Thats a curious looking beast Bry. Looks like a truck but it has car rear windows. Is it one of those World War II cut down cars turned into a truck? Front looks like 37 Ford. Or 38 Standard? Bet it was fun though!
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mums car bri
We always raced our flathead stockcars in second gear, with a hook on the dash to put the gearlever in to stop the box jumping out of gear.
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A old pair of underpants with a decent waist elastic was a good ticket to boost up the gearbox detents ,one end around the lever the other end hooked onto somewhere convenient on the dash
Engine always sounded great changing into 2nd gear
Holy smoke......we are coming perilously close to breaking the rules here fellas. Steve has laid down the forum rules...no porn!! All this mention of underpants holding things from jumping out!!!! We have obviously struck a nerve here, mention a flat-head V8 and folks eyes go all glassy.I just thought they were cantankerous old devils just like Henry 1 himself. The legend in my day was that because the pistons in a V8 were sort of lying on their side, the cylinder wall only wore on that side, making the cylinder oval, and that is why so many old V8's smoked so much. I think a few, quite a few, tubes of Holts Piston Seal were purchased then to try and 'cure' that problem. Remember that stuff. The claim was that you could squirt a tube-full in each plug hole, replace the plugs, start the engine, and in a couple of minutes....a reconditioned engine! Well not quite. What happened was that the Piston Seal burnt to form carbon which gummed up the gaps between the cylinder and piston thereby increasing compression and reducing oil burning...smoking. I tried this on the Singer when I first got it and it SEEMED to work for a while. Then I got really keen and stripped the motor down for a 'proper' recondition and discovered that the Piston Seal had also gummed up the rings, what was left of them, and actually made the condition worse. I eventually re-ringed the 8 hp Singer engine with...CORDS rings...'designed especially for the worn motor'....remember them? The Piston Seal would have been OK for an unscrupulous car sales man....surely there weren't any of those....attempting to sell a 'smoker' to an unsuspecting buyer. Good try Holts, you must have sold thousands of tubes. And the answer to my question, straight from the horses mouth....a B4 COULD get to 90 mph in 2nd gear. There you go Brydon, you weren't having us on after all. I apologise for doubting you.
It was a 38 Steve..had a split rear window and a hand made wooden deck..handling was ..erm ..interesting to say the least
Mum had a Triumph Mayflower 105Angria... and it could outdrag a 100E :)
Am I guessing right here......bry1500 and 105Angria.....are brothers now living in Australia? Have looked up the New Members page but doesn't enlighten me anymore. Like to know who I'm dealing with just in case I tread on someones toes!! You can see who I am by the way. Steve, shouldn't the new members page identify who your members are, or perhaps you do know, should there be any controversy if so, thats OK.
Hi Amco72 not brothers but bros both lived in ChCH around the same time but didnt know each other,became good friends in Melbourne years ago, he has been a major help in the restoration of my Anglia sports sedan, he has a great eye for patina, and handcut decals,also does fab watercolour and pastal pics of historics , maybe one of the better base players in the country, we share a passion for volume colour and speed, a lot of Wigram can do that to a young person
Thanks 105 Angria.......thought I might have been dealing with someone famous....you and he. He must be a talented guy, and probably you to, but I appreciate your reply. I am originally from ChCh as you have probably deduced. Lived on Mt. Pleasant...scene of some destruction now I'm afraid. Always thought I would like to go back and live there but not now I'm afraid. If you lived near Wigram you will know that the base is largely, or soon to be housing...shame. Anyway good to catch up.
Thanks amco72 Didnt live near Wigram but had xmas holidays there up from Dunedin stayed with grangparents in Haytons Rd which was the main way into the track for everything used to watch the weekend unfold flatdeck trucks with haybails ,grandstands all the cars in and out from about 1962 up until the f5000s aussie sportsedan challange saw the first gold leaf Lotus wings allcomers Clark Rindt Hill still have the programs these things infect you for life in the best ways
Gerald, I like for everyone to enter a few details about themselves in the New Members section, as its a bit like going to a big party. You want to get to know everyone and let them get to know you. I encourage it, but its not compulsory. I know there are some people who'd prefer not to post anything about themselves, and thats fine.
Thinking about the Holts Piston Seal in the last post brings to mind another product that has come in for a bit of stick. Bar's Leaks. It has become fashionable to rubbish this stuff but I have fond memories of it, especially the smell. Was always a good idea to have a can in the glove box just in case you were caught short, especially in the old jalopies we used to drive. Anyway the problem with Bar's Leaks was that it was usually, if not always, added to cooling systems when everything was on it's last legs, and with all the sludge and gunk still in there ended up like a kind of thick soup. However....IF THE INSTRUCTIONS WERE FOLLOWED...read drain system and flush....it was OK. Bar's Leaks was made up of a spoonful of little brown pellets and soluble oil. The pellets dissolved in the hot water, then adhered to areas where seepage was occuring, building up to eventually plug the hole. The liquid was soluble oil which was why the stuff turned milky when poured into the radiator. The soluble oil raised the boiling point of the coolant from 212 F to about 235 F so was usefull in that respect. We still use soluble oil in the cooling system of the Amco Mini today, just as Dave and Rod did in 1972....good stuff. Bar's Leaks is still on the market, maybe improved but seems to have lost it's smell. There are lots of other radiator/cooling system/ head gasket sealers for sale today, which just maybe superior, but good old Bar's Leaks got us out of some sticky situations a few times. You could also hunt down the nearest poultry farm or shop and buy a couple of eggs to crack into the radiator. Have not tried this but apparently works. 'Scrambled eggs anyone'.......
A long time ago I shepherded on a large station out on the coast at Waipawa. There was three single shepherds, a married head shepherd and three married odd job men. A great life if you were young and fit. We all drove cars that were early thirties, I had a Model A, my mate a 6 cylinder trucked Chev of the same vintage, a 1938 Hudson Coupe and various others. We used to recycle our oil, very green. When you changed the oil in the car you refilled from the top of a 44 gallon open drum. Then you tipped your old oil into that drum. The theory was that all the gunk would drop to the bottom leaving clean oil on the top. Occasionally the drum would be emptied and cleaned out and the cycle would start again.
Considering that oil from the tractor, bulldozer, Lister Stationery motor, etc, all went into that drum it was a pretty potent brew. While we had some mechanical problems from time to time I can"t remember any bearing problems. Must have been the pine needles, bird droppings, birds and once an opossum that ended up in that drum. Thank goodness for crank handles as there was only about one decent battery between the lot of us. You always parked on top of a hill.
Well there you go, I knew there was an Historic Motorsport connection with Bar's Leaks somewhere. What an endorsement for a product from no less than the great Jack Brabham. I wonder if he got a couple of dollars/pounds for that little gem. Of course the other blurb on the can included the words..'.this is not a permanent repair'.....well mostly it was, until something drastic happened. But just remember that the cooling systems then were not pressurised, so you could get away with a lot more, and there was about 3 times as much water to play with compared to a modern system, so you could go a fair way before there was trouble.
Anyone remember the standing and flying 1/4 mile sprints that the Hamilton Car Club held on the Bruntwood straight.....was on the back road between Hamilton and Cambridge. At that time, 1967, there were only about two farm houses down that stretch of road and most of the land either side was owned by a rough-as-guts farmer....Walter Byrne. I had a farm just a mile further on from the 'straight' in Mills road and used to attend this, what was an annual event. The last time I saw Logan Fow and the Ferrari GTO was there...wish I'd had a camera. Another competitor was Dennis Marwood in the Humber 80. Walter, the rough-as guts' farmer had a Daimler SP250 which he used to literally blow the cobwebs out of. Also a strange early front engined dragster powered by a WW2 Allison aircraft engine.....the type that powered the Mustang...the American fighter/bomber that is. I remember the 'officials' getting all us spectators well back from the road before they would let this thing go. Had a remote starter that plugged into the side. It certainly sounded the part but was disappointing as far as time was concerned, popping and banging it's way down the course. Logan could have given it 100 meters start and still beaten it in the GTO. There was also another very rough, and I mean ROUGH, old HWM sports car..maroon in colour with disc wheels that had been hugely extended. I recall this because not only had they been extended but also had pieces of steel strip spaced round the wheel like spokes to strengthen the widened piece. One of the strips had FALLEN OFF...shonky welding....and the owner was attempting to remove the strip opposite to try and balance the wheel.!!!!!!!!!!! Imagine that flying off when the car was doing a run. Anyway it was just a heap of junk, although probably hugely valuable today. I think Marwood had a better time. But everyone was there having a go with scrutinering in an adjacent paddock. One competitor with a Wolseley 6/99 was having a 'discussion' with the official who had just failed the Wolseley because of a worn tie-rod end. The said competitor was really getting very wound up and giving the tester a tune-up, telling him that the car would be OK because 'he was a mechanic and knew about these things'. Imagine that today.......'on yer bike sonny'.
Just as a little aside to that yarn. As I said we lived a bit further along from the 'straight' and use to traverse that piece of road a lot. Walter Byrne, the rough-as-guts farmer who owned most of the land both sides of the road was not overly fussy about the condition of his fences, so although the road might have been traffic free, it was not always STOCK free, and Walters sheep were often out grazing the 'long acre' One evening my wife, Judith, was returning home to the farm after attending some soiree in Hamilton. At that time we owned the Fiat 1500 Crusader, the car Ron Roycroft approved of. Judith fancied herself as a bit of a hot-shot behind the wheel, and the Fiat had a bit of get-up and go. She must have been dreaming of Logan Fow in the Ferrari doing the flying 1/4 as she headed down the straight and gave the car a bit of wellie!! Anyway one of Walters sheep just happened to want to cross the road as the Fiat, just getting into it's stride, bore down on it. The poor sheep never stood a chance and the car hit it full on. Judith being a very compassionate person decided NOT to stop, as the animal was surely dead judging by the impact, and continued on to the farm where she sheepishly regailed me with the details. I immediately questioned her as to the state of the car and her response was, bugger the car, what about me!!!! Well, I had eyes, I could see that she was still standing and walking ,so was OK , wasn't she? I was also a very compassionate person, and decided that I had better go and check on the sheep to make sure it was dead and not suffering, lying on the side of the road with terrible abrasions. I was thinking I could toss the dead animal in the boot and fill the freezer with some free mutton. Well I hunted high and low for that dammed sheep but there was no sign of it. Maybe it was catapaulted into the paddock out of harms way. And the Fiat only suffered minor denting to the front guard. Amazing.
The 'Rough' HWM thing you mentioned was likely the John Donnelly HWM Corvette.
Not sure I agree with you in regards to the tech standards of today or the mechanical knowledge of competitors in general, there are many drivers/competitors today that wouldnt have a clue what end of a hammer to hold onto, & I see far to many examples of bad & dangerous engineering with recent tech stickers that have obviously passed over faults that have been present for some time.
Jac Mac.......in your reply to my bit on the Bruntwood sprints you have got rough in inverted comas 'ROUGH' Are you questioning my description of the car as it was then? I dont know Mr Donnelly or whether he owned it then and maybe now, but I assure you it was ROUGH, rough everywhere...no inverted comas! The fact that something so obvious as welded steel strips on the wheels were detaching themselves maybe points to slack scrutineering or slack preparation. I'm sure that you, if you have scrutineered cars, and it sounds as though you have, have come up against all sorts of bodgy tricks that people have tried to get away with. The fact that you say that faults have been present for some time is a bit of a worry, and sounds a bit strange to me, as it suggests that a number of different scrutineers at different tracks have overlooked a potentially dangerous bit of engineering. And yes there most certainly are drivers today who, unlike the Wolseley 6/99 owner, are not mechanics backsides!