28 New Zealand Classic Car | themotorhood.com
Ostosan, and car was called the ‘Anadol’.
So it is not surprising that the only country
in which the car was successful was Turkey,
where more than 100,000 were produced
over an 18-year period.
The Anziel Nova prototype that came
to New Zealand in 1967 was also built
by Reliant and imported fully built up. It
not only had some slight visual differences
from the Anadol but was also mechanically
different, mainly in its suspension, to suit
New Zealand conditions.Local content
As up to 80 per cent of the car would be
made in New Zealand, compared with 40
per cent or less with other manufacturers,
and this was surely good for New Zealand.
The key sticking point were the import
licences required to import the Reliant and
Ford parts in complete-knock-down (CKD)
form so that they could be assembled here.
In the ’60s, import licences were like
gold. They were issued each year by the
government, and the number was set by the
amount of money it had in overseas funds.In addition, the more local content that
you could put into your product, the more
import licences you got. Manufacturers that
had these licences protected them as if they
were the Crown Jewels.
As Alan had worked in the prime minister’s
(PM) office, he had been involved in
conversations and decisions relating to the
issuing of import licences. In the mid ’60s,
he made the big decision to leave the security
of a government job and move to Auckland
where his brother Ian had established a small
engineering business called ‘Anziel Ltd’. At
the time, the company was focused on the
pulp and paper industry, but Alan believed
it was a good foundation from which to start
breaking into the car industry.
It was definitely going to be a battle,
which Alan was prepared to take into the
corridors of government. Starting in 1966,
he approached John ‘Jack’ Marshall, the
Minister of Industries and Commerce,
as well as Overseas Trade, and requested
licences to be used in 1967 for the
importation of the parts and machinery to
build up to 3000 cars a year. The range ofcars would include a two-door coupé, a four-
door family car, and an estate. The planned
production start date would be in 1968.
Alan’s key argument to obtain these
licences was the amount of New Zealand
content that would be needed to build the
cars. Manufacturing the fibreglass body and
chassis in New Zealand meant that the cars
would have 20 per cent more local content
than those of any other car manufacturer.
Alan believed that this argument was
strong enough to wrest the licences off
existing manufacturers. However, it quickly
became apparent that the government
was not interested. Jack Marshall was
not even prepared to talk to Alan about
it. Fortunately, Alan was on speaking
terms with the then–prime minister,
Keith Holyoake; he was able to ask the PM
to intervene, and a meeting took place.
The best response Alan could get was the
possibility that licences might be available
in future years, if New Zealand’s balance of
payments improved. He was, however, able
to get permission to import just one car —
the previously mentioned Reliant prototype.