Photos: The Peter Mellor Collection - Part 1

[Rod Grimwood]

Des West again, just before the start of the Bathurst race, 1972. Note the car has sprouted a side exhaust here. Who is the bloke walking away from the car with the video camera? He is also pictured in the above photo.

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Just at a guess and looking at the way he is dressed, the car owner or major sponsor, but that only answers part of the question.

[Ellis]

Des was 8th in class in 71 . The car was Yellow in 71 (Wright Ford) then same car repainted Blue for 72 and dnf due to clutch problems
72 was first year modified / side exhausts were permitted.

Car is still around and was still Blue a couple of years ago and in NSW

[Steve Holmes]

Thanks for this info Ellis.

[Steve Holmes]

Really dramatic shot here of Denis O'Brien in the GT-HO Phase III and Norm Beechey in the Charger E38 scrapping over the same piece of tarmac at Calder in 1971.

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[Ellis]

Drifting is not a new sport is it........I'd give it 9's

May be later than 71 ?...looks to have Globes maybe..or 5 slotters painted silver ???.he ran his steel wheels painted yellow mostly.

Its the old Tony Roberts HO2 (White) that was wrecked in 70 on top of the mountain with upgraded sheetmetal etc

[mid-year]

Note the XW external rear vision mirror giving away the cars PH2 origins,I did see Moffat driving a similar car at Calder early 72 which would indicate even the factory updated previous seasons cars to the latest spec. This looked to be a PH3 with five slotters but on closer inspection had the XW interior and the XW rear view mirror.

Regards Pete.

[Steve Holmes]

Wow, great spotting guys! I had no idea this was the ex-Roberts Phase II. Amazing!

[Ellis]

Not sure what mag this came from





I was at 70 Bathurst mainly on top of mountain, and just got glimpse of Roberts car as it rolled down the steep bank and ended up against a tree. I have a bit of 8mm movie of people going across the road and down to see it after the race ended.

[Oldfart]

That would definitely be one of those times where you had the time to know that "This is going to hurt".
What a stunning piece of "right place, right time" for the photographer.

[Ellis]

,

Note the XW external rear vision mirror giving away the cars PH2 origins,I did see Moffat driving a similar car at Calder early 72 which would indicate even the factory updated previous seasons cars to the latest spec. This looked to be a PH3 with five slotters but on closer inspection had the XW interior and the XW rear view mirror.

Regards Pete.

Probably ?? became the 8D that Fred rolled at Bathurst later in 72 which was ex McPhee HO2
HO3's were in short supply in 72 due to HO4 cancellation.
Gibson had use of 3 x "HO3's" over the period , 2 based Sydney and 1 Melbourne...he told me he thought only one of them was the genuine article (71 Road & Track Works car)...(Still survives as does his works H02)
The Works drivers were just that... He would be flown to Melb say, and told here is your car and at that time no one worried if it was a "Genuine" HO3 or HO2..if it looked like one , it must be one........

[Steve Holmes]

Not sure what mag this came from





I was at 70 Bathurst mainly on top of mountain, and just got glimpse of Roberts car as it rolled down the steep bank and ended up against a tree. I have a bit of 8mm movie of people going across the road and down to see it after the race ended.

Wow, is he going over backwards? Looking at the damage, I'm amazed they chose to rebuild it. I would expect everything salvagable would be put in a new shell.

[mid-year]

I always said Phase2,s flew......now we have the proof!

Pete.

[Ellis]

Wow, is he going over backwards? Looking at the damage, I'm amazed they chose to rebuild it. I would expect everything salvagable would be put in a new shell.

May have only been able to reuse that drivers door with the mirror....lol

I'll have a look at my old 8mm stuff...there may be some single frame shots in that .

[mid-year]

Found this photo in an old copy of FORD by Stewart Wilson with an interesting pair of shots.The top car is obviously sporting the XW mirror and interior.Perhaps they had a pool of cars with the latest cars reserved for the major events and the updated previous year model for the local races?[ATTACH]20983[/ATTACH]

Regards Pete.

[mid-year]

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Des West again, just before the start of the Bathurst race, 1972. Note the car has sprouted a side exhaust here. Who is the bloke walking away from the car with the video camera? He is also pictured in the above photo.

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The guy with the camera is Bruce Burr from the Burr and Daniel Performance Centre who owned and prepared the Goldpower sponsered PH3.

[Steve Holmes]

Thanks for this Pete.

[Steve Holmes]

Found this photo in an old copy of FORD by Stewart Wilson with an interesting pair of shots.The top car is obviously sporting the XW mirror and interior.Perhaps they had a pool of cars with the latest cars reserved for the major events and the updated previous year model for the local races?[ATTACH]20983[/ATTACH]

Regards Pete.

Didn't one of Moffats Phase IIIs get written off?

[Ellis]

The old 65E (71 Bathurst car) did hit the wall at AIR in early 72.
1D (72 Bathurst car) replaced it as the main car after a coat of paint over its factory White,
a spray of the saddle hood lining (in situ) to black and a swap of the saddle interior to black.(ex 65E)
Ford still had the White car which was basically a test mule for the HO3's and is the lowest vin number (first) of the HO3's.

[Steve Holmes]

Thanks Ellis.

[dickwatts26]

Just at a guess and looking at the way he is dressed, the car owner or major sponsor, but that only answers part of the question.

I think you might find the well dressed gentleman could be Ash Marshall as he was ,I think, involved with the "Soapy Sales" franchise. It was some sort of pymarid selling scheme which were questionable at best.