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• Auction House:
  Webb's
• Sale Name:
  Pioneer & Transport Museum Sale
• Sale Date:
  07 Dec 2013 ~ 12noon
• Lot #:
  1z
• Lot Description:
  1968 Trekka
• Notes:
  The Skoda powered Trekka was a light utility vehicle  manufactured in New Zealand between 1966 and 1973. It is the only vehicle designed and manufactured in New Zealand to have entered commercial production for an extended period. The idea for an agricultural utility vehicle based on the Škoda Octavia engine, drive train and separate chassis came from Philip Andrews, who had taken over the Motor Lines vehicle assembly company from his father. When Motor Lines was taken over by Noel Turner, Andrews was able to convince him of the market potential of such a vehicle. At that time in New Zealand agricultural vehicles attracted no tariffs and there was no government limit on the number of such vehicles that could be sold. Turner discovered that a prototype of a small utility vehicle had been made by an engineering company in Kawerau using an engine based on a British Bradford. Peter Risbridge, who ran the Kawerau engineering company, allowed the prototype to be taken to Motor Lines in Auckland, expecting it to be developed in joint venture with his company. Instead, according to reference, Motor Lines developed and produced the Skoda-powered Trekka from it with no payment whatever being made to Risbridge. Overseen by Colin French, manager of Motor Lines from 1966, the Trekka project began with two hand-built prototypes using the rear-wheel drive Skoda Octavia powertrain, which was imported from then-communist Czechoslovakia and featured a 1,221 cc, 47 hp (35 kW) four-cylinder engine. The Trekka superficially resembled a Land Rover but with far more limited off-road capability and was produced in both van and ute formats. The Trekka was launched on 2 December 1966 as an agricultural vehicle although it eventually became popular with both rural buyers and urban tradesmen. The first Trekkas were sold in New Zealand in 1967, by which time Motor Lines had become Motor Holdings. The first model sold was the '2-10', which cost less than a Morris 1100 at just £899. The 2-10s were all painted green with canvas tops and were offered with a tow bar as the only option. Initially, the Trekka was produced at a rate of six vehicles a day with hand-formed steel panels. Production output increased after the panel forming was contracted out to H J Ryans, an Auckland manufacturer of lawn mowers. 708 Trekkas were sold in its first year of production and by January 1968 the 1,000th had been manufactured. When production ceased in 1973, some 2,500 had been built. Buyer demand for a more weather-proof top was answered by a white fibreglass canopy, whose manufacture was outsourced to another Auckland company. These later models were also fitted with improved seats. The Trekka has since become something of a New Zealand icon representing the 'Kiwi can-do' attitude of the 1960s. It survives as a curiosity in the collections of New Zealand and Australian vehicle collectors.The Trekka emerged from decades of obscurity in 2003, taking a place on the world art stage at the 50th Venice Biennale, the world’s biggest art expo. Taranaki-born artist Michael Stevenson’s installation “This is the Trekka” represented New Zealand with a $600,000 project which attracted nearly 60,000 international visitors. Stevenson’s Trekka came largely from West Auckland, with parts taken from one found in Hamilton, and was rebuilt to new condition before being dismantled and shipped to Venice. The installation told a story of contradictions that existed in New Zealand in the 1960s, a democratic South Pacific nation striving for industrial independence, but managing to create its own vehicle only through trade with communist Czechoslovakia. Michael Stevenson’s Trekka work returned to New Zealand, eventually bought by the National Museum Te Papa and displayed at Wellington City Gallery in an exhibition from July to October 2005.
• Estimate:
  NZ$8,000 - 1,200
• Realised Price:
  *****
  

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• Category:
  Automobiles & Accessories

This Sale has been held and this item is no longer available. Details are provided for information purposes only.