351 Nagari in Canberra.

From Tony Briton has come the following:-
"Happy New Year.
The site is a bit slow but maybe you can shed some light on a story that was just relayed to me by a guy professing to know about a Nagari with 351 in Canberra in the early 70s that was said to destroy diffs etc and was the subject of an article in Wheels also in the 70s. The Nagari had a reversed scoop etc.
Any clues - it was not Hollywood Clearihan.
Have fun.
Tony"
With a bit of luck this could generate some discussion but I'll throw my 10c worth in first. I think the magazine article referred to was in "Sports Car World" not "Wheels". For a long time it was thought that the car in the article was B8/20 but I have since discovered that this is not the case. The SCW feature emphasised that this car was the first to be fitted with a 351 Ford and the owner lived in Canberra. At the time of writing, the car was green as was B8/20 originally although it became metallic blue some time later. The car in the article turned out to be one owned by a friend of the owner of B8/20. B8/20, I know, was still in Canberra in 1981 but the owner, Terry Pike, a chef, moved with the car to Surfers Paradise about then. At that time the car had a hot 302. Somehow it made its way back to Canberra and was owned for many years by Paul Komnacki who had brought it to the odd Easter. You may remember it as the one that had the roof cut out in a Targa style and was usually in undercoat grey. The car deteriorated over the years and in 2006 Wayne Murphy bought the wreck, selling it to his friend, Peter S in 2007.
I actually think that the car in the article was B8/19. I recall years ago that this car was painted orange and white in the 2-tone style of the Canon car but that wasn't its original colour scheme. It was fitted with a 351 Phase III and auto trans. It was very badly accident damaged in the early 70s and the wreck was picked up by Chris Clearihan. Chris had a habit of buying all the wrecked Nagaris around that area and there appeared to be no shortage of them. He actually sent the car to the Bolwell factory for a body rebuild. He owned the car for many years but never used it. Eventually, in approximately 1979 - 80, he sold it to Wayne Stehbens in Coonawarra, SA. It is the blue coupe that Wayne and Michelle took to the 1998 Easter event at Mt. Gambier.
Here's a little anecdote, almost unrelated to the original discussion here. Nagari enthusiast and owner of B8/26, John Davies, enthuses over one of his favourite Shirazs, Katnook and recalls his visit with his wife, Di, to the Estate in Coonawarra. Little did he know at the time that this is the Stehbens' winery and lurking there was B8/19 and a Nagari sports in the process of construction.