SWITCHING SIDES

MOST OF WHAT PEOPLE KNOW ABOUT RIGHT-HAND-. RIVE CONVERSIONS TENDS, WITH HISTORICAL MERIT, 0 CENTRE ON HORROR STORIES. HOWEVER, IN 2017, HAT COULDN'T BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH

RIGHT-HAND-DRIVE CONVERSION EXPLAINED

One of the great misconceptions surrounding American vehicle imports is to do with the necessity of converting the driving position from the left to the right. While many of the vehicles featured in NZV8 are permitted to be kept left-hand drive, on account of meeting certain criteria — most often due to age and gross vehicle mass — there are a great many vehicles that, by law, must be converted to right-hand drive to be driven legally on New Zealand roads. The very term ‘right-hand-drive conversion’ carries a negative association. Old wives’ tales of the awful conversion jobs of old — from sprockets and chains through to universal joints and crossover shafts — have done the process no favours, but the truth of the matter is that a right-hand-drive conversion must be completed to a certain standard to be registered. The team at Bunce Motor Company are American vehicle experts who specialize in right-hand-drive conversions on late-model American vehicles. They have been involved with GM vehicles for 47 years. We caught up with them to document the conversion process — something that takes about six weeks from start to finish, due to the intensive nature of the undertaking. Nothing is overlooked in achieving a premium end result that is indistinguishable from factory.