ANZIEL NOVA
NEARLY OUR OWN HOME-GROWN CAR
At one stage in the late ’60s, it seemed that the Anziel Nova was in the news media all the time, appearing in numerous newspapers and magazines. There were claims that it would be New Zealand’s first mass-produced car. There were even claims that it was designed here by a young man by the name of Alan Gibbs.
Alan would be remembered most for his later efforts to produce the Aquada, a car that could travel on land and water. Unlike the Aquada, which had a production run of 25 cars, there was only ever one Anziel Nova. And it was not produced by Alan. Instead, only one car, the prototype, was produced — by the Reliant Motor Company in England.
During the ’60s, New Zealand was screaming out for cars. On average, 65,000 cars were being imported each year but this number did not meet demand. Lack of new cars meant that our second-hand cars were more expensive than in comparable overseas countries. New Zealand had one car for every four people, which was an extremely
high ratio, with only the US and Canada managing to beat us. Also, at the time, overseas funds were in short supply and the government was doing anything it could to make us more self-reliant. The higher the local content of our cars, the more cars could be imported.
UK design
The Nova was originally designed by Tom Karen of British design company Ogle, which designed the Reliant Scimitar. Versions of this car went to Israel, Egypt, and Turkey. The Reliant team was a specialist in developing fibreglass-bodied cars. In the late ’60s, it was looking at producing a series of small to medium–sized four-cylinder cars in two-door sedan, four-door sedan, pickup, and panel van configurations. These would be sold to countries that wanted to make a low-cost, locally produced vehicle. The vehicle that was to form the basis was the Reliant FW 5. Although prototypes were built in Britain, preparation of the cars for full production was only ever developed in Turkey by the Turkish industrial giant
The Nova was originally designed by Tom Karen of British design company Ogle, which designed the Reliant Scimitar
Ostosan, and car was called the ‘Anadol’. So it is not surprising that the only country in which the car was successful was Turkey, where more than 100,000 were produced over an 18-year period.
The Anziel Nova prototype that came to New Zealand in 1967 was also built by Reliant and imported fully built up. It not only had some slight visual differences from the Anadol but was also mechanically different, mainly in its suspension, to suit New Zealand conditions.
Local content
As up to 80 per cent of the car would be made in New Zealand, compared with 40 per cent or less with other manufacturers, and this was surely good for New Zealand. The key sticking point were the import licences required to import the Reliant and Ford parts in complete-knock-down (CKD) form so that they could be assembled here.
In the ’60s, import licences were like gold. They were issued each year by the government, and the number was set by the amount of money it had in overseas funds. In addition, the more local content that you could put into your product, the more import licences you got. Manufacturers that had these licences protected them as if they were the Crown Jewels.
As Alan had worked in the prime minister’s (PM) office, he had been involved in conversations and decisions relating to the issuing of import licences. In the mid ’60s, he made the big decision to leave the security of a government job and move to Auckland where his brother Ian had established a small engineering business called ‘Anziel Ltd’. At the time, the company was focused on the pulp and paper industry, but Alan believed it was a good foundation from which to start breaking into the car industry.
It was definitely going to be a battle, which Alan was prepared to take into the corridors of government. Starting in 1966, he approached John ‘Jack’ Marshall, the Minister of Industries and Commerce, as well as Overseas Trade, and requested licences to be used in 1967 for the importation of the parts and machinery to build up to 3000 cars a year. The range of cars would include a two-door coupé, a fourdoor family car, and an estate. The planned production start date would be in 1968.
Alan’s key argument to obtain these licences was the amount of New Zealand content that would be needed to build the cars. Manufacturing the fibreglass body and chassis in New Zealand meant that the cars would have 20 per cent more local content than those of any other car manufacturer. Alan believed that this argument was strong enough to wrest the licences off existing manufacturers. However, it quickly became apparent that the government was not interested. Jack Marshall was not even prepared to talk to Alan about it. Fortunately, Alan was on speaking terms with the then–prime minister, Keith Holyoake; he was able to ask the PM to intervene, and a meeting took place.
The best response Alan could get was the possibility that licences might be available in future years, if New Zealand’s balance of payments improved. He was, however, able to get permission to import just one car — the previously mentioned Reliant prototype.
Publicity
The car arrived in the winter of 1967. Once the prototype was on New Zealand soil, Alan tried a different approach: he used the news media to help influence his case with the government. These days, Alan is quite adept at using the media for publicity, but, in those days, it was all new territory. Some of the claims that Alan made about the car were not very well thought out, as he, on occasion, overstated things. For example, he said they were ready to start manufacture when they did not even have a factory — but he was under a lot of pressure.
Jack Marshall was an immovable rock, and Alan hoped that public enthusiasm for the venture would swing him around. Newspapers throughout the country devoted several days to the car, and, at one point, pictures were taken of Jack Marshall standing beside it. However, despite this attention, Alan was turned down for another year.
At the time, Alan believed that the cost of purchasing the car by an individual would be around $2400, which is about $40K in today’s money.
Desmond Mahoney of
The NZ Motor World did a road test of the Nova in 1968 and stated, “The Nova is a mighty fine car, with performance, road holding, and finish far above the average in its class … the 1500cc motor is quick enough to hold a Holden 186 or a Mark III Zephyr up to 50mph, for instance — but also cruised quietly and effortlessly, even soundlessly, at our maximum.”
Long way off
After more pushing, the government offered Alan a token of 300 licences — probably in the hope that he would go away, but more probably so that it could be seen to be doing the right thing. Although, at that stage, no factory had been bought and no tooling imported, Alan said that 300 was not enough; a minimum of 2000 was required to make the plan financially viable. Sadly, the best the government would come up with was 600. Although the media was now saying that production was imminent, in reality, it was still a long way off. During 1969, a final big push was made to try to get
As up to 80 per cent of the car would be made in New Zealand, compared with 40 per cent or less with other manufacturers, it was surely a good thing
the powers at be to see things Alan’s way, but the government was not prepared to discuss the issue further.
Towards the end of 1969, Alan started to reassess the economic viability of building just 600 cars. He still had no big financial investors and the government would not change its stance — even when a delegation from Reliant arrived in New Zealand to help the Gibbs brothers present their case.
In mid March of 1970, after five years of fighting to get the Anziel Nova into production, Alan cried no more, cut his losses, and moved to Australia.
The Anziel Nova prototype was sold, and the Gibbs brothers had more success in obtaining import licences for the manufacture of staplers.
During 1988, the Anziel Nova was spotted in Kerikeri by automotive journalist William Hobbs. It was still in regular use. Hobbs said that the car was quite tatty in appearance, but the fact that it was still in everyday service was a testament to the most basic requirement of New Zealand–owned cars: that they should survive hard use for a long time.
At some stage after his return to
New Zealand, Alan Gibbs tracked the car down. He had it restored by AC Fibreglass in Auckland during 1995. Currently, it is kept in pristine condition and resides on Alan’s Auckland farm along with the Aquadas. ‘Anziel’, by the way, stands for ‘Australia and New Zealand Industrial Engineering Limited’.
‘Anziel’, by the way, stands for ‘Australia and New Zealand Industrial Engineering Limited’