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Story: Cars and the motor industry

Reliability trials

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Reliability trials

Austin agent Clive Crozier behind the wheel of an Austin 7 car during a 1930 reliability trial in which he drove from Invercargill to Auckland, using Castrol products. Reliability trials and long-distance proving runs were widely reported in the media, and were used to advertise design improvements. Agents often took their cars on back-country roads – an Austin was even driven to the top of Rangitoto as a publicity stunt.

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Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: PAColl-4494

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Eric Pawson, Cars and the motor industry – Sources of cars, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/22836/reliability-trials (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Eric Pawson, published 2 March 2010, updated 1 December 2014.