Help! Neville Crichton's HQ 350 Coupe Race Car Lives On! (The Green One Anyway!)

[Daryn]

Hi all,
New to the forum but had to join when I see the old race photo's coming out, I have read some talk in a couple of posts about the Castrol GTX Production Car Series of the 70's and I am happy and proud to report that the Lina Mint HQ 350 Coupe of Neville Crichtons lives on! (Only Just). I own it! I can't believe I didn't come across this website sooner. I've been searching for information about the car since 2007.
Help needed!
1. If anyone has any colour photo's of the car (Even in the back ground, as Jim Richards was usually in front of him in the XA GT) could you please post them up. I only have black and white ones and I would like to restore her with all the race car signage!
2. If anyone knows the movements of the car after Neville finished with it could you please let me know! I was told by Neville that he raced her from late 72 to about 74 I think, someone may know more? I have been told that Don Scott bought it from Neville but I can't find Don anywhere!!!!. I know Don raced one in 74/75 ish but I thought it was a later model coupe with the bonnet blackouts e.t.c plus I'm sure I have a race program where both Don and Neville are racing 350 coupes in the same race.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!

P.S. Oh sorry to say to all my Kiwi mates, she's back in OZ but I promise I'll take good care of her and restore her to Neville's Race car!:

[Steve Holmes]

Great to hear this car has survived. It definitely raced during the 1973/74 Castrol GTX series. The championship that season was split into North island rounds and South Island rounds, with a big final at the end, and I thought for some reason Crichton drove it in one Island and Scott drove it in the other. But I could be wrong. I actually wrote an article for an Australian magazine on that series a few years ago, I'll need to search it out.

Just out of interest, was the Monaro ever repainted?

You probably hadn't come across this website sooner because its only been going about 3 months, but is making plenty of progress fortunately.

By the way, I LOVE HQ Monaro's. How did this car come to end up in Australia?

[Rod Grimwood]

One of the Monaros did a dukes of hazard across the Waikato (river) with a bloke who did not wear shoes.

[Steve Holmes]

Huh? Got more info Rod?

[Daryn]

Huh? Got more info Rod?

I think Rod might be talking about the brown one? Is that right Rod? (Thats why I put the Green One Anyway, in my post) So the story goes Steve...Neville started one of the early seasons (possibly 72) with a brown 350 HQ Coupe(Which I have a picture of, Car 22). His Mechanic at the time, which I won't name but most of you probably know him, drove the car home after a series meet at Levin (Apprently it was common to just drive it home!). Well on the way home it ended up in a lake, I don't know how it happened but I know that it was written off. Neville desperate to get hold of another original production HQ 350 Coupe (Like they grew on trees with only 206 manual coupe cars produced 71 - 74), bought mine from a guy that used to use it for hill climbing.
Do you want me to post up the black and whites I have?

[Steve Holmes]

Yes please I'd love to see the photos you have. So is this Crichtons first car?

[Daryn]

Steve, I sanded a bit of the paint back a fair while ago, looking for signs of the sign writing, When I bought it, it was brown and looked like it had been done with a spray can!! It was registered as a Silver car and there is browns and yellows and all sorts of colours under that top coat. I sure wish sometimes she could talk! there would be all sorts of stories in there.

As for ending up in OZ, I bought it from an NZ website and shipped her over. It's nothing pretty but the body is actually not to bad and is certainly restorable. As I can't afford to fix it to original 350 specs (As this car is rare enough being an 81837) I decided to start chasing down the history. After two years of trying to track the car back (I'm surprised I hadn't e-mailed you in that time) I eventually found it to be the Crichton Monaro from the owner before Neville (Another long story).
Imagine the excitement, finding out the car you bought was an ex racer. It was only for the fact that I went to alot of effort to try to find the cars history that I stumbled across it. I have a huge respect for a cars pedigree, certainly the rare ones. Basically this car found me, I was looking for SS Torana parts over your way at the time and I don't even know why but I did a search on 81837 and found her. I remember it being very strange that I found the car. The guy that I bought it from had no idea what he had, nor probably the previous 8 or so owners! Go figure!!

[Daryn]

Well I'll be damned, That would explain the dark brown on about paint layer number three! That is the same registration number in the photo's of the Lina Mint car. (Would they have transfered rego's back then for any reason)?
This doesn't add up, This must be the next owner after Neville had the car, It's been painted in the 73/74GTS Stripes. Do you know the year this was taken?
Does anyone recognise who is driving?

[Jac Mac]

Quick Question, does/did your car have hard plastic bushes in the lower front A-Arms as opposed to the original holden rubber versions?

[Daryn]

Quick Question, does/did your car have hard plastic bushes in the lower front A-Arms as opposed to the original holden rubber versions?

Can't remember I've had her under a tarp for about 2 years now, off the top of my head it is fitted with red nolethain (spelt something like that) bushes but I'd say it's been done post racing, Looking closely at the photo's.....What colour does the back seat look like?

[Steve Holmes]

Well I'll be damned, That would explain the dark brown on about paint layer number three! That is the same registration number in the photo's of the Lina Mint car. (Would they have transfered rego's back then for any reason)?
This doesn't add up, This must be the next owner after Neville had the car, It's been painted in the 73/74GTS Stripes. Do you know the year this was taken?
Does anyone recognise who is driving?

Hey isn't that interesting! I hadn't noticed the matching licence plates before! There would be no reason for them to swap the licence plates that I can think of, so thats almost certainly the same car as the green car Crichton raced the previous season. These two photos were taken during the 1974/75 season, so its definitely one year later than when the car was green. I'd say they just painted it. Quite why they thought it would be a good idea to cover up the lime green paint with poo-brown and yellow stripes God only knows, but this was the '70s! Note that the Team McMillen Jim Richards XA GT Falcon is painted white, it was blue the season before.

I'm pretty certain that isn't Crichton driving. The helmet is a dark colour half-face helmet, and Crichton raced with a white full-face helmet.

Going through magazines during the 1973/74 season when the Monaro was green, I haven't found any photos yet of Don Scott driving a Monaro, but on at least one occasion in the race reviews Don Scott has been mentioned driving a green Monaro. Eg, at the Castrol GTX round at Ruapuna in the South Island, the Motorman magazine review says "had Don Scott in the green Monaro breaking the Ford domination of this class" It seems Crichton raced the car in the North Island, Don Scott in the South Island.

By the way, the photos above were taken by Steve Twist, an ex-pat Kiwi now living in Delaware. Steve sent me a couple of cd's of photos he took during the 60s and 70s, and I posted them on this site for everyone to enjoy. Those Castrol GTX shots appeared in part 2, which can be found here: http://www.theroaringseason.com/show...lection-Part-2

[Steve Holmes]

This is the only colour shot I have seen of your Monaro. The sun is reflecting off the windscreen so you can't see the driver, but I'd guess it would be Crichton behind the wheel, as this was taken at Bay Park in the North Island. Note that the Jim Richards Team McMillen Falcon on the left of shot is blue here. Thats how you know this is the 1973/74 season.

[Steve Holmes]

This scan was taken from the January 1974 issue of Autonews. Note that Crichton is wearing a white full-face helmet. The caption at the bottom says Crichton could appear in a modified saloon for the 1974/75 season. In fact he did race a '70 Camaro during that 75/76 season, though not in Castrol GTX.

[Steve Holmes]

Oh, one more thing. If you look at the article I wrote on the GTX series in AMC, and flick to page 96, you'll see a photo of Jim Richards talking to Rod Coppins on the grid at Levin. Further down the grid you can see the nose of a Monaro. I'm pretty sure this must be Crichtons first car. It doesn't have the stripes.

[Daryn]

Hey Steve,
I've sent you a PM, need help to get my photo's on. It's all on one PDF file that is to big.

[Steve Holmes]

OK, I have some more info for you. And it looks like you are correct. Both Neville Crichton and Don Scott raced HQ Monaros in the 1973/74 Castrol GTX championship. And it seems they raced separate cars, as I've found two race reviews where they're both in the same race. What makes things confusing is that both cars appear to be green. That is, I have found a separate review in which Scott is racing his Monaro and the review says its green.

Now, to confuse matters even more, the above photo of the poo-brown in the 1974/75 season Monaro is Don Scott. He was sponsored by Splashe Soft Drinks. Crichton didn't race in the 1974/75 GTX series.

And here is what else I found. The photo posted below that Brett (faminz) posted on the Monaro thread, this is also Don Scott. This photo was taken at (I think) Manfeild, in mid-1975. This would be after the second season of the Monaro being raced in the GTX series. This photo was taken during a production endurance race which was part of what was called the Winter Production Series. Scott teamed up with Brian Green in the Monaro at Manfield and Pukekohe and they were also entered for another round but had engine failure and were scratched. There was at least two other rounds and Peter Brock was sent across to compete at two of them in the L34 Torana he won Bathurst with in 1975.

The rules for the Winter Production Series seem to have been based loosely on Australian Group C rules, and were quite similar to the rules that the Castrol GTX series would adopt for the next two seasons, where the Z28 Camaros and Rod Coppins' L34 Torana all raced. This would be why the Monaro was fitted with the wider wheels and rollcage. Craig Pulman Engines was only the sponsor. He didn't race the car from what I can determine.

So here is what I think could be the story. Neville Crichton and Don Scott both raced HQ Monaros in the 1973/74 Castrol GTX series. Crichtons car was always faster, so Scott bought the car off him either late in the '74 season, or following the conclusion of the season. He then painted it poo-brown with the yellow stripes and raced it throughout the 1974/75 Castrol GTX series, with Splashe Soft Drinks sponsorship. Perhaps it was a requirement of the sponsor that the car be brown???

Following the conclusion of the '75 GTX, the car was modified slightly with the wider wheels and rollcage, and raced in the Winter Production Series, as it appears it was not raced in the GTX again. Also, it looks like the car was repainted a lighter colour in the photos of it during the Winter production Series, as this definitely doesn't look like dark brown, even though its a b/w photo. Hense the reason you found green, brown, green paint on the car perhaps?

One more thing, Don Scott was from Palmerston North, which is probably how he knew Brian Green, as Green is also from Palm Nth. Green has done rallying for many years.

How does that sound?

[Steve Holmes]

Daryn, the first thing I'd be doing is pulling up the carpets slightly to see if there is any evidence of a rollcage having ever been fit.

[Daryn]

Daryn, the first thing I'd be doing is pulling up the carpets slightly to see if there is any evidence of a rollcage having ever been fit.

There aren't any carpets in it (Basically a rolling shell) and yes it's had a roll cage in it previously.

[Daryn]

Steve, I'm confused as hell. I have a picture of Don Scott in a Splashe drink advert, with a HQ 350 Monaro, it's a B/W photo but the car is number 19, has what look like Jelly Bean mags with fats on it and of all things, it has a vinyl roof!!!!!!
I have a family member with a scanner so I'm going to borrow it and keep this thread going cause I want to get to the bottom of this! I'll scan some bits and pieces and get them on the thread, see if we can work this out? Where are you Don Scott?

[Steve Holmes]

Hmm, this is proving quite challenging. Can you scan the photo and post it here? By any chance does it have a strip of trim running down the side? Steve Dymond raced a Monaro in the South Island that had a vinyl roof around 1975 ish. I wonder if he bought Don Scotts first car?