>100%+ duty used to be the norm here, back in '85 I brought a BMW in and paid
>more in duty once landed than I had paid for the car from the factory in
>Munich...  From '86 all new cars had to be unleaded fuel only, and had to
>have catalytic converters.  After a few years, the goverment realised that
>people could not afford new cars and modified the tax structure somewhat to
>try and make the national fleet younger.

Aussie import tariffs have been undergooing reduction and are due to
disappear entirely in a few years' time. Their purpose was to protect
the local manufacturers and their substandard products.

>New Zealand used to be a lot worse than Australia in this regard,

USED to be being the operative phrase. Now we're far better off than
the Australians, with much cheaper used cars and a far wider range of
choice (every model and version offered on the Japanese market is now
freely available here, and that's a LOT of highly-specced
cars/vansotherwise never seen outside Japan). A friend recently moved
to Breezebin (that's how many Aussies pronounce Brisbane) and was
shocked at used-car prices. Bought a 1985-or-so Camry liftback for
$3500AUS. In NZ I have seen 9& later Camrys offered for less, and all
post87Camrys (and everyrthing other than Hondas) are utterly
rust-free here.

>and when I
>was over there in '86 there were many '50s cars still on the road, including
>the "ubiquitous" Morris Minor.

Almost all of these are gone, including Beetles and Split vans,
unfortunately. Used Japanese imports drove these to the dump years
ago now, beginning in about 1987 or so. Not many 70s cars are left
either... the odd Corolla, Corona or Bug. The old Hillmans and other
Pommie trash are virtually extinct.

>The situation changed significantly when
>import restrictions were relaxed, and Japanese market cars that were 5 or so
>years old flooded the market for next to nothing.

NZ is very much a Japanese-car market, and all the better for it.
Eurotrash isn't catching on very well, fortunately. Aussie Holdens
and Fords are fairly common. Quite a few Koreans too, some of which
are STILL license-built Mitsubishis (eg the H100 van, which is a
facelifted Mitsubishi Delica).

>It was a very different
>story when I was there again in '96 (mind you crank operated payphones were
>in common use in '86 too, and these were nowhere to be found in '96).

C'mon, I've NEVER seen a crank phone in NZ, appart from an ancient
farmhouse in the middle of nowhere. Cranked payphones? Pull the other
one!
--
Andrew Grebneff
165 Evans St, Dunedin 9001, New Zealand
<andrew.grebneff@stonebow.otago.ac.nz>
Seashell, Macintosh, VW/Toyota van nut