Cars have shaped towns, cities, parts of the countryside and, of course, people's lives. A Hocken Collections exhibition, ''We Drove Here'', explores the highways and backroads of our motoring history, writes Shane Gilchrist.
A romance that first blossomed at the dawn of the 20th century, New Zealand's relationship with cars has not slowed since.
We have one of the highest levels of passenger-car ownership in the world and, with 92% of New Zealanders having access to a car, the third-highest number of cars per person.
For better or worse, the influence of cars on society and the environment has been major.
Motoring has enabled people to travel where and when they want, that demand for access reshaping towns, cities, even parts of the countryside.
Such mobility might have changed lives, but it also has the potential to end them.
In short, the connection between cars and people is one of the great zeitgeists of modern civilisation.
Yesterday, the Hocken Collections launched its major exhibition on motoring in Otago.
Titled ''We Drove Here: Hocken Explores Motoring History'', it examines our motoring history through the collections of the Hocken, Otago Daily Times, Otago Vintage Car Club, Dunedin City Council and the car-owning community.
Funded by the Otago Motor Club Trust, a charitable body which manages the funds and assets of the former AA Otago and supports initiatives such as road safety and motoring heritage in Otago, the exhibition is not concerned with the mechanical intricacies of the motor vehicle or any celebration of specific designs.
Instead, ''We Drove Here'' takes a look at privately owned motor vehicles.
It might seem a narrow road, but such an approach touches on a range of cultural intersections: pioneering motorists; road-making, both urban and rural; the infrastructure and industries that sprang up through the 20th century to support and supply demand; car clubs and motor racing; family holidays; and all the financial luggage that car (and motorcycle) ownership requires.
Artists, too, have embraced motoring in various mediums: Colin McCahon was apparently inspired to study art after witnessing the spectacular variety of the Otago landscape from the embrace of his parents' car; Geoff Murphy, director of Goodbye Pork Pie used State Highway 1 as the backbone of his Kiwi road-trip film; and in Mechanical Grief, Owen Marshall penned a poetical lament for a derelict vehicle. Exhibition curator Michael Findlay has long enjoyed the company of a car.
In fact, he owns a couple of Italian vehicles (a 1971 Alfa Romeo 1750 GTV and a 1977 Alfa Romeo Alfetta GTV) as well as a 1966 Triumph Tiger 100 motorcycle.
Yet he had to set aside such interests and instead take a dispassionate overview.
''We are not focusing on particular cars. Rather it's a socio-cultural history, a look at social change and experience. These aspects don't often get addressed in motoring exhibitions.
''I love cars but I actually find car museums quite boring. That's to do with the fixation on objects and a lack of any narrative.
''A car is a cultural object. It is a complex thing and can be interpreted from a variety of positions. I'm not saying this position is better; it's just that it's not commonly done.''
According to the NZTA, New Zealand ranks third-highest amongst OECD countries in terms of vehicle ownership per person (0.75), behind Portugal and the United States; we have the highest number of passenger vehicles per 1000 people (607 vehicles); and 92% of households have access to a motor vehicle.
''Culturally, motoring has fairly deep roots in this country. It seems New Zealand has a number of societal characteristics that have contributed to this,'' Mr Findlay says.
''We had reasonably isolated towns, a relatively strong economy and desire to move around.''
Early cars were owned by professionals, farmers, engineers and businesses eager to take advantage of this new trend in personal transport.
Dunedin's first car was owned by chemical company owner Thomas Kempthorne (1834-1915), who bought a steam-powered Locomobile in 1901.
A Pope-Toledo steam car made the first trip from Dunedin to Christchurch in 1902; the same year, a petrol-powered car travelled from Dunedin to Invercargill for the first time.
In 1907, Dunedin business Wright Stephenson and Co imported a fleet of French De Dion cars to replace its horse-drawn vehicles, prompting the establishment of garages and showrooms across the country.
By 1911 there were 181 cars and 303 motorcycles registered in Dunedin.
Entrepreneurial types discovered car dealerships and garages went well together, smaller businesses often acting as agencies for larger distributors.
''There is this sense of a very rapid development. This was made possible by oil price wars between America and Britain at the turn of the century. The petrol price was driven way down by ruthless competition among oil barons,'' Mr Findlay explains.
Often sold from general stores and blacksmiths, who adapted to repairing cars as the popularity of horse-drawn vehicles faded, petrol might have been cheap, but a lack of raw materials, distance and the cost of manufacturing meant cars were expensive in New Zealand.
Money earned outside New Zealand (and held in an overseas bank account) was necessary if buyers wanted to get to the head of the queue.
Waiting lists were long for locally assembled models, thus used cars were easier to purchase than new models.
''In New Zealand, car ownership was very much an elite social thing a century ago,'' Mr Findlay says.
''They were owned by business people, engineers and people often concerned with the rural sector.''
Following Henry Ford's Model T, which revolutionised car production in 1908, the first car-making plant in New Zealand was opened in 1922 by the Colonial Motor Company, in Wellington, to assemble Fords.
Car shows were held regularly in Dunedin, often in the Kensington Drill Hall in South Dunedin.
Changes in the international industry saw the source of imported cars change from Britain, America and Europe to the Pacific region.
In the 1970s, Australian and Japanese brands took a greater share of the New Zealand market and the approval of used-car imports from Japan in the early 1990s meant many more families could afford to own more than one vehicle.
''The car gave people of various social ilk the means to be independent. The exhibition examines the car as a sort of social space that was outside supervision.
''People could do things with cars, and in cars,'' Mr Findlay says, alluding to both courtship and another rite of passage: the driving test, a key transition towards independence and adult life.
''For instance, a young woman getting her licence not only means independence from parents; it might also mean independence from boys.''
Motor racing, too, features prominently in the exhibition, Mr Findlay says.
The sport not only attracted those with financial means, but also plenty who possessed a can-do attitude or were simply interested in the speed and noise of such events.
The latter included the Otago Daily Times, which printed the following description of events at a 1908 gymkhana and floral fete organised by the Otago Motor Association and the Otago Early Settlers Association: ''Then there were the motor cars. Big, shiny motors that sped on in arrogant silence, and little motors that fussed and barked and coughed ... the motors came on like living creatures, eager and palpitating.''
Waikouaiti Beach was used for racing during the 1920s and Dunedin city's streets were used for car and motorcycle events from 1953.
Stopped in 1958 because of disruption to wharf-side traffic, the street race was revived in 1984 using the layout of the old circuit before the event progressed to a longer course based near the Oval from 1989 until 2007, when a fatal accident at an unrelated Queenstown race prompted Dunedin organisers to abandon racing.
''The exhibition also embraces the experience from a car,'' Mr Findlay says.
''There are other things peripherally related to motoring, such as road signs, landmarks, even hedges that have been clipped into the shape of chickens and so forth.
''The car opened up the whole idea of a holiday being within easy reach,'' he says, alluding to cribs, caravans, even the advent of the motel, which became popular in the 1950s (the first South Island motel opened in Picton in 1952).
''Suddenly, distance was shortened.
''I think of my own experiences. I live in Port Chalmers and sometimes take the old road, the one that goes up the hill and winds back to Dunedin. If you drive at the speed that road demands, it's a 25-minute trip.
''But imagine the journey in a 1930s car on a gravelled surface ... it would have seemed quite a step.''
Are we there yet?
Motoring holidays are almost as old as the car itself but vehicles had to become reliable over long distances on rough Otago roads before the idea caught on.
The car ownership boom of the 1920s saw many Otago families using a car instead of the train or bus for holiday travel.
The beach settlements of Broad Bay, Portobello, Brighton and Taieri Mouth were popular day-trip destinations and families began building cribs for longer stays.
A large American car was an advantage when towing a caravan but time was often spent at the roadside to let the radiator water cool before tacking the next big hill.
Lighter caravans made of plywood and canvas that could be towed behind smaller cars were introduced in the late 1930s taking the pressure off the cooling system.
A risky business ...
Accidents were common during the early days of motoring. Even low-speed incidents could result in an unprotected driver and passengers being thrown from a car.
As speeds rose through the 1930s, passengers were injured or killed by the hard surfaces of steel-framed cars.
The road toll began to rise after the Depression as people could afford to travel further and more often. More than 200 people were killed on New Zealand roads in 1936.
Seat belts were unknown apart from their use in racing cars and few private cars were fitted with them until the 1960s.
The Motor Vehicle Act 1924 introduced harsh penalties to reduce the high accident rate. Enforcement of traffic rules was the responsibility of local councils, which employed their own officers.
A list of offences reported by the Dunedin City Council in 1929 included: ''Passing stationary tramcars'' (8), ''Cars left in front of theatre'' (2) and ''Cyclists holding on to motor vehicles'' (10).
Dunedin got its first traffic lights in 1930.
The corner of Cumberland and Stuart Sts was busy enough to require a pointsman for fours hours a day.
Traffic volumes in Dunedin were similar to Auckland during the 1960s with up to 25,000 vehicles per day counted on Andersons Bay Rd.
