Healey/Bolwell connection

Iain Mcpherson has also written in the AHOC's "Hundreds and Thousands".........."Not only did Austin Healeys have an impact on the Bolwells, but the Bolwells had an impact on Austin Healey owners because living next door to the Bolwell family was Ross McConnell who went on to own three Austin Healeys and worked at the Bolwell factory at the time of the Nagari production in 1973. In due course Ross owned a Nagari himself and went on to his current restoration responsibilities at The Healey Factory."

Barb Meredith, the AHOC-Vic. librarian and editor, also tells me that their club's link to Campbell has seen the annual Austin Healey concours these days inviting the Bolwell Club to take part with their own concours/show-and-tell.

Iain McPherson is also a Bolwell owner, having had for years a Mk.4A coupe, the chassis for which came from South Australia.

An update on the Graeme Bolwell Mark 3

Here are a couple of photos of the car when it was owned by Iain McPherson. The old Holden engine is very evident and the radiator looks like it needs that high bonnet bulge. This was before he had found the bonnet languishing behind someone's shed and the original Bill Lucas aero screen. Note the wire wheels on the front and the disc wheels on the back. When they needed to replace the rear end assembly with an XK120 unit it was also necessary to use disc wheels.
Also quoted from the August edition of "Hundreds and Thousands" is............"Iain McPherson eventually sold the car to Patrick Ryan who became a good friend and has remained so for over 30 years. Patrick currently has the car with David Rapley who is rebuilding it to the period when it was the Elgaram." I've found some more photos of the Elgaram and here are a couple. The first one is of Rex Styles at the wheel and I would welcome being told where it was.
The next one is at the 1964 Geelong Sprints and that could very well be Bob Minogue at the wheel because I know he drove it at that event that year.

An update on the Winston Bolwell Mark 3.

Just when I stick my neck out and say something like "it may very well no longer exist", of course it exists. Iain McPherson to the rescue again. Campbell took the new Nagari along to the July meeting of the AHOC in Melbourne and gave a presentation. In that presentation he touched on the Bolwells' links to the Austin Healey Owners Club of Vic. and vice versa. This prompted Iain to write a bit more on the Austin Healey/Jaguar based specials that became the Mark 3s. Below is the car that we talked about Winston developing and here is a bit more information about it. This particular car, registered GGS 360, had a number of owners, including a long time AHOC-Vic. member, John Wasley, from Ballarat, before Winston bought it as an original Healey. As well as fitting the Jaguar engine, Winston modified the front end to resemble a Maserati, fitted a windscreen which has previously been the rear window of a Hillman Minx and a hardtop with a recess for a huge petrol filler cap. As we mentioned before, Winston was killed in another car and his friend Paul Morton who owned it by then, took the approach that if Winston couldn't drive it then nobody could. However, this is not where it ended. In about 1981, John Cameron was able to prise the car away from Paul after trying for many years. Two years later he sold the car to Rob Rowland who sold it to John Gray. Another 3 years later Peter Robinson from Sydney became the owner and he commissioned The Healey Factory to rebuild the car, but with modifications to the original Austin Healey rear mudguards and boot, and a change of colour to BRG. Peter eventually lost interest in the car before it was finished and it was sold to a Bolwell Club member (was this Dave Bruce?). He did some additional work before selling it to John Gray who retains ownership today. John has the original rear panels and will complete the rebuild to the way Winston had it, including its red colour.

Most of the above is directly quoted from Iain and both he and the AHOC-Victoria have given me the OK to relate this in this post.

Ikara clone

From the Adelaide Advertiser, Saturday, 20th Sept. 2008 comes this little article on the Jetstream, made in the UK. The concept is very Ikara-ish don't you think?

Chev Biscayne

What do these 2 photos have in common? Well they are of the same car. My old 1958 Chev Biscayne. I had lots of Chevs including, among others the '55, '56, '57, and '58. All of them were my dad's hand-me-downs. All of them were Australian assembled so they all had the six cylinder Blue Flame motor and 3 speed manual box. The rugged old Blue Flame really started life in the 1929 Chev International and went through to the early sixties in Australia, and ending up powering early Toyota Land Cruisers. I even remember one in a Bolwell Mark 5 in Melbourne. Today, everyone who owns an Aussie Chev from 1955 onwards seems to fit a V8 and pretend they are something that they're not which is a pity.
When Mel Gibson finished at NIDA, his first film, as far as I am aware, was Summer City. This was shot in NSW coastal towns and was about some surfers getting about in the Chev and causing mayhem. Halfway through shooting, their Chev got knocked off and set alight. In order to finish the movie, they needed another one and as I was thinking about selling mine, sold it to them for $500 which was a good price although I was lamenting the fact that they painted it matt black over the beautiful green and cream paintwork.
Mel Gibson's wife was from Adelaide and one of their houses was in Unley, just around the corner from where I used to live. Some of their kids even went to Unley Primary School intermittently I believe. Anyway, I ran into him one day, buying a chicken in Johnny Mac's Chicken Shack in Duthy Street. (Yes, the Pink Champagne Johnny Mac, who was also famous for getting around in an ex-Elvis Presley Cadillac, complete with bullet holes in the door.) Back to Gibson, I mentioned the Chev to him. He seemed rather unimpressed but what he did say, was did I have a copy of the movie. "Yes" says I, and he says "I'd burn the bloody thing if it were mine". (or something to that effect, it was a long time ago).

The first Mark 3

This little post was going to be called "The Mark 2" to start with because this is what we used to think was the Mark 2. However, when I ran what I was going to write past Campbell (for verification and authorization) he said "no, that's not the Mark 2 at all, the Mark 2 was built on an MG J2 chassis and was powered by a Ford 10 engine, and there were, in fact two Mark 3s". He also said that he had a photo of the Mark 2 that we probably haven't seen and when he gets a chance he'll dig it out and Owen can put it on the archive page on the Car Company website. When I was young, the Ford 10 engine formed the basis for all kinds of specials. There were numerous books produced on building the Ford 10 special, just like the Austin 7 special. Colin Chapman was caught up in this too and his messing around with "trials cars" culminated in the Lotus 7 and before that the Lotus Mark 6. In SA, the VSCC had an annual "English-type trial" for the Jack Watts Trophy, usually on rugged dirt tracks and creek beds in the Adelaide hills, and there were the odd Ford 10 specials built up for that. Mike Pryce had a perfect example. Ford Anglias and Prefects and Populars were gutless things but when you removed the body, lowered the steering column and fitted and aluminium clad 2-seater body frame, it was amazing how they were transformed.
Anyway, as usual, I digress. Let's call this car that I am about to mention, the Mark 3A. It started life as a BN1 Healey. It was purchased by Winston Bolwell. The front finally got smashed so he built his own fibreglass nose and fitted a Jaguar engine. The car also had a radical hardtop and a huge home made flip-top petrol cap on the back shroud. This car was never raced. Winston eventually swapped the car to his good friend Paul Morton for a Mini. Winston was duly killed in the Mini. Paul put the Bolwell under a tree and never drove it again (1964 approx.). His house was across the road from the beach and at the time was covered with a tarp. Over the years, the tarp rotted away. It was eventually believed that if the car was moved it would probably break in half. Paul was very sensitive about the car and resisted offers to have it put under cover. It may very well no longer exist.

Some Elgaram results

From various publications of the time come a few results:-

Geelong Sprints, 24th Aug. 1961
W. F. Suhr JHS 15.90 sec.

Phillip Island, 10th Dec. 1962
Sports Cars 3,000cc and over scratch.
W. F. Suhr JHS 1st.

Eastern Beach, 23rd Aug. 1964
R. Minogue Elgaram Jaguar 15.77 sec

Lakeland, 27th-28th March 1965
Sports Cars over 3,000cc
C. Lucas Jaguar Special 37.38 sec.

Templestowe, 11th Sept. 1966
Sports Cars 3,000cc and over
W. Lucas Beast 44.57 sec.

Bob Minogue was a friend of Rex Styles who would have owned it at that time.

Another Mark 7 convertible

A few months ago we had some discussions about various forms of Mark 7 convertibles. Well here's another one. It was built by John Arcus in Perth so long ago that I would venture to say that it may very well be the very first one. I wonder where this one is now. I think it went to make way for the Vermillion Fire B8/43 coupe that John bought from me. I should ask the same question about the Nagari. I know John had a big prang in it and wrote it off. I also know that Greg Wigger bought the wreck. I have no idea if it made it back to the road. I still have some good photos of B8/43 from when it was mine.

V8 Mark 7 for sale in NSW.

Click on the image to enlarge.

Bolwell Mark 3

I will begin this by stating that there were actually two Mark 3s and I will elaborate more in my next post, probably tomorrow. Now I will give you a little history of what most people have considered "the" Mark 3. Some of this information had been supplied to me by Iain McPherson (no relation to Ron I'm told) who owned the car at one stage. Strangely, Iain, in Victoria, parallelled my own motoring history in SA. We both had Buick Standard 6 tourers at the same time. We both had Austin-Healey BN1s at the same time. Iain was actively endeavouring to purchase in Melbourne a Front Wheel Drive BSA sports car at the same time as I had mine and when I had my Mark 5 Bolwell he eclipsed that by owning the Mark 3 (both fitted with grey Holden motors at the time).
Anyway, back to the subject. This car started life as the JHS Special, built by Bill Suhr (13 Wells Road, Frankston). The project started in 1960. It had an Austin Healey chassis and a Jaguar engine. The chassis was not from a wrecked car but was brand new, purchased from a Frankston dealer. It used Healey wheels and suspension. The engine was a pretty hot Jaguar built up from a Mk.VII to D-Type specifications using D-Type cams etc. I have heard the body described as "a sort of clubman" but generally, I'm told, it resembled a Lotus XI, but had the radiator exposed and was ugly. The car was registered, HHD-671, in Bill's name from March 1961 to 1962. It ran at the old Mt. Martha hillclimb and a few sprints.
Bill lived not far from the Bolwells, so the car was duly bought by Graeme who didn't like the body so removed it to build his own in fibreglass. He built it on a plaster mould, then chipped off the plaster. It took him ages. The windscreen was the rear window from an FB Holden. The car was never really finished but Graeme registered it and used it mainly as a road car and dragging up the main street of Frankston. It was the fastest car in Frankston. He also entered it at the drags at Riverside, taking home 3 trophies - 13.9 sec. quarter mile. The car was, though, mainly used for everyday transport. This was the first fibreglass body built by Bolwell. The car was advertised in "Australian Motor Sports" in December 1963 -
"Jaguar-Healey Sports - Jaguar 3.7 litre 2OHC engine and gearbox, 260bhp. Austin-Healey chassis and suspension (modified). Immaculate bright red fibreglass body resembles E-type. New upholstery. 14.2 quarter mile, 0-50mph 5.2sec. 20mpg. Very flexible road car. $1700."
It was not sold by this medium but was traded in at Pitstop Motors and duly bought by a salesman there - Rex Styles (14 Wells Road, Frankston). Rex called it the "Elgaram" and used it as everyday transport during the week and raced every weekend (in all sorts of events). It raced at Winton, Lakeland (the 1st meeting) and Templestowe. The engine started to knock after a Templestowe meeting so the car was sold in December 1964. It then passed to Bill Lucas (W.C.Lucas, 35 Maddox Road, West Newport) who drove it on the road and used it in all kinds of competition - Templestowe, Rob Roy, Calder and Riverside drags. He over-revved the Jaguar engine (9800 revs) and ruined it. Bill then built up a hot Star Model Ford Customline engine and used a Crossley pre-selector gearbox, retaining the Healey diff. The gearboxes were not successful, he blew two up at practice for Calder, and went back to the Jag box. With the V8 engine the car saw 135mph on Geelong Road fitted with an aero screen and was good for 115 mph over the quarter mile. The Healey diff wouldn't take the strain so he decided to lock it, then broke axles. The rear end was therefore replaced with an XK120 unit together with coil springs and trailing arms. The car handled reasonably well with Dunlop racing tyres on the front and radials on the rear. Bill continued to run it in circuit races and the drags, owning it for approximately 3 years. The car was de-registered in his name in April 1966.
Bill sold it to Fred Woolski from Altona who ran it at the drags (by then at Calder I think). Fred fitted vertical exhaust stacks and cut out a section of the bonnet for them. He also fitted a Customline dashboard. He then sold it to an unknown bloke in Altona who removed the engine and gearbox and fitted them in his Customline.
The next owner we know of was Alan Forsythe (5 Transport Street, Braybrook) who bought the car from a house in Altona that has since been pulled down. Alan didn't know anything else about its origins. His brother fitted an FC Holden engine and gearbox and drove it around the local paddocks. It was then sold to an unknown chap who pulled the brakes apart and lost most of the parts. I recall that at one stage the car was exchanged for a shotgun but don't know the details.
The next owner was Jim Evans (Moore Street, Footscray) who was going to use it in club events. He drove it around the back lanes of Footscray but that was all. He sold the car to buy some beer for his 21st birthday party. He knew it once had a Customline engine and Jaguar gearbox and that it came from Footscray but nothing else.
Iain McPherson (Kathleen Grove, Bulleen) bought the car because it had a Healey chassis and planned to fit a Healey engine and run it in closed competition events. He located the bonnet which was missing and acquired it from Fred Woolski's cousin. He recognised a photo of the car in a magazine (see above) being driven by Rex Styles and contacted him by obtaining his address from CAMS. Having other historic racers to complete and because the Mark 3 was by this stage "a bit rough", he passed it on to a fellow historic stalwart.
I won't mention the next owner's name because some time ago he asked me not to and I haven't checked again lately but I can say that many years ago he was rebuilding it and fitting a 3.8 Jag engine and overdrive gearbox and intended to run it in post historic events. Barry Main used to send me copies of photos of it and I do remember one where it was sporting a brand new bonnet. Unfortunately these photos were handed out to various Slipstream editors over the years and I'm not sure where they are now.

A Better View

From the same archive page comes a side view of the same wheels. They are simpler than the Nagari ones but generally it seems that they are liked by most people I have spoken to that have seen them.

Bolwell Mark 7 mags

There's been a bit of discussion lately about Nagari mags on Mark 7s. From that has come a query from Jim S who is wondering if anybody knows anything about the mags on the car in these two pictures that come from the archives pages on the Bolwell Car Company site.
(Note the front badge, Alex). Personally, I have no knowledge of their origin but to me they look like they could be a precursor to the Nagari mag. Pete G doesn't know anything about them either but pointed out that the Mark 7 sports of Les Andrews in Sydney has the same wheels. Below is a photo of the car lifted from the NSW club's website. That's good spotting Peter. Perhaps Les can tell us something about the wheels. We'll have to put Graham Nichols on the case.

Where is it now? - No.5

While we seem to be in a bit of a Mark 5 mode at the moment, I thought I'd include one in the "Where Is It Now?" series. These photos, once again, are lifted from Colin M's vast picture album. All four pictures are of his RNW-655 which he drove and played around with for a few years in the early seventies. Although I knew Colin before this period, I do remember this car very well because I used to see it every day. Colin and Lynne lived in a place in Dawson Street, Fullarton, which, by coincidence, was right next-door to our family's horse stables, so I used to see it every evening when I used to go to feed the horses.


Anyway, back to the point. In about 1975, I suppose, Colin sold it to someone in Junee, NSW, and it hasn't been heard of since. Now, Junee is just up the road from Wagga. There is a bit of Bolwell activity in Wagga. Nagari owner, Darrell H lives there and the recently sold Nagari of Ross A has gone to a car collection over there. So dare I ask, has anybody seen this Mark 5?

Daryl Siggs had a Mark 5 too and I reckon it must have been in the late 80s he sold it to someone in Broken Hill. Once again, that one has disappeared off the radar as well.

A very unusual Mark 7

Here are a couple of shots of the building of the late Colin Deckert's Bolwell. Colin bought a Mark 7 kit very early in the production run. He set about building his ideal Bolwell. Being a perfectionist, when confronted with something that didn't line up or fit or was poorly designed, he replaced it with something else. His pile of discarded stuff ended up being almost enough to build a Bolwell. Note the front sub-frame in the picture. You can also see the front half of the turret section of a Toyota Crown to replace much of the Mark 7 bodywork. At least the doors went clunk when you shut them. The back part is widened Nagari as you can see. At this stage we were calling it "The First Bolwell Ute". It may have turned out to be a very nice car. Who knows? Unfortunately Colin died before it was finished.

Nose badge for Mark 5

Bolly 5 asked me what the shield badge for his Mark 5 should look like and whether they were still available. He can see where it was fitted on his bonnet but at some stage it must have been removed and the holes filled in. Well, here's what they look like. I should have cleaned it up a bit before I scanned it. At one stage I recall Col Watson taking orders for a batch of these badges and then I heard that the plan had fallen through. I then obtained what I thought was a very good price for them but was told that someone was already under way with some in Victoria. Bolly 5 would like one. This style of badge was on Mk.4s, Mk.5s and early Mk.7s.

A response to Where is it now? - No.4

From Peter Marr has come the following:-
John
In case you don't know, the white Mk.7 with the boot is now in WA I believe. Jason Webber used to own it. The sports in front of it is either Jason's Fibrecar sports or the very dark blue Mk.7 sports with the 265 Hemi in it that Ted Middleton used to own. The car in the shed belongs to a bloke in Qld. called Col Cupbert or Cuthbert (something like that). He has owned the car since new. He ordered it with Nagari rims which were made from new with the Holden stud pattern. When I saw the car about 15 years ago he had it off the road for a rebuild. He had a very neat setup with a one piece side glass that went all the way down. No 1/4 window. It also had a Nagari nose and a Fibrecar hatch.
Regards,
Peter.

Where is it now? - No.4

This white Mark 7 is a Queensland car, or at least it was when I last heard of it. It is beautifully shaped at the back with the Nagari buttresses blending into the Mark 7 tail very nicely. The styling is similar to Norm's Nagari with a short bootlid and angled rear window. Pete G told me to look further into the shed because he spotted an orange Bolwell in there but what about the black car in front of the white Mark 7? Is that a Nagari sports?

Nagari colours

It must be colour week judging by the emails I have received since I mentioned a colour chart on the post about B8/67. Maybe I'd better list them. Please bear in mind that this was issued in June 1971 and I have no idea how long they remained as standard colours nor do I know what others were added later.
1. Silver Grey Metallic 662-06136
2. Burmese Blue 300-09953
3. Apple Green 300-12545
4. Windsor Green 300-11998
5. Diat Red 300-09685
6. Cornflower Blue 300-12510
7. Polar White 300-08631
8. Deep Yellow 300-05537
9. Hot Orange 300-12511
10. Vermillion Fire 300-11714

Bolly 5's Mark 5

We have a guest author today. It's Alex, AKA Bolly 5.

Here's the run down on my Mark5.

My brother and his girlfriend bought the car from Barry Sparks in Geelong at around 1977/1978 for $700. It housed a grey motor with triple SUs and a three speed box and, if I recall correctly, 135 mph was its top speed with a tendency for the front end to lift.

It was painted silver and registered (LFO-???) but a bit of a wreck with odd sized rear wheels, broken rear bubble window, ripped seats etc.

It was housed next door at his girlfriend's parent's house as there was no room in our dad's garage. He relied on his mates to work on it as he is not mechanically minded. After a few years he and his girlfriend broke up with no progress on the car having been made except for some parts having gone missing. I then decided to buy it off them, my brother giving me his half for nothing and I paid his ex $350 for her half. I was able to stow it in dad's garage for a short time.

Around that time I started a motor mechanic apprenticeship. The first two years of my apprenticeship were carried out in Melbourne and having exhausted the use of dad's garage for storage, I took up an offer from a work collleague to store it at his mother's place. So off to Gippsland's ninety mile beach it went and stayed in the open for about two years. Too far to travel even if it was to have been housed so that you could work on it. The only progress made was by others having removed more parts.

I then left that job and continued my apprenticeship in Geelong where once again the car was housed in dad's garage, this time for four years. Being a single car garage, you just didn't have the room to work on it. I then went into the Navy and the car was transferred from the garage up to a 45 acre bush block that dad and I purchased. There it remained, placed up on blocks and covered over with a Vic Rail tarpaulin for ten years.

When I got out I was married with two kids and settled in a town near Geelong called Bannockburn. Now I have my own big shed to house and work on my car. Seven years later, having worked around the house, working a full time job and never having money to spare for the Bolwell, no progress was made. Having realised that our house has not got a dishwasher, we then commenced to build a bigger house in the same town. This once again means a big shed to house the Bolwell, work around the house, work a full time job and never have money to spare for the car.

We recently sold the bush block and I said to the wife "the one thing I've always wanted is a yank tank" and a yank tank I got. I used to drive a big Yank Chrysler when I was about 16 and ever since then Tanks have stayed close to my heart. It's a 1961 Chrysler Newport with fins and, as far as I can find, there are only two others in Australia at present.

Anyway, now that the work around the house is slowing up and the kids are growing up, I can spare some time on my cars. All that is left of the Bolwell is a rusty chassis, with the body, bonnet and doors in poor condition, new rear window purchased a few years ago, front end, tailshaft, rear leaf springs and windscreen. Well there you go, John, that's Alex's Bolly 5 story. I'll be continuously after information, John, so if you don't mind I'll pick your brains as much as I can.

Via the blog, Alex, you can pick the whole country's brains. I look forward to progress reports.

Rusty old Mark 5s.

Here's some pictures sent in to illustrate what happens to neglected Mark 5s. With their sheet steel floors, they rust badly. The bronze car below was rusted so badly, the bottom part virtually didn't exist. This photo was taken in Valley View about 1980. Tony Opie snapped it up and was determined to make a car out of it. Unfortunately a bushfire put paid to that plan.
Above and below, I hate to say it, is my dear old Mark 5. It wasn't like that when it left our place in 1982. I have never seen it since then even though it has ended up residing not far from where I used to live. From the pictures it looks a sorry sight but I am sure there are still plans for its resurrection.
Tomorrow, I will try and pass on a story of a Mark 5 that is about to embark on a long and thorough rebuild. I hope this doesn't put the owner off. Bill Davidson's Mark 5 is testimony of how good they really can be. Maybe I'll post a couple of photos of that car too.

B8/67, more photos.

Here's 3 pictures lifted from Colin's photo album, titles underneath (also from photo album). My Nagari sports B4 paint.
My Nagari sports 1977.
Nagari sports, Adelaide 1977.

B8/67

B8/67 began life as a pale blue factory built 302 cu. in. 4-speed Nagari roadster. It has been reported in the club forum that it was delivered to the South Australian agent as a delete engine and transmission kit. This is not the case. Even though previous Nagaris had been delivered to South Australia in this form, this car was, in fact, the very first turn key South Australian Nagari. It was ordered for Donald Nairn (now deceased), a Glen Osmopnd dentist. He had it for a couple of years and bowing to family pressure (I'm told) sold it to Dennis Pollard from North Adelaide on 12th September 1974.
Incidentally, a few people have told me that the car came out with a non-standard colour. It was most certainly a genuine Bolwell colour and has its own special metal plate on my Bolwell colour chart. It was called Burmese Blue and the Balm Paints Ltd. number was 300-09953 issued on 28th June 1971. I know of no others that colour and can only conclude that it just wasn't popular.
I don't think Dennis had the car for all that long although I remember him being a club member for a while. Anyway, it was bought by Shirley-Anne Clements whose brother, Bob Gay, had a Mark 7. Shirl, sadly widowed in her twenties, came with us to every thing that was going. These were the days of everyone going to circuit sprints and Shirl was there. Easters - Shirl was there. She was very generous with her car and there were many Bolwell people who were able to experience driving a Nagari. Mind you, a lot of the guys were generous in return and the car was always maintained in good order and it also became repainted (only about 3 years into its life) a light metallic blue. Eventually it became impractical for B8/67 to serve the needs of a busy district nurse and it gave way to a new Celica.


Enter Kym Stark (the 4th owner) a suddenly well-heeled (from an inheritance) young man about town who was going places at a hundred miles an hour (in more ways than one). Apart from the Bolwell, he also had an E49 Charger. I remember one night Kym hopped in the Charger in Adelaide and drove to Perth, arriving next day in Perth in such a record time that it needed to be verified that he was there. And verified it was. Anyway, back to the Bolwell. Under Kym's ownership it became more and more modified and hotter and hotter and it was driven about the place at break-neck speeds. It would often be seen, especially at night, sporting 15 x 10 wheels, complete with racing slicks, tearing around the roads.
Colin McAskill became the fifth owner in about 1977. I won't say he picked up the pieces, but he did turn it back into a nice car, this time painting it a darker Monza blue and fitting it with Magnums. In 1978 Colin entered it in the Drag Nationals. On Bridgestone road tyres it had no traction. Anyway, before any decent times could be posted, the starter motor packed up.
By this time Vern Leng had bought B8/81. Vern was a cop and his patrol car mate (car 54 where are you?),Shannon Summerton, had become indoctrinated through long periods spent with Vern on night shift, and bought B8/67. I don't recall Shannon being the tear-arse that Kym and Vern were and the car was able to lead a more sedate life during his custodianship.
After Shannon came another young woman, Lynne Cockshell. I think Lynne eventually moved interstate and the Bolwell moved with her. It was here that I lost contact with the car, but I do know that the next owner became Carl Schultz in Victoria and from Carl it went to Lee Mundy in Tasmania. From Tasmania it was back to Victoria to Ross Carrington. Ross sold it to Peter Carpenter who, in turn, sold it to Guy S who has retained it to this day. I hope that's the correct sequence.
Since Guy has owned it, it has been featured in Restored Cars No.80 (May 1989), Unique Cars (October 2000) and Australian Muscle Car No.11 (January 2003).
I remember in the South Australian Slipstream of March 1980 the Editor being amazed at the rediculously high priced sale figure quoted of $6,500 as it was for sale in Melbourne at that time.

Whose Car Is This?

This foggy old photo of a "Victorian" Mark 7 was taken in the carpark at Mallala in the late 60s I'd say. It just happened to be there and I just happened to be walking past with my old camera. The number plate should bring back a memory from someone.

A Victorian Idiosyncrasy This Time.

It seems to me that all Mark 7s built in Victoria have back windows with rounded edges at the base. I have noticed this from day one in the sixties. Someone must have done this, possibly to make life easier when fitting the rubber gasket and everybody else has thought "what a good idea" and followed suit. I'm sure someone from that great state can explain. Below is the shape of a back window in the rest of the world and after that I have included a few photos of Victorian back windows. Below is the original V8 Mark 7 currently being restored by Chris Gascoigne. It has been in South Australia since about 1972 when it was brought over by the then ABC television presenter, Denise Marcos. In addition to the round-edge window this car has always (as far as I am aware) had the Kamm tail as well.
Below are the 2 Mark 7s of Frank Rushton and Doug Seath and the Victorian back windows are evident. This was at a six-hour at Calder. Is that Frank pulling his trousers up? And is the other guy John White? Just disappearing off to the right is Tim Sherman.
This one is Doug's car again at a later six-hour. The Nagari tail-lights are evident but the moulded in number-plate surround tells us that it is an early one. Alongside the Mark 4 with its bonnet up is John Szabo's undercoat grey Transit van which was significant in that it had a 289 V8 right in the middle of the cargo area - the ultimate in 50/50 weight distribution.
Speaking of John, here is his Mark 7, complete with the aforementioned back window. John built this car in record time, bolted on the racks and went surfing, all around the country.
Now the black Mark 7 in Queensland that originated from Tasmania that was shown in one of last week's posts had a windscreen with rounded edges but the back window is still the "rest-of-the-world" shape.