A Mark 7 You'll Remember.

This is the old Ken Stratton Mark 7. Believe it or not Ken was not the first owner of this car. He bought it as an unfinished project in the early 70s. It was, in fact, acquired from Mordialloc in 1970 by Ian Hawke who must have been one of a select band of about 10 or a dozen Mark 7 builders in Adelaide at the time. Anyway, Ken finished the build and had it registered and on the road in 1973, sporting the unusual (for Bolwells) six cylinder Ford Zephyr engine and 4-speed Zephyr gearbox. This gave good service for a few years until Ken got serious about his racing and ProdSports was coming into popularity in SA, requiring Holden power for Mark 7s. The Zephyr motor was swapped for a Holden one with Bobbie Gay who put it into his Mark 7. These 2 cars while fitted with the Zephyr engine would have to have been the best sounding Mark 7s I have ever heard. This photo shows Ken in hot pursuit of Murray Willmott, coming on to the bowl at AIR in about 1975 or 76. Some years later he moved on to the Ragno, which he still has and a Mark 4, which he no longer has. The Mark 7 was sold to Steve Medlen who took it one step further on by relieving it of its customary undercoat grey livery, painting it yellow. Steve was in the Air Force, based at Edinborough and he and his mate Stretch became active Bolwell people.

As an aside, in this photo of the Medlen Mark 7 you can make out the BRG Eureka behind the red Austin Healey. This was the Dixon car, with its big air scoops and Len, you are not the first Eureka owner to hang out with the Bolwell group.

Anyway, Steve was transferred to Butterworth in Malaysia and we haven't seen much of him since. When he got out of the Air Force, he settled in the Albury/Wodonga area and I believe he still has the car, bringing it out at one of the recent Easters in that area.