This photograph is of the car when it was pretty new in the carpark at Calder. When you click on the picture to enlarge it you will be able to make out Frank Rushton's (there's a blast from the past) yellow Mk.7 in the pits with the bonnet up. As you can see from the number plate it started life in Victoria. Anyway, at the time of the accident in about 1978 I reckon, it belonged to a lady in Double Bay in Sydney and her 16 year old unlicenced son took the car for a spin one night. His older brother raced open wheelers and he was going to be a Formula One champion one day. He lost it on one of those treacherous Double Bay bends hitting a pole sideways.. "Police said the speedo was locked on 240 km/h when they arrived with firemen and ambulancemen." A few of us can attest to the relative safety of a frontal impact but side impacts are a different thing. After that the car found its way back to Melbourne. Colin McAskill, who seemed to have an uncanny knack (and probably still does) of uncovering lost Bolwells, bought the car in Melbourne together with enough secondhand body bits to rebuild it. The point of my telling you this is that among the bits was the Canon car roof. Anyway, the car was taken back to Adelaide and stitched together. Colin sold it to Rob Wilson who traded it in to Allan Hanns on the B8/57 (yes the ex-Canon car, don't these things go full circle). Allan sold it to Tony Opie and I think it was when he had it that it achieved some notoriety when it broke the chains and jumped off the rollers at Darlington Dynotune and disappeared out through the back wall of the workshop. From Tony, the car went to Brett Lewis in NSW and correct me if I'm wrong, was eventually sold to Alan Harmer and is now in the hands of Greg Merritt.Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Canon Nagaris continued and B8/85
Continuing on from where I left off yesterday, I've found the recalcitrant photo. Peter's last paragraph said "Both damaged bodies were very severe, probably requiring total rebody." Well, yes you are right there. Bits of Canon car body lay around behind the Bolwell factory for some time. It seems that most Bolwell fans in Melbourne have a souvenir piece they have picked up at some time. I have heard that Don Elliott has a Canon car door suitably repainted in the correct colours hanging on the wall at his factory. Someone else has a bonnet and somebody else has a bootlid and others have various other little bits and pieces. And this brings me to B8/85. This is the car that that poor young lad killed himself in not long after he turned 16.
This photograph is of the car when it was pretty new in the carpark at Calder. When you click on the picture to enlarge it you will be able to make out Frank Rushton's (there's a blast from the past) yellow Mk.7 in the pits with the bonnet up. As you can see from the number plate it started life in Victoria. Anyway, at the time of the accident in about 1978 I reckon, it belonged to a lady in Double Bay in Sydney and her 16 year old unlicenced son took the car for a spin one night. His older brother raced open wheelers and he was going to be a Formula One champion one day. He lost it on one of those treacherous Double Bay bends hitting a pole sideways.. "Police said the speedo was locked on 240 km/h when they arrived with firemen and ambulancemen." A few of us can attest to the relative safety of a frontal impact but side impacts are a different thing. After that the car found its way back to Melbourne. Colin McAskill, who seemed to have an uncanny knack (and probably still does) of uncovering lost Bolwells, bought the car in Melbourne together with enough secondhand body bits to rebuild it. The point of my telling you this is that among the bits was the Canon car roof. Anyway, the car was taken back to Adelaide and stitched together. Colin sold it to Rob Wilson who traded it in to Allan Hanns on the B8/57 (yes the ex-Canon car, don't these things go full circle). Allan sold it to Tony Opie and I think it was when he had it that it achieved some notoriety when it broke the chains and jumped off the rollers at Darlington Dynotune and disappeared out through the back wall of the workshop. From Tony, the car went to Brett Lewis in NSW and correct me if I'm wrong, was eventually sold to Alan Harmer and is now in the hands of Greg Merritt.
This photograph is of the car when it was pretty new in the carpark at Calder. When you click on the picture to enlarge it you will be able to make out Frank Rushton's (there's a blast from the past) yellow Mk.7 in the pits with the bonnet up. As you can see from the number plate it started life in Victoria. Anyway, at the time of the accident in about 1978 I reckon, it belonged to a lady in Double Bay in Sydney and her 16 year old unlicenced son took the car for a spin one night. His older brother raced open wheelers and he was going to be a Formula One champion one day. He lost it on one of those treacherous Double Bay bends hitting a pole sideways.. "Police said the speedo was locked on 240 km/h when they arrived with firemen and ambulancemen." A few of us can attest to the relative safety of a frontal impact but side impacts are a different thing. After that the car found its way back to Melbourne. Colin McAskill, who seemed to have an uncanny knack (and probably still does) of uncovering lost Bolwells, bought the car in Melbourne together with enough secondhand body bits to rebuild it. The point of my telling you this is that among the bits was the Canon car roof. Anyway, the car was taken back to Adelaide and stitched together. Colin sold it to Rob Wilson who traded it in to Allan Hanns on the B8/57 (yes the ex-Canon car, don't these things go full circle). Allan sold it to Tony Opie and I think it was when he had it that it achieved some notoriety when it broke the chains and jumped off the rollers at Darlington Dynotune and disappeared out through the back wall of the workshop. From Tony, the car went to Brett Lewis in NSW and correct me if I'm wrong, was eventually sold to Alan Harmer and is now in the hands of Greg Merritt.
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3 comments:
The story is probaly correct John but not the Photo, The car in the photo is still Gold (sort of) and still carries that reg No. its Fred Podner's car, he probably owned the car when the photo was taken.
G.Day John
I have emailed you a pic of the nagari when I bought it from Sydnay to Adelaide. I later went to ferntree gully to get the damaged canon body less roof .
When I later sold the originsl death coupe as a project the transport company turned it into a convertible for me by nerly ripping off the roof. The remains were stored at the Jones hotrod workshop at Heidelberg till Wilson bought it.
I'm sorry about that, Fred. Initially I was told that they were one of the same and for the last 30 years I have been mistaken. The value of this blog can be seen as a good means of straightening out misconceptions. I'm sure (at least I hope) that I'm not the only one with incorrect beliefs.
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