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Established in 1996, we are a group of passionate car enthusiasts who live and breathe American classic cars, and are based in Auckland, New Zealand.
Our mission in life is to provide an environment for other like minded car aficionados to savour and enjoy their American classics, without the rules and restrictions that seem to dog other areas of everyday lives. If you are an American classic car owner who feels the same as we do, we invite you to take a small journey through our site to see if this sounds like you. If you like what you see, and want to be involved, then send in a membership application. The only hard and fast condition of membership is that prospective members must own an American classic car that is over 25 years old at the time of joining, which must be of historical interest. |
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PLEASE NOTE: American Classic Car Club members are unable to provide classic vehicles for events such as weddings, birthdays, family outings etc, as our members are not licenced to do so. Thank you for your understanding.
Ellerslie Classic Car Show - Sunday 14 February 2021 Having eschewed the Ellerslie car show for many a year, not realizing that latterly it wasn’t just all about Concours show cars, when the opportunity came up again for a limited number of tickets to this years show I decided it might be worth checking out. Particularly so given this one was the 50th anniversary, and was being opened up to more car club displays to help celebrate. As per usual the club was only allocated 5 tickets, so we were not able to schedule it as a club run event. A last minute allocation of another 5 tickets two days before was mostly far too late a notice for most members, so we only had one more car able to attend giving us 6 cars for the day. Meeting at 8am McDonalds in Greenlane (clearly a common meeting place for many other car clubs) we left at about 8.20 for the short hop across the roundabout and in through the main entrance. Although there were a lot of cars entering, the advantage of having a long entrance driveway and not having to pay to get in meant that the queue was not too long and flowed fairly quickly. Once we had found our site and setup the marquee and flags, we were rather astonished and disappointed to find that the site allocated to us was large and could easily have held another dozen or more cars. With a little more foresight and planning by the organisers we could have thrown open the invite to more members and really put on a bigger club car turnout. I have to say that I was very pleased to have come along, as it was a sunny day with a light breeze, and the show was a very eclectic mix of cars of all varieties. It was very interesting to see the stunning concours level cars all parked up on the central parade ground behind the grandstand for judging, as well as the lineup of the Past Masters winning cars from previous years, of which our own Alex Ross’s Impala was displayed being the 2009 winner. With so many different clubs invited and present, the show felt like a cross between the now defunct Galaxy of Cars at Western Springs, where cars were grouped together by club, and layout wise the Rebel Roundup at Pukekohe. To me this makes it much more convenient and orderly way of looking at cars as you got to see and compare all the different types within the makes in one go. And not just American, but car clubs representing all countries and models, such as the Zephyr club who were displaying more convertible Mk.1 Zephyrs than I realised had even existed here! So it wasn’t just about concours cars, but is now equally a celebration of all cars. This is clearly evident where the organisers have introduced a new judged class called 50/50/50 (you’ll have to look it up) to specifically attract a younger and less affluent entrant into the judged section, of which the winner was a marvellously restored Datsun 1200 SSS that was very much admired by all, judging by the biggest round of applause at the prize giving. One of the more interesting club displays was Bugatti who had a large range of cars spanning the years including a few race cars, and we also got a chance to see first hand a Veyron in the flesh! Of note was that it wasn’t on the road, I would imagine that it is probably not possible to get insurance for it in NZ, and why would you want to take the risk that some drunk or drugged uninsured oik might run into it. Also present were all the high-end dealers, with Giltraps in a building by themselves with their lineups of simply stunning, but practically useless Mclarens, Lamborghinis and Astons. Bentley also had a large outdoor display with seeming every possible model of Bentley available. All in all a fabulous day out thanks to the Auckland Mustang Owners Club who organized the event as last years overall Concours club winners, and I’m already looking forward to next years show which is to be hosted by the Porsche Owners Club being this years overall winner. Cheers, Phillip Officer For the show prizewinning results click on the following link: https://www.concours.org.nz/uploads/1/0/9/0/109000909/2021_result_summary_v1.0.pdf Photos of the spectacular day can be viewed here..... 
Waipu Classic Car & Bike Show –
7 February 2021 Another early morning wakeup (2 weekends in a row - I’m not sure I can take too much more of this LOL) to reach the BP Silverdale Service Centre meetup, for the 8am departure up North. In all 12 club cars were there to make the journey, this time via State Highway 16 to come out at Wellsford, on a fine Sunday morning. We were joined by some other cars at Wellsford heading to the show, and had a nice classic cruise the rest of the way to Waipu. The showgrounds were very full by 9.30 on our arrival, and continued to build to an estimated 700 cars throughout the day, which looked to be twice the number of last year. And what a selection it was, with good displays of American and Australian, but with decent numbers of British, and a smattering of Euro to round out the display, many not seen before. The show was well organised, with announcements throughout the day, especially at prizegiving time which started around 1.30pm. Even though this was held reasonably early, a number of cars were leaving the grounds through out the proceedings which continued for around an hour. And guess what ? No you don’t have to. I’ll let you in on the great news, your Club won the best display, which resulted in a cup (albeit eggcup size), certificate, and best of all a custom metal art voucher to the value of $250. Woohoo! It was decided that we would use this to commission a plasma cut steel ACCCA logo that could be displayed when we set up future displays. We are pretty sure this award came about because President Rob had selected our plot along the back fence, and the cars were all in a line and clearly defined by the club banner and swooper. As they say it pays to advertise! Club members Dan and Donna missed the 8am meet up, but continued on by themselves and were rewarded with the prize for best British car, with their Allard (V8 powered, of course). Well done! All in all it was a great day out in the North, and one which offered a variety of cars to see and things to do in the lovely and very friendly town of Waipu. Ciao4now, regards Russell PS. (Warning – NEGATIVE comment) It has to be said that although Highway 16 Route avoids the traffic of Highway 1 through the notorious Dome Valley, it is a shambles of a road surface with pot holes, uneven patches, and subsidence with what seems like no maintenance done whatsoever for years. And this is the main detour the authorities recommend for North travel out of Auckland. What a disgrace! Some great pictures of the day can be seen here..... 
ACCCA Kumeu Classic Car & Hot Rod Festival Display Saturday 16th January 2021
Having loaded up my wagon with the Club gear the night before, there was little to do but drive it from my lock-up to the venue, all of about 4km’s, come Saturday morning. Anticipating queues of traffic, I left reasonably early but oddly, there just wasn’t any, other than a minor wait to get into the venue. That was refreshing. Once at our site, the balance of the committee present had already begun erecting one of the marquees and our designated area was semi-full of display cars too. And within 45 minutes it was full to capacity with 28 gleaming classics, including a couple of ‘guests’. You could not get another car in! And what a turnout it was too, with no two cars in our display the same – with the obvious exception of ‘AMC Corner’, where three gorgeous Javelins shared real-estate side by side, with a Jeep and a Rambler Classic keeping them company. This little display within a display created considerable interest from the public, many drawn into our area as a result. Just superb. Also superb, for the most part, was the weather which, whilst still very warm, provided sufficient cloud cover to take the sting out of the sun. But when that poked out from behind the clouds, it was like you have been hit with a blow-torch! It was a case of no sunblock at your peril! Come lunchtime the club BBQ was in full use, with Peter Lee at the helm cooking up a proverbial sausage-fest for hungry members. We ran out of bottled water and the soft drinks were all but depleted too, by the end of the day. Every member that attended – and there were several others scattered around the venue too – had a thoroughly relaxed time, there was a real nice atmosphere on the day, lacking at recent Kumeu shows. The swap meet was a little average, with still a bit too much junk and general brickabrack but nevertheless, some punters walked away with bargains from what automotive selections were eveident. And the ‘Cars For Sale’ didn’t seem to be in any one place, rather scattered randomly around the venue. Odd. By about 5pm we had packed up our display and most of us had departed, thoroughly pleased with the day’s activities. Overall, a very successful day and a fantastic start to the Clubs 2021 events calendar. Cheers, Rob Milligan See photos from the day here…. |
UPCOMING ACCCA EVENTS
Sunday March 14 Run and BBQ at Club members Ian Ferguson & Kevin Hunt Historic residence in Karaka, South West Auckland. Meet at BP Southern Service Centre Papakura from 9.45 for a 10.15am depart, followed by a short cruise to the venue. A guided tour of the house and gardens will be undertaken, in two groups depending on numbers, as there is a bit to see and learn about. After the tours, the Club will be providing you a simple BBQ-style lunch at no cost, including cold beverages, tea and coffee. RSVP to Rob no later than Wednesday 10th March with numbers attending |