It was a long project but worth it! The Heron 2 + 2 is the last type of car to come from the Rotorua car builder and follows the success of the earlier Heron which was only a 2 seater. This car was designed to correct all the faults of the first one. The roof has been raised to increase the headroom and avoid the mailbox effect as you look out of the 2 + 2's Cordia windscreen.

Like the first Heron this car bears a striking resemblance to the current Lotus Esprit. There is no chassis in this car and all running gear is bolted into the integral fibreglass body. Roy's car is number one as he could not be bothered waiting any longer for a prototype to be started before he got onto his.

To say that this car is a kit is probably stretching a point. Although built as a kit to take Ford Telstar running gear Roy decided to fit a Mitsubishi V3000 which he had lying around in his garage. Not being one to do things the easy way (a classic example is his first Special, the Urba Car) he has had to prefabricate all the running gear and fit a V6 into an area that was designed to take an east/west four. Unable to find suitable MacPherson struts for the front suspension Roy also designed and built these as well. If you can handle that sort of headache why not make them almost infinitely adjustable. That way it is bound to be right.

A problem that occurred along the way was that their was no side glass for the windows so Roy designed his own and got them made. Before he could use them, however, he also had to design and build the winding mechanicals.

The car is a full road going car with all the whistles and beeps such as air conditioning, alarm, electric windows, trip computer and a massive CD player. When required to perform, new motor specifications can be dialled in on its onboard computer. The original Mitsubishi Blackbox has been discarded in favour of a programmable computer designed by a Christchurch company. This computer negates the need to stick the Mitsubishi dashboard in the boot to keep the motor running. The dashboard on this car is taken complete out of a Telstar TX5 and fitted into the Heron.