A Lotus-inspired sports car is entrancing a third generation of a Kiwi family
Words Sam Dixon
MAN & MACHINE
IN 1976 MY parents travelled to the UK so my father, David Dixon, could help Christchurch company Steel Brothers become the first outside the UK authorised to build Lotus 7s. Although purists prefer the Series 3, it was the more beach buggy-esque S4, with its glassfibre ’shell, heater and carpet, that Steel Brothers assembled until March 1979, when the last of the 95 kits provided by Lotus was used up.
Dad was a great brand ambassador for Lotus, racing 7s up and down New Zealand, and when the supply of engines ran out, he made a wider, modernised version of the S4, the Lotus Super 907, using the twin-cam 907 engine from the Lotus Elite. I have fond memories as a ten-year-old blasting around in the prototype with dad… and no windscreen or seatbelts.
After Steel Brothers halted production, dad [pictured left] set up his own company, Dixon Automotive, to make a car similar to the Lotus 7 but aimed at the US market – hence safety features such as side impact bars and quality lighting. They also had leather, wood dashboards and a full suite of Smiths gauges.
The Dixon Roadster chassis was a rigid backbone of dad’s own design (one that was used for plenty of one-off cars in New Zealand in the ’80s) under a glassfibre body reminiscent of the Lotus 7 S3. Dad and I had a fun weekend delivering an early car to Chequered Flag, 1100km away in Auckland in mid-winter.
In 1982, Dad developed a very fast turbo model in which he had a lot of competition success, but export sales to Australia and the USA just weren’t taking off. In 1983, with only about 20 Dixon roadsters built (including eight exported to Australia), dad closed the factory and sold our home to pay off his creditors. Despite the relatively small number sold, Dixon Automotive is in the history books as the second largest independent car manufacturer in New Zealand. We moved to Auckland and mum and dad set up one of New Zealand’s most successful antiques businesses. Dad was often seen driving his Dixon up to their antiques shop in Remuera, Auckland.
In 2016 we had a great weekend driving the Dixon Roadster around the Coromandel beaches and visiting Rod Millen’s Leadfoot Festival (the Kiwi Goodwood). Dad passed a few months after and mum followed two years later. I moved the Dixon Roadster into storage after driving it back from
