The grip car was carefully towed out of the Wheelwright Shop in October 2005, wrapped in plastic to protect it on the journey and trucked over the Rimutakas to Wellington. It was then manoeuvred into the new museum extension, just a stone’s throw from the cable car route where it plied its trade decades earlier.

The team behind the restoration project: (from left), John Gilberthorpe, Chief Executive, Wellington Museums Trust; Ali Lang, the Wheelwright Shop; Ann Cunninghame, museum interpretation; Greg Lang, the Wheelwright Shop; Emmanuel Makarios, Manager, Wellington Cable Car Museum; Colin Perfect, heritage transport specialist