The Roaring Season

Aussie Miller and Fred Astaire during filming of "On the Beach"...The film starred Ava Gardner.



Aussie Miller....from On the Beach

This is magic stuff Ellis!

Here's a new Camaro I haven't come across before until tonight. Raced by J Pollard in the 1976 Australian Sports Sedan Championship.

Can anyone shed some light on its history.

I can't pick it's exact year model from the photo.

nick_tassie wrote:Here's a new Camaro I haven't come across before until tonight. Raced by J Pollard in the 1976 Australian Sports Sedan Championship.

Can anyone shed some light on its history.

I can't pick it's exact year model from the photo.

Ok found the answer to my own question, something Steve has already posted on the 76 Sports Sedans

This footage is just as fascinating for some of the cars and drivers further down the field, including Tony Edmonson in the ex-John McCormack Repco Charger, Bob Gill in the old Pete Geoghegan Mustang GTA which won the ATCC in 1967, 68, and 69, plus John Pollard in the old Frank Gardner SCA Freight Camaro, which our own Roaring Season member Aussiemonza once owned. Jim Smith can be seen in the ex-Bob Jane ZL/1 ’69 Camaro which won the ATCC in 1971 and ’72. Current V8 Supercar team owner Garry Rogers is competing in an Escort. Also in the pack is the relative unknown Queenslander Dick Johnson, still struggling to make a name for himself, and driving the Bryan Byrt XA Falcon Sports Sedan, which Johnson so eloquently described as a ‘stinking pile of puss’. The was formally one of six Ford Special Vehicles RPO83 Falcon hardtops that raced in 1973 during the first year of Group C, and of which none have survived. In fact, another of the RPO83s, that of Murray Carter, still in Group C guise but updated to XB sheetmetal, can also be seen.

Hey Nick, yes thats correct. Thats the 67 Camaro Frank Gardner shipped out from the UK to race in NZ and Aus in late 1972/early 1973. Its the SCA Freight car. Myles (thunder427) knows a fair bit about this car. Roaring Season member Rowan (Aussiemonza) owned it for a few years. Its now back in the UK.

This is it at Bay Park in 1972.

[ATTACH]4589[/ATTACH]

Cheers, Steve

Got all excited and went off half cocked again...!!

How good is that old sports sedan film footage from 76. Those things looked like angry beasts to drive. Balance? what balance, pedal to the floor and just point it in the general direction, awesome stuff.

Yes I agree Nick, that Sandown 1976 footage is amazing! Teams were still fairly limited in their understanding on aerodynamics and downforce, so the cars moved around a huge amount. The top cars had around 600hp, on a rough and bumpy track surface, and little downforce. Pretty great recipe!

Happy New Year to all at Roaring Season.

I was sent this photo tonight on the chance it may be a new lead to Terry's missing Camaro. Its been a little while since I've had a new lead to chase up so I'm quiet keen to find out some more about it.

Hi Nick, Just read your story in AMC#57 about terry Allen car, This picture was taken in dunedin in 1977 may be same car (see rollcage same as newspaper ad) other things like hood pins ,cowl hood,flares(but have been modified) 67/68 rs/ss 350 powered, It's a long shot but i thought you may like to see it any way,Goodluck

I persume the Dunedin location is from NZ? Can anyone shead any light on the history of this Camaro, it looks like it was running as a sports sedan, seems to tidey and straight to be speedway. I imagine someone will recognise the sponsor to help identify who and where it was raced. Does the car still survive?

Not sure if the rear roll bars are the same as with Terry's car, his look like they are on a sharper angle. Not to say they may not have been changed at some point?

Hi there Nick, good to see you back here again. Sorry the leads have run a bit cold for you, keep trying though! Unfortunately for you the yellow Camaro above is the ex-Spinner Black, Rod Coppins car which appears elsewhere on this forum in white/red Winfield colours, and white/blue Cambridge colours. It actually raced against your uncles car on a couple of occasions. This is when it went to the South Island and raced in OSCA. I think this might be when Bruce Jenner owned it. Cool picture though!

Steve Holmes wrote:Hi there Nick, good to see you back here again. Sorry the leads have run a bit cold for you, keep trying though! Unfortunately for you the yellow Camaro above is the ex-Spinner Black, Rod Coppins car which appears elsewhere on this forum in white/red Winfield colours, and white/blue Cambridge colours. It actually raced against your uncles car on a couple of occasions. This is when it went to the South Island and raced in OSCA. I think this might be when Bruce Jenner owned it. Cool picture though!

Cheers Steve, interesting, this Spinner Black/Coppins car does seem to keep popping up everywhere. It certainly had many stages of racing history behind it. The south Island landscape where the picture was taken is certainly interesting, do you have an idea where the photo might have been taken? I'll have a look back through the threads to find out more about and if it still survives.

The leads have dried up a bit but then again is one came out of nowhere so you just never know when the next one will turn up and it might just be the one we need.

I'll keep you all informed on whats happening and certainly be asking for further help along the way.

Yeah you're right Nick, that car had a colourful racing life, and pounded the race tracks of NZ in front line competition for approx 12 years! Of course, it was much modified along the way. There is a brief history of the car in the OSCA Database thread: http://www.theroaringseason.com/showthread.php?445-New-Zealand-OSCA-Database-Histories-And-Whereabouts

Nick, sorry I don't have any leads to help you find Terrys Camaro, but here are a few new photos you likely won't have seen before. These were sent to me by Roaring Season member markec. They're form the Bay Park Easter event, the first time Allan raced in NZ.

Wow these are cool, big thank you to Markec for passing these onto you.

How good does it look in this spec with the 10" Minilites and flares..!! Awesome looking race car for its time.

Ellis sent through some great new shots of it in the Castrol livery so the scrap book is starting to fill up nicely now, and these will go straight in.

Still hoping for that 1 colour shot of the car in this blue warpaint, hopefully one will come to light one day.

No news to report on locating the car, still poking about hoping for the next lead.

Yeah it looks great here doesn't it. I'm hopeful colour photos of the car in blue will eventually surface. They have to.

And This is What Gives Me Hope

I was reading an amazing book on the Shelby American Collection, it includes some brilliant photos and history articles on the Cobra, Daytona, GT40 and GT350R Mustang. The collection includes GT350R 5R002, the first mustang Shelby American built and raced in B production.

The car had been missing thought lost for 20 years, it was recently found in a Mexico barn by a guy who had been tracking it down for a number of years. It now resides as found and unrestored in the Collection complete with its original roll cage, race engine and unique suspension setup.

Lets hope the Camaro is out there somewhere sitting in a garage or barn, waiting to be found and uncovered.

Here are a few of the drama's Uncle Terry had with the Big Block Camaro I've uncovered through my research. These articles are from various Racing Car News

1969 Australian Touring Car Championship Rd. 3 Mallala

Started 8th on the grid with a 1:23.8 behind Moffat Mustang 1:21.4.

Had a good start and was fighting for second place with Jane until.......

Allan wasn't behind Jane when they came round Clubhouse for the fourth lap - then he appeared, very slowly, and obviously heading for the pits. As he drew close, we could see why - he was slumped in his seat, almost unconscious, and he only just stopped the car before blacking out completely. The fuel tank had split, overcoming poor Terry with the fumes.
Over the pit counter in a flash was Dr. Andrew McComb, applying respiration as the St. Johns men moved in, and Terry soon saw the light of day again. It was a disappointing finish for Terry, especially when more and more cars dropped out, making it obvious that third or even second place could have been his

Racing Car News November 1970

Touring Car Handicap Race

Allan, Beechey, Thompson and McKeown were storming through the field....... then Allan went in a big way, the clutch and flywheel disintegrating and ventilating the firewall. One piece struck Terry's leg a glancing blow and, as the car slowly rolled to the escape road, Terry almost fell from the car in his efforts to push the car out of the way with one leg almost numb. However shock was the main trouble ("and why not?", as Terry said afterwards), and the leg was fortunately only grazed

She was a challenge by the sound of it...!!

Wow, great info Nick. Yeah those cars were a real effort to keep together. I think we forget today how much trouble they were to hold together. Reliability was still a big issue for many V8 runners in the late 60s and early 70s, which is why several contenders chose smaller capacity cars, such as the Porsche 911s. They often weren't as quick as the V8s, but they were usually still around at the end of the race. Running a small block V8 was tough enough, running a big block was really ambitious!

nick_tassie wrote:And This is What Gives Me Hope

I was reading an amazing book on the Shelby American Collection, it includes some brilliant photos and history articles on the Cobra, Daytona, GT40 and GT350R Mustang. The collection includes GT350R 5R002, the first mustang Shelby American built and raced in B production.

The car had been missing thought lost for 20 years, it was recently found in a Mexico barn by a guy who had been tracking it down for a number of years. It now resides as found and unrestored in the Collection complete with its original roll cage, race engine and unique suspension setup.

Lets hope the Camaro is out there somewhere sitting in a garage or barn, waiting to be found and uncovered.

Speaking of the Shelby American Collection where the GT350R 002 Mustang now resides, I discovered some great youtube footage of a tour of the museum with Cobra restorer/racer Bill Murray giving an explaination of the collection and history of just a selection of the famous racing cars. Worth a look and a must place to visit for any Shelby Racing fan.

The you tube link is:

http://youtu.be/shYmulK7ilw

Enjoy.....

Oh and the Web site address for the collection is: http://www.shelbyamericancollection.org

The video doesn't seem to work for me Nick? Might just be down temporarily. That GT350R is just incredible. Its amazing what ended up down in Mexico. At least one Ed Roth car ended up there. But that GT350R is in amazing condition. I'm glad they're leaving it as is, its the right thing to do.

Steve Holmes wrote:The video doesn't seem to work for me Nick? Might just be down temporarily. That GT350R is just incredible. Its amazing what ended up down in Mexico. At least one Ed Roth car ended up there. But that GT350R is in amazing condition. I'm glad they're leaving it as is, its the right thing to do.

Hi Steve

Not sure why the link didn't work, might be worth trying to type the link it directly into Youtube?

You can also try opening the Web site http://www.shelbyamericancollection.org, the video is on the front page when you scroll down, click on it and it will open in Youtube.


I'll scan the story and some of the photos on the Mustang out of the book I have and post them shortly, pretty interesting read.