Is there anything funnier than an exploding dunny? Great story.
Is there anything funnier than an exploding dunny? Great story.
The 'Story' was in the book put out by Frank Gardner/Castrol, used to have a copy, but like a lot of things it has gone missing..... there is also a story about the portable toilet at a Dunsandel? grass track venue, I could tell that one, but it would be third or fourth hand.... better to come from someone closer to the original...Originally Posted by bob homewood
Beowulf very kindly leant me a copy of the DVD.....'Frank Gardner'....address to the Historic Sports & racing car Association of NSW..1999. It has among other priceless anecdotes, the story of the exploding dunny at Wigram. He was one hard case, that fella!! How the hell have we got from Historic Race Cars to exploding 'johns'. I'm sure we are going to get pulled up by our administrator soon.
Not on this thread you wont! Keep the stories coming fellas, these are all must read posts on a daily basis.
Right, bit of Sunday night nonsense. This is an ad on Ebay for a, wait for it, MINI. I kid you not.. You have to read it about 30 times to understand what is being said. Sounds like teenage texting language, or this fella needs to go back to school and concentrate, or indeed back to where he came from!!! For those of us on this forum, and thats all of us, who think we can speak and write the Queens English, you will find this a bit of a challenge. The ad reads...........this is a mk1 rolling shel the frunt has bin removed to strt restering so it can do with a noow fruntend neds to frunt flur pans and the resd can be pachd up i thinck sub frams ar good and everything is origanal its one ov thm heve shels i thinck its a non resesd windo 59er as the hols for the gerstick is far back and ther wos trim in it but i bind it siley me it has mowog on sub fram thes one chassis numba on wots lefd ov the frunt end wich is chopt up and inside the car but it dus ned frunt end thers a numba playt with it i would love to see this car go back on the road i jusd dont hav the rite plays to do it carnt find log book so you wood hav to send of for one ther is a engine not sher if its good its 850 kno hed on it thers kno dors its jusd a empty roling shell good luck on biding.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm telling you, THAT took a bit of typing....is full of red spell-check lines. And these kids want us to adopt this spelling.....on yer bike sonny.
I remember Steve Boreham of Goldstar Hillclimb fame saying once that to stay young you had to mix with young people. And if you mixed with old people you would get old, maybe not in years but certainly in outlook. Thats one of the things I love about motorsport, you are mixing with young people and people with a young outlook.
I can recall it now that you mention it, but no details.
I will see if I can jog a few other memories and report back.
Well, if nothing else, trying to shake old memories certainly bought out a few stories of various custom and hot rodded Morris Minors from the sixties, mentioned were the 'Vodka and Orange' custom in Christchurch, the Red Barron from Pukekohe with an ohv V8 that was run in all sorts of Hot Rod events from Drags to Hill Climbs, as well as cars that had various 4 cyl Ford engines fitted and even one with a 3.3 litre Cresta engine.
Around Auckland there was a recall of a customised car in green, but that ran a slightly hotted A series engine, this is that car.
The V860 powered car was remembered by the three people I phoned, but no names were remembered, and even the colour was forgotten. I think like me all three had V860 association through speedway midgets, so a V860 in something other than the odd Simca was interesting. The large radiator also wasn't recalled, perhaps that was in later days when the car was no longer turning up to any Hot Rod Club events. The photo below is of very poor quality, but I think it may be the car on show at Mt Maunganui circa 1967/68.
As well it wasn't 12 months ago, because none of us would have remembered, things from 40 odd years ago can usually be recalled to some degree.
Well it certainly looks very similar,what I can remember that last I saw it ,I think the radiator had gained some more cores,and the front panel was spaced even further forward to sort of cover it,Thanks for the memory search
Yes, Johnny Rileys yard was on the Gt Sth Rd by the Tamaki River opposite what was then Foodtown Supermarket. He then moved to the corner of Gt Sth and Portage Rds at the northern end of Otahuhu. Graeme Harvey was on the corner of Portage and Saleyards Rds and he used to test his Elfin up and down the short part of Portage Rd toward the railway marshalling yards. I lived just across the paddock at the Abattoir and as soon as I heard the Elfin I would sprint across the paddock to get an eye and ear full! Red Dawson had a yard further up Gt Sth Rd near Huia Rd.
You remember when we were talking about Bar's Leaks in thread 136 of Yards and Yarns, well in 'Entry Lists', pall mall has just posted some pages from the programme for the 1960 NZ GP meeting at Ardmore, and there on the page for the Saloon Car H/cap is a little plug for Bar's Leaks........'.Every 5000 miles, give your engine efficient heat control with Bar's Leaks'. How about that!!! BUT, just look at the entry for the Grand Prix......wouldn't you give your right-arm to see that grid today. We didn't know how lucky we were.
We were spoilt back in those days, the following year, 1961, was almost a full F1 World Championship grid. With the final 2.5 litre F1 race having taken place at Riverside California next stop was Ardmore. We had works cars from Cooper, Lotus, BRM, plus cars from the main private F1 entrants, basically all but Ferrari.
Here is the Bars Leaks advert from the tatty back cover of the 1960 programme.
In one of the earlier threads we talked about the modern youth not wanting to get involved in the club side of motorsport. I have just received an e.mail from my original car club saying that the AGM had ben called off because only 7 members attended which was less than the quorum needed. This is a club that has clubrooms, used to have 250 members, ran Gold Star Hillclimbs, trials and National rallies. We used to have a speed event every month during the summer, including a grass track racing meeting, and a trial every month during the winter. We produced a Gold Star Sports Car champion in Andy Buchanan, and our members competed with distinction in all forms of motorsport. Recently a member won the NZ rally championship for the third time. A couple of years ago the club celebrated it's 50th anniversary.
After event functions at the clubrooms were well supported and popular, and we had no complaints from neighbours. Club members who stepped out of line were disciplined. Events were well patronised by local members as well as visitors from neighbouring clubs, most of whom had at least an hours drive to get there. As committee members we all worked hard to promote events, to have fun and we made many good friends.
I find it rather depressing that a club that not so long ago was one of the best in NZ is now struggling. Modern technolegy might be terrific but the art of verbal communication is being lost in the modern PC world.
I don't know what this has to do with Yards and Yarns, but I have got it off my chest and feel better. Thanks.
Beowulf....what a sad letter. But dont apologise, because your comments on the club scene, how it used to be, and how it is today, is what this Forum is all about. The plain fact of the matter is that MOST of the guys reading this, and I'm presuming that MOST if not all, are guys, are old-ish. Just take a wander around the pits at a classic meeting and what do you see.....old-ish guys squeezed into race suits that are too small for them, and old-ish spectators with the grandchildren in tow. The young fellas bought up on 500hp, twin-turboed, 4 wheel-drive Rice-Rockets, find our cars a bit Ho-Hum......'drifting is what it's all about man'!!!!!! The modern technology that you talk about is good in the sense that we can communicate instantly with one another, either on here or the cell phone, but you are right that the camerarderie of the club seems to be disappearing. I've got to sit down and have a real good think about this, but your letter demanded an instant, if not well thought out reply. Watch this space.
Could Steve please tell me what the 5 gold stars on this and 'Images' thread signify? Have we won some sort of award for the most bullshit. I know there used to be a Gold Star championship in NZ, as beowulf mentioned that Andy Buchanan had won such an award, other than that I am baffled. A free trip to Hawaii would be nice!!!!!!
Well this administrator certainly won't be pulling you up! I love this stuff! This is what this website was created for. All those stories the magazines didn't publish. They're priceless! Keep 'em coming.....
The stars were put there by another member Gerald. They're basically a rating to let other members and visitors to the forum know what they think of certain threads. 5 stars is as good as it gets, so someone is obviously enjoying it. The stars just let others know this is a good thread to check out and spend some time in. Same goes for Nigels photo thread.
Thanks for that explanation Steve. I wondered what they were for as I thought that maybe only I could see them!! Silly bugger!!
This is going to sound really weird, but.. I believe that the instantness of communication has a lot to answer for. In the "good old days" if the phone was not answered we rang back, if it was engaged , we rang back, and I think a number of events, like the AGM were well attended because people rang each other and persuaded others to be there, if only for a catch up. Club magazines were done on the Gestetner at work, looked like rubbish in many cases, but eagerly anticipated, and saved for ever.
Now it's too easy, leave a message on the answerphone which most of us forget, emailed news if any at all is deleted, and we all forget to go to these things. Of course the anti drink driving laws make some of our "after match functions" a bit difficult. Some of our antics could never be allowed now.
An old Boy Racer!
Well, that stirred a few folk up eh! I was going to say also that there will come a time, I think, when we wont even NEED a club like the one beowulf has fond memories of. As Bob says, everything is done on line. When I came 'out of retirement' to do a bit of motoracing again, the only reason I joined a MANZ affiliated club was to get my licence again. I told the Club Captain that he wouldn't see me at events, and I think he was a bit disappointed, not because I wouldn't be there, but because I was using the club for a means to an end. I have belonged to all sorts of motoring clubs for years and have done rallies, trials, gymkhanas, etc etc etc and at 72, I'm not about to do them all over again. So a club, FOR ME is not necessary. The little bit of racing I do now can be done quite satisfactorily by just entering the appropriate web site and paying a fee. I meet all my racing mates at the track and thats good, and is all I want. Thats not to say that a club is not beneficial to others. Maybe we have lost our sense of adventure and as 'oldfart' says the drinking laws today have put a bit of a damper on after match functions. I do know that if it wasn't for this forum, and this medium for communication, I would never have have written all the junk I have, if I had to rely on pen and paper and party-line telephones. Bugger, I was really looking forward to a trip to Hawaii, because Yards and Yarns had won 5 gold stars for journalism!!!!!
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