Abandoned, Forgotten, Neglected, Race And Road Cars Thread

[Kiwiboss]

Didn't it sell for 4.5 million in this condition? makes the M8A look cheap, LOL. Dale M

Phil Spectors Daytona Coupe

[Jac Mac]

Didn't it sell for 4.5 million in this condition? makes the M8A look cheap, LOL. Dale M

[color="#0000CD"]Yes something like that, but I doubt a Kiwi would be allowed to take it out of the USA if he bought it! Think its on that 'protected species' list they introduced a couple of years ago.[/color]

[RODERICK]

Hi I am new to this forum - name "Roderick Rankin" . The Dynafour design was originally discussed at Ted Thompsons workshop in Kumeu and the rolling chassis and 2 Lawrence Power motors were built up by Curley in collaboration with Ted Thompson, this was the car that ran at the Aka Aka sprint. As I had been present at the early discussions about the construction of the car and had shown an interest in the Dynafour Ted Thompson told me about the car being for sale, I purchased the car from Curley as a rolling chassis with the motors out of the chassis. On getting the car home we found that the motors could not be easily put back into the chassis. So myself and my close friend "Colin Beanland" of Bruce McLaren fame cut the chassis off behind the seat bulkhead and rebuilt the rear chassis and modified the suspension at the same time. The motors were then installed. The name DYNAFOUR came from the fact that the Lawrence Power motors were aircraft standby generator motors, generators being DYNAMO'S and there was FOUR cylinders, hence DYNAFOUR. Each motor (approx 500cc each) was a twin opposed air cooled motor, magnesium construction, overhead valve with twin spark plugs per cylinder, magneto ignition, dry sump with crank, big end, little end. rocker gear all running on needle bearings. The motors were coupled together, the rotation of one motor being reversed so that a chain drive sprocket was fixed to the centre coupling, this drive then went to an Albion motor cycle gear box (a weak link) from here the chain drive was to a sprocket on a fixed drive swing axle rear suspension. A lot of the running gear was Renault. The rack and pinion steering being centralized by using two small sprockets and a coupling chain. The timing and ignition system had been reconfigured by Ted Thompson so that one magneto fired a spark plug in each cylinder of the motor it was driven by and a spark plug in each cylinder of the other motor, the same happened withe the other motor/magneto. Each cylinder was fed by an Amal Carb, a challenge to tune. the motors in this configuration would rev to 16,000RPM. Quite a scream. The body was built one saturday when Colin and I took the car plus a sheet of aluminum to a friend of ours Ivan Cranch. Ivan cut the ally by eye and then we were on the end of a wheeling machine with the body ready to trim out by mid afternoon. The wrap around windscreen was formed by cutting a cardboard pattern then perspex, placing my parents CONRAY electric heater on its back in the garage and slowly heating the perspex while rocking it backwards and forwards until the correct curve was achieved, amazingly no distortion. The photos of the hill climbs were with myself driving and were both in the Pukekohe area of South Auckland. First Grand Prix at Pukekohe was cut short as going around the loop at the stables (old circuit) one motor starved of oil due to no baffle in the oil tank, at the revs being pulled there was a large bang with a con rod exiting the side of the crank case. The pieces of the crank case were welded into place by Jim Mcoslum in Newmarket (don't think I have spelt Jim's name correctly) with the other spares I had the motor was rebuilt and I drove the car at a number of club meetings painted Blue. The gear box was always a problem in selecting the correct gear but we had tuned the suspension so that the car had led well even to the stage of passing Jim Boyd in the Cooper Bristol coming over Rothmans at Pukekohe. The car was then sold on to my friend Garth Taylor ( the photo in the Vercoe book is myself driving not Garth). If anyone has any idea as to were the DYNAFOUR ended up or is I would be very interested to know. Rod Rankin. (not Robert )

[Oldfart]

Thanks for that Rod.
I remember looking at the car with an eye to buying it in Rotorua. I suspect that was 65 or 66. I could drive to the house pretty much central Rotorua still, but never saw it again. Memory tells me it was brown and had a 105e motor crossways in the back with the Dyna motors lying alongside. I asked a few people in Rotorua about the car just last week and there was no memory at all.

[John H]

Thanks for that Rod.
I remember looking at the car with an eye to buying it in Rotorua. I suspect that was 65 or 66. I could drive to the house pretty much central Rotorua still, but never saw it again. Memory tells me it was brown and had a 105e motor crossways in the back with the Dyna motors lying alongside. I asked a few people in Rotorua about the car just last week and there was no memory at all.

For what its worth I remember this car. Four short exhaust pipes and I seem to remember it was a very wet day at Puke. Also a hill climb somewhere in Bombay? Chrs

[RODERICK]

Thanks for your comments. I would like to know where the DYNAFOUR ended up as I would be interested in obtaining what may be left of it, any help would be appreciated. 105E installation would have been a very good idea. Lawrence motors in the configuration they were in revved high but not a lot of torque. Cheers Rod.

[RODERICK]

Quite correct about the exhaust system I could not afford a fancy exhaust so what there was, was built up by a gentleman that lived in Otahuhu, can't rember his name now. Cheers Rod.

[stubuchanan]

Quite correct about the exhaust system I could not afford a fancy exhaust so what there was, was built up by a gentleman that lived in Otahuhu, can't rember his name now. Cheers Rod.

I presume this is the car. Must have been a Pukekohe Car Club Hill Climb around 1964/65(?) and a bit damp as you can see. Would this be quite early in its history, as body looks unpainted and no windscreen or mirrors. Must have been before permanent number plates (mid 65 I think).

I thought I had 1 or 2 pictures from Dave McKinney of the car on a trailer, but can't find them - maybe they were on a posting on this or another forum. I will search further.

Your method of curving the 'screen sounds a bit like how they bent the acrylic viewing tunnels for Kelly Tarlton's underwater place.

Stu Buchanan

[jamie]

Hi Gang
I remember the car well raced against it many times at hill climbs even at Western springs.
Jamie A

[Rod Grimwood]

Bry, buy those Dodge's, can not believe they are just sitting there.

[Bryan]

I thought I had 1 or 2 pictures from Dave McKinney of the car on a trailer, but can't find them - maybe they were on a posting on this or another forum. I will search further.

Your method of curving the 'screen sounds a bit like how they bent the acrylic viewing tunnels for Kelly Tarlton's underwater place.

Stu Buchanan

Dave McKinney's trailer photos are a couple of pages back in this thread, post #219.

[bob homewood]

Yes that is right ,that is it, at the time of that post I found some other photos of it for David ,I will have to go back and see if I can find them again and also I think we sort of put the Rotorua ,BOP connection together a bit more

Dave McKinney's trailer photos are a couple of pages back in this thread, post #219.

[bry3500]

Evel Knievel

[Kevin Hirst]

Yes that is right ,that is it, at the time of that post I found some other photos of it for David ,I will have to go back and see if I can find them again and also I think we sort of put the Rotorua ,BOP connection together a bit more

Have these same wheels and possibly allthe rest of the bits apart from dyna motorsif any body wants to build one [renault 750/4cv] see cars for sale.

[Oldfart]

Oh Kev, I thought you had scrapped it!

[Kevin Hirst]

Oh Kev, I thought you had scrapped it!

No, Reece, I am waiting for you to run out of projects, when do you think that might be? have still got a heap of your tubing waiting for you to do do something there is also a 1000 cc kawasaki sitting beside it, good runner too, cheers Kev.

[bry3500]

!!

[RODERICK]

Hi just caught up with your post. Are you talking about the DYNAFOUR? Do you know if anything is left of it? Cheers Rod Rankin

[Oldfart]

Rod, if you go back through the relevant posts (yes it is the Dynafour or variations of that name) you will see that the apparent last known location was Rotorua in the mid to late 1960s. I have been back there to the house, no one knew anything. Possibly a rented house.

[Kevin Hirst]

!!

So the weight reduction process is finished, please show rest of restoration.