5 4 > NZ HOT ROD AUGUST 201 9Richard Mann
RICHARD MANN
was born in
Marton in the
mid-‘50s. Later,
the family moved
to the big smoke
of Wanganui
where Richard
did an electrical
apprenticeship
at the Railways.
Getting involved with American cars he
was nicknamed “Fred”, after Manfred
Mann. (a popular band on the radio at
the time) And as most nicknames do
in NZ, it stuck forever. Fred, with no
real engineering schooling, bought a
’55 Chevy 4 door sedan and preceded
to make it into a 2-door, lengthened
the doors, moved the pillars back and
built a tilt-front. He installed a 396
and 4-speed, and it became one of the
faster street cars in town at the time.
Remember this is the late ‘ 7 0s! His cool
demeanour and fast cars sort of made
him the John Milner of Wanganui.
Later the big block and manual trans
were put into a mid-‘ 6 0s Nova which
he promptly rolled outside the local
high school. A ‘67 Camaro followed for
a while, then a move to Auckland, and
in the mid-‘80s a move to Los Angeles.
Looking like a cross between James
Dean and Jon Bon-Jovi, Fred slipped
1 00% into the California lifestyle of
cars, bars and girls, and he enjoyed all
three. Working for himself as a one-man
electrical business, he would often be
all over L.A and often discovered old
cars in customers back yards. Rescuing
these cars became his passion, and
along with a Kiwi flatmate, they rescued
many El Caminos, Camaros, Mercury
Cougars and Chryslers from the threat
of the crusher. Crushing old cars was
a misguided plan by California as an
incentive program for people to get
rid of their old cars. Many of these cars
ended up in NZ, just for the reward
of saving another American classic.
His dream car, a big block, 4 -speed
SS Camaro was in the shed for a few
years and received a full bare-metal
rebuild, in typical Fred Mann fashion
with impeccable attention to detail.
But that too was also eventually sold
off. Fred returned to NZ in the early
2000s with his new American wife, and
they settled in an isolated place on the
Parapara Highway between Wanganui
and Raetihi. Fred never really took
to technology and had no interest in
the computer or much TV. He, until
his passing, preferred to sit outside
with a beer and hand-write letters to
his friends. Apart from terrorising the
local cows when driving his uncapped
big block El Camino up and down the
Parapara. He used to pop back into
Wanganui whenever there was a big
event and have a look around at the
cars and quietly slip back up to his
home on the mountain. Fred passed
away quietly from heart failure in early
June, probably due to too many years
of drinking and smoking. In typical
Fred fashion of not being one to be
noticed, he asked that there be no
funeral service for him, but his mates
in Wanganui got together one night
anyway, re-told many stories and had
a few beers in remembrance. I’m not
sure what actually happens when you
leave this Earth, but I want to think he
is somewhere cruising in a big block
4 -speed Camaro, with a Journey tape
in the stereo, and a smoke in his hand.
Whoever coined the phrase “all the
girls wanted to be with him, and all the
guys wanted to be like him”, must have
met Fred Mann. He leaves behind his
lovely wife Robyn , and our thoughts
and condolences go out to her.
From GollyFAREWELL
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