The Roaring Season

Bruce McLaren passed away 52 years ago and there have been many tributes to him in the last couple of days.
Bruce's first car was an Austin 7 - He even took it to high school - Seddon Tech - when it was in Central Auckland.

His second car, in which he won many trophies was an Austin Healey 100, that was imported by Seabrook Fowlds in Auckland and first raced by John Seabrook, and then Ross Jensen, before the McLarens bought it.

Seen here with the Austin Seven and a bigger car; Ford V8 Pilot
The 100 with Bruce and many trophies ;
My friend in Oregon Jerry Luidahl with his 1;43 scale model a tribute to Bruce McLaren [ a modified Oxford model - have the original Oxford in BRG myself although my 100 was Red, its original colour was green ].

All quiet on the Austin Healey front.
Have been in Auckland sorting out a certain MX5... No warrant and Rego on hold since June last year, but as of yesterday new warrant and today new Rego.
More work to be done.. leak in the cooling system which [ of course ] is in a place that is hard to get - one of those small hoses behind the engine ..job for July .. but it is going, road legal, wallet a bit lighter, but I am happy.

To Seaqnmac and ERC .. Guys.
Those Boxes of Magazines that I acquired, as in took off your hands to 1 help Gordon McBride shifft house, and 2 Help ERC clear a space in his garage, have all gone to another home, an Austin and MG guy from Helensville, he was a regular at Caffeine and Classics.
I kept some with AH MG and Triumph TR and GT6 articles and have let the rest go.

kept these two - for obvious reasons ..
Part of the trip to Auckland..Magazines gone, MX5 Road Legal.
A good week..

Rummaging through my memorabilia collection - my obsession as Her Indoors calls it.

I came across the Certificate of Performance for my only entry into the AHCCNZ Hill Climb at Otaua, from 1985 to 1990 I was involved with Marshalling, and later Organiser / Secretary of the meeting, Reg Whittaker was the main Guy as was a local.
The results [ again ]. thanks to Stuart Short - my copy had long gone and even the AH Club magazine of the time I had got rid of. Never did get the spelling corrected on the list - which I think I got a typist at ANZ Bank to do for the club.
Was the slowest of the Austin Healey's with both the late Barry Moon and Laurie Sorahan in 100's beating me as did Cameron Mackay in his 3000 and Frank Karl was well up the list at #10 ..

Great to know the event continues still with the MG Car Club and the latest event was well attended by Vintage Car Club guys including Allan Horner in his modified Sprite.

Now back to NSCC stuff, for the forthcoming " 50th Anniversary " of the Clubrooms.

AH Club of New Zealand, Badge Patch, and an Award plaque. The Kiwi was a change to the earlier badge /logo which had an Austin Crest in Black and Yellow with wings.
AH Club UK Sprite Register badge - designed by Pete Dicks, who was the Midland Centre Sprite Registrar in the 1970's early 1980's.
Pete and I corresponded for a number of years before finally meeting in Colorado in July 1982 at the 30th Anniversary Celebration, and later in 1982 at his home in the Midlands.

Austin Healey Sprite - 1958 - 1961, now known as the Mark One, when the Mark Two was created in 1962.
Affectionately known as a " Bug-Eye " or " Frog-Eye " depending initially on which side of the Atlantic you lived in.

A collection of promotional images ;
In the UK - Price GBP 668 The same car PBL75 in this advert too !! and in Sweden - Pris SKr 8000.

Same car...

August 4th 1958 - Car 79, Dick Protheroe, later a well known E Type Jaguar racer.

ERC,

Thanks for those ;

What a field, 4 AH 100S, 1 " Hundred " and Three Listers with a variety of motors.
See the note Mallory on the Entry List, one of the Listers with a Lotus on the outside of the corner.
The set of images added to the archives.
Have seen a few photos of RWD323 in recent years, need to find out which " AHS Chassis Number it is

Cheers

Roger

Sometimes both Sprite and the " Big " Healey ' 3000 ' were advertised together

In the UK, and in the USA - the primary market for Healeys and Austin Healeys since the early 1950's Sprite cornering - a similar set of shots appeared in a Sprite Advert driven by Roy Salvadori in a recent post.
This time the car is Left Hand Drive.

Roger Dowding wrote: What a field, 4 AH 100S, 1 " Hundred " and Three Listers with a variety of motors.
See the note Mallory on the Entry List, one of the Listers with a Lotus on the outside of the corner.

Note also car #48. The Border Reivers D Type Jaguar. Note the driver's name spelt incorrectly...

The car in the centre is the Cooper Jaguar.

ERC wrote:Note also car #48. The Border Reivers D Type Jaguar. Note the driver's name spelt incorrectly...

The car in the centre is the Cooper Jaguar.

ERC, Thanks didn't look closely at the photo Race #20 Cooper Jaguar - P Mould ..
- Lister Jaguars alway look big and with a hump in the bonnet ..

and yes James Clark, would not be " happy wi' that " !!

Have his book written by Jim in the 1960's a very small tome - almost falling to pieces but worth keeping.

A series of photos by Dennis Green of a certain 1965 Mark 3 Sprite at Mangere Town Centre car park in 1974.
A Northern Sports Car Club event - was in a dilemma, do they go here ? or on the NSCC thread.
Decision made ! see below ..

One photo I have as a large print from the time - Photo 4 [ - these are all digital ],
Thanks to " BMC BOY " .. Ross for processing 1000's of Dennis Green photos from negatives all from the 1970's.
Just noticed the painted number on the passenger side window is" B 1 N " in the first photo and " B 2 2 " in other photos. maybe they allocated the number for each test-

Had not seen theses photos until a couple of days ago

A link to AH Spares page about the recent 50th Anniversary -

" https://www.ahspares.co.uk/news/celebra ... pares.aspx "

sent to me by my Cousin John - who took the photos at the 1983 Le Mans Relay race in 1983 - shown at the start of this thread

Visited the Shop in October 1982,while staying with Pete Dicks in Walsall in the West Midlands.
The Original shop with Fred Draper in the doorway.

The Berlin Wall 1963 - a story. [ Berlin Wall 1961 - 1989.]

" As an Austrian citizen, young engineer Hans Meixner was able to cross between the two Berlins at the infamous Checkpoint Charlie. He was working as a lathe operator in West Berlin, but could travel back and forth across the border on a tourist visa. At a student dance in East Berlin, he had met and, eventually, fallen in love with Margarete Thurau.

Happily, he had spotted a flaw in the East German checkpoint. The lifting barrier between the two Germanies wasn’t entirely solid—it had a gap beneath it. Crossing to East Berlin on his scooter, he pretended to stall right next to the barrier and surreptitiously measured that gap while appearing to fiddle with the engine. The gap was 37.5 inches high.

Meixner found a Sprite at a rental car agency and crossed into East Berlin. On May 17, 1963, just after midnight, he helped his fiancée and future mother-in-law cram themselves into, respectively, the parcel shelf and trunk of the Sprite, removed its windshield, and headed for the border. As added insurance, he tucked some bricks into the rear of the trunk to stop any bullets that the border guards might send their way.
The guard who checked his passport was immediately suspicious. Why was Meixner driving with no roof on such a chilly day? He was waved over to the customs point for a full search.

Instead, Meixner drove slowly onwards, then gunned the engine, twisting the Sprite through the slalom barricades, and then went full throttle, straight on towards the barrier. The guards, caught by surprise, simply gaped after him as he rocketed past. He ducked down, and the little car limbo’d right under the barricade to freedom.
On the Western side, Meixner locked up the brakes and left a 96-foot skid mark. The West Berlin police were surprised but impressed, and news of the escape spread quickly

"

I remember reading about the story at the time - well probably a few weeks later in the papers -
in New Zealand.

Under the Barrier
On the other side - posed later
How the three people fitted in -posed later.
Getty Images - story form a " Hagerty " website.

Ross Cammick has been processing photos, first for Dennis Green an NSCC Guy from the 1970's 1980's and now has got hold of Photos from Levin in 1960 of a Guy called Lewis Townsend..

There are lots of interesting vehicles - the Allan Freeman Talbot Lago, Denny Hulme in a Cooper, and a Simon Taylor in a brand new Jaguar Mark 2 3.8 Saloon. Vic Simkin was also there in his Buckler with a De Joux body and a Humber 80 motor that came from a car that Lionel Bulcraig had raced

This photo is thought to be from the November 26th 1960 meeting [ Cars have the 1956 - 1961 number plates cream on dark red with a * centre symbol.

Errol McLeod in the Sprite, Rex Flowers in the Lotus Mark 6 and A Hurley - from Waitara in the Austin Healey 100.
On the front row
The Rex Flowers Lotus 6 - and what is the car #24 at the back ??
The Vic Simkin Buckler ..
The Simca at the back was racing in the Saloon car events.

Roger Dowding wrote:
The Rex Flowers Lotus 6 - and what is the car #24 at the back ??

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Car 24 is Brian Watson's Missattor, a Mistral-bodied Ford 8 (later Ford 10) special.

I see a spare Healey 100 engine in the background, too, as well as half a dozen rods and other assorted engine bits.

Model " Dinky " Austin Healey in 1;1 scale.

Have several " Dinky " Big Healey's but not like this.
An AH 100 with a Triumph TR4A and a Jaguar E-Type - part of a Dinky trio I have had since the 1980's
- Owned a 100 and a TR4A, but never an E - type
Mille Miglia 1955 - The first year of the 100S - checking the chassis number AHS3...
OON440 was a works car.. known as a Special Test Car from the 1954 series SPL257BN - it competed in the Mille Miglia in 1954 [ as a normal 100 ] and 1955 as a 100S,and later raced at Sebring in 1956 - according to the Geoff Healey book " Healey - The Specials "

In New Zealand we have the " Healey Corvette " the car created by Arthur Kennard, the car was bought new by Geoff Mardon of motorcycle and Stanton Corvette fame.
Meanwhile in Australia was the " Healey Oldsmobile ", had heard of the car - this a " Sports Car World " magazine article from the time.
another photo of the car. Rick Neville archives

On the grid ; Nassau Speed Week 1958.
The 100 Six cars would have been fairly new - Introduced in late 1957.

Niel Allen's first-ever race win came in a 100/6...

It was at a Warwick Farm AARC Club Meeting in November, 1963. I wonder if there are photos of that?

He also set fastest lap in the Marque Sports Car Final at the end of the day.

A couple of images - complete with notes - the Start of the " Florida International Grand Prix " known as the
" Sebring 12 Hour " Race.

Three Austin Healey cars in the start line up Cars #23, #25 and #24. Why they are out of numerical order I do not know.
According to the Geoff Healey book " Austin Healey - the story of the big Healey ". 3 cars were prepared based on the 1956 100 Six - Six hour record breaking car that broke National Class D and International Class D records for events from 200 miles to 1000 miles and also 3 hour and 6 hour records on a 10 mile circular course.
They had elongated bodywork [ long nose ].
The two unusual looking cars in the centre of the second photo in white are Arnolt Bristol cars - Bristol cars with bodywork designed by an American ' Arnolt '. " Wacky Arnolt was a wealthy American who had a few special bodied cars made over the years including the Bristol.

Nov 2024 - more photos have emerged of the 3 " longnose " [ and tail ] Austin Healey cars seen here.