Caltex

Caltex is another of New Zealand's four main fuel companies. The Caltex brand is owned by the US-based Chevron, however the Caltex brand in New Zealand is actually owned by Z Energy.

These are the Caltex locations with washes that I have visited or been past.

## Wellington Airport, Strathmore, Wellington (now Z)

This site was originally a Caltex, and had a PDQ Laser 4000. I only have a Google Maps view. It was replaced when the site was taken over by Z.

This machine was likely transported to another site (probabaly either Otaki or Rimutaka).

## (GONE) ~~Basin Reserve (Newtown), Wellington~~

This site originally had a Ryko Monarch II Touch Free. This was replaced sometime between 2009 and 2013 with a PDQ Laserwash 360. Then, in 2018 this wash was replaced again, with a PDQ Laserwash 360plus, as part of a major refurbishment of the entire site. The new 360plus included the LaserGlow coloured lighting feature.

**This site closed PERMANENTLY in January 2021.**

## Lower Hutt (now BP)

This site was home to Wellington's last ever Ryko Monarch II. In 2016, it was replaced with a PDQ Laserwash 360. This site was taken over by BP in 2017, who retained the wash.

## (GONE) ~~Lower Hutt~~

Caltex used to have a second site in Lower Hutt. This site had an incredibly rare Mark VII Merchandiser (AquaJet) Touch Free Car Was, one of only two sites I have found to have one.. This site closed down sometime after 2009 and was demolished. A KFC now stand in it's place. Fortunately, I was able to get some screenshots of the old car wash via Google Maps!

## [DERELICT] Wainuiomata, Lower Hutt

This site used to have a Ryko Premier XL with red. It was replaced around 2014 with a PDQ Laserwash M5, despite the model being retired from production in 2011. My suspicion is that this machine may have come from the site located in Palmerston North that had an M5 prior to it's upgrade to a 360.

Since 2022, this car wash has been closed. According to staff the machine is broken, and there is not enough business at this wash to make repair/replacement a viable option. This was is now considered to be derelict.

## Upper Hutt

This site originally had a Ryko Monarch II, which was replaced in 2012 with a PDQ Laserwash 360. In March 2022, the 2012 Laserwash was replaced with a brand new PDQ Laserwash 360plus. The new machine, aside from being an updated version of the old one, features the LaserGlow coloured lighting system as well as Swing-Air Synchronized Motion Dryers

## ~~Rimutaka, Upper Hutt~~ (now Z)

This site originally had a Mark VII Merchandiser (AquaJet). This was swapped for a secondhand PDQ Laserwash 4000 sometime between 2009 and 2013. The Laserwash 4000 is still in place as of May 2020, though since these photos were taken a door has been added to the front of the bay.

The source of the secondhand Laserwash 4000 is unknown, but it may have come from the Airport site, which was converted to a Z in 2013 and subsequently had the wash replaced. That is only a theory though (that machine could just as easily have gone to Otaki, which also got a secondhand Laserwash 4000 in 2013)

In January 2021, the Laserwash 4000 was removed, and the wash bay sat empty until July 2021, when a brand new Istobal Tracer Touchless system was installed. The site was operated directly by Z Energy (who own the Caltex NZ brand), who chose the Tracer system.

**This site became a Z Energy in September 2022.**

Renovated Wash-bay prior to new machine installation.
## Masterton, Wairarapa

this site was the last Caltex in Wellington to have a Ryko Premier XL (with red brushes). It was later replaced with a PDQ Laserwash 360. More recently, the wash has been upgraded again, this time with a PDQ Laserwash 360plus.

## (GONE) ~~Johnsonville~~

Caltex used to have a site in Johnsonville, which was home to a Mark VII Merchandiser (AquaJet) Touch Free Car Wash in Wellington. Sadly, this site was demolished in 2008, and there are no pictures or Google Streetview images available of the site.

## Porirua City, Porirua

This Caltex site was the second-to-last last Caltex in Wellington to operate a Ryko UltraClean, which was originally fitted with Red brushes (evidenced by a photo I found taken in 1992) but later changed to Red & White brushes. The machine was removed around 2010, and the bay say empty for years, until Caltex decided to re-open a Car wash at the site in 2013, opting for a PDQ Laserwash 360. I was able to take a few pictures during the installation.

In 2017, a door was added to the front of the wash-bay which closes during the wash cycle.

## Paraparaumu Airport, Kapiti

This is brand new Caltex site, which was built in 2017. This is currently the only Caltex in Wellington to have an non-PDQ Car Wash, and the only one in Wellington with a brush wash. They chose a nice Istobal M'Nex 22, with Red & Black brushes.

## (GONE) ~~Otaki~~

This Caltex was the last one in Wellington to operate a Ryko UltraClean, which was fitted with red brushes. This system has since been replaced with a PDQ Laser4000, which I can only assume the got secondhand, since PDQ stopped making the Laser4000 in 2007 (though it had the LED displays from a Laserwash M5/360).

Sadly, this Caltex Closed down on March 31st 2019, and the LaserWash had already been removed sometime prior to that (as it was already gone when I went through the area in February 2019). The site has been totally demolished and is expected to be replaced with new retail & restaurant space.

## Palmerston North

I've been past this site numerous times, but the wash here is very difficult to see, owing to the position of the wash bay. It is impossible to know exactly was was here originally, but from my memory of being her in 2006, I recall it being Touchless (I think it was a Ryko Monarch II). By 2009, it had been replaced with a PDQ Laserwash M5, and by 2013, M5 branding has been fitted to the wash bay. A video posted on Google shows that at some point the machine was replaced once more, with a PDQ Laserwash 360. I have a suspicion that the M5 ended up in Wainuimoata, being moved there around 2014-ish (the M5 went out of production in 2011).

## Danniverke

This is a site I have gone past on many road trips. Danniverke originally had an Istobal M10 Multiprogrammer, with multi-colour brushes. Sometime between 2009 and 2013, this was replaced with a Ryko excel, with rather ugly cream, red & black brushes. This car wash was replaced again in 2018 with an Istobal M'Start featuring Red & Black Brushes.

## Victoria Avenue, Whanganui

This site in Whanganui also has a surprise for us! It appears to have once had a Ryko US2001 Overhead, which has off-board dryers (rare for washes in NZ). It is the only known example of this machine in NZ. This Car Wash was replaced with a Washtec SoftCare2 Pro Classic sometime after 2015.

## New Plymouth

I visited the area in 2018, but didn't get ant photos. This site, like many, originally had a Ryko Premier XL, with Red & white brushes. Sometime between 2010 and 2013 it was replaced with a PDQ Laserwash 360.

In 2019, a car crashed into the wash bay here, and the wash was subsequently replaced with a PDQ Laserwash 360plus. I believe this wash has LaserGlow coloured lights fitted.

## Hillcrest, Hamilton

I visited this particular Caltex in 2021. This site originally had a PDQ Laserwash 4000. This was replaced around 2016-ish with a Washtec SoftCare2 Pro with two-tone blue brushes.

## Manukau, Auckland

I visited Manuaku last in 2018, when visiting the Rainbow's End theme park. Just up the road is a Caltex, which originally had a Ryko Monarch II, which was replaced sometime around 2015 with an Istobal M'Nex 25, with plain red brushes.

## Sylvia Park, Auckland

This site has a very interesting history, which we can see through Google Streetview. The original Car Wash here was a Ryko Premier XL, seen in the Streetview Image from 2009. Sometime between 2009 and 2012, the machine was replaced with a Washtec Softcare Evo, with Green & Red Brushes.

Interestingly, sometime between 2012 and 2014, the entire wash bay is moved a different part of the forecourt - even the existing shelter was taken down and re-assembled in the new location But with such a relatively new machine, the existing Washtec is moved from the old bay to the new one, and here's how we get to today!

## Manuwera, Auckland

This site in Manuwera, Auckland originally had a Ryko Premier XL with red brushes. By 2015, it had been replaced with an Istobal M'Start, with Red & Black brushes.

## Somerville, Auckland

I went past this site on my Auckland Holiday in 2017. This Caltex originally had a Ryko Monarch II. It was replaced at some point with a Ceccato Pegasus. In 2015, the Pegasus was replaced with an Istobal M'Nex 22.

## Napier

The view of this Car Wash on streetview is not very good. The original Car Wash here was a Mark VII Merchandiser (AquaJet). This was replaced with a PDQ Laserwash 360 around 2012. This only lasted around 3 years, as in 2015 it was replaced with an Istobal M'Nex 25 with Dark Blue brushes.

A streetview showing the back of the rear carriage whilst at the back of the bay during a wash cycle confirms this is an M'Nex 25. The lack of attached brushes means that it has to be a twin-carriage M'Nex 25 system. This is one of only two known Istobal M'Nex series washes at a Caltex to have blue brushes.

## Redwood, Christchurch

I went past this site in February 2023. There wasn't originally a car wash here, rather it was added in 2015. This car wash, a PDQ Laserwash 360, is still there to this day. Since Google took these images, the wash-bay has been re-painted in Caltex Red & White, as this site is no-longer using the FIX branding.