Since opening their doors for business in 1946 Tempero's has specialised in building car and coach bodies in the traditional way, the hard way, by hand from the basic raw materials, from baulks of timber and sheets of aluminium and steel. In the 1950s and 1960s the Tempero reputation for quality workmanship and old fashioned values was becoming well known. But by the 1970s the demand for hand built cars was declining as Government regulations relaxed and Japanese imports stared to flood the country.

Around this time, in the early 1980's, Errol and Rod Tempero were being approached by motor racing enthusiasts to manufacture true and faithful recreations of famous racing cars. They saw here an opportunity to diversify and build on their company's expertise.

The Jaguar was a logical vehicle to initially focus on, having long been a favourite car in New Zealand and Australia. C-Types and D-Types used to be a common sight but with their enormous escalation in values they were no longer within the price bracket of most enthusiasts. Accordingly the Temperos laid down plans to manufacture their own version of these famous cars, based as faithfully as possible on the original specifications but upgraded to comply with modern standards of safety, performance and reliability.

These Tempero C-Types and D-Types were hand made, based on the Company's decades of experience in coach building and metal working. The chassis frames and monocoque bodies were cut, rolled, shaped, riveted and welded by the staff, using traditional machinery that in some cases dated back to the previous century. Wooden bucks, or formers, were developed for the craftsmen to accurately shape the metal.

Suspension and braking systems were developed to control the enormous performance of the cars. These developments led to the current standardisation of fully independent suspension all round with adjustable shock absorbers and integrated roll bars. Brakes are power assisted, with multi-pot callipers and ventilated disks. Tempero cars have similar stunning performance to the original models but have the advantage of excellent steering, handling and stopping power!

From these early days of re-manufacturing C-Types and D-Types the Company branched out to embrace other Jaguar models, specifically the stunning concept vehicles, the XJ13 and the XK180.

As the Tempero reputation for hand made cars became known internationally, approaches were made by enthusiasts from the USA and Europe to develop re-creations of other famous brands and models. In particular there was a strong demand for certain models of Ferrari. Over a period of years this led to the release of Tempero's versions of the Ferrari California Spyder, 196 and 196SP sports racing cars, 250 Testarossa 59 and Pontoon 58, and the 212 Barchetta.
With their love of British cars it was a logical move to develop a Tempero version of the Aston Martin DB3S, which was released in the early 1990's. This further led to what is arguably the most beautiful of all sports racing cars, the Aston Martin DBR2.

Although this was a busy time Jaguars were not being neglected and the Company released even more recreations of these famous cars.

One highlight was the release of Tempero's version of the Lightweight E-Type (or XKE) with either a steel tub or full alloy construction. Today, other versions of racing Jaguars are available including the Lister-Jaguar or "Knobbly", the HWM Jaguar, and a famous car raced by Archie Scott-Brown based on the 1957 Lister Jaguar.

Detailed information and specifications on all the vehicles can be found in the Motorcars section.