About Us

At Adrad Radiators, we’ve been in the radiator business since 1934 and have earned a reputation from private customers and other industry specialists as radiator experts who deliver quality products and services every time.

1934: National Radiators Limited is Incorporated

1962: Land Purchased

1963: New building and official opening

1966: The building is extended

1975: Lewis & Brownie purchased

1984: New radiator cores introduced

National Radiators introduced the:

Single Row CT Core

• 2 Row x 10mm tube pitch CT cores
• 3 Row x 12mm tube pitch CT cores
• 4 Row x 12mm tube pitch CT cores

Followed a few years later by:

• 3 Row x 10mm tube pitch CT cores
• 4 Row x 100 tube pitch CT cores
• Which took the core range and the core efficiency to the next level.

1985: Lean manufacturing process

In late 1985 Alf King took over as General Manager. He initiated the lean manufacturing process making National Radiators a ‘just in time supplier’ to the ten car assembly plants in New Zealand.

At this stage the annual production was:

• 75,000 OE assemblies – 100 different models
• 75,000 replacement cores
• 120,000 pressure caps
• 150 employees in Wellington, Dunedin and Boston Road, Auckland

1985-1988:

During this period the combination of:

Reduced tariff protection on motor vehicles, the move to plastic tank radiators and the predicted lower number of vehicles of assembled in NZ were the reasons behind the decision to close the OE plant in Wellington by April 1988.

In mid 1987 National Radiators acquired Radiator Industries and amalgamated the two companies into one aftermarket plant at the current site in Walls Road in April 1988.

The Boston Road Branch of National Radiators was closed at the same time, and the repair shop was moved to the Walls Road plant.

Bulk stock sale of Components.

1988: Radiator industries merger

1988-mid 1990:

In the late 1980s until 1998 we witnessed the largest changes in the New Zealand automotive industry history.

Some of the car assembly plants closed down and the remaining plants started to import CBUs (completely built up cars). The government then also opened the door for used car imports, which amounted to more than 100,000 used vehicles being imported every year. By 1998 all the car assembly plants were closed.

By now the New Zealand car park consisted of a very large range of models and to service the replacement radiators for all these models was a great but rewarding challenge. During the first few years the Walls Road Plant manufactured 70,000 replacement cores and sold up to 18,000 plastic tanks per annum.