Two friends since 1987 are driving around New Zealand in a Triumph Swallow Doretti from 1955, stopping off in Alexandra - just like a scene in a movie.

Helen Ferner’s "TR2 in a party dress” was brought into her family back in 1977, and lovingly restored in 2010.

She remembers learning to drive in it as a teenager and this year invited her friend Helen Fehr from San Francisco to join her on the Triumph National Tour.

There were only 276 cars like it ever made in the world, and on Saturday the 37 triumphs on tour will head out into the Maniototo, before heading south to Invercargill.

The two Helens in the Swallow Doretti (1955).

An original Triumph engine.

The two Helens have had a challenging time in the old girl - the new electric ignition failed in Blenheim and one of the team rescued them. 

Then they got a flat tyre at the Murchison turn off and finally broke the jack when fixing it.

There was nothing these two once structural engineers couldn’t deal with, and they are looking forward to travelling toward Milford Sound over the weekend, as well as the Catlins after Invercargill.

They are the only all-girl team on the tour, which is this year hosted by the Deep South Group of Otago/Southland, which has six local Central Otago members - the majority being in Dunedin.

PHOTOS: The Central App

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