INSPIRED BY A PORSCHE

A LOCAL EXPERIMENT HAS RESULTED IN THE BIG COUSIN OF PORSCHE’ S RS60

Peter Andrews is a well-known car builder who has designed many cars, such as the Asco Aura, the Patero ( New Zealand Classic Car Issue No. 317), and the MX-A ( New Zealand

Classic Car Issue No. 333). His father, Phil Andrews, played a major role in the design of perhaps New Zealand’s most famous production SUV, the Trekka. Although it is believed that Pete has blood somewhere in his veins, it has been almost totally replaced by petrol. Pete has forgotten how many cars he has owned, but somewhere in the mix was a Nash Metropolitan, and, besides a Trekka, one of the cars he currently owns is a Reliant Scimitar.

The car featured in this story is unique in that it is the first car that Pete has not built from scratch. He first saw the car, which was advertised as a Porsche RS60 replica, on Trade Me, and he really liked the shape. The person selling it, Brian Terry, was selling it on behalf of his father, who was a great fan of the RS60. The body had originally been designed to be mounted onto a VW floorpan in a similar way to the many beach buggies that were designed and built in the 1960s and ’ 70s. Unfortunately, Brian’s father had become quite ill and was no longer capable of finishing it.

The fact that it was sitting on a VW chassis did not provoke real inspiration in Pete, but he had always been a keen follower of all things Porsche. One of his greatest memories was when his father came to pick him up one day after school in a Porsche. However, of the four Andrews siblings, Pete’s sister was the only one who had walked to school that day, the others had biked. She got the ride home and Pete was left to pedal home furiously on his bicycle, hoping that the car would still be there when he arrived. Thus began his passion for the marque.

Trade Me trade

As he looked at this part-finished car on Trade Me many decades later, Pete was intrigued. He knew of the Porsche 550 Spyder, made famous by James Dean, but had never heard of the RS60; not surprising really, as only about 16 had been manufactured by Porsche in 1960. While