POSTE RESTANTE
Eighty-six years ago the Nazi party was storming into a leadership position in German politics but parts of Europe were more enchanted by the growing sport of motor racing. A crowd of 150,000 came to watch the 1935 Czechoslovakian Grand Prix (GP), many of them standing at hugely dangerous vantage points to watch monster racing cars driven by the gladiators of that era.
What has this to do with New Zealand? While I was editing New Zealand Car magazine in 1989 an envelope and letter containing some old photographs arrived on my desk. The missive came from Ernst A Kalnins, an honorary representative for the Austrian state tourist department based in Christchurch. The elderly gentleman, then retired and clearly worried about his poor health, mentioned that he was still piloting a little Daihatsu Mira which was easy to drive but which had a “horrible” ride. The small Japanese runabout, he said, had replaced a Fiat Uno 70 — but that was not the reason for his letter.
He studied as an architect in Graz, Austria, before moving to New Zealand. Ernst related that he had spent some time searching for the black and white photos
