The Road Ranger Blog: From the 60s.
I was recently able to access and scan photos from David Esau who owned Sharples Motors in Masterton. David had a 50% share in Sharples, along with Harry Sharples, from 1961 but then owned it outright from 1972 until 1982 when he sold out to Bruce McKenzie and it became McKenzie Motors. Sharples had the agency for Dodge, Hillman, Sunbeam and Chrysler Valiant.
Sharples plot at the 1966 Masterton A&P Show displays a Dodge truck, Chrysler Valiants, including a V8 Safari wagon and the presence of a Super Snipe suggests they were able to access Humbers as well.
Dodge trucks in front of the Queen Street showroom, with the cab they shared with Albion, Leyland and Scammell.
A line of Dodge trucks at the Dixon Street end of the property.
The building behind was a scout den which was later bought by Sharples and today is the building I occupy every day, grooming cars for Wairarapa Mitsubishi which now owns the old Sharples site.
A couple of press photos of the the fairly rare Harrington conversion of the Sunbeam Alpine.
Very few of these came to NZ.
These doors can no longer be raised due to maintenance required on the lifting mechanism.
Current owner of Wairarapa Mitsubishi (Brent Cooper) would love to see them in full operation again.
Masterton Hospital's ambulance service had a Dodge, a Chrysler and a Humber Pullman.
Ambulance drivers in the photo are Stuart (Tui) Pickett and Vern Peters.
A Sunbeam Alpine competing in a Wairarapa Car Club speed event.
With an elapsed time equating to 99.8 mph. the driver must have been gutted that he couldn't quite make the magic ton.
Hillman Super Minx Mk 3 in front of the Sharples showroom. This model superseded the Mk 2 model in 1964 and replaced the Mk 2's wrap-around front and rear screens with a much squarer look, but still retained the 1600cc motor, but now connected to an all synchromesh gearbox..
In 1965 the visually identical Mk 4 was introduced with the 1725cc engine.
The Mk 4 could be easily identified by a 1725 badge just behind the front wheel arch.