Rod Coppins

[Milan Fistonic]

Car number 27 is Paul Hammond from Taihape competing in the 1975 Glenvale 200 Trophy Race. Bay Park August 3, 1975.

[Jac Mac]

[color="#0000FF"]The RH Rear Tyre on #27 in post #97 looks like its about to take early ' Retirement ', pun intended....[/color]

[John McKechnie]

Milan-you are correct on the Glenvale 200 at Bay Park. Would that be Graeme Crawford behind him in the XU1?
Also I am sure that John Scott-we have come across this name many time before-told me in the 70s that he owned Coppins E38 for a while.
He never would have raced it on the track though.

[Rod Grimwood]

[color="#0000FF"]The RH Rear Tyre on #27 in post #97 looks like its about to take early ' Retirement ', pun intended....[/color]

yea noticed that Jac, a bit like the bank account after xmas 'deflated'
must have good sidewall, as thats what it is running on.

[Milan Fistonic]

Milan-you are correct on the Glenvale 200 at Bay Park. Would that be Graeme Crawford behind him in the XU1?
Also I am sure that John Scott-we have come across this name many time before-told me in the 70s that he owned Coppins E38 for a while.
He never would have raced it on the track though.

On my computer it's a bit hard to see the number of the XU1 but it looks like 12. If so, the drivers were Jack Drummond and Bryan Bate in Drummond's car.

If the number is 2 it would be Wayne Wilkinson.

Coppins was entered in the L34 for this race.

[Bruce302]

Time for some fresh pics.

Here is Rod in the Zephyr in it's early guise. Read the specs on his race placings. Pretty impressive stuff. And anyone who drives a Zephyr, any Zephyr, at 170 mph, has some serious nuts.

[Bruce302]

While not strictly Rod Coppins, it is his car in the hands of the new owners, Colin MacBeth and Keith McLure. I don't know the venue but it looks like a timed run or hill climb, the upper shot is after meeting a strainer post.
Photo courtesy Colin Macbeth via Steve Elliott.

[seaqnmac27]

Time for some fresh pics.

Here is Rod in the Zephyr in it's early guise. Read the specs on his race placings. Pretty impressive stuff. And anyone who drives a Zephyr, any Zephyr, at 170 mph, has some serious nuts.

I am sorry but should that not read, IS seriously nuts as well?

[Bruce302]

And one more from Colin Macbeth and Steve Elliott.

Neat wheel reinforcing evident on the front wheels, and the "no trailer required" A frame towing device.

[fullnoise68]

And one more from Colin Macbeth and Steve Elliott.

Neat wheel reinforcing evident on the front wheels, and the "no trailer required" A frame towing device.

Bruce, you`ll notice the exhausts are no longer out the bonnet in this photo. Colin had to change the car considerably to meet the `new' rules - nothing has changed in NZ motorsport!!!- and I know when the easiest, and most famous option was to go out through the bonnet, Colin reckons it was a `prick' of a job getting the exhausts back underneath.

[Frosty5]

Bruce, as I said to you today, other than all the ones I have collected myself, many of the photos I have were given to me by a family friend Frank Renwick, who died some 12 years ago. Others were given to me by Peter Hanna, and some of these are likely to be either Jack Inwood, Terry Marshall, etc.
I have asked Bruce to post these photos on the basis of sharing them for everyones enjoyment, and not to ruffle anyones feathers. if anyone requires credit for this thread, or any of the others that Bruce is going to post on Red Dawson, John Riley, etc, please acknowledge them as being your photos.

Hi Steve, the name you mention - Frank Renwick - not a common name, however I served my time (not porridge either!)with a chap with the same name. He lived in Onehunga for many years and had a relationship with a lot of the old Epsom and Glouster Park stock car guys. He drove a Ford twin Spinner, loved his grog and was a real rough diamond. Are we talking about the same guy?

[fullnoise68]

Yes that`s him. His nickname was `Hoss' and he was the king of the acetelene bomb! Frank worked for Refrigeration Engineering in Penrose for many years and I wouldn`t say he was a rough diamond, but he was a real character! Send me an email to mailto:?subject=&body= if you like.

[mac]

Hi Guys, I was timed at a flying sprint meeting at Taupo at 158 mph. Pretty hairy as pine trees were only a few feet from the track and the car wasn't exactly aerodynamic. I think i was sort of relieved when the clutch packed up. When they changed the rules we had to fit the exhausts down into large collector boxes so as not to change the tuned lengths. Ken Bailey was a real good mechanic but we had a prick of a job. The extra strengthening on the front wheels was done as the drivers side rim collapsed at the very end of the back straight at Pukekohe. Ken was driving, thats him with the dark shirt having a fag to calm his nerves. This meeting was a reverse course, the powers thought it might be a good idea to have a race meeting reverse direction. The photo with the hockey stick was at a Mount Maunganui sprint and the guy wasn't keen to stand too close to the car as it did a fair bit of snaking up the course.
Colin

[Frosty5]

Yes that`s him. His nickname was `Hoss' and he was the king of the acetelene bomb! Frank worked for Refrigeration Engineering in Penrose for many years and I wouldn`t say he was a rough diamond, but he was a real character! Send me an email to mailto:?subject=&body= if you like.

Well, its a bloody small world isnt it. Yes I remember the acetylene bombs very well having been on the receiving end many times. As a cheeky apprentice I thought his nickname should be Barney Rubble, only called him that once, bad call!!!!!As apprentices we were always the subject of pranks by tradesmen having been on the receiving end of many of them, he also bolted my toolbox to a workbench. Come end of week I was in a rush to leave work for a weekend at Puke and just about broke my arm as I slid past the bench and grabbed the box, I carried onto the floor but the toolbox stayed on the bench, talk about Mr Bean!!. All that aside I had a lot of time for him, certainly taught me a lot but also kept my feet firmly on the ground. He assisted me in building my first stock car in 1968 which I raced at Waikaraka Park with, shall we say limited success but a truckload of fun.

[Frosty5]

Hi Steve, have sent you a PM

[fullnoise68]

Well, its a bloody small world isnt it. Yes I remember the acetylene bombs very well having been on the receiving end many times. As a cheeky apprentice I thought his nickname should be Barney Rubble, only called him that once, bad call!!!!!As apprentices we were always the subject of pranks by tradesmen having been on the receiving end of many of them, he also bolted my toolbox to a workbench. Come end of week I was in a rush to leave work for a weekend at Puke and just about broke my arm as I slid past the bench and grabbed the box, I carried onto the floor but the toolbox stayed on the bench, talk about Mr Bean!!. All that aside I had a lot of time for him, certainly taught me a lot but also kept my feet firmly on the ground. He assisted me in building my first stock car in 1968 which I raced at Waikaraka Park with, shall we say limited success but a truckload of fun.

Without diverting too much away from this thread topic, but something that is relevant to it, the grid photo taken amongst the crowd at Baypark posted earlier on by Bruce302 was taken by Frank. I reckon it`s a bloody good photo. After getting them printed, Frank got that photo enlarged to in his words - `the size of the Saturday Herald' so in those days it would have a been pretty expensive exercise. Frank did this so he didn`t have to look at all the other `crap' on the lunchroom wall. One of the then pommy bosses promptly tore the big photo off the wall, unbeknown to him that Frank had got the big boss' permission. Well that poms life became quite stressful, what with his car grille being chained to a culvert grate for when he reversed out of his carpark, acetylene bombs under his bedroom window at all hours, etc. A lot of guys on here knew the late Noel Goodwin as a real prankster as well. I knew Noel pretty well too, but Frank Renwick was relentless in getting even......

[Steve Holmes]

And one more from Colin Macbeth and Steve Elliott.

Neat wheel reinforcing evident on the front wheels, and the "no trailer required" A frame towing device.

Wow, what a fantastic photo! Thanks for sharing this Mac.

[Bruce302]

From the Motor Year Book 1967, Incorporating Motorsport '67. another great Jack Inwood shot.

[fullnoise68]

This pic is Rod in The #41 Cambridge Camaro circa Sept/Oct 1970

If #41 Camaro goes half as good this weekend as Rods one did all those years ago, I`ll be stoked!

[markec]

Rod in Australia with the Firebird, I don't think Bruce will be upset with this second posting of the picture.