Hemipanter

I just had to add Goran Malmberg's Pantera site to the links column.

You may know Goran as the designer and maker of the exclusive Malmberg guitars but his expertise extends way beyond that. WAY beyond that. Goran lives in Sweden and bought his first Pantera over 36 years ago. It would be an understatement to say he knows them inside and out. This is not just an ordinary website about a Pantera fitted with an 8.7 litre injected Chrysler Hemi. Any sportscar builder could learn something about engine design, exhaust design, chassis bracing, torsional stiffness, aerodynamics, brake design, suspension design and fabrication etc. etc. from this site in my humble opinion.

Hindmarsh Hunter

This picture is from page 14 of the August/September 1964 edition of Australian Hot Rod. The scene was the previous month's staging of the annual NSW Sprint Championships at the Castlereagh Airstrip run by the Manly-Warringah Sporting Car Club. Ian's time of 15.17 for the 1/4 mile was an average of two passes, his quickest being 14.97.  He ran in the "Sports Cars 2001-3000" class. He wasn't quite as fast as Rod Minchin in the Rawgs Holden (14.86) but certainly quicker than Max Brunninghausen in the Daimler SP250 (15.375) and the JWF Glass Fibre Inds. entry of Ron Sando in the Milano Holden (16.24). Yes Bruce Leer did run at that event but he was in the JWF Glass Fibre Industries Cooper Climax in the racing cars section (15.035). Also of interest was a Borgward powered Goggo ( (15.59) and a Goggo powered Goggo (25.095).

Daniel's Milano.

Lots of potential here. Unfortunately the Austin A40 chassis is rusty, twisted and beyond redemption. Daniel doesn't want to go the A40 route again for a number of reasons. To fabricate a chassis for this car, where does he start?

Turbos

Remember the Turbos? It goes back to the Kaditcha days or beyond. It was originally BMW powered and ended up with a 13B in it. The name comes from Turbos Motors where it was built.  You can just make out the snowy head of my now 38 year old son when he was about 5 or 6, sitting in it in Hollywood's garage. I don't think it's seen much use since about then but everyone seems to be looking for it these days, from the original builder to previous owners and drivers to the restorer of an MR5 wanting to get a look at its Elfin uprights. It's reputed to live in Salisbury in SA. I thought it might be easy to track down but I seem to have exhausted all of my contacts. If anyone can shed some more light please email me on vidstud@gmail.com or give us a call on 0413 226009.

Milano body on eBay

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Hi, I saw this item on eBay and thought you might be interested. JWF Milano fibre glass body, kitcar, Bolwell,cobra Current price: AU $4,500.00 End time: 14-Mar-11 22:37:16 AEDST Add to watch list | See similar items

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Kapunda - week 22

Doesn't this gladden the eye? It belongs to a young guy in Kapunda and I think he's done a wonderful job on it. By rights he should be the envy of his local counterparts with their VPs, VSs and VTs. If only they knew what real Aussie muscle cars were about.

Peter Warren

I really like this vintage photo of Peter Warren at work, taken by Mark Cleaves.

The car didn't change much when years later it moved South to Barry except it became black.

And then blue.

Ikara Update

Hi Guys

 

See attached more photo’s and updates on Ikara #11. I have fabricated and fitted a reverse gear lock out which Peter Wherrett would have appreciated on his test drive of  the  proto type. From the photograph you can see two marks on the bracket for neutral position and then the bracket can be flipped over to allow engagement of reverse.

This allows positive engagement of all gears.

On the windscreen photograph you can see the blacked out  section 115mm wide across the bottom and a strip 25mm wide up  each side and across the top, this hides the uneven edges of the fibreglass frame and the dust which collects  across the bottom.

To make the car legal for registration I have installed an under dash 150watt ceramic fan heater demister, which works well in an enclosed body, but maybe not so well in a open top sports but it’s  there.

At this stage I’m still  waiting on the bonnet and nose cone from the spray painter to complete the vehicle.

 

Regards Kevin Ratsch  

A blast from the past

3 photos taken in Como, South Perth in the early 70s. A couple of smart looking Bolwells. The Mark 7 has hubcaps. A nice looking chrome surround around the windscreen on the Mark 5. The middle picture shows just how much lower the Mark 5s were compared to the Mark 7. I didn't even know there was a Mark 5 in the West. I wonder where it is now. Meanwhile, a Mark 5 left here this Monday heading in that direction.

Hunters in the Hunter

An email from our Hunter Valley/Newcastle man "on the ground".

G’day John

Heres a bit of useless trivia for you.

Re The pics of the Hunters in Newcastle.

About 15 years ago, one of my sister in laws told me about a Bolwell she had seen laying in a paddock at Teralba (which is a small place right at the northern tip of Lake Macquarie)

Anyway I went to have a look and discovered that it wasn’t a Bolwell. I didn’t know what it was at the time and as it was in a fenced paddock with dogs (large, mean looking) I didn’t go in. However there was a sign with a phone number nearby (can’t remember what the sign was about ) The car was basically a body shell and it appeared to have been partially cut in half up the middle.

I called the phone number to ask about the car and eventually got on to the owner. He told me it was a Hunter and that he had rescued it from some young blokes who were preparing to use the body on some sort of dirt track stock car. Hence the cut up the guts. Anyway this bloke did some deal with the young blokes and acquired the Hunter shell. It wasn’t for sale as he was going to “fix it up one day”

At the time it was the only Hunter body in the paddock.

Looking at the pics I reckon that is the same paddock that I saw the Hunter in.  The creek you can just see is called “Cockle Creek” and the industrial complex in the background is what was called “The Sulphide” It was a lead and zinc smelter that was owned by “The Sulphide Corporation” later to be known as Pasminco. The smelter closed down about 10 years ago and they are still cleaning up the site and surrounding area from all the lead and zinc fallout that occurred during the smelters life. What you can’t see in the pics is a range of low hills which are off to the right of the pic but behind the smelter. When I was a kid ( I grew up about 10 klm from the smelter) this row of hills had virtually nothing growing on them. Certainly no trees, and what grass that managed to survive didn’t look too good. When the smelter was forced to install scrubbers and other pollution control measures in the 70’s and 80’s the hills behind gradually came back to life. They also had to remove the topsoil from quite a number of homes close to the smelter because of the lead contamination. For years there were no fish or other marine life in Cockle Creek either.

Regards

Peter m

B8/47 for sale.

Still looking good after all these years. Derek has had it for 34 years. Doesn't time fly. For 34 years then the car has lived at Digby which is south of Casterton and near the Hotspur State Forest. It's only covered 45,000 km. Prospective buyers can ring Derek on 03-55793204 or email pleasant_hills@hotmail.com  Yes it is the original prototype soft top. Originally it was silver and graced the cover of at least two publications at the time.

Bolwell entered it in ProdSports races in relatively standard road-going trim and in the hands of John Latham won at Calder first up.
Later it was sold to John Allsop who, I think, was responsible for the colour change to Porsche Condor Green. At the time, I had an orange Nagari sports (now also green and living just around the corner from where we used to live in Miegunyah Avenue) and Shirl had the blue one. We were all hoons together.

Derek brought it to the Hamilton Easter.

........and turned up to the Coleraine Easter motorkhana......

...in convoy with his mate's Aston.....

J & S Hunters in Newcastle

The original body is the one Geoff Bott bought, along with his complete car from J & S. It is the one currently on eBay. Stacey had the chance to get it for nix when it was on J&S's roof but didn't have the room. (I know the feeling.) The other 2 are along similar lines to the one at Leyburn Sprints.