NZ Cars - A Cottage Industry

[Patrick.Harlow]

With this car it is very hard to know who is right and who is wrong. Such is the intrigue and mystery. Anzani is the correct spelling for the motor. When I originally typed up the letter I copied the hard to read and faded handwriting in letter for letter. After which a bit of research confirmed that Anzani were engine manufacturers.

Along with KiwiG I would put my money on the car on the roof being the car I am now calling the Anzani coupe but for all I know all the cars were called Tikis. My first guess for this car was that it was a British car, the Roachdale C Type, but research points away from that. Perhaps as KiwiG suggests there were three of these cars made.

Below I have reproduced an article Classic Driver (2007) which shows a third Tiki with what I am calling the Ashley 750 body. A curious point is that the letter states that Bill Ashton had no idea where the Tiki name came from as they never put a name on the bodies. The black and white photo car above and the 1962 add shown below suggests otherwise. The plot continues to thicken.



(Classic Driver 2007) MORE ON THE TIKI V8
Amongst the papers I have on the car is a letter from Bill Ashton, dated 12 July 1991, outlining the history on the Mistral and Tiki.

He recollects about 12 Tiki bodies being made, but very few ever got on the road. He made one for himself at his Sunbury St, Dunedin home and the wide body version made in their factory (George and Ashton Ltd) for a client who lived in Pine Hill.

Bill's car was completely finished to the extent he drove it to Christchurch on several business trips. Bill's car reg' number was 763.671. It was complete with hard top. Apparently his son Arron took this car South when he was transferred for work in Invercargill.

I also have a letter dated 14th December 1999 from Chris George (Ted George's son) to John Hooggonboeem, a previous owner to me, stating that he was also living in Invercargill and read about the V8 one in the local paper which inspired him to buy a "very rough body and heaps of bits which will one day no doubt be my pride and joy". He was going to use Triumph Herald running gear in it. This car never got on the road and I think this could be the car on page 33 of the last issue of Classic Driver.

It certainly isn't the "works" car, or Bill's, as this one clearly has never been finished. According to Dave Robertson, another previous owner, at one stage the Tiki V8 and the Crowe MG VS both sat together in a shed in Invercargill for many years, the MG was motorless.

One day someone wanted to use the MG for something and took the flathead out of the Tiki and put it into the MG.
It was atter that Dave Robertson put a 260 Windsor in it — not a 221 as claimed in some documents.
Coincidentally my brother Jim owned the MG VS in Dunedin for a while.

I'm compiling a list of previous owners of the Tiki and it appears its had about eight, including myself.
As Eileen McMillan states in her hook, the car has never been finished — but it is going to be with this owner!
The Tiki only needed seat belts and door hinges for a WoF when I bought it, but you know how it goes — it's been down to bare chassis and body shell, done the inside of chassis section, rust kill, POR 15 etc.
Now I have put all the Ford running gear hack in including 2.77:1 Falcon diff, 4-speed, fully recoil' motor (same 260 as came out) new suspension all round, cockpit gutted and rebuilt. A total rebuild end to end.
I'm working full time on the car and trying to get it done for McLean's Island swap meet in October and drive it there legally. So I'm going to finish this damned E-Mail and get back out there!

Just another couple of points — Bill had no idea where the "TIKI" came from as they had never put a name on the bodies when they built them. Bill Ashton retired to Alexandra and the car now resides only a few blocks from Bill's house!


From
Alan Tall