Roger Dowding wrote:Poster - copy courtesy Mike Ryan in the USA - this is the event that James Dean was going to in his Porsche 550 that had replaced his 356 - October 1955.
By accounts I have read the car was supposed to have been trailered [ behind 1 1955 Ford Ranchwagon [ Station Wagon ] but in the end Dean and his mate drove the Porsche when that fatal accident occurred.
Dean called his car " The Little Bastard " and has that sign written on it.
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Dean and his German mechanic, Rolf Weutherich, decided to drive the new Porsche to Salinas to get more mileage on the engine and to give Dean more experience of the car's handling.
"Little Bastard" was the nickname given to Dean by his friend Bill Hickman. Hickman, quite a bit taller than Dean, was known as "Big Bastard"
khyndart in CA wrote:I wrote this over 4 years ago and as I looked up some 1967 Can Am information tonight I was reminded again of what a wonderful era it was around Morrinsville in the 1960s. An amazing group from that area in the Waikato.
" I had the wonderful experience of growing up in the Morrinsville area at Kiwitahi at a time when so many had connections to motor racing.e.g. Spencer (Spinner ) Black went to Kiwitahi school with my sister, Bryan Innes's family brought property from my grandfather, Dennis Marwood married the sister of a neighboring farmer, a relative owned the Motordrome Service Station in Te Rapa, Terry Marshall was at Morrinsville College when I was there as was Malcom Gill as a teacher, John Paton (Paton & Black ) engines was a friend, Ross Greenville had a really sweet niece, plus Terry Scott, Ross Douglas, etc. etc. ( We were like a big family )".
What reminded me was seeing this Sept. 1967 "Road America" Can-Am entry list and at entry # 79 was Ross Greenville from Morrinsville, New Zealand in his Lola T 70.
(This was a pretty impressive field. )
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(Ken H)
khyndart in CA wrote:Another from the past.
This was an advertisement in the January 1958 NZGP programme.
The Mistral with a Ford 10 engine.
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Driven to and from each meeting.
We had a friend, Kelvin Cameron, who had one of these and he definitely drove his on the roads around Kiwitahi !
(Ken H )
Grant Ellwood wrote:When I was about 16 I acquired a Ford 10 powered Mistral from a guy with the surname Simcock, lived near Oahu and worked for the Ford dealer in Levin. Can't recall what happened to that car, hope it's still around today. I recall the steering wheel falling off while I was driving in traffic between Foxton and Levin.