John Reisima lives in Flemington, a small rural community in Central Hawke’s Bay. While he normally drives his fleet of trucks for his company, Reisima Transport, he also keeps a retro car in the garage for special occasions – a 1981 Mitsubishi Mirage, in nuggety copper-brown.
“We originally got the Mirage for our son, Ben, when he turned 16 – so about 13 years ago. He learned to drive in it.
I bought it from a guy in Dannevirke – I think we were only the second owners.
When I paid for it I wrote him a cheque for $850, but he called me just after we’d arrived home with the car to say that I’d only made the cheque out for $8.50, so I had to send him the rest of the money.
John Reisima and passenger Kiki the dog in his 1981 Mitsubishi Mirage. Photo by Charlotte Anderson.
Ben used to drive the car to school in Waipukurau and he needed it to have a wing mirror, so I fitted one on the driver’s side. It always used to make an annoying whistling noise when you were driving so you had to leave the window down and have a finger on the mirror to keep it quiet.
It can be quite a hard car to start – especially on cold mornings. Ben would push it out of the garage and then roll it down the driveway to get it going.
These days I keep the Mirage here and take it out occasionally. It mostly gets used for weddings – including Ben’s wedding last year – and parties or other special occasions.”
Story by Jo Percival, photos by Charlotte Anderson for the Winter 2023 issue of AA Directions magazine.
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