The Roaring Season

[quote="TonyG"]Peter Meadows Corvette - does it still exist ?


I believe not!! back in about 96 i bought the complete diff, disc to disc out of this car and fitted it to the Hoffman Mustang when i built it as it was a full floater, and its still in there!! i purchased it from Duncan Fox when he was still at Buckland Beach, he said the bare frame was in a towing yard not far way, i drove past and can remember looking thought the yard(as i drove past) and could see the skeleton of a corvette with "Meadows" above the screen!! and even thats more than i wanted to know back then!!

Hope this helps

Dale Mathers

bigbanger wrote:The # 32 Mustang was Rob Kennard. The car was the former Bob Slade car which Rob raced prior to building the Cortina Ford V8.

The Bob Kennard/Slade Mustang was infact a genuine 1967 Shelby Trans Am Mustang Coupe that they only made 27 off!! was bought into NZ by Bob Kennent, Palmerston North in a deal with Dexter Dunlop, the car had unque US Trans Am race history, i can remember it advertised in the NZ hotrod magazine around the mid 80's? for $1800, no motor and box(it prevously had a mid mount BB chev)in Christchurch, Gary Doyle, Palmerston North bought it and semi restored it and raced at several classic events back then!! it was bought by the Bowdens in Austraila back around 96? and they've restored it back to its USA Trans Am spec's and still own it, talk about a life!!

Dale Mathers

To Quote Dan Bowden when I enquired as to its hitory - Bob Egan bought and raced it from Shelby, then Bob Kennent bought and raced it in the USA trans am series as well before taking it to NZ and selling it on to Dexter Dunlop.

TonyG wrote:To Quote Dan Bowden when I enquired as to its hitory - Bob Egan bought and raced it from Shelby, then Bob Kennent bought and raced it in the USA trans am series as well before taking it to NZ and selling it on to Dexter Dunlop.

Correct TonyG. Must be something about Bob's and Rob's with this Mustang!! LOL

Dale Mathers

TonyG wrote:To Quote Dan Bowden when I enquired as to its hitory - Bob Egan bought and raced it from Shelby, then Bob Kennent bought and raced it in the USA trans am series as well before taking it to NZ and selling it on to Dexter Dunlop.

So is this the same ex Dexter Dunlop Mustang that Kevin Haig, Lawrie Bruce, Christie Morris, & Brent Hamilton raced at times in OSCA prior to Bob Slade & Rob Kennard also doing the same.

McElrea says you got that right Jac!

A lot of history and a whole lot of memories to this car!

Munty wrote:McElrea says you got that right Jac!

The McElrea Mustang was the ex Fahey Mustang coupe, which was also a Factory Trans Am Shelby but a 1966 model, that the Bowdens also own!! I believe it was soo bad after all its racing years and mods that John Chapman rebodied it when it was in his hands, you just gotta luv the NZ history of these cars, and very rare vehicles as well!!!

Dale Mathers

Munty wrote:McElrea says you got that right Jac!

Thats good Evan, was starting to think there might be a 'Fake' out there somewhere, I remember looking hard at this car when either Lawrie or someone in a car yard out Ferry road had it for sale as a roller, but I came to the conclusion that the Cortina was lighter etc, & hey like everyone I was a Racer back then, not into restoration etc, Just looking at a pic of it with the Chilli Bins advertising when Christie Morris had it, I assume that as he worked @ PDL car sales it 'acquired' the same front flares as PDL1 along with the rear guards & Front Air Dam as it did not have them when Lawrie Bruce drove it. Now if I could only find Woodsies old Mustang A grade Saloon that would be a find...nah scratch that,...tooo much work. Got enough to finish now.

A couple of photos that I do not own and may have to take down as they are from the Bowdens Own Facebook Gallery but I will post for those that do not use Facebook.
Paul Fahey Mustang Now




Dunlop Mustang

TonyG, these are wonderful photos! Boy, some incredible cars in this lot. I'm quite impressed by the quality of the Morris Marina. That is a nicely turned out car.

The Lawrence Bruce Camaro is the old Red Dawson car, still going strong. The #12 Mustang is George Shewiery in the old Sidchrome car. Isn't it cool to see some of these cars in their later years. Trevor Crowe's own driving abilities are one of the reasons for his two Starkets being so quick. This is demonstrated by his high speed drift in the Zap car. That must have been hard to do in a car with such a short wheelbase.

Jac Mac wrote:Thats good Evan, was starting to think there might be a 'Fake' out there somewhere, I remember looking hard at this car when either Lawrie or someone in a car yard out Ferry road had it for sale as a roller, but I came to the conclusion that the Cortina was lighter etc, & hey like everyone I was a Racer back then, not into restoration etc, Just looking at a pic of it with the Chilli Bins advertising when Christie Morris had it, I assume that as he worked @ PDL car sales it 'acquired' the same front flares as PDL1 along with the rear guards & Front Air Dam as it did not have them when Lawrie Bruce drove it. Now if I could only find Woodsies old Mustang A grade Saloon that would be a find...nah scratch that,...tooo much work. Got enough to finish now.

Interesting you noted the front flares on the Mustang. Several cars ended up with a set of flares from these molds, including the Bellis Cortina, the Jenner Camaro, and (I think) Nazer Victor.

Which Cortina did you own Jac?

Who styled the flares on the McElrea Cortina? The flares on this car always looked good, and overall this was one of the nicer proportioned cars of the era.

Did Steve Vigurs race that Commodore before or after he built his V8 Celeste?

Steve Holmes wrote:Did Steve Vigurs race that Commodore before or after he built his V8 Celeste?

I assume before, I only heard about the Celeste after I left NZ.

I will see if I can catch up with Ross and Jimmy Stone while I am still on holiday. They are only just up the road and I will ask Jimmy about the Miss Victorious front guards. I remember him fabricating lots of it when my older brother and I hung out at the garage in Tuakau on weekends with them. I will ask what happened to the Gedore Escort and the Cudas too ! Its about time I caught up with them again. Been too long especially when they are only 15 minutes away.

celeste, then the commodore

Steve Holmes wrote:Did Steve Vigurs race that Commodore before or after he built his V8 Celeste?

Steve Holmes wrote:Who styled the flares on the McElrea Cortina? The flares on this car always looked good, and overall this was one of the nicer proportioned cars of the era.

I did, I built the car literally from the ground up starting in 77 or whenever the MKIV Cortina was introduced. I borrowed the W/Shop manuals off Dennis Latty @ Latty Ford , Gore. & compared the floorpan info for MK3/MKIV, they are/were both the same, then obtained a MK3 shell & removed all that was not compatible with MKIV from it, around the same time a local Vet rolled his new MKIV which was written off due to excessive panel damage & I got most of what was good of the shell & bought new roof, rear guards etc to make up balance of shell, the guards/flares you mention were made by bringing out the original arch & filling in the gaps etc then pulling a set of molds off that... molds were made in such manner that the LF could be adapted & used on RR & vice versa so I only needed two molds. Doors were made from alloy & I must confess to a minor stuff up in that dept, I did not look closely enough @ the MKIV & ended up with a bit of a 'dip' @ the B pillar rather than the straight thru of the MKIV. made mold for hood/bonnet with scoop & rolled up alloy boot lid. Same Boss 302/trans/diff from my earlier MK2 Cortina was used in this car as well.

Hey thats great Jac! Thanks for that info, its brilliant to be able to fill in these gaps. I always liked that car. It must have been one of the last cars Rod raced? Didn't the car appear at an event fitted with a drag motor? Would you happen to have any photos of it yourself? Who owns this car now?

Jac Mac wrote:Thats good Evan, was starting to think there might be a 'Fake' out there somewhere, I remember looking hard at this car when either Lawrie or someone in a car yard out Ferry road had it for sale as a roller, but I came to the conclusion that the Cortina was lighter etc, & hey like everyone I was a Racer back then, not into restoration etc, Just looking at a pic of it with the Chilli Bins advertising when Christie Morris had it, I assume that as he worked @ PDL car sales it 'acquired' the same front flares as PDL1 along with the rear guards & Front Air Dam as it did not have them when Lawrie Bruce drove it. Now if I could only find Woodsies old Mustang A grade Saloon that would be a find...nah scratch that,...tooo much work. Got enough to finish now.

Re the Mustang speedway car, Bruce Boulton bought that car in the 90s, raced it as a 66 Mustang for a short time, then cut the body off and fitted a modern Mustang body. The Woods 66 fastback body was then buried in one of the Boultons farm paddocks. Too bad really, it was a genuine steel '66 fastback and a neat piece of speedway history that had somehow survived the 70s. There is a picture of the car when Bruce Bolton had it here: http://www.boultonracing.com/

Click on 'History', then '881 Bruce Boulton'.

Steve Holmes wrote:Hey thats great Jac! Thanks for that info, its brilliant to be able to fill in these gaps. I always liked that car. It must have been one of the last cars Rod raced? Didn't the car appear at an event fitted with a drag motor? Would you happen to have any photos of it yourself? Who owns this car now?

The MKIV car is now owned by Anthony Prendergast-Ashburton- he also has my other MK2 Cortina car which he & Herbie Hayward? have rebuilt & I believe now have running for the OSCA 40th. Anthony currently has my photo album etc with old pics of both cars which as yet I have not picked up & since he now has the MKIV he might want for a bit longer. Dont know about the 'Drag Motor' that Rod may have used, but with Murray Baker/Ron Collet doing most of the engine work for Rod its possible that might have been the case. Rod was one of the 'original' HQ holden racers after OSCA & I also remember him pairing up with Steve Vigurs in a OSCA Capri for one of the Southern 200 races, unfortunately they were soundly beaten by a couple of other OSCA racers.