New Zealand Classic Car – September 2019

themotorhood.com | New Zealand Classic Car 37

This led to an unforeseen issue with the
New Zealand Motoring Writers’ Guild.
Although little was said, the guild was not
entirely happy, as members reasoned that
Anderson could have a conflict of interest.
However, the harsh reality was that freelance
motoring writing in New Zealand was
simply not paying enough to provide a
reasonable income. Donn left the guild to
avoid any backlash, but, years later, he was
made an honorary life member.
In 1978, now with son Jamie, the
Andersons went back to Britain and Donn
returned to the SMMT at its grand offices
in London’s plush Belgravia, just behind
Buckingham Palace.
“It was a similar press-relations role to
what I’d been doing last time around, before
taking a job at British Leyland to write their
Unipart magazine — I’d had a medical,
they’d offered to pay for us to relocate from
Surrey to Oxford, and there was an Austin
Princess company car as part of the package.
I may hold the record for the shortest tenure
of employment at Leyland: one day! Clearly,
the actual job was not for me, and my
immediate boss was less than happy with me
bailing out. I felt bad about the situation but

the employment chap said, ‘Not to worry;

simply hand back the keys to the company

car and here is 20 quid for the day spent

with British Leyland’. Next day I was back

at the SMMT.”

Peripatetic lifestyle

Donn was far from falling out of love with

England — “I just love soaking up the

atmosphere. I still do!” he enthuses. Donn

and Lynne continued their annual ‘busman’s

holiday’ working trips to the UK until 2014.

They were back here in the late ’70s, by

which time Donn’s focus had become much

more oriented to new cars rather than the

motor racing that had originally fired his

motoring passion.

“I was doing motoring writing for

newspapers and magazines, Mazda were

sending me up to Japan to look at new

models, which I really enjoyed, and I was

doing PR work for Suzuki at the same time,”

he says. “I was then approached to be editor

of the newly launched New Zealand Car in

1986, and continued doing that for 10 years.

Then came the motoring supplement for the

Herald, so, by then, I’d gone full circle.”

Passion takes Donn in a new direction

Donn’s passion for anything to do with

motoring led him into the world of the

economy run.

“People say, ‘Don’t you get bored?’ but

you don’t, because you’re working so hard

to hone your driving with smoothness and

anticipation in the quest to save fuel,” he

tells me.

He became a member of the team that

established fuel-economy records in both

Britain and New Zealand, including two

coastline drives around both countries for

Honda and Peugeot.

Along the way have come accolades,

as you’d expect for one of the longest-

running motoring writers not only in

New Zealand but in the world. Donn won

They were back here

in the late ’70s, by

which time Donn’s

focus had become

much more oriented

to new cars