Steele Thurkelson, RIP

I just got word that Kiwi mechanic and long standing Shelby American employee Steele Thurkelson passed away last week in Los Angeles. I had the pleasure back in Nov 06 to spend sometime with Steele and he even invited me to a Shelby American reunion while i was in LAX once. I really enjoyed talking with him back them, he was born in Napier i believe and told me he was at the opening meeting of the Teretonga race track as he had the chance to fly over the track that day(don't quote me here but 1957?) he went on to work in England as most Kiwi mechanics did and to the USA from there.

Steele was a fabricator and engine man at Shelby American and i believe built the 427 engines that took McLaren/Amon to there famous 66 win and also the Gurney/Foyt GT40 winning car as well. I was told by others that he was a master at building the throttle linkages on the weber carburetor systems. His sometimes nick name was "Stainless Steele"

He was 85 i believe, RIP Steele

Dale M

A very clever man .I met him in 91 SFOS he was looking after Bob Sullivans 4CLT and Buggati he straitend the bent valves on Bb Kings Buggati. He returned about 6 or 7 yrs ago and stayed with me in Waiuku,we went out to the heads and he looked over the Roycroft 35B that Terry was restoring also revisited the Ardmore racetrack where he spied a smaller Mustang plane been built some thing he knew all about .He also took hundreds of photos in the 50s on had one that I now have of the Shelly D type hillclimbing on a metal road plus some of the two Monzas a 750 and a 860 of Wharton and Jenson sad to hear he has gone

Sad news indeed. I first knew his name as a top-class motor-racing photographer (in NZ) but didn't meet him until the 1978 Long Beach GP, when he was in charge of Bob Sutherland's 250F. An interesting bloke and, as Jim says, a clever one

Another storey on Steele he was looking after a 450 Masser for Tom {senior moment}? the car kept running the main bearings ,in the end they decided to take the oil tank apart hundreds of rivets then put it all back .The pick up was no t near the bottom.he sent me large photos of this plus some very trick Ferrari mtrs he worked on

Now after a late breakfast and strong coffie {staying up to watch the ABs takes it toll} Tom Holdfielder emplyed Steele after Bob passed away sadly for Steele Tom was a man able to maintain his cars out here so Steele missed out.On a visit to Toms garage his collection was eye opening,including the Le mans film Ferrari thet ran against the Porsche of Steve McQueen ,I think it came to NZ the yr. I missed? Steele also had pos. the best collection of pistons con rods ect off so many classic and vintage. That the yr. I was there about ten yrs ago there was quite a few after the collection just when it looked like he was sending out to me to give to the Bruce McLaren Trust his partner died,and sadly she owned the home that went to her son and so on,as to the collection the only piston he was missing was a Spitfire and on asking some chap for one that he had he just laughed, unti he saw photos of the collection within a week the piston arrived,he was very proud of the photo of him refuelling Chris Amons car at Sebring,not shure who he was with then perhaps Shelby where he spent time with John Olshen,but I doubt it??

Posted on the NZ Hotrod Forum:

I received news from expat Kiwi Steele Therkelsen's son John that he passed away last Monday October 1st.
Steele was originally from Hastings and left NZ in the early 60's.
He worked as an engine builder in England for Lotus I believe, and through racing circles met Carrol Shelby, started working for him, and ended up living and working in California.
John said that Steele had some memorabilia that he had wanted to go to his car club in NZ.
Does anyone who knew Steele Therkelsen know what club that might have been?
John would be very grateful if we could satify his fathers wishes.
Any info appreciated, all the best,
CraigR

Thread: http://www.nz-hotrod.com/vbulletin/s...001#post105001

Reads the above!

Hi Haga
That is sad news. I only met Steele once but he is remembered fondly by some of the more senior members of the Hawkes Bay Car Club.
Please pass on the Hawkes Bay Car Club's condolences to John.
I have spoken to Lily Baker who is our Club's archivist. Lil knew Steele personally and kept in fairly regular contact with him, especially during the compilation of the Club's 50th anniversary book "Off The Record".
John should contact Lil re satisfying Steele's wishes. Her email address is lcbkr@xtra.co.nz
PS for the record, the correct speling of Steele's surname is "Therkleson".

I am not a member of that Forum. If someone here is (Steve?) could they do it?

If not my brother is and i can get him to do it.



Jim Short: I was posting it to pass on the car club question.

Its ok Haga I thought it was plain that Steele wished his collection to go to The Bruce McLaren Trust, but I have no wish join those wanting it I also doubt if Tom Holdfielder will let go of what he has,,,then again hope I am wrong

After more thinking am prety shure he sold hie books to pay for his trip to NZ he had hopes of living back in Hasting but felt he knew very few so went back to the States and not a lot was heard of him except Toms daughter told me Tom was taking care of him,Steele converted a Ferrari then a Mustang for her to race as here legs never worked all controls were hand operated made by Steele

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Originally Posted by jim short

After more thinking am pretty sure he sold hie books to pay for his trip to NZ he had hopes of living back in Hasting but felt he knew very few so went back to the States and not a lot was heard of him except Toms daughter told me Tom was taking care of him,Steele converted a Ferrari then a Mustang for her to race as here legs never worked all controls were hand operated made by Steele

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Hi I've read some of these post about Steele Therkelson he was a friend of mine in his later days, i got to work with him a bit, have lunch, dinner and other normal days to day things he would always have such great stories to tell about his days in the racing world with all the people he worked with and so on just fascinating stuff! He says I have a lot of photos and slides of those days and with Shelby American. So I told him we must see these! so we set up a BBQ dinner at his home in Azuza, California and we had a great time listening to all his stories and him reliving the Glory Days while watching his slide show presentation, WOW! is all I can say if you like vintage sports car racing history this was something to witness! Oh by the way I just happen to have had my video camera rolling and captured the evening on film! i still miss Steele a great deal and sure wish I'd had more time to capture more of his amazing wonderful life and stories! Now with the unleashing of this Movie Ford vs Ferrari it is bringing back a lot of those stories and times, so I'm thinking now would be a good time to get my story of Steele out there for more folks to enjoy. I can be reached at my classic car restoration shop Auto Kraft body & paint inc. lincoln, Nebraska 402 475 9968 thanks, Doug Kielian

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Originally Posted by auto doug

Hi I've read some of these post about Steele Therkelson he was a friend of mine in his later days, i got to work with him a bit, have lunch, dinner and other normal days to day things he would always have such great stories to tell about his days in the racing world with all the people he worked with and so on just fascinating stuff! He says I have a lot of photos and slides of those days and with Shelby American. So I told him we must see these! so we set up a BBQ dinner at his home in Azuza, California and we had a great time listening to all his stories and him reliving the Glory Days while watching his slide show presentation, WOW! is all I can say if you like vintage sports car racing history this was something to witness! Oh by the way I just happen to have had my video camera rolling and captured the evening on film! i still miss Steele a great deal and sure wish I'd had more time to capture more of his amazing wonderful life and stories! Now with the unleashing of this Movie Ford vs Ferrari it is bringing back a lot of those stories and times, so I'm thinking now would be a good time to get my story of Steele out there for more folks to enjoy. I can be reached at my classic car restoration shop Auto Kraft body & paint inc. lincoln, Nebraska 402 475 9968 thanks, Doug
Kielian

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testing, ok not sure this is working Im having troubles loading a picture of Steele, I type d in photo # but it brought up one of Peter Brock signing my car. I think the others are to large?
and i can't find how to delete it ?? so there it is ?



img4906Attachment 63981

Attachment 63982 ok ill try this I found one that appears small enough to post, here is Steele T with Paul Brown and me. and my new rotisserie the Roller Hoop.

Attachment 63983 playing with a vintage pinball game (I found at a thrift store as a gift for Speedy Bill), with two racing legends ! how fun!!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by auto doug

Hi I've read some of these post about Steele Therkelson he was a friend of mine in his later days, i got to work with him a bit, have lunch, dinner and other normal days to day things he would always have such great stories to tell about his days in the racing world with all the people he worked with and so on just fascinating stuff! He says I have a lot of photos and slides of those days and with Shelby American. So I told him we must see these! so we set up a BBQ dinner at his home in Azuza, California and we had a great time listening to all his stories and him reliving the Glory Days while watching his slide show presentation, WOW! is all I can say if you like vintage sports car racing history this was something to witness! Oh by the way I just happen to have had my video camera rolling and captured the evening on film! i still miss Steele a great deal and sure wish I'd had more time to capture more of his amazing wonderful life and stories! Now with the unleashing of this Movie Ford vs Ferrari it is bringing back a lot of those stories and times, so I'm thinking now would be a good time to get my story of Steele out there for more folks to enjoy. I can be reached at my classic car restoration shop Auto Kraft body & paint inc. lincoln, Nebraska 402 475 9968 thanks, Doug Kielian

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Hi Auto Doug, i'll call you at some stage when i can get the time zone rite. You have seen some of my pictures added on this posting, i spent a bit of time with Steel towards the end when i was flying up from NZ couple of times a year, really enjoyed chatting and spending with him, went to his Pomona shop a few times and to one the Shelby reunions with Steel back in 06, i really enjoyed his company and got to meet some of the other Shelby Team members, mechanics though Steel including Peter Miles. Steel was quite highly respected by all the others i could tell. I'd luv to see the video you have, please load up onto you-tube when you get a chance. Just watched the Ford V Ferrari movie two days ago, having known and met a few of the caractors in the movie i thought it was about 80 percent, so not bad for a Hollywood car movie, but more important is to get those achievements out in the public eye and i think its done that. Regards Dale

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Originally Posted by Kiwiboss

Hi Auto Doug, i'll call you at some stage when i can get the time zone rite. You have seen some of my pictures added on this posting, i spent a bit of time with Steel towards the end when i was flying up from NZ couple of times a year, really enjoyed chatting and spending with him, went to his Pomona shop a few times and to one the Shelby reunions with Steel back in 06, i really enjoyed his company and got to meet some of the other Shelby Team members, mechanics though Steel including Peter Miles. Steel was quite highly respected by all the others i could tell. I'd luv to see the video you have, please load up onto you-tube when you get a chance. Just watched the Ford V Ferrari movie two days ago, having known and met a few of the caractors in the movie i thought it was about 80 percent, so not bad for a Hollywood car movie, but more important is to get those achievements out in the public eye and i think its done that. Regards Dale

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call me some time if you want a copy of the dvd's I have of Steele showing us his slides of his time with Shelby American Racing. pretty interesting stuff! 402 4375 9968