WIN A CORGI VANGUARDS ESCORT RS2000

The Corgi/ Vanguards range of collectible 1:43 die-cast models continues to grow apace, and every month there’s something new to tempt the collector. This month, we’re taking a look at two iconic Fords — first up being a svelte-looking Cortina MKIII (VA10310), the so-called ‘Cokebottle’ ’Tina. Resplendent in a coat of Modena Green and complete, of course, with that period must-have — a black ‘vinyl’ roof — this upscale 2000E model wears styled steel wheels and comes with a reasonably well-detailed interior in dark tan. The Editor’s family brought one of these Fords with them when they emigrated to New Zealand back in the mid-’70s — although theirs was the even more upmarket 2000GXL, in Daytona Yellow. As you might imagine, its Webasto sunroof was used rather more in New Zealand than it had been in the UK. For those who prefer faster Fords, what about this garish-looking Escort MKI RS2000 (VA09517)? While we’ve never seen one of these iconic Pommie performance saloons in such a retinaburning shade of orange, it’ll certainly stand out in your display cabinet! Thanks to the good guys at Toymod Ltd — the NZ Corgi/vanguards distributors — we have one example of the 1:43 Escort RS2000 to give away to a lucky reader, just answer the following question:

Q:

What’s the factory name given to the shade of orange used on our prize RS2000?

The EJ EH Owners of NZ is a group on Facebook, which Joshua Bentham created in November 2014 after purchasing his first EH Holden from Nelson in September. The group has rapidly grown, and now includes 70 EJ and EH Holdens with friendly and passionate owners nationwide.

The group has designed its own logo as well as stickers for the cars, featuring a steering wheel with the red centre cap which best represents the symbolic features of the EJ and EH Holden. The logo went through a voting and comment process so that all members had their say in it, and this is reflected in the quality of the end result.

The group aims to be different to other Facebook groups by keeping a current album of all members’ cars, so a vehicle doesn’t just disappear down the news feed. It also has an album of other EJ and EH Holdens known to be in New Zealand.

Members like to help each other out with motivation and parts, and when possible get more old Holdens out of garages, on the road, and driven to shows and events.

Last month the group had its inaugural group meeting at Whangamata Beach Hop on the Saturday, and even with the bad weather 18 cars turned up, 11 of which were driven by members, while others came by word of mouth. Next year the aim is to do it all again and hope to get 25 to 30 EJ and EH Holdens to the park up (hopefully the weather will be better) to make it more pleasant.

The club is also in the process of creating cruises and promoting other events to help get the group members together, getting to know one another, and learning facts about one another’s vehicles.

The group has a range of Premier and Special models in all body shapes of sedan, van, ute and wagon variants, and some members own more than one or even two EJ or EH, proof that owning a Holden can be quite contagious.

There’s an open invitation for other EJ and EH Owners to join the group on Facebook.

Available from

Octane Books Auckland

supplied by the author