Kiwi big banger Sports Cars of late 1960s and early 70's
I have recently finished writing a biography story on West Auckland racing driver Garry Pedersen, of which the first part has currently been published in NZ Classic Car magazine. This brought back many memories of a fearsome array of machinery that appeared through out these years. Sport cars were pretty wild and came in all shapes and sizes. What became of some of these machines is my question. Some have survived like the Russell Greer Stanton Corvette, the ex Tyrell Turtle Continental Special and the ex Jim Boyd, Ralph Smith Lola T70 that was originally owned and raced? by Umberto Maglioli (Italy 1966) has gone back overseas. The Garry Pedersen GEMCO Olds which was based on the Tony Shelly ex Reg Parnell Lotus 18/21 was restored by Gray Mathias, the remains of the GEMCO were last seen at the Bruce McLaren Festival Jan 2010 and apparently were sold to the USA. What has happened to the Grahame Harvey Elfin 400 Chev, the Geoff Mardon/Digby Taylor McBegg Chev and the Jamie Aislabie Sid Mk1, which was originally the Heron Daimler V8 that Norris Miles drove at one stage. Also there are other cars like Danie Lupps Rorstan Climax, Glen McIntyres Wilmac Fiat, does anybody know.
Kiwi big banger sports cars
Reverting back to Gerard's original question, I remember most of those cars but in particular I have a coloured photo of the Lola T70 driven by Jim Boyd at Pukekohe when it was painted in the Cambridge colours.
How did we manage to get such an up to date sports car to NZ and what ever happened to it after the two drivers mentioned had finished with it.
I guess that it ended up back in Europe somewhere !!
How did the Jim Boyd Lola T70 get to New Zealand?
Here's my take on this rather fascinating story. My historical knowledge is probably not quite in the Dave McKinney league, but this is my understanding. This Lola T70 was originally sold to Umberto Maglioli of Italy in 1966 with a 5.9 litre Chevrolet engine, which was the same motor that Jim Boyd used to my knowledge. There is no race history that I know of for this early period. The car was then sold to an English guy called Dill Pell who brought the car to N.Z. It was then sold to Jim Boyd in 1969. He used it to win the 1969-70 N.Z. sports car championship painted in Cambridge cigarette colours. The car then to my knowledge didn't appear for a couple of seasons, though I may be wrong in this. Grant Bloore drove the car occasionally in the 1972-73 season and to my knowledge was the last to race it, when he crashed into the fence at Timaru on May 20th 1973 following a long lurid spin after hitting oil during a very wet race. While trying to protect the car's bodywork with loose tyres, John Monehan in the Stanton Corvette spun on the slow down lap and crashed into the Lola with the unfortunate Bloore and Flag Marshall caught between the two cars suffering serious leg fractures. It never raced again. Baron Robertson, then bought it with intention of turning it into a road, which wasn't finished. It then passed through a number of hands including, Travis McGregor, Norm Masters, Brian Middlemass, Rob Boult before being bought by Ralph Smith. He finished the restoration and it appeared at a few classic gatherings, before being put up for sale. The car has apparently returned overseas. This is my understanding of the history of the Cambridge Lola, please let me know if I'm incorrect in any part.
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Heron Daimler 1967 when I worked on it when Norris Miles drove it
Sorry this such a old faded photo,it is from 1967 when I worked on the Heron when Norris Miles raced it I never drove the car in a race but I did get to drive it at Pukekohe at the time I thought it was ok ,but from what I know now from my own later cars it was over tired and under powered ,it really needed a alloy Olds and a decent gearbox in it ,that Citroen box was a shocker,no good on downchanges.You will notice in this photo it has not got those added on alloy bits to cover the wheels,that are in the other photo on here
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