Company Information
Dino Enterprises Ltd is owned and operated by Mal Simmonds.
Mals Background
Mal’s 30 years of experience started with his first car in 1974 – a Fiat 1500 and moved into the professional arena with Torino Motors, working in Fiat Spare Parts. 1979 saw the start of Europarts with specialised in VWs and extended to include Fiats two years later. In 1983 Europarts was sold and after trade restraints were outdated, The Fiat Centre was born and over the next five years, concentrated on importing and specialising in the Fiat marque. It was also at this time that Mal’s racing career started, driving a 124 Spider alongside fellow Fiat enthusiast, Maurice Thompson. It was after an accident involving Maurice and a concrete wall, they decided to venture to California to get parts to fix Maurice’s car and look at the viability of importing rust free spiders to New Zealand. This venture continued with Mal locating and importing the cars and Maurice converting and refurbishing them once they were back in New Zealand. Amongst Mals finds were a ‘67 Fiat Dino Coupe, a ‘73 124 Spider Abarth Stradale and a replica 131 Abarth Stradale. Mal has since sold the Dino, Maurice still owns the 124, the 131 Mal raced for many years and was sold in 1993 but still remains in the ownership of one of Mal’s good friends. In 1990 The Fiat centre was sold, as Mal, for personal reasons moved to Cambridge (New Zealand). Dino Enterprises Limited was born in 1991 and continued in a small way, importing Fiat, Lancia and Alfa parts to finance his racing while Mal’s main source of income was as an area sales manager for Wynn Oil. In 2003 due to an expanding market, the decision was made to move away from Wynn’s and concentrate solely on his passion for the Fiat marque.
Future Plans
Due to growth, Dino Enterprises has constructed larger premises in Cambridge, New Zealand. The new building is 6000 square feet capacity. See projects for pictures.
To compliment the extensive range of second hand parts available, Dino Enterprises is widening its partnerships with Impergom and Spesso and developing business with new international and local suppliers to make obtainable more new and used parts, and accessories for your prized classic, race car or modern Italian vehicle.
Racing
Mal has always built, prepared and raced his own vehicles and has owned, driven or competed in just about every model Fiat from 1960 through to present day. He is currently focused on classic tarmac rallying in the 124 special T as this has proved to be the most reliable and exciting form of racing for the money or as Mal likes to call it, “bang for your buck”. See Gallery.
