time I flew from Australia to New Zealand the pilot come on the intercom and said
"We're about to land in Auckland. Set your watches back to 1950"

Actually the recent history of NZ is interesting having gone though a generation of corrupt government and subsequently throwing them out to regain the common man's freedom but not without a nasty bloodless battle. Not terribly unlike what several other countries are presently going through.

 

I used to fly into Aukland back in the mid 80s, and I thought that was the endearing aspect of going to New Zealand. I used to get a real kick out of seeing all the old British designs, like the Morris Minor, Anglea, Prefect, and many more. What is more, the people were just great, except that on some days it was really difficult to find a restaurant that was open on a weekend. Unfortunately, I never got to see more than the area around Aukland.
Bob

 

That is an interesting observation from an outsider. I have lived in NZ all my life (60 years) other than 1 year living in LA and I'm not sure what you are referring to.
Not wanting to get into a political discussion and get this thread closed but historically we would have (and always have had) one of the most stable and least corrupt forms of government in the world.

 

After reading this, California doesn't seem so bad after all

Sent from my SM-J700T1 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

You want to try walking around streets in China!
Nanning City where I was living had banned gasoline scooters so they now use the silent killers [electric scooters]. They have limited new registrations to 1500 per day and there is a waiting list , so imagine 547500 new scooters a year into just one city.

Anyway, at night they don't use the lights because it limits their distance, so for a safety feature they ride on the footpath.
Apparently it is my fault when I get hit from behind at night [because I wasn't looking where I was going]

They are like a swarm of bees , darting everywhere with no apparent order. It is actually safer to step in front of a bus [at least the bus will attempt to stop, whereas with a scooter it is 50/50 gamble as to which way it will swerve]

 

Yeah, I travelled to almost all the major cities in SEA, and the most dangerous place to me, was Taipei where they had RHD. There is a toll road between the city and the airport, and at the toll booth, I actually saw a full sized bus, that had hopped the first set of concrete stanchions, and was hung up between two others like it was in a hammock. That is where I first saw a family of 4 on a scooter. It wasn't that unusual.

 

A little bit wrong, but it's interesting to hear opinions from outside the circle.That is why I made the comment earlier about grass skirts and throwing spears [It is sometimes what people WANT to think]

Back in the 70's we had a very restrictive minority govt [they shifted the electoral boundaries so that majority of opposition voters were represented by less seats in govt] Even though this was a manipulation to hold onto power, we have never had ad real corruption in the history of NZ

Being car guys, we all looked at the USA as a giant deregulated "Toy Box" back then.

In the early 80's a change of Govt deregulated a lot of our daily lives. Our standard of living now is very high, and our quality of life is even higher.
We now enjoy more freedoms than a lot of countries where they have laws and permits for everything.
Basic honesty and common sense of the people helps here.

I have a few expat American friends here that never want to go back to the USA, we all have different values and expectations in life.