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Re: Gidday, Gavin from New Zealand

Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2018 12:06 pm
by Dieselman
xantia_v6 wrote:I spend half of each year in Christchurch, but my XM lives in France.
Sounds quite usefull living in NZ and France.
Don't pay tax in either country and they both speak the english...obviously in France you have to shout a bit louder...

Re: Gidday, Gavin from New Zealand

Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2018 3:26 pm
by White Exec
Ouch! :o

Re: Gidday, Gavin from New Zealand

Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2018 1:26 am
by Jan-hendrik
Hi Gavin
as a 'new' xm owner in Dunedin-Curious to know where other xms reside in Aoteoroa
Cheers, Dave
I don't think Gavin is paying attention. He hasn't been around for about 6 years :|

Re: Gidday, Gavin from New Zealand

Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2018 3:34 am
by xantia_v6
renault760 wrote: If you spend half of your life in France, where you have an XM, and half in NZ, (turning green with envy,) what, may I ask, is your excuse for NOT having an XM in NZ as well? Seems a bit of a poor show to me!!
I currently have a voluntary limit of 2 car in each country (limited garaging). I did nook around for an XM or V6 Xantia for a while, but there were none suitable on the market at the time, so the budget was blown on a Peugeot 308CC, which is a very nice car, but by far the least reliable I have owned (and I have owned 3 V12 Jags, 5 Xantias and an XM).
Dieselman wrote: Sounds quite usefull living in NZ and France.
Don't pay tax in either country and they both speak the english...obviously in France you have to shout a bit louder...
Don't talk to me about tax. When one moves between countries, the tax men come running from all directions. In one recent year we had to file tax returns for 4 countries.

Re: Gidday, Gavin from New Zealand

Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2018 4:13 am
by xantia_v6
renault760 wrote:Hi Gavin, another NZer! It doesn't sound like the car holds any fears for you. Do you drive on the left out there? What's the "old car scene" like? Enjoy the car!

LG.
A question that deserves a (rambling) answer.

NZ drives on the left.

From 1939 until 1985, the importation of cars was (for various reasons and by various means) strictly controlled by the government and new cars were highly taxed, so there was a culture of keeping old cars on the road by mend and make do. I recall that in 1985, the average age of a car in NZ was more than twice the average age in the UK. There was also bias in the import system during those years which strongly favoured British and Australian source cars, and/or locally assembled CKD kits. Importation of used cars was very restrictive. The import licencing system encouraged the importers to bring in low-spec cars with few options (because the licencing was dollar value, not per unit.

So at the beginning of 1986 the roads were mainly populated by Holdens, various BMC, Ford (UK and Aus) and Rootes models, fairly evenly distributed in age from the mid 1950s. There were also a fair number of locally-assembled post 1968 Japanese cars.

Then in 1986 the government changed the rules, removed most of the restrictions on import of new cars, and significantly removed restrictions and most taxes on importing second had cars. From that point, the country was flooded with imports of used cars from Japan, and most of the existing national fleet looked suddenly unattractive.

Today, old cars are a fairly rare sight, but each day you will see a few random and sometimes surprising survivors, like a 1950s Hilman Minx, or a Triumph Dolomite Sprint, or a Vauxhall EIP. There are still certainly more of these old cars around than in the UK. In some parts of the country the old cars are still often rust-free.

French cars of any age have always been rare. When I was growing up, the only French car I remember was a Peugeot 403 that had been specially imported for a disabled driver, because he required a hand operated clutch, and British cars had hydraulic clutches that were more difficult to adapt.

XMs were imported and sold by dealers in small numbers, I would guess only about 50 in total, there being (a few) more BXs and Xantias imported at the same time (they were expensive and poorly equipped compared to the Japanese competition).

There were probably as many came in as used imports from Japan, usually better spec'ed than the officially imported ones. Around 2005 the safety rules were tightened, and the import of XMs and Xantias was prohibited, so that source dried up, although there is an exemption for personal imports of cars more than 20 years old, so I could take one back now.

Re: Gidday, Gavin from New Zealand

Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2018 9:50 am
by renault760
Hi and thanks for the extensive answer. It's cool enough dividing your time between 2 countries at opposite sides of the world in different hemispheres as it is, but to have an XM in each would be icing on the cake and probably a world record for any any car club!

An interesting story of NZs car history. For older car fans it must have been a great place prior to 86. Funnily enough, I remember going to Malta in the mid 80s just as they were lifting restrictions on car imports.

As far as I was concerned it was still like a living motor museum. A waiter at our hotel had a really smart Herald convertable. A Fiat 500 Multipla was regularly parked outside. There were "classic" cars everywhere. I've got pics of parking areas that, had they been in black and white, could have been taken in the 50s.

From a boat trip I spied a Renault 4CV parked up, (at the time I was running a 1961 model myself). The following day I dragged the girlfriend around to where I'd seen it only to find it out. Just starting walking back when it came flying around the corner. I accosted the driver. told him the story and we ended up getting taken for a ride in it.

I don't remember any Citroens out there though. I've never been back since but I guess it will be full of modern stuff now.

LG

Re: Gidday, Gavin from New Zealand

Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2018 10:17 am
by White Exec
I have similar memories of Malta - old Hillman Minxes, Morris 1000s/Travellers, Bedford vans, Bedford trucks and buses (painted in garish colours, with extra chrome everywhere) - and hole-in-the-wall workshops working all hours to patch up and mend. This must have been late '70s-early 80s, when I think there was a 40% tax on new imported cars.

Re: Gidday, Gavin from New Zealand

Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2018 12:58 pm
by xantia_v6
We spent a couple of months in Malta in 2016, and sadly there are very few old cars to be seen. Cars over 30 years of age have significant tax concessions, but before that, the annual tax is crppling so most are scrapped well before the officially become classics. Cars over 30 years old may be imported, but they must be certified as being historically significant examples, or be inspected to be exactly the same specifications as they left the factory and be in pristine condition, so not an easy route either.