New Zealand Mistral History

Mistral fibreglass sports cars

From the 1950’s to the 1970's New Zealand Government import controls meant few affordable sports cars were available to local motoring enthusiasts. Few construction rules or regulations made the construction of a space frame tube chassis a fairly achievable task and the fiberglass Mistral mould provided a good looking body to be fitted to these local chassis.

The Ford 10 or 100E 1172cc motor and running gear were widely available and often the first choice, but many different, mainly English, engine and gearbox combinations, such as Standard-Triumph (Vanguard and TR) or Rootes Group (Hillman /Humber) were also fitted.

Mistrals in 1950's NZ Ian McRae's on right, Warrick Morton-Jones' on left

The Weltex Mistrals

The Mistral mould was brought to New Zealand by Christchurch boat builder and racing driver, Bob Blackburn. Blackburn, trading as Weltex Plastics Limited and working with Ron Green, intended to go into full production with a Graeme Dennison designed chassis, but couldn’t source enough Ford Prefect parts and so sold the body and chassis as a kit car.

About 10 bodies and chassis were completed by Weltex and another 10 bodies sold by Weltex between 1956 and 1961.The chassis was available for E93A, 100E and 105E Ford engines and running gear. Prices for the New Zealand car were £135 for the body and £95 for the chassis. A list of extras was of course available and included Front screen, hard top and the badge pictured above. The company boasted that one of their own cars, fitted with a Inlet Over Exhaust cylinder head could reach the scary speed of 110mph. Bob Blackburn extensively raced the prototype Mistral - see racing page.

One of the Weltex Mistral bodies was fitted to the aero engined Stanton Special, which set the New Zealand land speed record at that time. See this link.

Bob Blackburn and friends with the first Mistral

The first Mistral built in Christchurch. Bob Blackburn in the driving seat

Emslie and Flockton Mistrals

Around 1961 the NZ Mistral business was sold to Elmslie & Flockton Ltd of Dunedin. The new owners made a number of improvements to the design and manufacture of the Mistral body shell and moved production to Dunedin. They also extended the range of optional extras to include, amongst other things, a grille, bumpers and a hard top and side screens. A copy of their brochure can be found here. Emslie and Flocton also constructed a "demonstrator' which included many of these improvements and accessories and featured the then new Ford overhead valve Anglia engine and gearbox. This demonstrator car still exists and was restored by Don Bromme and Terry Cartwright. See link here for recent photographs,

Emslie and Flocton Demonstrator Rear View

The Mistral Mark II

In 1989, Roger Wilson of Christchurch established Wilson Classics Sports Cars with the aim of building Mistral sports cars for use in classic car racing and for touring. A set of moulds were taken to modernize the original Mistral body. Both classic racing and road car versions of the cars were built but demand was insufficient for a sustainable business and Rodger turned to building GT40 and Cobra replicas.

See the link here for more information and photos of Mark II Mistrals

The Brian Ford Variations

Brian Ford, of Briford Trailers, acquired the wreck of a Mistral in the early 1980's. but found it was in too bad a state to restore. He decided to widen the body, modify the front to resemble a Cobra, and fit this to a 350 Chev hot rod chassis he had in his workshop. This worked out quite well and attracted a lot of interest. He and friend Chris Coles went on to design an improved version of this chassis and when fitted with the modified Mistral body this became the "Briford Sports". Over the years since, Brian has gone on to make 16 cars to date, powered by a variety of engines.

Mistral Mark II 4.4 litre P76 V8 powered

Brian Ford highly modifided Mistral the "Briford Sports"

Briford Sports project for sale on Trademe 2026

Nissan powered Briford no.13 at Levels 2006

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