Ashburton Courier: September 24, 2020

www.ashburtoncourier.co.nz
Unimog built locally
MICK.JENSEN
@ashburtoncourier.co.nz
Acustom­made unimog, the
only one of its kind in New
Zealand, has been built by
Ashburton business BT Coach
Builders and delivered to its Mt
Cook­based client.
The all­terrain vehicle will be
used to take tourists off­road
and to explore the splendor of
the Mackenzie backcountry.
It comes in with aprice tag of
just under $500,000 and no
expense has been spared.
It has been crafted from the
chassis up over anumber of
months and is aspacious 14
seater.
Each seat has afour­point
harness system and air
suspension.
The state­of­the­art seats are
made in Sweden and needed a
special exemption because
they have never been seen or
fitted together here before.
The unimog has asplit glass
roof, which enables 360 degree
viewing, and an uniquely
designed manual rear entry.
The chassis was specially
extended in the German factory
and Mercedes Benz signed off
on work to ensure it met their
unit standards.
The unimog is fitted with a
GPS triggered, multilingual
sound system, and the
transmission although
automatic, can be moved to
paddle shift.
Its four huge tyres that can be
deflated and reinflated
automatically depending on the
terrain it tackles.
The unimog on its waytobeing delivered to the customer at Mt
Cook, and, (below) at awarrant check in Ashburton.
BT Coach Builders director
Jo Smith said the unimog was a
special vehicle and the
company was proud of the
finished article.
It had been ordered two years
ago by tourism company client
Trojan Holdings, which owns
NZSki and other businesses,
and its production had been
hampered by the covid
situation.
The last six months had been
tough for the coach builder,
which had anumber of tourism
clients.
The business had lost around
ayear’s worth of work due to
cancelled orders, she said.
The unimog has been
nicknamed The Beast and was
delivered to operator Tasman
Valley Tours at Mt Cook last
week.
There was lot of research and
development behind the sleek
design and it would have to be
the safest ATV in New Zealand,
said Jo Smith.
Anumber of complex
compliance requirements had
been ticked off and BT was
grateful for the support of local
businesses Canterbury Vehicle
Compliance, Action Spray
Painting, Windscreen Solutions
and Tinwald Canvas who had
all been involved in the project.
NEWS
Ashburton Courier, September 24, 2020
13
Model train swap
meet at Plains
Miniature trains, engines,
carriages and tracks were up
for grabs at the first ever
Model Train swap meet.
It was held at the Plains
Railway and Historical
Museum last Sunday and drew
scores of people from around
the South Island.
Rob Read, one of the
organisers, said it was a
chance for people to sell their
model train sets.
He was joined by Ashburton
model train enthusiasts Andy
Munro and John McIntosh.
“It’s achance for people to
sell their model train items as
there has been no train shows
on this year at all,” Mr Read
said.
The Ashburton Model Train
Show, scheduled for July, was
one of the casualties
cancelled due to Covid­19
restrictions.
Response for the swap meet
had been overwhelming with
interest from model
enthusiasts from Invercargill,
Dunedin, Central Otago and
Canterbury keen to take part.
Many people had travelled
quite adistance for the day, he
said.
Tables for sellers were set
up and among the wares were
historical model trains
through to digital sets with
lighting, kit set buildings,
trees, figures and tracks at
varying prices were on offer.
People, young and old, were
delighted by the working
Model train enthusiast Rob
Read.
layout models on display one
of which was Mr Read’s
American railroad model
built in HO scale (1:87).
Mr Read is also one of the
organisers for the Ashburton
Model Train Show and has
been amodel train enthusiast
for the past 30 years.
He is amember of the
Garden City Model Railroad
Club, in Ferrymead,
Christchurch, and also a
member of the South
Canterbury Model Rail Group,
in Timaru.
He along with wife Lisa
worked together to build their
model; Lisa makes alot of the
scenery for the layout. The
layout took around two hours
to set up in time for the swap
meet.
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