"When two art students, Simon Justice and Malcolm Cox got together and decided to design and build a car it started a partnership that would last five and a half years. The partnership created a unique New Zealand car that deserves to be remembered because although the two did everything right they were unable to get their project off the ground. starting with some market research they checked out what was available and at what price checking many local car yards. From this research they the pair eventually decided to recreate the classic, back to the basics, true grit British sports car of the fifties and sixties combined with flamboyant Italian styling. With a price tag of thirty five thousand dollars the car would come in slightly lower than the Japanese armchair style sports cars, the likes of the Datsun 280Z and the then new kid on the block, the Mazda RX7.
The pair acquired some premises to start work appropriately positioned on Bruce McLaren Road in Auckland. Of additional interest was that these pre-war chicken coops of a workshop had been once owned by the Crump family and Barry Crump is believed to have written one of his books while living there. Work began on the plug in 1981 and was finished relatively quickly but it would take another four years of development work before the first car was ready for the road.
Work began on the plug in 1979 and was finished relatively quickly but would take another 4 years of development work before the first car was ready for the road. The chassis was originally going to come from Steel Brothers in Christchurch. They had just finished production of the genuine Lotus 7 (the only Lotus made outside of England at that time) and also had 60 Lotus motors surplus to their requirements. Unfortunately Simon and Malcolm had a car accident on the way to Christchurch which resulted in the meeting being postponed indefinitely.
Back in Auckland a chance meeting with Charles Conway of Chequered Flag Motors meant that there would no longer be a need to make another journey to Christchurch. He suggested that they get the chassis built by David Dixon of Dixon Automotive. David had already had a lot of experience building his own Lotus 7 styled car called the Dixon. It made a lot of sense to utilize a chassis from a car that was currently in production and the fact Lotus in the UK had input in its design meant that it was a decision that they would never regret.
The Dixon backbone chassis forms the basis around which the fibreglass panels are attached. The running gear consisted of standard Dixon front suspension assemblies while at the rear Escort live axle with trailing arms was used. The car was powered by Ford 1600 sports motor which combined with the much lighter car gave a pretty lively performance. Torsional stiffness was 50% greater than the average production car; with more development it would have been very competitive on the race track. With the chassis sorted the pair were able to continue with the floorpan and interior designs. Despite looking dated now, the car was quite futuristic at the time and the interior reflects its futuristic lines. Indeed it was intended to slip into a niche market previously not catered for in NZ.
The prototype was called the Alfiere named after the Italian engineer who designed the Maserati Bora. It was low and sleek with a targa roof. A person over 1.8 metres would have had some difficulty sitting in the car with the roof on. All round vision from the drivers seat was reasonable and reversing was enhanced by the small Khamsin type window across the car’s tailgate. Some thought was put into the interior design with a little venturi vent on the roof to allow the smooth flow of air through the cabin. The small Khamsin type window enhanced all round vision across the car’s tailgate. Some thought was put into the interior design with a little venturi vent on the roof to allow the smooth flow of air through the cabin. The Alfieri had small electric door windows, which were adequate for paying tolls or hand signals, but for true wind in your hair touring the entire window could be slid out and stored beneath the floor.
By the time the prototype was finished they had moved premises three times, finally operating from the ideal place to test drive the car, nestled among the vineyards in the Henderson valley and at the base of the Waitakere ranges. However, it was clear from its first drive that it needed some improvements to its handling before they could put the car into production. What followed were numerous changes to spring rates and suspension.
Simon and Malcolm never intended to produce the car themselves. Their intention had always been to get it to a state where the complete car project could be sold to an entrepreneur to get the project onto the market. They even created a fictitious coach building company called Lapponia Bussack, had the project gotten off the ground it would have become the actual company name.
Existence of the prototype was kept out of the public eye throughout its development as the pair tried to find potential buyers for the project. Unfortunately, by the completion of the project times had changed. It was built under the regime of the Muldoon government with all of its restrictions on importing, which meant that the pair were hamstrung into manufacturing there (sic) own components. Ironically as the project neared its completion, a new Labour government was elected which brought about the dawn of Rodgernomics, the floodgates were opened on the cheap Japanese imports and the project could no longer be manufactured at a competitive price.
The pair hung up their tools and Simon took off for his OE which was to last two or three years. This meant that he had to rent his house out so he parked the Alfiere at the back of the garage and built a wall in front of it. Once he got to Japan Simon decided to extend his OE and it would be twenty years before he returned to New Zealand in all that time none of his tenants knew that the garage was smaller on the inside than what it was on the outside or about the unique New Zealand car parked there. On his return to New Zealand the car was still in remarkably good condition. Simon decided to sell the car and the
moulds on the condition that if he wanted to he could build another car using the moulds at a future date. As a foot note, the team did create one other car, the Alpina. This being a larger and more classical styled car was powered by a five litre Ford V8. This car did not come out of the Alfiere moulds but it was taken off the original plug which had been enlarged and modified to form a new set of moulds for the Alpina. This was strictly a one off and was never destined for the production line. This car is still owned by Malcolm. Unfortunately as he is now blind he can no longer drive it. In spite of this handicap he has started the long process of restoring Alpina to its former glory with the help of Simon.
Two good mates with a pretty unique dream. Had the car been ready a few years earlier the story could possibly have been very different and the car now a well known kiwi icon."
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