B8/58 Where is it now? - No.8

Remember this photograph? It formed the basis for the Bolwell Club's very first annual calendar for 1977. It was shot on a Friday night at St. Kilda beach, north of Adelaide, at about 7.00pm when the light was right and the tide was out. We had our broom to remove the tyre tracks and all that. The car in the foreground is of course Bernie Van Elsen's which we now know is B8/86. This was early days, prior to the huge transformation that took place with that car, and you can even see the current registration label on the windscreen. A photographic model was engaged for the shoot and we tricked her out with one of those yellow club t-shirts that were popular 30-odd years ago, even going to the trouble of using lots of masking tape at the back to make it a better fit, presumably to show the logo to its best advantage. The other car in the picture is B8/58, owned at the time by Christopher Kembessos. A couple of extra shots were taken with Chris and his current girlfriend. At the following club meeting, this was the shot chosen unanimously for the calendar. At about that time there was a Fiat promotion featuring a young man, a young woman and a very sporty Fiat and that promotion was called "the Italian Love Affair". Well, we were soon calling this shot "the Australian Love Affair".

Anyway, I set out with this post to talk about B8/58. This car was built in 1972 and was gunmetal grey/silver with beige trim. Engine number was A1E0437. It was a factory built car purchased from Governor Young Auto Port at Flinders Park. The original owner was Don McKinnon, a surgeon, of Fulham who had it for a couple of years before moving on to a new Maserati Merak. The second owner was Colin Bellchambers who acquired it on 24.11.1974. Colin fell ill and died in 1980 and recently his family had been asking about the whereabouts of the car that Colin loved so much and we really weren't able to tell them much. Chris Kembessos became the third owner in about 1976. He had it for a while and passed it on to Bill Klappis who was a radio jock in Whyalla at the time. Bill is now a well known wine producer in the Southern Vales. Mike Davidson, who in those days lived in Keith in the SE, bought the car on 19.9.78. Mike, among other things, is well known for his expertise with side-valve Ford V8s, even writing a book on the subject. He produced '32 Ford roadster hi-boys culminating in a very slippery looking fuel injected side-valved V8 powered salt lake record breaker sporting a lightweight body produced by Norm Clements. Mike is currently doing his bit for the planet developing wind generators. Throughout these years B8/58 was kept as an immaculate example by all of these owners.

Mike used the car for a few years before advertising it for sale and it went interstate, I believe to Bob Mackey who I think lived in the hills out of Cairns. That might ring a bell with a few readers of this blog because Bob was the owner of another ex-SA car, B8/91 that Jim White brought back to Whyalla in glad wrap. Anyway, we southerners haven't heard any news of B8/58 for decades. Perhaps someone out there can enlighten us.