The Roaring Season

Steve Holmes wrote:Wow, thats amazing Bob! I think 3 or 4 sets might have found their way to NZ. There is a set on a T-Bucket hot rod that was built in the early 70s and is basically untouched from when it was first built, but I don't know of any others.

Rob Campbell did an article over a couple of issues of NZ Hot Rod Magazine a few years ago that almost worked out and traced all the Ardun heads that were used in NZ. I made some notes and dug a bit more to add to his story. I must find the copy and throw some info on here to see if anything new can be added, it may take a little while to find though.

Barry Greer had a set in his green T bucket.

Thanks for that info guys. Yes thats right woody, its the Barry Greer steel bodied T. Its been in storage for many years, basically untouched, and still fitted with the Ardun heads. A mate of mine took it to Beach Hop a few years ago.

Gavin, it'd be interesting to know what where the NZ Ardun heads are all at now. When you get time to do some digging, fill us in.

Every now and then someone, somewhere, scores the mother-load. Check this out, for $300 at a yard sale: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=193530&highlight=ardun

Steve,yes that sort of stuff is always interesting to hear ,the other thing with looking around to find stuff is that sometimes it slips in under the radar so as to speak,I know of at least two cases of Lotus Twin Cam and BDA parts that were out there and had arrived here with people not even connected with the main stream racing people you would associate them with,I found out about them ,thought it was just another of those stories you hear,but ended up with a cylinder head and a couple of special gear boxes that I never even thought existed over here

If you need some room to store one of the twin cams Bob i could help out.

thunder427 wrote:.....Left-hander on to the main straight at Mairehau road race..........regards427/MJ

I loved the story about george smith he pos. did more for racing than anyone .when he took up speedboat raceing he could not swim,and this day his boat sank he is floating with his lifejacked on and swimming with him were a lot of mice,they had a nest in the boat .in the fiftys nearly every high tide at sandspit Waiuku up to 30 ~ 50 boats would be there even redhead came once bit had to stay way out in deeper water

Love that story Jim!

Its amazing where George Smith crops up ,some time ago I was going through some of George Dixons old photos etc of what he did in his early days and there was a photo there of George Smith presenting the other George with a cup for a motor cycle event that GD won back in I think it was in 1949,then GD added the comment that George Smith was also the guy who sold him the Chev V8 engine that he put in his first coupe

Photos of the man - George Smith - after winning at Muriwai in an earlier version of the GeeCeEss.

Looks like his Chevrolet-based V8 special, which only Vercoe calls a GeeCeeEss

David McKinney wrote:Looks like his Chevrolet-based V8 special, which only Vercoe calls a GeeCeeEss

You maybe right David - although I recollect Max Fisher telling me that he thought George may have referred to it as the GCS (not GeeCeeEss) but it was never written on the car - we will never know.

Here it is :

Make of Car in the 1950 Ohakea programme was simply "Ford V8"
In reports of other contemporary events it's listed as Ford Special or Ford V8 Special
None of which is to tell what George might have called it privately

Roger, those are stunning photos! Particularly the action beach shot. Thanks for posting them.

David, thanks for the clarification. I had long been confused as to why there were two GeeCeeEss specials in Vercoe's book.

Some more photos of the GeeCeeEss that probably haven't been seen before :

This one is taken outside George Smith's premises at 44 St Bendedicts Street, Newton, Auckland (hence the #44 George used on his cars). The building in the background is where my father worked and as a youngster I remember looking out of his window at the garage across the road (that spilled out onto the road) - little did I know that one day I would have the GeeCeeEss!!

Fantastic photos Roger, and there are those Ardun heads again! Do you own this car?

I think this car should have its own dedicated thread, don't you Roger? Seems unfair to have such a special car hidden inside this thread.

Steve Holmes wrote:Fantastic photos Roger, and there are those Ardun heads again! Do you own this car?

Yes - I've had for a few years. There was an ownership dispute going on and I bought it to avoid it being broken up.

Good on you Roger, thats great! I hope you will create a separate thread dedicated to this wonderful car and its owner/builder/driver.

Steve Holmes wrote:David, thanks for the clarification. I had long been confused as to why there were two GeeCeeEss specials in Vercoe's book.

There were two GeeCeeEss's - the second one was the Alfa-based car that he raced very rarely

pallmall wrote:Rob Campbell did an article over a couple of issues of NZ Hot Rod Magazine a few years ago that almost worked out and traced all the Ardun heads that were used in NZ. I made some notes and dug a bit more to add to his story. I must find the copy and throw some info on here to see if anything new can be added, it may take a little while to find though.

I have found the articles, but not all of my notes. Give me a little while to sort all the information and find some photos and I will try and unravel the whole NZ history of the use of Ardun heads, at least up until more modern times where repros and old heads have been recent imports.