Nasty, an even later picture.

This is the same car at Sandown in the hands of the new owner. This photo was the winner of Newspaper picture of the year, 1981.

"Nasty Nagari"

Most people would, by now, have seen the 2009 calendar which featured the SCWQ article on Ross Bond's awesome Nagari racer, written by Rob Luck. If you stare into the calendar photograph you will actually see Rob's name in the text. Anyway, it was enough for Rob to begin reminiscing and, in turn, to drag out some of his personal photographs relating to the event, including this one which he's sharing with us. That car didn't always have the deep blue and bright yellow livery. Here's a later picture where, under the same sponsorship, it had changed to a lighter blue with orange.

Even later, it became white with two large blue stripes through it, as can be seen in this photo, taken at Baskerville where it is running second to the coupe of John Gourlay. Click on it to take it up to full size.

Top Gear Australia's top 20

An email from Peter G:-
John,
TopGear Australia, April 2009 - "Australia's Greatest Car (Ever)" article.
Their top 20 cars counting down, were - 20: Datsun 1600, 19: Holden EH, 18: Bolwell Nagari (Original), 17: Holden Monaro 2001, 16: Peugeot 504, 15: Mitsubishi Magna Series 1, 14: Ford Cortina GT500, 13: Mitsubishi 380, 12: Buckle GT, 11: Ford Falcon XR GT, 10: Toyota Camry Widebody, 9: Chrysler R/T E38 Charger, 8: Holden Torana GTR XU1, 7: Holden VB Commodore, 6: VW Super Bug, 5: Holden HT 350 GTS Monaro, 4: Ford Model T, 3: Ford Falcon GT HO Phase III, 2: Holden 48-215, 1: Morris Mini Cooper S.

Unfortunately they didn't clearly outline their criteria, who's opinions were sought, and the credibility of the article was lost when they showed a photo of a Cortina Mk2 GT instead of a GT500, and a blinged up Model A Ford instead of a Model T. I also question the two Mitsubishis being included in a list of Australia's Greatest 20 Cars.
What do you think? What would be included on your list?

Peter

I agree with a fair few of them. My bias may be showing a little but, while agreeing with the inclusion of the Nagari (in fact I feel it is essential), I sort of lean towards the Mark 7 as well for sheer weight of numbers made. Of course I'd include the Datsun 240Z and I think I'd place the XY GT ahead of the Cooper S somehow. There should be room for the HR in there somewhere as well as the S-series and the WB Statesman. I also think that the HK was the greatest Monaro GTS made (Warwick Yellow of course). It just came out of nowhere and went straight ahead and won Bathurst. I agree too that the Buckle was a great car but no greater than the JWF Milano GT and what about the Goggo Dart? I'd also like to squeeze in the Sloper bodied GM cars of the 30s. If it was an American list I'd include the T Model but not in Australia, I think I'd have to lean more towards the Chev 4 or the Model A. I agree with you, I'd rule out that mediocre Magna but I think the 380 is a seriously good car. I was only thinking about the 380 the other day. I went to a talk by Gavin Farmer about the P76 and it made me realise good cars can be murdered by smart journalists and bum raps and the P76 didn't deserve to go the way it did and with the demise of Mitsubishi Australia the 380 could be the next victim of uninformed bias. Apart from the leaky roof and FWD, the Geelong-built Capri wasn't all that bad either. Over to everybody else.

Anyone seen my old Mark 5?

The following email came from Keith Connor

Hi John,

I thought that you might be able to help to identify the car in question.

Peter O'Toole (not the famous actor, as I think he died) from Qld. rang me asking about his old Mk. 5, he would like to find out if it still exists. Funny how ex Bollie owners become nostalgic years later.

He worked for Bolwell welding Nagari chassis (using Arc. not MIG as Campbell once said; mine was defininitely arc welded) and assembling the bodies to the chassis. A wag at our last meeting said it was just as well he moved interstate, as he has a lot to answer for!

He bought it around '68 and sold it in '74, the next Victorian owner had it until 10 years ago when it was advertised in Unique Cars for $8000.

It was painted Holden red, grey engine with SU's and a Corvette scoop on the bonnet plus Holden tail-lights. Couldn't remember the rego.

You mentioned a couple of Mk 5's recently, the race car from Bairnsdale in Vic., and the yellow one at Easter.

Would either be Peter's old car?

Perhaps one of your Blog readers might know if you don't.

Thanks,

Keith Connor.

I also had a call from Col Watson about the very same thing. He also mentioned that the Holden tail-lights were HT station wagon ones. I can tell you that the two cars that you mentioned are not Peter's as the history of both of them is well documented. There have been other former Mark 5 owners who have enquired about their cars, Bernie Evans keeps coming back from time to time to see if we've turned up any info on his old one. Mark 5 owners are particularly nostalgic with good reason. It's over to the readers. Any information on Peter's car and other Mark 5s would be welcome.

Not bad for a 17 year old in 1964

I'm demonstrating my mastery of the understatement.
From Barry Currie has come today:-
Hi John, After looking at your blog and the photos of the MK2 Bolwell I thought you might like to see my modified Austin A30. I made it when I was 17 (1964 and it seems just like yesterday).

Peter Wherrett and the Nagari

It's almost 2 months since Peter Wherrett died. At the time, I intended to post that famous piece of footage of Peter bursting out of the tunnel in B8/59 that was used as the header for the long running Torque programme. While I was messing around with some technicalities which included intellectual properties, the NSW club website beat me to it, so what I'm doing here is drawing your attention to it because (a) it looks great and (b) it brings back good memories. You'll find the NSW site in the links of course.
When I was writing the history of B8/59, which I think was one of the "where is it now?" posts, I mentioned the comments about the car overheating at the time and one of the responses was along the lines of "is it any wonder with that big 'Torque' placard blocking the front opening". Here are a couple of photos from the"Torque" book, one of which shows the said placard.

"Above: Naturally, a television program has to have a beginning. Our opening titles tunnel shot was taken near Denman in New South Wales at what was originally intended to be a railway tunnel for the long-abandoned Sandy Hollow railway. David Leonard is trying to get the exit to look right."

"Below: The Bolwell we chose for the opening titles shot continually overheated. We spent some hours longer than we had intended waiting for it (to) cool down again. John Garwood carries the water while Paul Tait holds the bonnet and David Leonard cools himself down."

Mystery Tool

Pete Schmidt found this little item in his late father's workshop. We've all had a look at it and nobody seems to know what it does. It has "Made in Sweden" stamped along its shaft. It is certainly not automotive and Peter's dad's hobby was leather work. Any ideas?

Ultra Race Cars

Here's a sports car manufacturer you may not know a lot about. It is operated by Craig Williams. As most people will remember, Craig, for many years ran a business supplying hard to find parts, mechanical expertise, service and reconstruction for Datsuns and Datsun 1600s in particular. That business was Mad Dat. Mad Dat is still blasting along under its new ownership and Craig is concentrating on these extremely well-built and solidly constructed sports cars, as well as fabricating CAMS approved roll cages and the growing and wholesale supply of banksias and proteas. I'm sure it's the roll cages and thoughts about safety that have influenced Craig in the design of his car. I know that the usual design of Clubman cars has influenced his thinking, with their fuel tanks usually located behind the rear axle and their lack of rear impact protection. What I find is refreshing is that younger blokes can throw new lights on some of the died in the wool methods of construction of sports cars that silly old buggers like me never ever get over. I have to admit that being brought up on a diet of live rear axles, carbies, clunky old V8s etc etc, those habits are hard to shake off. An example of what I'm trying to say is that the Mad Ultra car is fitted with IRS from a Nissan 180SX which comes packaged really and is welded into the rear of the chassis. I remember Craig saying "clubman cars are still being fitted with those old Escort steering racks!" and quietly thinking to myself "gee, I was going to replace the Gemini rack in the Ikara with an Escort one". The body for this car is not derived from any other car and the styling is completely new. Car number 3 is being built at the moment. We caught up with Craig and the Ultra at the Mt. Alma Mile. Craig and my son Andrew were friends way back when Andrew built that dear little R100. Here's a couple of Bolwell Club presidents along with young Michael Nicholaou and Andrew Low pondering over the Ultra.

Mark 1 or Mark 2?

We know what the Mark 1 looked like and maybe we've established what the Mark 2 looked like but here's a car that is neither. Owen has posted these photos as "Mark 1 or 2". Perhaps it is the Mark one and a half. Whatever number it is, I think it looks great. When Bolwell get into the retro business put me down for one of these.

A couple more of the Mark 2

From the same album are a couple more.

At about the same time, over here in SA we used to mess around building specials too. This one started life as an SS1. That's Peter, an old school friend who I don't reckon I've seen since he left his job in the Taxation Department to become an army officer almost 40 years ago.

The real Mark 2

About 35 years ago, I think it was Campbell gave me this hazy picture of the Mark 2. I mislaid it, but before I did, I loaned it to Beven. I know this because it turned up in Slipstream a while back. After that, Barry Main, Iain McPherson and their friend Patrick gave me some photos of a Mark 2 which was a completely different car. If you go back about 12 months on this blog you'll find that we resolved all that and it turned out to be a Mark 3. There was in fact 2 completely different Mark 3s. Well, I got a copy of the real Mark 2 (above) back from Beven just to put the record straight. Then, Owen Bolwell releases some more family photos in the archives of the Mark 2, so that reinforces that.

Mount Alma Mile.

The "Mount Alma Mile" hillclimb was a huge success. Well, it was for me anyway. It was near Inman Valley and just outside Victor Harbor. (At Victor, it is spelt "harbor", at Coffs Harbour it is spelt "harbour" have you noticed that?) A few of us went down on the Saturday in "convoy" via Yankalilla which may or may not be the quickest way but they do have a nice little breakfast spot in Yankalilla. The entry was quickly oversubscribed with well over 100 cars and the hill itself was daunting. Here's that Ascort of Barry Lord's again. Once again the car acquitted itself very well. He's got three of them which isn't a bad effort seeing they only made 19.

This awesome creature is Kevin Mackrell's 6,500cc Chev powered 260Z which was the overall winner on the weekend.

It was possible to be ably entertained by positioning yourself at the bottom of the hill where you could see up to the first two bends. For the really energetic, they could clamber up a specially marked path but that only took them to about a third of the way up the track. Later in the day, Andrew and I took about a 15 minute drive along some steep and gravelly roads to the top of the mountain where we had the best seats in the house (if we were sitting). We travelled through some of the most beautiful country you could see anywhere. It would be a great place to live if it wasn't so cold in winter. Our vantage point was shared only by two officials manning and womanning the flying finish, the drivers waiting to go back down the hill the way they had come up (which they did in packets of about 20), two pisspots who, when they packed up and went, left behind 19 (maybe more but that's what we counted) Carlton Draught bottle tops and an uncountable number of butts and a young photographer by the name of Brooke Whatnell who got some really good shots that are worth a look. His website is called Sportsnaps. He does other motorsports events too. http://sportsnaps.com.au/ I think. I'll put it on the links. In my opinion, Brooke is a very talented and enthusiastic photographer, darting about the place in his mum's Ford Festiva while he finishes his Corolla rally car. Another place to look for good shots is Phil Williams' website www.freewebs.com/philwillmedia For Kym Ninnes' and Bruno von Rotz's benefit, Phil has an album on the site of Easter Collingrove which includes the yellow Clemente and the green Milano GT.

Apart from the excitement of watching that "600Z" being manhandled up the hill, a couple of other things will stick in my memory. Firstly the performance of Jayne White in the Puma clubman who made it into the top 12 shootout, then into the top 6. Unfortunately not into the top 3. Secondly, the polished driving of Peter Hall (always to be expected I guess) in the proper 260Z.

Among the people I noticed attending were Norm and Dino (in the Clubman), Robert Jacobs (obviously gathering material for Custom Kit Car magazine), Ken Stratton (this time in the newly acquired Audi), WA BCCA president, Stacey Nicolaou and his young son Michael, Paul Wooley (who I haven't seen in ages) and Ron and Pip Westren (the only Bolwell in the carpark).

It's on again next year I'm told. I wonder how Bernie's Nagari would go against that purple and yellow Datsun. Hint hint.