Holinger Engineering.

Today Peter Holinger's Hillclimb car has been collected from our workshop and will be on display at the Victorian Historic Racing Registers Clubrooms for the foreseeable future.

This car is something we have had on display in the Holinger factory for the last few years. After Pete passed away in 2009, we had it restored back to it's former glory, as it was run. To our knowledge (correct us if we're wrong - Pete was never one to gloat on past achievements!) he won the 1988 Australian Championship in it, then retired the car and himself to focus on developing Holinger Engineering into what it is today.

I know those of you who have come into the factory have enjoyed seeing the car, so hopefully now more enthusiasts will get the chance to do so, as it is a special car, designed and built-for-purpose around the beautiful Repco-Brabham V8.

The car can be seen at:

30-32 Lexton Rd Box Hill Vic, 3129

However contact the club for opening details.

Enjoy the photos!

Eureka currently on ebay.

Unfinished project due to lack of funds moving it on f4 eureka Mazda 13b rotary motor ( was running four weeks ago) 4 wheel disc breaks was rego in Victoria in the past on the Victoria achieved list has old rego plates. I started to work on this but my father who was my expert help is no longer able to help and I cant afford to pay a mechanic to rebuild this so someone with more money or the ability gets a chance at a car that is one of only 683
. This car is complete but does need a fair bit of work don't bid if you are interstate I don't want to go though the hassle of transports. No you can't drive this car away bring a trailor.... Geelong pick up.... Does the tone of this add read like iv been messed around already? Sorry about that . Please don't waste my time if you arnt in the same ball park as me. Thanks for reading

Remember Dave Cordy?

Dave was an active member of the Victorian club in the 70s and 80s. He originally had a Mark 7 that was relatively distinctive with its NASA ducts in the tops of the guards, installed to direct air into the cabin to make life inside the car almost bearable. After an accident, this car was sold to make way for another Mark 7 and was recently identified as the red one advertised for sale by Barry Campbell in Queensland, now minus its NASA ducts.

Anyway, be that as it may, it is the second Mark 7 that we want to talk about. You can take the man out of the Bolwell but you can't take the Bolwell out of the man and Dave is keen to track down this car which he hasn't seen or heard of since it was sold in the 80s. We've had some false starts but he's keen to "chase down every rabbit down every burrow" and if found and the car can't be bought then at least he can be reacquainted with it.
This car had a number of distinctive features apart from the hard to notice work done to deal with the asymmetric nature of the original bodies. These features include the flared wheel arches, the filled in side gills (vents) and the removal of the rear number plate surround.

The car had a Holden HR block allegedly bored to 192, XU1 head, twin 2" SUs, a Datsun 4 speed, HR disc brake front end with revised (i.e. by hammer, hacksaw & drill!) geometry, and unusually, HT Holden steering box (not rack and pinion) and MGA pedal box and master cylinder. Location of the rear axle was by triangulated upper trailing arms and conventional lower ones with with adjustable coil over units. According to Dave it went like a sharp stick and handled remarkably well which , he claims, was a fluke. You're being modest, Dave.
He sold the car in 1982 to a guy called Grant Hill who later sold it to John Suhr. Neither of these guys joined the club as far as we know. John was in the movie industry and moved to the Gold Coast some time in the 1980s where he was subsequently killed in a motorcycle accident. Nothing is known of the car since John's purchase.
Just for interest's sake here's a couple of early photos of the car at the old Lakeland hill climb .

Any clues would be appreciated.

Covering the Woop Woop area.

Grey stuff - 53.

Land Rover diffs front and rear.
Currently being restored by the original builder.

60. Strewth that's old!

Wishing for a Mark 10.

More Peel.

Bob Hampton reminded me of this.......

The weekend after Easter.

That's when we have our big historic meeting at Mallala but most importantly it's the time for Historic Sports Sedans. What I'm hanging out for is the appearance of this piece of nostalgia.

Landing deck.

USS Fairlane.

B8/102

B8/102 was bought in 1973 by Ross Graham as an incomplete roller and built by him using a 289 Windsor with auto. By 1983 the paintwork had failed and the body was sanded back to bare fibreglass. You can see the remains of the light blue original colour here.

The car remained in that state from 1983 until late last year when Ross saw the need to downsize and move into a smaller place and a new home had to be found for the Nagari. Ross's son Kevin has taken over the project and last October the car was stripped down ready to go to the paint shop. It's now back at Kevin's and as you can see from Ken Williams' photo it is sporting a very nice shade of blue.

Both father and son are working together to complete the project. There's something about fathers and sons working together on projects such as this I reckon and the ability to have a joint effort is often the catalyst to get started.

Peel - The World's Smallest Car.

Part of the Isle of Man's manufacturing industry from 1962 to 1965. Now I see that Peel Engineering are alive and well and churning out this identical car.

Auckland.

Have you ever seen a photo of Udo without a beer in front of him? Looks a bit flat. (The beer that is.)

Grey stuff - 52

What the hell would you call this?

That's the spirit!

Another RR ute.

Built in Italy.

Kapunda - week 97

This is Dolly the 2CV about to set off for Sedan to check out the only remaining Bull steam engine left in the world at the old North Rhyne copper mine and the solar farm.

What next?

A Torana panel van on ebay. 4 days to go. 3 bids so far. Top bid $11,000.

Built back in the days of the panel van craze by a qualified panel beater (and obviously when LC/LJ Torana coupes were still a dime a dozen!). Has all engineering paperwork, torsional testing etc. Was told it was in an issue of "Van Wheels", but haven't seen the magazine myself. Vehicle is based on a 1971 LC coupe (has all tags) and the back end sheet metal is narrowed 1971 HG panel van, rego papers state Torana panel van. This is not a cut and shut, all the rear floor pan inner guards etc are still LC Torana.  I am guessing the builder was inspired by the "Hunchback" Monaro panel van of the time. The styling is love it or hate it, but I have taken it to a few shows and everyone comments on how good the panel work has been done, (the doors click shut with one finger). The original red velvet interior has survived pretty well but the car was resprayed 4 or 5 years ago (before I bought it). The original paint scheme faded from white at the front through yellow/orange/red/purple to black at the back. and there is still some evidence of this paint scheme on the floorpan. Car has a brand new 202 (under 1000kms) which has 60 over ACL pistons and a 10/10 crank with ACL bearings, new ACL cam bearings and a brand new oil pump. This is a blue block which has the counterweighted crank and better conrods (same as Starfire rods). Cylinder head is a re-coed 9 port Yella Terra with some extra work done, head and block have been modified so that the coolant passages are compatible. Engine has a solid grind NOS Wade cam with alloy gear (246A grind from memory, I have the spec card somewhere) new solid lifters, hardened push rods, 1.5 to 1 stainless roller rockers, a Bosch distributer that has been recurved, had the vacuum advance removed and a steel drive gear fitted, a new Cain 4 barrel manifold with a rebuilt square bore 650 double pumper Holley. Carby has had the choke housing milled off and has a K&N stub stack. It has long primary, twin outlet Pacemaker extractors with flanged 2 1/4" secondaries, these extend to the rear of the transmission where they merge into a single 2 1/2" pipe this travels over the diff then splits into a 2" pipe each side. Drivetrain is a new 2500 RPM stall convertor, tricked Trimatic and a 3.08 LSD banjo. The engine sounds very, very angry at idle (the cam is over 300 degrees duration) but the car is way more tractable than the combination suggests (and sounds). It has a new 3 core alloy radiator with new triple thermos fans, new water pump, new harmonic balancer, alternator and high torque starter motor, and a new Supercharge truck battery. Wheels are 14"x7" and 8" Dragways with near new tyres. Car has Torana front discs and standard rear drums and a stainless steel fuel tank. The bonnet was resprayed just before I bought the vehicle and the paint does not quite match the rest of the car. I was going to fit a reverse cowl scoop and paint the bonnet and scoop satin black but never got around to it. Starting price is the reserve (I'm doing my arse at that) but I have several other vehicles and this poor old girl is not getting used like it deserves (it is stored in a lock up garage). It needs a few little odd jobs doing to make it really schmick but it is a pretty tidy vehicle as it stands. Don't send me any messages on how I've ruined a classic, I didn't do it and if it bothers you that much buy it and convert it back to a coupe, you'll double your money easy!  I'll leave the rego on for QLD buyer but prefer if you get your own safety as I really don't have the time. Happy to help with interstate transport where I can (if required).