John Ohlsen - car builder. what happened to the two Katipo's ?

[GeebeeNZ]

35 Bledisloe St Civic Square was a workshop owned by Mark Petch. I dont know who the J was of MJ racing as the M was probably Mark. Was the J John Ohlsen. Tony Kriletich worked with me in Bledisloe Building. He did amazing things in his spare time including building the real Custaxie with the Urquharts who had the panel beating shop behind Bledisloe Building.

[Frosty5]

35 Bledisloe St Civic Square was a workshop owned by Mark Petch. I dont know who the J was of MJ racing as the M was probably Mark. Was the J John Ohlsen. .

This may throw some light on the MJ - extracted from Companies Office register (in the public domain) certainly the same person with an extra christian name added in later years

PETCH, Mark James Wayne
V8 SUPERTOURERS LIMITED (3124785) - Director & Shareholder
Director Appointed 16 Sep 2010
Shareholder 17% (Individually Held)

PETCH, Mark James
TOTAL PUMP SOLUTIONS LIMITED (968534)(Struck off) - Director
Director Appointed 14 Jul 1999

[paul lancaster]

Ok cool, yeah, I was unsure of what order the owner history was, nonetheless, good chatting about the old girl, I used to sit in her as a teenager and think how scary it must have been to drive, the pedals were offset to the right hand seating position, and the Waterpump drive and belt was right next to the drivers left.the chassis around the driver was pretty small gauge and would have been disaster in a shunt for sure.one name that stuck in my head that was on the side of it at the time was Lloyd diamenti, not too sure if he drove it , or was crew, or what, someone might be able to shed some light on that.

[David McKinney]

35 Bledisloe St Civic Square was a workshop owned by Mark Petch. I dont know who the J was of MJ racing as the M was probably Mark. Was the J John Ohlsen?

That's my recollection

[paul lancaster]

Sr3 chassis

[paul lancaster]

It was an sr3 chassis that was hanging up in frank matichs workshop

[paul lancaster]

The original rear wing you can see in the pics has had a good life of it's own, it once was fitted to Dave Morrison's Lyon ff back in the hill climb days when the Lyon reined supreme on the shingle, and now that wing, still owned by Dave, adores Donny mclarens rotary powered escort, still with begg and Allen signage

[John McKechnie]

Was talking to Barry Algie yesterday, he said he actually owned the car on 2 separate occasions . First time in early 70s when I first saw it , then he sold it. He found it again a few years later and bought it a second time after Robbie Booth drove it.
Thats when the gearbox came out. He could use it in the Monaro as the rules said it must come out of a road car.
This explains the extra drivers racing it.

[BMCBOY]

I found these shots taken at Baypark in 1975 - I can just read Denis Phillips name on the body
Not the greatest of photos but still of interest.

[Paul Ohlsen]

Hi john, I presume you don't agree with me on my post.as I said, I rung mark petch and got lots of info from him.what do younmean wrong car, as far as I know, there was only 1 katipo, I could be wrong, but in definitely looks like the same car as is in the pics that have been posted.I have a photo of it which I'll try and upload for you.

Hi Im John Ohlsens son Paul, good to find this thread, I can shed some light on a few things, and I will scan some photos at some stage too.

As to this post, Katipo was the name of the cars that Mark and Dad were building, the F5000 was a Katipo F5000. They also planned to build a bunch of Formula Fords, which were also Katipos, there was only one built and it was owned and driven by Mike Hole, it was christened the "Holesen". I have a stack of photos of this I will dig up and scan if anyone is interested?

[John McKechnie]

Paul- As this site is our motor racing heritage, it would be great to see all the pix preserved here.

[Paul Ohlsen]

Hi Steve, Just happened to come across your question on the roaring season site.
been a while, however Johns son Paul and I [Jean Ohlsen] have a garage in Onehunga [been here 13 years]
we have many photos and stories etc......so if you're still interested? our phone number is (09) 6365-436

[Kiwiboss]

Hi Jean and Paul. Please post up a new thread about John(and your) exploits, im sure many here on the TRR would like to read about these and view any pics you have. I’ve been into Mustangs and Shelbys for many years and spent quite sometime in the US going to Shelby conventions and Historic race events, I got to know Steel Thurkelson(RIP) towards the end of his life and have read many articles on Shelby American, it seems quite a few kiwis worked at SA and many come up in pictures in various books and articles!! Speaking with Shelby himself years ago he seem to have a fondness for the ability of most kiwi’s and in recent times I’ve spoken to Pete Brock who speaks very highly of John and his ability with the Daytona Coupe project!! All this Shelby American history is folklore these days and has a big following among those of us too young to be there, especially in America!!

At next Januarys Festival the marque is Ferrari, I help run the Historic Muscle car group and we have past racers, mechanics etc come along, we would like have both or you in January if you’re interested, I can call in next time im in AKL, please E-mail me at mailto:?subject=&body=

Dale Mathers
Tauranga

[Paul Ohlsen]

Hi Dale, that sounds good. I will start a new thread at some stage, we've got a lot of stuff and Mum could write a novel.

Anyway, I found this photo of the Katipo,

[Paul Ohlsen]

Here's another in the Marave workshop

[Paul Ohlsen]

And here is the MJ70c Katipo Formula Ford

[paul lancaster]

Hi Paul great photos, what ever happened to the ff?

[Paul Ohlsen]

No idea sorry, I don't have any history on it from after these photos were taken. Maybe someone else on here might have some clues as to its whereabouts?