WARRANTS OF FITNESS

any years ago — and I’m talking about when I obtained my very first car in 1964 — the warrant of fitness (WOF) was generally accepted as the best way of establishing that your intended purchase was ‘fit for purpose’. So armed with my trusty cheque book (remember them?) my mate and I went to Onehunga in Auckland to check out a 1937 Austin Seven. The seller was an amphibian pilot, an associate of Capt. Freddie Ladd, famous for flying his Grumman Widgeon under the Auckland Harbour Bridge, so supposedly a reputable bloke. It was a Saturday, and my mother