26 New Zealand Classic Car | themotorhood.com
A
t one stage in the late ’60s,
it seemed that the Anziel
Nova was in the news media
all the time, appearing in
numerous newspapers and
magazines. There were claims that it would
be New Zealand’s first mass-produced car.
There were even claims that it was designed
here by a young man by the name of
Alan Gibbs.
Alan would be remembered most for his
later efforts to produce the Aquada, a car
that could travel on land and water. Unlike
the Aquada, which had a production run of
25 cars, there was only ever one Anziel Nova.
And it was not produced by Alan. Instead,
only one car, the prototype, was produced —
by the Reliant Motor Company in England.
During the ’60s, New Zealand was
screaming out for cars. On average, 65,000
cars were being imported each year but this
number did not meet demand. Lack of new
cars meant that our second-hand cars were
more expensive than in comparable overseas
countries. New Zealand had one car for
every four people, which was an extremelyhigh ratio, with only the US and Canada
managing to beat us. Also, at the time,
overseas funds were in short supply and the
government was doing anything it could to
make us more self-reliant. The higher the
local content of our cars, the more cars could
be imported.UK design
The Nova was originally designed by
Tom Karen of British design company
Ogle, which designed the Reliant Scimitar.
Versions of this car went to Israel, Egypt, and
Turkey. The Reliant team was a specialist in
developing fibreglass-bodied cars. In the late
’60s, it was looking at producing a series of
small to medium–sized four-cylinder cars
in two-door sedan, four-door sedan, pickup,
and panel van configurations. These would
be sold to countries that wanted to make
a low-cost, locally produced vehicle. The
vehicle that was to form the basis was the
Reliant FW 5. Although prototypes were
built in Britain, preparation of the cars for
full production was only ever developed
in Turkey by the Turkish industrial giantThe Nova was
originally designed
by Tom Karen
of British design
company Ogle,
which designed the
Reliant ScimitarIn 1967 the Nova was a star on the
horizon. It shone brighter in Turkey.