Remembering Sir Colin Giltrap

New Zealander Sir Colin Giltrap passed away in April 2024. The philanthropist and businessman who founded the influential Giltrap Group is remembered both in his home country and overseas as a truly passionate motoring and motorsport fan.

Many renowned names from the world of motorsport were able to take their talents to an international level thanks to Colin and the Giltrap Group’s enthusiastic patronage. Kiwi stars such as Earl Bamber, Scott Dixon, Shane van Gisbergen, Brendon Hartley and many more have all proudly worn Giltrap Group livery on their race apparel. In 2012, Colin was knighted for his contribution to motorsport and his generosity throughout the industry over the decades. Although ever humble, he would always bat away the “Sir” title, insisting “It’s just Colin”.

In a career that spanned six decades, it’s probably easier to list the automotive brands Colin wasn’t involved with, such was his influence on the motoring industry in New Zealand. Some called his ability to spot the next big brand a “sixth sense”; whether it was gut feeling, intuition, luck, industry knowledge, or all of the above, Colin made some prescient decisions over the years.

But there was one brand that shone more brightly than the rest for him: his beloved Porsche, a brand he proudly represented in New Zealand for almost 50 years, and counting. He saw his first example – a Speedster – at the 1957 Sydney Trade Show.

“It impressed me with its design and simple but functional engineering features. Even as a kid reading about them, I thought they were the best sportscar in the world,” he told author Graham Lister in the latter’s comprehensive history of early 356 imports into New Zealand, The Twenty.

“The first opportunity to acquire a Porsche was in February 1959 when I purchased a recently arrived 356 A 1600 Super Coupe. To satisfy my passion for the Porsche brand, I started buying and selling the handful of Porsche cars I could get my hands on at every opportunity,” he said. It helped cement a lifelong fascination with the marque for Colin.

An Ivory and Black 356 A Carrera would prove a very special car for Colin.

“I was so in love with the Porsche brand that I visited the Geneva Motor Show as often as possible and met with Ed Peter, the Export Manager of Porsche, while there. I managed to persuade him that I could sell new Porsche models (in New Zealand) and he finally agreed in 1974 to my company being appointed the New Zealand distributor for Porsche. To accommodate this appointment, I changed the NSU Import Licence to Porsche and we received the first shipments of new 924s.”

Above all other examples, an Ivory and Black 356 A Carrera would prove a very special car for Colin. Delivered to a Hawke’s Bay buyer in early 1959, it is the only right-hand drive 356 A T2 Carrera Cabriolet with a 1600 GS engine and detachable hardtop in the world. For Kiwi Porsche 356 aficionados, the car is considered the “jewel in the crown”.

When the Auckland-based owner of the 356 A Carrera looked to sell it in 1986, Colin banded together with friend and Porsche fanatic Trevor Hudson to purchase the car, with Hudson acting as chief custodian of it until his sudden death in 2012. There were plenty of Porsche sportscars over the years. Colin says his red 1988 Porsche 959, which he eventually sold to a Hong Kong buyer, was one of the few cars he wished he had kept.

After a lifetime in the motor vehicle industry, Colin handed over leadership of the Giltrap Group to sons Richard and Michael in more recent years. And that unique 356 A T2 Carrera Cabriolet remains in the Giltrap family to this day. It’s a car he cherished as his own “personal souvenir to a long-standing friendship with Dr Wolfgang Porsche” and could even be considered his favourite in a long line of models.