Holdens out.............. JDM Shite In!!! (NZ)

[uncle silvia]

Well As my friend "Negative Creep" Posted up, we have been running around in a Holden Berlina for the last few months http://autoshite.commlm/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6493&highlight=

 

We decided to sell the Holden as it was only gonna be a toy for the first few months while we were staying with friends in Nelson NZ, but now we maybe moving about more we need a cheaper car to run.

 

We parked the Holden at the end of the road with a sign in the window (popular way of selling cars here) and we got a buyer the same day! We even made $850 in the process and sold it for $5500 and got to keep the nice stereo that was in it...... Result!!

 

We got an $800 deposit on the Holden so we needed to get a very cheap runabout or we would have no transport. We went to another town and spotted this car, also at the side of the road, for sale!

 

 

OK OK dont get too excited about this as its only a temp cheap replacment car for the minute. (although some on here may well get excited lol)

 

It was up for $1600 which was soon dropped to $1400. The guy was leaving the country he needed a quick sale, and we ended up getting it for $1050 with new REGO and WOF (Tax and MOT), and a boot full of camping gear with tents and gas cookers etc!!

 

Its a JDM only Honda Ascot Si (posh Accord) with all the electric toys inside, 2.0 engine (non VTEC lol), and speed camera proof tow bar fitted !

Ok so its not in amazing condition with paint peeling on the bonnet and front bumper but the rest seems fine and it drives lovely!! Its a cheap car (not many cheapys in NZ) and it works fine! We may even tidy it up and hopefully make a small profit on this one too!!

 

Heres some pics..............

 

 

 

[VWPowered]

nice ride man, looks like it'll scrub up ok though

[michiel]

Hirst Cabs NZ!

[55bloke]

What's the story with the A.W. Argosy?

[STUNO]

Careful....you are becoming one of us now ! But seriously, it has been thrashed about, badly serviced, and still everything works, it goes well, and you can't find the rust.Correct?

[STUNO]

SAFE AIR...Anorak modeSafe Flying The Cook Straight passage between New Zealand's North & South Islands is notoriously one of the most ferocious seaways in the world. Crossing this physical barrier which separates commerce and industry of the 2 main islands making up this small South Pacific nation was never easy or comfortable until the advent of inter island air services during the 1930's. Even so meteorological influences along with technical limitations of the early DH type biplane aircraft employed on such crossings imposed logistical problems not overcome until arrival of more capable aircraft. After WW2 RNZAF DC3 aircraft undertook civil operations throughout New Zealand. An experimental inter island air freight service was then launched between Paraparaumu and Woodbourne from December 12th-18th .... bridging a gap between the countries 2 railway systems and proving large volumes of cargo could be efficiently transported by air between both islands. This service was re-launched permanently on behalf of New Zealand Railways from February 10th 1947 using DC3's operated by 40 SQDN RNZAF. New Zealand National Airways Corporation (now Air New Zealand) took over both the service and these aircraft later during l947. As a result of rapid growth in the volume of air freight being flown over Cook Straight the DC3's soon proved inadequate for the service being unable to cope with oversized railway freight consignments. A specialist air cargo company with dedicated purpose built freight aircraft was needed in order to operate the service effectively. To meet this challenge SAFE Air ("STRAIGHTS AIR FREIGHT EXPRESS") was founded during 1950 with backing from UK based Tradair. Leased Curtis C46 Commando freighters inaugurated the new Rail Air link on April 14th 1951 until arrival of the first of 11 Bristol 170 Freighter aircraft from May 1951. For some 35 years SAFE Air Bristol Freighter's became a noisy but integral part of the New Zealand domestic air freight system transporting everything from parcels to railway wagons and all manner of livestock too .... if it could fit aboard a Bristol Freighter then it was flown to wherever it had to go. Among technical innovations created by the airline was its "Cargon" freight loading platform promoting the loading/unloading of 6 tons of cargo from a Bristol Freighter within 12 minutes. This freight handling miracle was later duplicated and improved upon around the world. In 1962 a commercial inter island shipping service was launched between New Zealand's North and South Islands. Consequently the volume of air freight flown across Cook Straight plummeted severely forcing SAFE Air to diversify. Mail and air cargo handling contracts were eventually secured on behalf of both New Zealand Post and NZNAC respectively. A contract to fly passengers and air freight between New Zealand and remote Chatham Island (some 750km east of New Zealand) was also later secured. This unique service required development of a portable custom passenger capsule especially for the Bristol Freighter fuselage transforming a slow noisy cargo freighter into a slow noisy passenger airliner .... with ear plugs for all the passengers. The first SAFE Air service to Chatham Island was inaugurated on January 23rd 1968. Further diversification saw SAFE Air secure aircraft engineering and maintenance contracts on behalf of the RNZAF and a number of other small domestic airlines. During 1975 NZNAC acquired 94% of SAFE Air and embarked upon a fleet replacement program. The AW 650 Argosy 222 transporter was selected and the first aircraft (ZK-SAF "Merchant Pioneer") acquired on October 27th 1973 for operation on a trial basis. Impressed with both capability and versatility of the Argosy a 2nd aircraft (ZK-SAE "Merchant Enterprise") was purchased on July 18th 1974 and these progressively replaced Bristol Freighter's on all services .... the last of which was retired on September 30th 1986. For almost 20 years the Argosy's operated a daily Wellington/Christchurch, Christchurch/Auckland, Auckland/Christchurch/Woodbourne schedule, along with twice weekly services to Chatham Island .... becoming an air bridge across Cook Straight, general carrier to the nation, and a lifeline between New Zealand and remote Chatham Island. Once again a portable custom passenger capsule was tailored especially for the Argosy fuselage and Chatham Island service featuring a wide comfortable cabin with full toilet and galley facilities. This time passengers were treated to full airline service every part equal to that provided on Air New Zealand domestic. Late on the evening of December 30th 1978 Argosy ZK-SAE was involved in an unusual incident which made news headlines around the world. En-route between Auckland/Christchurch the aircraft was suddenly confronted with an unexplained and errie show of lights whilst flying down the South Island's Kaikoura coastline. This incident was documented by an Australian film crew aboard the aircraft. Lighting from squid boats at sea, the planet Venus, UFO's, or just a close encounter of the absurd kind .... whatever it was something strange occurred that night and the incident has to this day never been satisfactorily explained. On April 1st 1990 Argosy ZK-SAF was damaged as the result of a landing accident at Woodbourne. From April 23rd 1990 a replacement Argosy (VH-IPB .... re-registered ZK-SAL) was leased from Australian air freight company IPEC Aviation whilst repairs were effected. The work was never completed. In a shock announcement on August 17th 1990 Air New Zealand announced its decision to disband flight operations of SAFE Air and focus the companies activities exclusively upon aviation engineering and maintenance contracts. It was the end of 40 years of flying, a pioneering freight airline, along with the unique Chatham Island air service too .... as the SAFE Air's "Whistling Wheelbarrow's" were relegated into New Zealand aviation history. Argosy ZK-SAL returned from lease to IPEC Aviation on September 26th 1990 and the final scheduled SAFE Air service was operated on September 27th 1990. Today SAFE Air continues to function as a world class aircraft maintenance and engineering facility based at Blenhiem New Zealand. Now owned by the Argosy Trust ZK-SAE is 1 of few remaining Argosy's in the world which have been preserved for public appreciation. ZK-SAF never flew again and was eventually scrapped. Rick Piper's great new AW Argosy 200 package features 2 of the liveries applied to aircraft operated by New Zealand's SAFE Air Cargo which have been beautifully and authentically reproduced by Garry Russel.ZK-SAF became SAFE Air's first AW 650 Argosy 222 and the first of the type on the New Zealand civil air register. Purchased from Transair in Canada during late 1973 it was operated by SAFE Air until damaged on April 1st 1990 as the result of a main gear collapse upon landing. Failure of the main gear locking pin and subsequent gear collapse were a common end of life fault in this otherwise superb air transporter.ZK-SAL was formerly VH-IPB owned and operated by IPEC Aviation in Australia. This particular aircraft was leased-in by SAFE Air from April 23rd 1990 covering for the damaged ZK-SAF. The aircraft was operated in hybrid livery featuring classic IPEC yellow fuselage with "SAFE AIR CARGO" titles and red twin tails with smaller logos.The decision by parent company Air New Zealand to scrap SAFE Air cost some 112 jobs. Staff resentful at the decision later altered the titles on ZK-SAL from SAFE Air Cargo to read "SAFE AIR CANGO" (SAFE Air Can Go). Regardless whether or not SAFE Air's demise was on account of rising costs, deregulation, or just plain corporate politics .... staff had final say when the aircraft was obliged to continue operating for a short time featuring this non-standard branding as a slur against their parent company management. Rick Piper's great Argosy 200 package for FS9 may be downloaded from AVSIM. The filename is :aw650v1_176829.zip This complete package features Rick's beautiful Argosy 200 model with operating nose and tail cargo doors, several liveries authentically repainted by Garry RUSSELL, superb 2D and VC panels by both Fraser MACKAY & Dave BOOKER, and a RR Dart turboprop sound pack also by Fraser MACKAY. Garry Russell's hybrid SAFE Air Cango ("SAFE AIR CAN GO") texture will be released as a separate add-on texture in due course. Thank you Rick, Fraser, Dave, & Garry for your combined efforts in providing the FS community with this fine and historic piece of classic British aviation Mark CranstonApril 2006

[55bloke]

Blimey!! That has to be the fullest reply to any question ever on Autoshite!! Thanks.

[STUNO]

Blimey!! That has to be the fullest reply to any question ever on Autoshite!! Thanks.

Aaw shucks..I stole it

[Parky]

Nice ride Uncle Silvia! I used to see quite a few of those knocking about over there when I lived on the South Island. They were always quite pricey back then.Nelsons a lovely place, birthplace of Mrs Parky dont you know! I have a couple of mates there so if you bump into a bubbly American girl selling health food supplements thats probably my mate. So whats the plan now? Sticking about in Nelson or heading South? If you havent done Queenstown yet, you really must! Ignore the west coast though, its sh*t....

[whitevanman]

What's the story with the A.W. Argosy?

just what I was about to ask.....

[Negative Creep]

Should also say it has about 220,000 miles on the clock yet still drives fairly well! Don't think it will be around that long as I see an oppotunity to make a bit of cash here (that's 9 cars in the last 18 months for me, and I've made a profit on the last 5 which surely can't last that long.) I can tick 'obscure Jap saloon with random chrome' off my shite list now

 

 

 

 

You can go in the Argosy as well, which I think would make a good choice for Autoshite Airlines. The seating is simply a giant crate inserted into the fuselage (although still had more legroom than the jet we flew around the world in). Buying an old plane and making a restaurant is just the sort of stupid thing I'd love to do if I had the money

 

 

 

 

[55bloke]

I can remember when Argosys were a relatively common sight. I always liked them, and they made a lovely noise!

[uncle silvia]

The plane was cool.......... Enter Captain Silvia and 1st officer Creep

 

 

 

Yea the Honda seems to be a good little runner and should hopefully make us a little profit too!

[STUNO]

An Ascot with manual trans, very rare. Now go and give the engine a good steam clean

[fotorabia]

So whats the plan now? Sticking about in Nelson or heading South? If you havent done Queenstown yet, you really must! Ignore the west coast though, its sh*t....

Put that in statement in reverse..Queenstown,s has been absolutely ruined by wealthy ugliness and gold plated golf courses..Glen Orchy at the end of Lake Wakatipu is a beautiful little place..