Bearded man in grey marle t-shirt with 1970 Rebel SST design stands beside New Brighton Pier, pointing symbolically towards Chile.

Revving up a Classic Rambler: The Making of a 1970 Rambler Rebel SST Tee

January 23, 2025 / / No Comments

Living in a small New Zealand country town, my friend and client, a Freezing Worker with a passion for restoring classic American muscle cars, especially those from American Motors, approached me with a unique commission. His project was to immortalise his cherished 1970 Rambler Rebel SST on apparel, inspired by an advertisement from the April 1970 issue of New Zealand’s Reader’s Digest.

Concept Development

The brief was clear—to recreate the black and white ad of the Rambler Rebel SST in colour, but with a modern twist suitable for today’s fashion. The first step was understanding the nostalgia and the essence of the car’s era. The brief to maintain the advertisement’s simplicity yet enhance it with a contemporary touch to resonate with both car enthusiasts and fashion aficionados.

The 1970 Rebel SST, one of the coolest muscle cars to come out of AMC… she’s as fast as she is pretty, and looks great on a grey marle t-shirt.
Back view of a bearded man in a grey marle t-shirt featuring a 1970 Rambler Rebel SST large print on the shirt front and an American Motors logo on the back, posed next to New Brighton Pier, a concrete structure stretching towards the ocean.
Reviving the spirit of 70s American muscle on New Zealand shores. This custom print of the 1970 Rambler Rebel SST, complete with the iconic American Motors logo, is captured beside the robust New Brighton Pier. If this pier were a freeway, it would take you all the way to Chile’s west coast!
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Bearded man wearing a navy blue t-shirt featuring a 1967 AMC Marlin in a 1960s Grand Prix poster style, beside New Brighton Pier.

American Motors Marlin: From shutter to screen to t-shirt

December 4, 2024 / / No Comments

Hey there! I’m just starting a project that’s close to my heart as a child of the 60s and a Graphic Designer. It involves a big, flashy 1967 American Motors car, the Marlin. This two-door fastback car produced by American Motors Corporation (AMC) from 1965 to 1967 is not your everyday car. The automakers really wanted to make something special, something that stood out. That’s how the 1967 American Motors Marlin was born. It came equipped with a powerful 343 cubic inch V8 engine to boot, which was a statement in itself. It was initially launched as the Rambler Marlin in 1965, but in 1966 and 1967 it was rebranded as the AMC Marlin.

1967 was the last year of production for the Marlin and is considered by many to be the most desirable due to its culmination of Marlin styling and beautiful proportions.

Man in navy blue t-shirt with 1967 AMC Marlin graphic standing next to New Brighton Pier.
Marlin Magic: This navy t-shirt brings the sleek design of the 1967 AMC Marlin to life, set against the iconic, concrete expanse of New Brighton Pier under a clear blue sky.
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1928 Essex Super Six right hand side front three-quarter view

From Photo to Art: The 1928 Essex Super-Six Experience

December 3, 2024 / / No Comments

Welcome to a journey where the past meets the future, where the classic lines of a 1928 Essex Super Six four-door car, whose chief selling point was “affordable luxury,” intermingle with the art of modern graphic design. I recently had the incredible opportunity to photograph this rare American vintage beauty in the car park of the historic Richmond Workingmen’s Club in Christchurch. Note that the gallery of images from the photoshoot is at the foot of the page.An Essex Super Six USA bonnet emblem badge

Capturing the Essence:

A classic 1928 Essex Super Six four-door car photographed head-on
The 1928 Essex Super Six was designed to be an affordable luxury car, making it accessible to a wider range of car owners. It was equipped with a powerful 153.1 cubic inch inline-six engine that delivered 55 horsepower, providing ample power for its time.
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Pionair website, aircraft charter page, Tauck group photo centre, Pionair Cargo page to the left, Tailormade travel page to the right.

Pionair websites for N.Z. & Australia

June 27, 2019 / / No Comments

Pionair.com, Pionair.com.au overview

Pionair logo, rebrandThe Australian and New Zealand private air charter and inbound tourism wholesaling firms had two websites side-by-side, Pionair.com, and Pionair.com.au which I designed and maintained through three iterations between 2003–2009. In 2008 the new combination “affluent travel/private air charter/air cargo” themed redesign for both websites was briefed.
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MTC 2015 launch catalogue

July 16, 2018 / / No Comments

MTC_logo_greys_256Once a mainstay of the graphic design business, nowadays print brochures are more the rarity but my fascination with ink on paper is perennial. I was inspired by the opportunity to create a small company launch and product catalogue brochure for MTC Equipment, that is short and to the point.
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Showcase of MTC Equipment online catalogue website. The three pages portrayed are the homepage, a catalogue overview page and the Ejector Trailer catalogue item page. The three key elements to the responsive online catalogue’s ease of use.

MTC Equipment website

July 16, 2018 / / No Comments

The MTC Equipment’s rename and rebrand project included designing their new logo and identity system, the design and populating of their catalogue website , and creating a direct mail brand launch and product catalogue.

It was a great opportunity to work with an established family company, formerly Murray Tractor Company, to implement a rename, rebrand, and repositioning their new business as import agents of Chieftain Trailers of Ireland in the New Zealand, and Australasian regional  markets.
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Supergraphic MTC Volvo FH12 makeover

July 6, 2018 / / No Comments

MTC’s import Volvo FH12 had a makeover and now she’s sweet, in fact she’s a cherry!

The air is thick with ideas in the MagentaDot Brands studio, design is a classic discipline of endless potential and this brief from MTC Equipment was generously thrown wide open. The new livery design brief for the Volvo was given to me in a meeting concurrent with TruLine Civil’s in-house truck painter Andrew Gill, a true master of his trade. This kicked off a fruitful, illustrious collaboration with him and Darren Leeds of Leeding signs. It included the discussion of details like the quality of new alloy boilerplate and wheel arches, the exhaust stacks makeover, and the bold selection of the AA premium cherry red metallic lustre paint to boot! Metallic paint being an exceeding rare choice for long haul trucks to be finished in.
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Hidden Gems set of 3 escorted tour direct mail brochures, 2009 direct mail campaign to Pionair’s past traveller database and affluent travel agents in the U.S. and the rest of the world, this set of brochures comprises; Hidden Gems of New Zealand, Secrets of Southern Australia and Spirit of Papua New Guinea

Pionair: “Hidden Gems” direct mail campaign

April 12, 2017 / / No Comments

Pionair logo, rebrandDefining and evolving Pionair’s corporate identity. Pionair was one part private air charter firm, owning aircraft, employing pilots and aircrew, the other part an affluent travel firm, inbound travel wholesaler and tourism operator, my job of in-house designer, art director and founder of Pionair’s in-house “Propellor Studio” was the best of design jobs.
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Superior Hummer Limousines Homepage mockup.

Hummer Limos website & brand launch

September 1, 2014 / / No Comments

Superior Hummer Limousines letter replacement logo in two coloursStylish, smooth, glamorous and fun! Superior Hummer Limos was an unforgettable start-up business client entering an already well served market in Christchurch. SHL’s black super-stretch Hummer limousine, the largest of its type in Christchurch, is a real head-turner. The ‘wow!’ factor of the vehicle means that in a sense it launched itself onto the Christchurch market. A strong first impression is good, but a new brand, corporate identity, printed brochure and complementary website forming a comprehensive launch campaign to solidly back up the impressive vehicle is best. The website showcases SHL’s Hummer and their service offerings in attractive and useful ways that have real, long-lasting marketing communications stamina.
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