ACE III was Zephyr-powered in its later years with Wally. It's still racing, though I'm not sure that ACE IV is
ACE III was Zephyr-powered in its later years with Wally. It's still racing, though I'm not sure that ACE IV is
Two yards in Christchurch that havent disappeared, and should stir up some memories, are Sydenham Park Car Sales home of the Sylvester Chev which is being covered in another thread, and Trevor Crowes' yard in Morehouse Ave, now a Subaru franchise. Everyone remembers the Toyota Starlet that Trevor created to take on the big guns. Was developed over the years and eventually was Rover V8 powered. What stood out was the engineering on the car which was taken to another level when, bike racer Dr Roger Freeth took it over. He introduced technical innovations way beyond their time, in car cameras to check suspension movement for instance. This car has been saved and I think has been seen at classic meetings. Roger was of course Possum Bournes co-driver and was killed in 1993. A very intelligent man, had a PhD in physics, and I remember a saying that was attributed to him.................. 'I would rather have a full bottle in front of me, than a full frontal lobotomy'......Work that one out. Interesting isnt it that there have been a number of motorbike racers going to cars, John Surtees the most successful, but never the other way...cars to bikes.
Rodger Freeth's data logging set-up involved motorcycle-style control cables attached to suspension points, then in the cockpit there were pointers that moved backwards and forwards across a graduated scale - all captured by a video camera mounted on the roll bar. He was a bloody good guy and a huge loss to NZ motorsport.
He was a hero of mine after his successive wins at the Bathurst motorcycle races on a bike whose engine was pretty much standard, albeit housed in a very good chassis. Us biker types also remember his experiments with airfoils on a Yamaha TZ750 - a scary enough bike without wings hanging off it.
Last edited by Shano; 06-29-2011 at 07:45 PM.
Trevor Crowe actually built two V8 Starlets. The first one probably had more success in Crowe's own hands, and raced from 1980 through until around 1985/86. The second one appeared in late 1986 (I think), but by that stage Crowe was getting involved in Group A, and I think he only ran it briefly before selling it to Freeth, and although it was incredibly fast straight out of the box, it still required further development to get the most out of it, which Freeth did of course. Both cars were Oldsmobile powered, and it was Freeth who fitted the second car with the TWR Rover unit.
The second Starlet has been restored to its Freeth/CRC guise, the first is in the South Island, nearing completion of a restoration. Both cars were the ultimate of the Kiwi Ingenuity expression.
Gerald, you must have some stories to tell of Ron Sylvester? He must have been a real character.Originally Posted by AMCO72
Actually Steve I have none at all. Sydenham Park car sale seems to have been off my radar...was probably too far on my bike, so I thought someone else could do bit on it. While on the subject of yards, I see Mr McKinney was born and bred in Thames. Now I seem to remember that Thames was a hot bed of motorsport in the 50's and 60's and there was a yard in Pollen St that always had sports cars and the like on it. I cant for the life of me think of its name and thought that David might like to enlighten me.
Amco - here is your car with the orange vinyl bonnet, although you'll have to take my word for it... I thought this was the first time it raced but it may well have just been the first time I saw it race. Even then it was clear the car was one out of the box with it's very high quality presentation. It had some Guthrie Bowron sponsorship which probably related to the amount of paint it had on it.
Shano.......I have never seen that photo, is it one of yours. We do have a lot of pictures of the car in the BNSW days, some black and white some colour but different ones keep turning up. Could you f/w that picture to my Email site....bentley6@xtra.co.nz I am not sure whether I can print off the site page.....my computer skills are pretty basic to say the least.
Thames was the home of one Bill Culver, I have some photos of Bill and a few of his cars to post once I clean them up a bit. I also have a lot of stories about Bill, but most will have to remain un published for now. Bill passed away a couple of years ago, he had been living in Queensland, in a town north of Brisbane.
A bit off subject but I worked on Possums crew for 16 years and with Rodger of course. He was always the life of the party. He used to have a business card in his wallet.... Dr Roger Freeth and on the back - Not a gynaecologist but I'll take a look.
Cheers
----------------
Chris
Chris....what a hoot...I laughed my head off when I read that Roger Freeth business card quote. You know, Christians believe in everlasting life.....Im not a Christian but as far as Im concerned, remembering people like Roger because of what he said or did is giving them everlasting life. [plop.....that was my head falling off!!!!!!!!!]
Another yard we always inspected was Brian Green's in Palmerston North. Good to see he is still going strong. He would have some stories to tell. What has happened to Fazzazz, have sent several e.mails but no reply. it is about the only car place I can be bothered visiting now. No boring Jap imports
Ha ha ha ha! Fantastic!He used to have a business card in his wallet.... Dr Roger Freeth and on the back - Not a gynaecologist but I'll take a look.
I understand its suffered some damage from the quakes. Are you from Palmerston North?
Every time I see a Bourban, I think of Roger having a gentle chat about the days racing. And lets not forget his trusty Westminster on trips with starlet in tow. He was a beaut. Pity so many of these legends left early. That I think is the magic of this site as we can all remember and share.
I used to farm just out of Masterton. Was very involved with the Wairarapa Car Club. We had a heap of events on that farm. Gymkhanas, autocrosses, 4wd rallies, great way to drain a swamp! Motorcyle scrambles, grass hillclimbs, long distance races etc. My poor neighbours.Raced at Levin in a 64 HA Viva, slower than a wet weekend with no motorsport on TV. Dave McKinney may remember the "wobbly weekends" we used to hold. I will write about them one day.
Sorry AMCO. I left Thames at the age of 2, so don't have many memories of it
...From my Memory of Rod the Collingwood,thats him standing directly behind the Mini in the 'Fastman' racing overals...................But!!!?.............regards Thunder427/MJAmco - here is your car with the orange vinyl bonnet, although you'll have to take my word for it... I thought this was the first time it raced but it may well have just been the first time I saw it race. Even then it was clear the car was one out of the box with it's very high quality presentation. It had some Guthrie Bowron sponsorship which probably related to the amount of paint it had on it.
PS;last time I had dealings with Rod Collingwood, he was managing the Christchurch Town Hall,driving a SLR5000' on a permantly mounted 'Trade Plate'........Traded/Sold this car(never been registered/as 'NEW') Purchased Graeme Vautiers ,1970-1/2 Camaro / 'Motion Performance' modified.........he asked me into his office,one Thursday ,(1974/50) where he draw a giant picture of a Tack on his White Board,sketched in some measurments and proceeded to tell me that this was todays ............'Plan of Attack'............!!!!?
My job was to refinish the 'Vautier/Crown Motor Court' Camaro 'S.H.I.N.N.I.N.G' BLACK ,Black that you could read your watch in and ..."I want to drive it next Friday night to a 'party" !!!!........7 days?????......but I shall save that story till later........................regards thunder427/MJ
Last edited by thunder427; 06-30-2011 at 01:51 PM.
Do you know I could hardly brush my teeth last night, I was laughing so much thinking about Roger. But hey arent the bike boys a bit like that, a bit different, a bit of rebel in there, and they sure as hell arent BORING. Ok,a bit of lateral thinking there, now back to the yards. Tony Shelly's place in Wellington another of our yards with motorsport connections. Tony used to team up with Ray Archibold and do the long distance events in the Jaguar. My only involvement with Tony was in 1977 when I was selling my 1966 MK2 3.8 Jaguar and had advertised it as being the last 3.8 imported into NZ. Tony rang me to question my claim and pointed out that it was in fact HE who had the last MK2....that is before the 240 and 340. I asked him to lookup the ownership papers and check when the car had been first registered in NZ, and he came back with 10th December 1966. I told him as diplomaticly as I could that my car had been first registered on the 31st December 1966......couldnt get much later than that. The car, a black 3.8 on wires was a special order for Harvey Hingston in New Plymouth....it had no overdrive and a high-ratio diff....apparently Harvey distrusted O/D gearboxes. The whole thing has come a complete circle as the current owner has the car in Lyall Williamsons International Motorsport garage having among other things, an overdrive fitted. You cant win. Just as an aside, Harvey was principle at Opunake [I think] school, and as a dentention used to get the kids to clean the chrome wire wheels!!!!! Some punishment, and better than writing out 100 times 'I must not swear at the teacher'. Buy the way, the personised plates ...67 Jag....now fitted to the car are incorrect. It is a '66 model. Its original plate was....FF52. Now, why would anyone want to change from a black plate, on a black car with that distinctive number to one of those terrible white things, and yes, I do know who the culprit was and he should have known better! Another car I should never have sold. Unfortunately I got more speeding tickets in that car than all the rest put together, so I just got pissed off and Jerry Clayton took it off my hands for some miserable figure...$5,750. Storey of my life, selling things too soon.
Does anyone remember Henry Philips. He had a small yard down by the lake in Rotorua. He was a keen Jaguar man and was always involved in the JDC rallies at the long weekends at Easter. Henry bought and sold a number of interesting sports cars so I suppose we could say he had motorsport connections. At one stage he had a very nice 1960 MK1 2.4 Jaguar saloon which didnt exactly have much performance and is universally decried by the Jaguar brigade as 'not being a proper Jag'. Well, maybe, but my Dad had one in the early sixties and, no it didnt have the get-up-and-go of a 3.4 but it was a very sweet and comfy touring car. I must be the only person who likes them because they all seem to have disappeared, not been thought of as collectable. my Dads car was bought by Christchurch business man Ron Barrow and my Dad was its second owner......was pale blue and was the first 2.4 sold by Archibolds in 1959. Hope it has been saved and restored by someone. Getting back to Ron Barrow, he was clearly a bit of an entrepreneur as he had imported the XK120C that I bought some years later from Des Wild. Ron had tried his hand at racing the XK, but was so shocked when he wore out a set of tyres at one Wigram meeting that he retired then and there!!
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