Steve Holmes wrote:Thanks for that Jac. I don't think I ever got to see you race it unfortunately.
It was a pretty exciting car when Rod had it. I recall at a Manfeild event, the announcer said it was fitted with a drag race motor. I don't know if there was any truth to that or if the announcer was just trying to hype up the race.
[color="#0000FF"]That would be quite likely as Murray Baker & Ron Collet at Engine Rebuilds? were doing most of Rods engine work at that time I think ( & I dont think Ron would have tolerated a Ford in the shop ), Pretty sure Rod already had the Mawers from the mustang, car had 15x10 magnums on front & 15 x 12 'jac mac' steels on the rear when Rod began the purchase process [/color]
Steve Holmes wrote:Thanks Jac, great info! Another question. Why did the side windows angle downwards towards each other like a 'v'?
[color="#0000FF"]Long story short.....I stuffed up....How?
Short story long.... I wanted a MKIV, but being new they were mucho $$ & as the floorpan was same as MK3 Ford did not need to bring out a 'jig' car from the UK, Soooo #8 wire kicked in & I scrounged up a wrecked MK3 shell, removed all the non MKIV shaped bits & bought all new panels to build the MKIV on the MK3 platform, many of those bits were priced at minimal cost ( like $1.85 for the inner roof braces ) , I think it cost around a thousand all up for the bits I bought, however due to my scottish ancestry I baulked at the price of the MKIV 'B' pillars, I paid for this later when the memory had faded & when folding up the alloy door skins I forgot to make them 'straight thru' like the proper MKIV & ended up with those MKIV/MK3 crossbreeds.....crap happens...suppose I should be glad OSCA rules were so liberal, if it was an NZV8 today the gestapo would penalise me for that!![/color]
Wow! That is great! I had no idea, thats very clever. Did anyone actually notice?
Also, here is something else I noticed. The front flare in this shot is different to those you originally crafted. In fact I'd say it looks a whole lot like the flares that were on the Cortina that Rob Kennard raced. But this was taken after the car had been racing for a couple of seasons so these have been fitted at a later date. But then I have another photo of the car taken years later when Barry Search owned it, and the original flares are back on.
[color="#0000FF"]There was the odd grumble from a few who thought I may have been taking advantage of the MK3 6cylinder firewall dimensions as opposed to those of the MKIV 6cyl firewalls, but never came to anything, got into more trouble over the Chevette I helped Derek McRae build when we 'flipped' the headlight clearance bulges in the front inner guards to shift the front axle line forward....Trevor Crowe felt that was a bit outside the guidelines Yes, the front flares do look like the ones on Kennards car, in a further twist of fate I had a local southland guy approach me as to the whereabouts of any old OSCA V8's a couple of years ago, I knew Rod had bought it back from Barry Search, so rang him one evening to see if it might be for sale, fortunately or unfortunately depending on which side of the fence your standing Anthony Prendergast had swooped on it the week before, had mixed feelings about that until Anthony called in at home after Teretonga meet with MK2 & showed me photos of the MKIV 'as purchased', going to need a bit of work to get some strength back around the front end after all the 'post incident' surgery that had been performed over the years. Best I keep building 'new stuff' [/color]
Steve Holmes wrote:Wow! That is great! I had no idea, thats very clever. Did anyone actually notice?
Also, here is something else I noticed. The front flare in this shot is different to those you originally crafted. In fact I'd say it looks a whole lot like the flares that were on the Cortina that Rob Kennard raced. But this was taken after the car had been racing for a couple of seasons so these have been fitted at a later date. But then I have another photo of the car taken years later when Barry Search owned it, and the original flares are back on.
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Yeah id be interested to know the origin of those flares
They were on the PDL commodore and kennard cortina also.
Iv have some here, that I got off the commodore when glen jones owned it.
Wondered if they were based on a bedford cf jumbo van possibly??
I used to work for Paine Mts and Davie Mts -GM agents, in the 70s-80s we were always getting people coming in wanting to try CF Jumbo flares.Would take a lot of work to a car as the vans had a flat side.. Seen Monaros with Britwell Escort flares. Sold one CF set for a 65 Super Snipe , Irish guy had put twin mitts on the back.
OK, some updates. First up, the amazing Tony Gilbertson Minisprint.
Here's a question. There was a Dave Gilbertson who was a very successful speedway racer in the 70s (and possibly 80s?), and ran Mini Clubmans for several years. I think he may have even won the NZ Saloon Car Championship in one. One of his cars has been restored, and makes appearances every now and then doing demonstrations at speedway events. Any relation to Tony?
Here is the Grady Thomson HK Monaro, which John McKechnie now owns. This car has a colourful past, having been driven previously by Spinner Black and Rod Coppins, then later by John Riley (though not actually raced?) and George Bunce. Was discovered recently on Trademe and purchased by John, as a stripped down rusty shell, which none of the other bidders, or the seller, had any clue of its history. If not for John, this car would almost certainly now be in the big graveyard in the sky for old race cars, as the other bidders wanted it for the GTS body tags.
We are just negotiating at the moment with owner of the yellow speedway mini for a loan of his wheels and tyres for the Amco mini for the up and coming Denny Hulme Festival..........may have to put on wider flares.......LOL !!!!!!!!!!
Sounds like a good plan Gerald, although being a speedway car, you might find the wheels on the outside are larger than those on the inside! Will be fantastic through left hand corners, but might struggle a bit through the right handers.
Time to reignite this thread. This EH Holden, is, I believe, that raced by Steve Dymand in OSCA from late 1973. Both Steve and his brother John were racing in OSCA at this time, John driving a newly built V8 Capri.
The EH was originally built and raced in Australia by Ron Dickson, and featured a Waggott Engineering 202, with triple 45 Webers, and a 12-port head. By all accounts, the car was said to be absolutely immaculately built and presented. Where is it now?
[color="#0000FF"]I only remember seeing this car[the EH] at Teretonga & after it had been fitted with a V8, I think Peter Kocis might have done the engine swap, V8 sat very 'nose high' in the engine bay which did not do much for the cars handling. looking at pic car appears to have a sunroof & an offset scoop on hood so I assume car still has 6 cyl at time photo was taken... no idea where car is now.[/color]
Thanks Jac, I didn't know it later had a V8 stuffed into it. Did the firewall get cut to make the installation? Ron Harrop built a very successful V8 powered EH Holden in Australia, but the engine sat well back for better weight distribution.
[color="#0000FF"]Not 100% sure but I dont think the motor was set back, come to think of it I cannot remember whether it was a Chev or a Holden motor, got a feeling it might have been a 253 to fit in the "B" class of OSCA [ under 4.2 liter?] Paul Kirk or others might remember better than me. Understeered a bit IIRC..[/color]
This photo clearly demonstrates where the term 'Lola limp' came from. With bodywork removed you can see just how little thought was given to the well-being of the driver at this period in time. This was typical of many race cars of the period, they were getting faster and faster, more powerful, but the pedals were in alignment with the front wheels, and there was nothing ahead of the front wheels to protect the drivers feet and legs in the case of a head-on shunt. Amazing!
Over in the Alan Smith Collection is a photo very similar to this, of John Wards Lotus Cortina, pictured at Levin, and the '56 Chevy sedan Ward and Rod Coppins used to haul their race cars.
