1989 NZ Sports Sedans

[Steve Holmes]

Steve ,did some more research on this car and caught up with Ross Johnson over the Week end ,yes Jim Stone built that car up for Ross apparently from a damaged car ,it went on to become the car Terry O'Brien raced as I originally said ,may have a bit more to add in the future,This is the car when Ross raced it[ATTACH=CONFIG]5626[/ATTACH]

Bob, it was great to meet you on the weekend, you too Rod! Thanks for the photo and info on the Capri. Boy, its a subtle looking race car. Did it still look like this when O'Brien raced it? Does anyone know its fate?

[Jizim]

Terry was from Paeroa, a farmer and raced in Sports Sedans for a few years. It was a Mk1 with the same flares as the Mk1 Escort. Ran a very strong 302. It was originally red when he built it and he painted it white for last couple of years. It was a very tidy and quick car. It did not have over large wheels etc and looked the part and did it. I have a photo somewhere i think will look.

Damn this site is so absorbing.....so just quickly....the Merker was sitting in the corner of the Roush race shop when I purchased the latest TransAm Mustang bdy shell from them (early '80s ..I could check my passport of old for exact dates.) and it was this car that they ended up banning because like the Audi's of years earlier it won every race it entered. In fact Jack Roush was quite the cunning fox...he put a 4 cyl Turbo engine in his Thunderbird bodied TransAm car one week depending on what track etc...then a Supercharged V6 the next and then the V8 when needed.... Now Rodney as you know for what ever reason I never went anywhere without my camera whether or not i was competing or not....and to this day still dont! (whats that about?? I am not even a photographer!!) However the point is...I too have many hundreds of these photos that I need to "locate and Sort" and hand over to get them out there. (Would you believe I took over 5,000 at the BMW festival at Hampton....albeit only from where I am parked "on duty" at pit exit!) And a few whilst holding a reasonably brisk pace on call out! (thank the Good Lord for paddle gear shifts.....) I gave Debs from Race Control about 5,000 on a disc of a few of the meeting over the years....out of around 50,000 !.....BUT wait theres more. Back in the Group C then on to the Group A days I have a lot of video tapes that were sent direct to me thru my Aussie connections...(ok brother in law...)... and every race I entered to date up until 5 years ago which includes Wellington Nissan Mobils then Puke...All the Sprint races s thru the 70's and 80's, on to the B & H's from the early 80's, Simpson series, L K 500's, 6 hour Pukes, 3 hr Taupos, 4 hr Manfields, (yawn) and a shit load more including in car of every lap I did at Bathurst..... My point....come round and help me organise for this to make it on to this site or what ever as my kids have gone down Rugby and Cricket roads and although help me from time to time in SC, dont share the same passion....YET! I know some may be damaged but I even have great NZ Rally shot ot of Mercs, Fiats, Penti's and Ari's etc etc etc.,.so come stay a couple of years and go through them with me....and dont worry about the missus...I will tie her up!!
Regards Tony Rutherford,

[Jizim]

Oh just one more thing.....interesting to note that my previous epistle started with...."so just quickly".......now wheres Jim Short!

[jim short]

Tony big words dont scare me,,after 5 mins thinking do you have a pistol or are you pissed {epistle}???

[markec]

RX7's were a bit thin on the ground when Ozzo's car was built, Bob Slade came up with the Idea and Bob was in the State it was relatively easy to get a body. None were sold new in NZ at that.

[Steve Holmes]

Thanks for that info Mark. Good point re the RX7s, I guess they were pretty exotic in NZ in the early 80s. What happened to this car after Ozzy rolled it? I heard it still exists?

[Rod Grimwood]

I believe it is just about rebuilt

[markec]

It has been on sold to someone in Taihape, thats the Osbourn RX7.

[rogered]

It has been on sold to someone in Taihape, thats the Osbourn RX7.

Correct

[markec]

Ozo owned 2 Cologne Capri's,one of which is now one of the 2 Roger Townsend now has, Ozo's one had a fire at Ruapuna doing private practice and was badly damaged to the front. John was offered the PDL Mustang 2 but Bob would not allow him to put his Chev engine in it and there were not enough good parts to build a Ford engine out of what PDL had left. At that stage PDL 2 had been in the museum at Ferrymead for some years.

[conrod]

Thanks for that info Rod. Does the Manon Escort still exist?

yes it does, someone decided it would look better with a Sierra nose on it (I kid you not!) and grafted one on after Bruce sold it. A friend of mine owns it, and has restored the front back to original. All there, but needs restoration, might be for sale soon.

I didn't know that. So the white Gary Croft Husqvarna Cosworth, was actually originally the Crichton XR4i? So it must have had the bodywork changes made too, including the conversion to the rear side windows?

Haga is right though, there was a sports sedan that appeared many years ago based on an XR4i body. Wasn't the green Francevic car, it was quite different to that.

It'd be interesting to know what happened to the Rouse car. It did have a celebrated history, having won the '85 BTCC.

yes correct, the Gary Croft car was the Eggenberger XR4Ti converted into an RS500. Mark Petch told me he had so many spares when he bought the RS500 (Peanut Slab) car from Walter Wolf, they used some to convert the Eggenberger car.

I would be grateful for any pics anyone might have of this car, in whatever shape or form it happened to be, and there were a few!

I too am interested to find what happened to the Rouse car, it seems to have vanished. BTW, the Eggenberger car was LHD, and the Rouse car RHD.


This is the Eggenberger car as it sits today:



We are about to begin work converting it back into its original Gp.A spec, here it is at Puke in Jan 1987:




Conrad Timms

[Steve Holmes]

Hey Conrad, thats great info, thanks for filling us in. The Sierra Cosworths made popular Thundersports cars in the UK, and several appeared with the bodywork as fitted to the car above. I assume someone built a set of molds which several teams used. Is this where Petch got the bodykit from when he converted this car from the Croft Group A to a Sports Sedan for Francevic? It looks very similar.

Re the Rouse/Oxton XR4i, is this the same car Petch took to Bathurst in 1986?

[conrod]

Hi Steve,

I have no idea where Mark Petch bought the bodykit from, but I have seen these ones too on UK cars, so quite possibly imported the parts. If anyone wants it, we will pick it off carefully! Although I suspect it will end up at the skip.

The XR4Ti that MP took to Bathurst in 1986 was indeed the Rouse car. Last time I asked Mark about this he could not remember where it went. I will post a couple of pics in the lost car thread and see if anyone remembers it?

cheers Conrad

[kiwi285]

yes it does, someone decided it would look better with a Sierra nose on it (I kid you not!) and grafted one on after Bruce sold it. A friend of mine owns it, and has restored the front back to original. All there, but needs restoration, might be for sale soon.



yes correct, the Gary Croft car was the Eggenberger XR4Ti converted into an RS500. Mark Petch told me he had so many spares when he bought the RS500 (Peanut Slab) car from Walter Wolf, they used some to convert the Eggenberger car.

I would be grateful for any pics anyone might have of this car, in whatever shape or form it happened to be, and there were a few!

I too am interested to find what happened to the Rouse car, it seems to have vanished. BTW, the Eggenberger car was LHD, and the Rouse car RHD.


This is the Eggenberger car as it sits today:



We are about to begin work converting it back into its original Gp.A spec, here it is at Puke in Jan 1987:




Conrad Timms

I saw and photographed this car sitting on a trailer at the BMW Festival and wondered why it was there. Will be great to see this car back on track. We seem to have a few Sierra's here in NZ, including factory cars.

[rogered]

So did it ever come back to NZ after Bathurst?

[conrod]

So did it ever come back to NZ after Bathurst?

I do not know? I think the next car Mark bought was the CiBiEmme BMW M3, which Francevic drove in 1987 (including Bathurst) and then that was sold and replaced with the Wolf Sierra (the Peanut Slab car) Great to see this car out again at the Hampton Downs festival, the first time it had been raced since 1992! Still a rocket too!

Conrad

[CUSTAXIE50]

I understand the john osbornes rx7 is in feilding ,and the front suspension that was in it is now in mark allans vauxhall firenza.

[rogered]

could be as both cars shared the same shed for a while

[Steve Holmes]

Roger, didn't Russell Due have the Osborne RX7 at one stage? Does he still have it?

[rogered]

Roger, didn't Russell Due have the Osborne RX7 at one stage? Does he still have it?

Thats right.
I assume its still there.
Not sure what state it was in, as the last time i saw it it was volting over the fence at Pukekohe!
Havent spoken to Russell for around ten years however.