A tribute to the Hoon

It is with both sadness and joyous relief that I hereby report the following news: THE HOON HAS BEEN SOLD! Indeed, what a relief it is, especially after the broo-ha-ha we went through to sell it. If you have a spare 4 hours sometime I’ll tell you the entire story. The quick and dirty version is that we ran into one problem after another in trying to repair a small leak in the power-steering pump and it escalated into the ignition & alarm system. All the while I was courting two Argentinian buyers who barely spoke English and by the way I barely speak Spanish.

However, at the end of the day it all worked out and now Julian & Ignosio join the long list of owners who will have the pleasure of adventuring around NZ in the Hoon. If the Hoon could tell what stories it would tell. We had the Hoon for only 1/24th of it’s current life-span. It took us over 10,000 km’s (6,200 miles for all you non-metric understanding peep’s) from the Northland on the North Island all the way to Invercargill on the South Island and back.

Over mountains, through river fords, on ferries, or in the city the Hoon performed beautifully. Here is a photo-tribute to the Hoon meant to thank this fine vehicle for all its hard work during the time we owned it:

classy huh?
The un-stately Hoon parked in front of the stately Mission Winery in Hawkes Bay
Tina Trecker
Tina flexing with the Hoon in the background- somewhere on the Coromandel Peninsula
Packing the HOON
Big Mike utterly amazed at the amount of luggage the Hoon can hold
Amy and Adam
Previous owners Adam & Amy with the Hoon
P1030671
The Hoon is probably a descendent of this car we saw in Napier

And the winner is….

Our sweet wheels have carried us southward without a proper name, so the time has come to award a winner for the “car naming contest.” The award goes to Jeff and Juli Labhart (and baby Kiren too) for their given name of “Hoon-Mobile” which we have taken the liberty and shortened to “The Hoon”. For those who don’t speak NewZenglish Jeff and Juli have provided a definition below…

Hoon is a derogatory term used in Australia and New Zealand to refer to a person who engages in loutish, anti-social behaviour. In particular, it is used to refer to one who drives in a manner which is anti-social by the standards of contemporary society, that is, fast, noisily or dangerously. Hoon activities can include speeding, street racing, burnouts, doughnuts or screeching tyres.[1] Those commonly identified as being involved in “hooning” or street racing are young, predominantly male drivers in the age range of 16 and 25 years.

Our congratulations goes out to the Labharts for their knowledge of “kiwi-isms”,sense of humor and just darn good naming ability. We will do our best to make sure our ride lives up to it’s name without getting ourselves locked up down here in NZ. Labharts, we will be sending your award along soon. Thanks to all who participated!