Off the market

Remember this car? It was for sale. Just as well it hasn't sold because Norm doesn't want to sell it any more. Back from Winton with fire in his belly he now wants to turn the Bolly into a track car.

EH Holdens

Just received in the mail some 1971 Chrysler Australia service bulletins for the VH Charger from David Johnson in Sydney, which I'll pass on to Immanuel in case they are useful for the restoration of the Geoghegan Charger. David's family get lots of enjoyment from their EH sedan. Here it is at the last ever track day at Oran Park last January 14th.

His son was pulling 115+ mph down the straight which would have been more if the straight was long enough for him to get into 5th. Fast enough for a tired old worked 186 says David.

Arrivals at Birdwood you may know.

Trevor in the Overland record breaker.

TC in the Alfa.

The Veale Healey or the Vealey Healey as it used to be called.

Fred and Noeline Chapman in the mighty Graham Paige.

This is John Lucas' Packard. It is a 1934 model and I guess it's kinda special because in  1970 it was my wedding car. There's so much room in the back that you can stand up and walk around. It was originally purchased for the Mayor of Nuriootpa. In those days Mayors must have been real toffs. Our local mayor goes to the council chambers in a red Holden ute. Anyway, this car was used used in the film "On The Beach" so we were riding around on the same seats that Ava Gardner and Gregory Peck had parked their bums. We had 2 navy blue Packards for the wedding, the other one had belonged to the Goldner family (remember Goldners' Bloodstock Transport?). A similar one, if not the same one glided up. Lo and behold, it was driven by Ivan Venning. He's had it for a few years.

Eastern Creek pictorial

Rob Luck was busy with his camera at the Eastern Creek event back in August. Here's a random selection of his shots.

Interior, John Marr's Mark 7 sports.

Col Watson's Mark 4

Phil White's Nagari interior.

Under bonnet, John and Penny Hartney's Mark 7.

Phil's sports.

Hartneys' 7.

Dave Lewis driving Col's Nagari.

From the control tower.

Engine bay, Angelo Karageorgiou Mark 7.

The rest of Angelo's 7. This was once a Peter Marr car I think.

Gordon Ross' Nagari.

Ron McPherson Mk.7.

Red nose day.

Same cars different angle.

Vic Meyer's "7 with the Nagari doors", John Marr's 7 behind.

Kapunda - week 10

Lexus coupes, late model Corvettes, vintage Whippets, the odd MGA have all made a visit this week but this local car outside the Sir John Franklin catches my eye just as much. When the owner bought the car it had all the JPS badgework and transfers in the boot. So far they haven't made it onto the car. Maybe he's waitng for the paintjob first.

Vauxhalls at Birdwood

Never did get Vauxhalls out of my system. My old 1926 Vauxhall still exists and lives at Jamestown. It wasn't a fantastic 30/98 of course, but a 14/40 but it was pretty good nevertheless. Here's the 2 30/98s that made it to Birdwood.

When I left high school and started work at Chryslers I abandoned driving my mum's 1951 Velox tourer and dad's 1955 Velox sedan to get a Vauxhall of my own. Thomson Motors had this fabulous Velox Vagabond for sale for about 500 quid. I drew the money out of the bank in pound notes so that I could count it out to George Thomson. I've still got a photo of Jane with 500 screwed up pound notes in her lap, Anyway, there was a Vagabond at Birdwood. Here it is,

A bit of Queensland news.

This came from John Davies after the Speed on Tweed.

Hello John,

Below is some info I posted on the Qld page of the NSW web site. Some photos are up at ian Welsh's web site - www.shiftingfocus.com.au

Regards

John Davies

 

Well B8/26 went very well at this years Speed on Tweed.

I was 6th of 11 starters in my class and at 48.2s was well beaten by Ray Vandesees Skelta - 43.03s and Jon Siddons 240Z - 44.8s. I was close to a Porsche 911- 47.94s and a slick shod Triumph GT6 - 47.19s. 

But, I did beat a TR7 V8, 2 Ferrari 308s, a 240Z and a Subaru SVX. Not bad for a 40 year old car which I drove to and from the event.

 

I had a little trouble with boiling in the lunchtime and evening street parades. B8/26 has just been rewired and 1 of the 2 radiator fans was running backwards, so at slow speeds the hot engine air was being recirculated through the radiator causing the boiling.

I rearranged the errant fan wiring Sat morning and everything then worked well.

 

Now with a break from competition it is time to attend to the front suspension, trim and paint.

The refurbishing continues.

Regards

John Davies   

Anyone else got any photos?

Oh so that's where!

Kevin has just sent a couple of pictures of his mate's very low mileage Landau that he's just finished restoring.

Landaus

Where have all the Landaus gone? Barry Main had one for a tow car back in the day. Andrew and I saw one at the Gawler Swap Meet last year or the year before and Damien spotted this one at the All Ford  Day in Canberra recently.

But they really have dropped off the map don't you think?

A Milano GT with a bit of history for sale.

Here's Clark's ad for the Milano GT.

1964 JWF Milano GT MK1

The car was built by Dick Willis in 1963/4 and was the first Milano to run the 179 Holden 6cyl. It runs a MG 4 speed box with close ratio straight cut gears built by John Needham, puck clutch solid centre H/d Holden pressure plate, custom tail shaft, rear is Holden with big chev axles, HG Drum brakes rear, solid disc front. front suspension is custom Holden double wishbone, rear is coil over custom trailing arm set up, front and rear sway bars. Engine is full race spec  blueprinted balanced, steel crank, star fire rods, big sump, roller rockers, big head, triple Webbers runs on av gas. It runs Lexan windows front rear and side, with a two piece fiberglass body.

Comes with spares and various diff ratios. Car is in very sound overall condition, ready to race, normal wear and tear from track use.

The cars  restoration was completed in 1997 its was  raced until 2002 and has been garaged since, the car is now race ready with the entire car overhauled and safety checked, all seals, brakes and other components have been replaced or refreshed. 

The cars documentation file is massive, letters from Dick Willis to JWF on the initial order of the body, right through to the interest from the  factory in Dick fitting the Holden engine. Race results, Records, articles, photos, receipts, programs, letters from all the owners, restoration details and Cams correspondence is all included.

Cams log booked group M.

For more info contact Matthew Liersch (0434088757) or Clark Watson (0418698332). Vintage Fiber Restorationswww.vfr.net.au.

History, attached is a exert on the car which gives you more detail to its earlier life.

http://wwwbollyblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/another-milano-gt-179.html

 

A Clemente at Winton.

Norm is back from Winton grinning from ear to ear. Sounds like it was a bit of a baptism of fire mixing it with up to 30 cars. Here's a couple of shots.

Winton looks vastly different these days compared with my memories of it from donkey's years ago.

2010 President's Trophy Trial

The President's Trophy hasn't been run for a while but eventually another one was held last month and it was a great day, ending in Burra for lunch. Here are some excellent photos taken at the Williamstown checkpoint by Jane Gascoigne. In order of appearance..........

Bolwell Mark 7 - Ron Westren / Trevor Lambert.

Bolwell Mark 7 - Brian Deckert / Adam Lee.

Nissan powered Clubman - Tim Jolly / Kate Edmonds (This amazing car is not a kit clubman but built entirely from scratch by Tim.)

427 Cobra Replica - Peter Benger / Rosie Benger.

Bolwell Mark 7 - John Harrland / Rick Wallace.

Fiat 124 Spyder - Glenn Whitburn / John Wilmshurst.

Reliant Scimitar GTE - Glen Scholz / Dale McNeil.

Bolwell Mark 7 sports - Roger Trethewey / Lynne Trethewey.

Mazda MX5 - Robert Jacobs / Joanne Jacobs.

Bolwell Mark 7 - Peter Mac / Linda Lucas.

Bolwell Nagari sports - Scott Baxendale / Dean Baxendale.

In addition to the above, Jane Alcorn took her 240Z to Burra as did Jim White in his Nagari sports and Kym and Maria Burton in the BMW. Also there were control keepers Dean Malone, Barry Downie-Leslie, Chris Gascoigne, Jane Gascoigne, Colin Lucas and Sandy Lucas as well as course checkers Norm and Sarah Clements. Lunch was at an Indonesian Restaurant that only held about 22 people but right next door was a very nice pub where we had to go to select our wine bottles and a number of people had lunch there. The winner of the event will be announced at the meeting on Tuesday night. Even Norm only thinks he knows who won.