Yards And Yarns

[AMCO72]

All the yards in my stories so far have motorsport connections running through them somewhere, and my involvement with them. This one is a bit different in that the premises didnt sell cars, but tyres. Wally Darrells' ACE tyre shop in Christchurch supplied not only passenger car tyres but performance tyres for those would wanted that bit extra. Now in those days, as Bob has pointed out, for 'performance' read BIG. However, Wally managed to get a set of Michelin X for me and they certainly transformed the car they were fitted to, the TR2. He also fitted a set of Dunlop C49's to my Dads Jaguar 2.4, the latest in technology even though they were still crossplys. The Michelins, which were those new fangled radials had a fearsome reputation of hanging on in a corner then letting go without warning. Never tested them that far but gave a very good ride, and seemed to last forever. Wally is best know for his A.C.E. specials which he raced in the fifties, always with number 13 and always driven with great gusto. The first A.C.E. was built from the remains of the Hec Green Wolseley, that I saw racing at the Aranui Speedway, through 2 and 3 with vauxhall and standard vanguard engines respectively to the A.C.E. 4 which was Zephyr powered. The A.C.E. 4 used to go like stink in a straight line but wasnt very happy in the cornering department, and one would frequently see Wally in the middle of a corner doing a 360. Couldnt have been a tyre problem as he was in the business, so maybe the suspension wasnt up to Wallys' enthusiastic driving. He did a lot of beach racing and competed at Wigram, Mairehau, and Dunedin circuits usually finishing about mid field. Wally apparently wasnt too concerned about winning so long as he had a good time. One thing I do remember is that he was very good at getting wheel balance right. The balancing machines back then were fairly crude affairs compared to the electronic devices of today, but with his racing experience used to go the extra mile in getting things spot on. The last time I saw the A.C.E. 4 in Wallys hands was at a grass gymkhana, of all places, still doing 360's and still sounding wonderful, and Wally still the Gentleman that he always was. The car survives and is raced in classic racing today. So....Ciao Wally, you were always damn good fun to watch and your cars always a credit to you.

[David McKinney]

ACE III was Zephyr-powered in its later years with Wally. It's still racing, though I'm not sure that ACE IV is

[AMCO72]

Two yards in Christchurch that havent disappeared, and should stir up some memories, are Sydenham Park Car Sales home of the Sylvester Chev which is being covered in another thread, and Trevor Crowes' yard in Morehouse Ave, now a Subaru franchise. Everyone remembers the Toyota Starlet that Trevor created to take on the big guns. Was developed over the years and eventually was Rover V8 powered. What stood out was the engineering on the car which was taken to another level when, bike racer Dr Roger Freeth took it over. He introduced technical innovations way beyond their time, in car cameras to check suspension movement for instance. This car has been saved and I think has been seen at classic meetings. Roger was of course Possum Bournes co-driver and was killed in 1993. A very intelligent man, had a PhD in physics, and I remember a saying that was attributed to him.................. 'I would rather have a full bottle in front of me, than a full frontal lobotomy'......Work that one out. Interesting isnt it that there have been a number of motorbike racers going to cars, John Surtees the most successful, but never the other way...cars to bikes.

[Shano]

Rodger Freeth's data logging set-up involved motorcycle-style control cables attached to suspension points, then in the cockpit there were pointers that moved backwards and forwards across a graduated scale - all captured by a video camera mounted on the roll bar. He was a bloody good guy and a huge loss to NZ motorsport.

He was a hero of mine after his successive wins at the Bathurst motorcycle races on a bike whose engine was pretty much standard, albeit housed in a very good chassis. Us biker types also remember his experiments with airfoils on a Yamaha TZ750 - a scary enough bike without wings hanging off it.

[Steve Holmes]

Trevor Crowe actually built two V8 Starlets. The first one probably had more success in Crowe's own hands, and raced from 1980 through until around 1985/86. The second one appeared in late 1986 (I think), but by that stage Crowe was getting involved in Group A, and I think he only ran it briefly before selling it to Freeth, and although it was incredibly fast straight out of the box, it still required further development to get the most out of it, which Freeth did of course. Both cars were Oldsmobile powered, and it was Freeth who fitted the second car with the TWR Rover unit.

The second Starlet has been restored to its Freeth/CRC guise, the first is in the South Island, nearing completion of a restoration. Both cars were the ultimate of the Kiwi Ingenuity expression.

[Steve Holmes]

Two yards in Christchurch that havent disappeared, and should stir up some memories, are Sydenham Park Car Sales home of the Sylvester Chev which is being covered in another thread, and Trevor Crowes' yard in Morehouse Ave, now a Subaru franchise. Everyone remembers the Toyota Starlet that Trevor created to take on the big guns. Was developed over the years and eventually was Rover V8 powered. What stood out was the engineering on the car which was taken to another level when, bike racer Dr Roger Freeth took it over. He introduced technical innovations way beyond their time, in car cameras to check suspension movement for instance. This car has been saved and I think has been seen at classic meetings. Roger was of course Possum Bournes co-driver and was killed in 1993. A very intelligent man, had a PhD in physics, and I remember a saying that was attributed to him.................. 'I would rather have a full bottle in front of me, than a full frontal lobotomy'......Work that one out. Interesting isnt it that there have been a number of motorbike racers going to cars, John Surtees the most successful, but never the other way...cars to bikes.

Gerald, you must have some stories to tell of Ron Sylvester? He must have been a real character.

[AMCO72]

Actually Steve I have none at all. Sydenham Park car sale seems to have been off my radar...was probably too far on my bike, so I thought someone else could do bit on it. While on the subject of yards, I see Mr McKinney was born and bred in Thames. Now I seem to remember that Thames was a hot bed of motorsport in the 50's and 60's and there was a yard in Pollen St that always had sports cars and the like on it. I cant for the life of me think of its name and thought that David might like to enlighten me.

[Shano]

Amco - here is your car with the orange vinyl bonnet, although you'll have to take my word for it... I thought this was the first time it raced but it may well have just been the first time I saw it race. Even then it was clear the car was one out of the box with it's very high quality presentation. It had some Guthrie Bowron sponsorship which probably related to the amount of paint it had on it.

[AMCO72]

Shano.......I have never seen that photo, is it one of yours. We do have a lot of pictures of the car in the BNSW days, some black and white some colour but different ones keep turning up. Could you f/w that picture to my Email [email protected] I am not sure whether I can print off the site page.....my computer skills are pretty basic to say the least.

[bob homewood]

Papakura 1964/65 was a bit of a hub for motor sport people, I worked at P and R motors at that time for Paul Fahey and Ralph Emson in the workshop along with Doug Bremner ,three of the best people I have ever worked for/with. Barry Phillips had just started off in the old P and R premises down the road selling cars and he was soon joined by Bruce McLean., next door to them you had the infamous Palm Court Motors at the top end of town, they were busy buying up all sorts of race cars and if you believed all the publicity they were setting up the biggest and best race team ever seen in NZ, but that all fizzed out in short time
Ray Thackwell and Bill Thomasen were both living in Papakura and doing there own thing selling cars and from memory they both also operated out of Palm Courts yard at various times
Up by P and R on the Golden Mile as it was called ,you could find Les Rankin the feared COC from Pukekohe ,working in the parts department of the BMC franchise, on that same bit of road ,Matt Thompson was usually hanging around the office of Car Freighters as his business was called back then, Matt did a bit of racing of his own, but was probably better known for his association with Robbie Francevic at that time.
On the old Great South Road .you would have found Libra Racing Developments which a chap by the name of Neil Francis operated, when he arrived in town he told us he had worked at Lotus on the development of the Lotus Twin Cam engine, a fact at that time we didn’t really believe ,but he is in Miles Wilkins book on the Lotus Twin Cam engine as being there and doing it,so there you go, Neil’s shop was where the chassis from the ex Rex Flowers 2.5 Lola that Pam Court owned at that time strangely disappeared one night. Des Putan who was a really good Panel beater had a shop about two doors down from there, Des was one of those craftsmen who could really shape metal, he did quite a lot of panel work for various motor racing folk and had built a Ford 10 based special of his own body design which he did a couple of club meetings in late 50’s ,early 60’s. Dave Jolly had his little welding shop in this same area but he had moved on a couple of years before this time..I think that sort of covers it for that period it did change around a bit in later years ,with a few more well none names cropping up in town ,I might cover that period some other time

[pallmall]

Actually Steve I have none at all. Sydenham Park car sale seems to have been off my radar...was probably too far on my bike, so I thought someone else could do bit on it. While on the subject of yards, I see Mr McKinney was born and bred in Thames. Now I seem to remember that Thames was a hot bed of motorsport in the 50's and 60's and there was a yard in Pollen St that always had sports cars and the like on it. I cant for the life of me think of its name and thought that David might like to enlighten me.

Thames was the home of one Bill Culver, I have some photos of Bill and a few of his cars to post once I clean them up a bit. I also have a lot of stories about Bill, but most will have to remain un published for now. Bill passed away a couple of years ago, he had been living in Queensland, in a town north of Brisbane.

[Chris Kitzen]

......Roger was of course Possum Bournes co-driver and was killed in 1993. A very intelligent man, had a PhD in physics, and I remember a saying that was attributed to him.................. 'I would rather have a full bottle in front of me, than a full frontal lobotomy'......Work that one out. Interesting isnt it that there have been a number of motorbike racers going to cars, John Surtees the most successful, but never the other way...cars to bikes.

A bit off subject but I worked on Possums crew for 16 years and with Rodger of course. He was always the life of the party. He used to have a business card in his wallet.... Dr Roger Freeth and on the back - Not a gynaecologist but I'll take a look.

[AMCO72]

Chris....what a hoot...I laughed my head off when I read that Roger Freeth business card quote. You know, Christians believe in everlasting life.....Im not a Christian but as far as Im concerned, remembering people like Roger because of what he said or did is giving them everlasting life. [plop.....that was my head falling off!!!!!!!!!]

[beowulf]

Another yard we always inspected was Brian Green's in Palmerston North. Good to see he is still going strong. He would have some stories to tell. What has happened to Fazzazz, have sent several e.mails but no reply. it is about the only car place I can be bothered visiting now. No boring Jap imports

[Steve Holmes]

He used to have a business card in his wallet.... Dr Roger Freeth and on the back - Not a gynaecologist but I'll take a look.

Ha ha ha ha! Fantastic!

[Steve Holmes]

Another yard we always inspected was Brian Green's in Palmerston North. Good to see he is still going strong. He would have some stories to tell. What has happened to Fazzazz, have sent several e.mails but no reply. it is about the only car place I can be bothered visiting now. No boring Jap imports

I understand its suffered some damage from the quakes. Are you from Palmerston North?

[Rod Grimwood]

Every time I see a Bourban, I think of Roger having a gentle chat about the days racing. And lets not forget his trusty Westminster on trips with starlet in tow. He was a beaut. Pity so many of these legends left early. That I think is the magic of this site as we can all remember and share.

[beowulf]

I understand its suffered some damage from the quakes. Are you from Palmerston North?

I used to farm just out of Masterton. Was very involved with the Wairarapa Car Club. We had a heap of events on that farm. Gymkhanas, autocrosses, 4wd rallies, great way to drain a swamp! Motorcyle scrambles, grass hillclimbs, long distance races etc. My poor neighbours.Raced at Levin in a 64 HA Viva, slower than a wet weekend with no motorsport on TV. Dave McKinney may remember the "wobbly weekends" we used to hold. I will write about them one day.

[David McKinney]

I see Mr McKinney was born and bred in Thames. Now I seem to remember that Thames was a hot bed of motorsport in the 50's and 60's and there was a yard in Pollen St that always had sports cars and the like on it. I cant for the life of me think of its name and thought that David might like to enlighten me.

Sorry AMCO. I left Thames at the age of 2, so don't have many memories of it

[thunder427]

Amco - here is your car with the orange vinyl bonnet, although you'll have to take my word for it... I thought this was the first time it raced but it may well have just been the first time I saw it race. Even then it was clear the car was one out of the box with it's very high quality presentation. It had some Guthrie Bowron sponsorship which probably related to the amount of paint it had on it.

...From my Memory of Rod the Collingwood,thats him standing directly behind the Mini in the 'Fastman' racing overals...................But!!!?.............regards Thunder427/MJ

PS;last time I had dealings with Rod Collingwood, he was managing the Christchurch Town Hall,driving a SLR5000' on a permantly mounted 'Trade Plate'........Traded/Sold this car(never been registered/as 'NEW') Purchased Graeme Vautiers ,1970-1/2 Camaro / 'Motion Performance' modified.........he asked me into his office,one Thursday ,(1974/50) where he draw a giant picture of a Tack on his White Board,sketched in some measurments and proceeded to tell me that this was todays ............'Plan of Attack'............!!!!?

My job was to refinish the 'Vautier/Crown Motor Court' Camaro 'S.H.I.N.N.I.N.G' BLACK ,Black that you could read your watch in and ..."I want to drive it next Friday night to a 'party" !!!!........7 days?????......but I shall save that story till later........................regards thunder427/MJ