The Roaring Season

Oldfart wrote:Please PLEASE can the old dramas not be dredged up again! (But this from Patrick seems to confirm some previous)

N.B. The Fact is that it has been confirmed that Steele Bros. at all times acted lawfully, contrary to what was originally and wrongly alleged. I make no apologies for my obstinate stance, whereby I defended Steele Bros.

Trevor.

Looking at all the pics, seems like the wide 13" hotwire mags were the wheel of choice by Steelbro's for this limited run of cars

Trevor, PM sent

nalracer wrote:Looking at all the pics, seems like the wide 13" hotwire mags were the wheel of choice by Steelbro's for this limited run of cars

They started with the traditional Dunlop wheels then changed to the locally made Howires which helped with the local content requirements. The 13x5.5 on most cars were pretty nasty in my opinion but when they put the deeper dish 13x7's on the widebody cars they looked quite good. There are still a host of other wheels I'd have first though....

Below is all I know about the Bainbridge at this stage. I have a lot of other rumors and unconfirmed stories. It is an excerpt from the Auto Age magazine printed in 1985. A full reprint of the article has been uploaded to my thread "NZ Cars A cottage Industry as I did not think it appropriate to put it in this thread. The car shown as part of the article is an Everson Eagle not a Bainbridge.

Part 1


Part 2

Patrick - thanks very much....all interesting to me (selfishly!) as when bought it I didn't really comprehend it's history and have subsequently enjoyed pulling together snippets of info.
Lindsay

Then perhaps Lindsay you can confirm that the car above is a Bainbridge and perhaps post some different pictures of it.

Patrick - I can't confirm if a Bainbridge or not but can confirm it's not mine as mine is a S4 widebody chassis from the Steele's jigs they bought and has the S3 'styled' body to fit over it. The one on the cover looks a bit too compact by comparison....and the dash is different. I believe they MAY have built a couple S3 chassis but unsure if ever finished them in to a working car.
Lindsay

I reckon it is an early work-in-progress of your car Lindsay. I'm sure prototypes go through many changes, as do cars like ours as they pass through different owners. The roll bar and wheels are the same as what used to be on your car. It is definately a Bainbridge and if they only made one then it must be yours. I have seen the S3 chassis and there is no way it is one of them....

I heard Malcolm at Bygone Autos currently has the Black Widebody for sale in his workshop.

Hi Paul do you know what diff ratios Steel bros. offered for their cars?? did they ever get into the 3s??

Not sure if Steel Bros were the same but the English service handbook I got for my car says 3.77:1

Thanks I got the last set they had in 1994?? for my SS and can not remember but it was the fastest they used?/

A MAZING I orignley built the car for SEXEY REXEY but the motor would not stand 9000rpm at Wigram all sorts of nasty things escaped from inside the block so i fitted A BDA bottom and dry sump it but with the TWIN CAM head but it was still not fast enuf for REX JAMIE A

AMCO72 wrote:Paul, your car doesn't look too bad. Maybe some seat covering and a bit of carpet, and she would be ready to shoot the breeze. What state is the engine in if it hasn't been run for a few years? I think I would be tempted to have some fun in it. Might be a long time before the house is paid off!!!!!!!

Hi Paul. Saw this thread by accident and thought I should add to it. My father (Bob Harden) was the first owner of the white wide bodied 7 he drove it up from Christchurch new in November 1978 nego number JA7334. Your car was built at the same time. Car came with 7 inch hot wires and had the most ridiculous mud flaps under the front wings, that were discarded strait away. Car was wrecked by fire in 1990 I think and dad bought it off the insurance company. Was then sold to Harry Hawkins who was going to rebuild. Remember your car back in the day was very fast but unreliable as I remember.

MikeP wrote:I heard Malcolm at Bygone Autos currently has the Black Widebody for sale in his workshop.

I'm pretty sure he's fixing the clutch for me. I suppose I'll find out next time I pop down to see him....

Nzwomble wrote:Hi Paul. Saw this thread by accident and thought I should add to it. My father (Bob Harden) was the first owner of the white wide bodied 7 he drove it up from Christchurch new in November 1978 nego number JA7334. Your car was built at the same time. Car came with 7 inch hot wires and had the most ridiculous mud flaps under the front wings, that were discarded strait away. Car was wrecked by fire in 1990 I think and dad bought it off the insurance company. Was then sold to Harry Hawkins who was going to rebuild. Remember your car back in the day was very fast but unreliable as I remember.

Hi. Would have been a great story if not for the ending! Picking up a car like that new from the factory would have been fantastic. Bummer about the fire, was it a wiring fire or some other cause? Do you have any photos you can post? (pre-fire!)

I think the car found a bit of reliability in the end. Aldas seemed to win more than his fair share of races at the Pukekohe club-circuit.
Malcolm started it the other week for the first time in years and it sounds great, plenty of compression - nice and even across the cylinders. The clutch needs a bit of attention but he's doing that now.

Great photos. It looks butch on those 7" Hotwires, agree about the mudflaps though....

Agreed, looks great on those wheels!