A massive Indiana Jones fan now owns the car used in one of his favourite movies.
The American-made Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg model made its movie debut at the start of the Temple of Doom with a high speed chase through Shanghai.
It then spent decades in a Japanese warehouse before it was bought two years ago by New Plymouth builder, Mike Brouwers.
He has restored the sleek vehicle to its former glory, but remains coy about the total cost.
“My partner hasn’t asked me in two years what I’ve spent on it, she’s a pretty incredible woman,” he said.
Brouwers said after months of research and numerous phone calls to the car’s maker in the US to prove its authenticity, the strengthened bonnet, which had no reason to be there other than for stunts convinced him it was “the one”.
“Under the bonnet there’s a steel frame in case they needed to walk on it for a stunt,” he said.
Brouwers has never been a car man but says he’s into art and describes his vehicle as “art on wheels”.
“It’s a functional piece of artwork really, I wanted to get it up and running so it could serve its purpose again.”
Brouwers bought the car from a dealer in Christchurch and has since spent a long time trying to get it certified and road legal, a process he said he would never do again despite the rewards.
“It was just an absolute mission, they have to go over every inch and make sure it’s up to their standard,” he said.
“I really have a lot of respect for people who do up cars. They and the tradesmen who do the work are just so passionate about what they do.
“Not many people are that passionate. It’s something I find quite refreshing.”
Before buying the car Brouwers had only an inkling it was the original, but said the importer almost certainly didn’t realise the golden egg he had his hands on.
“In the movie you can see it crash into the back of a rickshaw and the bend in the bumper is still there, I asked the mechanics to leave it to preserve the history,” he said.
Having been made road legal just several weeks ago Brouwers is just in time for New Zealand’s biggest classic car event, Americarna, which kicked off February in New Plymouth. The classic American car festival ran from February 23 to 27, drew more than 600 registered participants — 80 per cent of whom were from outside the region.
Around 50 classic cars gathered at resident businessman Bryce Barnett’s house in New Plymouth to view his private collection of assorted rare vehicles.
Americarna organiser John Ray said it was hard to pin down a favourite or stand-out event because “so much was happening during that week”.
“I guess seeing the amount of people that came out for it, kids especially, really made it worthwhile for me,” he said.
“This is the ninth year it has been running and every year it just gets better and better.”
