Austin-Healey’s and the Austin Healey Car Club of NZ and Others

[Roger Dowding]

The Big,

Ross Bond and his 3000 - [ exact date not known ] but as advised by Larry Varley who had the pictures in his archives.
*** now known to be at Sandown in 1968.
This is before the huge flares were fitted to the car - Ray Bell may know more ..

Coming off the trailer - as seen from the front of the car..




from the rear..



Austin Healey 100S in the USA AHS3907 - originally sold through Austin, Melbourne Australia - the chassis number before the Seabrook Fowlds Ross Jensen car.

Appears to be around 1960 as roll bars have appeared on the cars. details of the driver I will try to find out.
A Time / Life archive photo.



Another 100 [ not an S ] and another lady Barbara Walters the Television News personality in the USA in the late 1950's - 1960's and on.
Had not seen or heard of the Magazine published by " Mechanix Illustrated

"

- I did have some Popular Mechanics back in the 1960's though.

Pat Moss and a Poem again from a magazine.



For the small - A guy who should be on a Motorcycle and Sidecar Combo - by the looks - what do you think "jw" ?
- where ? I think Europe
- when ?? around 1960
- who - ???
- why - ????.

[ERC]

Well, he does have 'Norton' on his helmet.

Maybe he got the wrong event?

Should've gone to Spec Savers?

[Roger Dowding]

Well, he does have 'Norton' on his helmet.

Maybe he got the wrong event?

Should've gone to Spec Savers?

When " Norton " was a real piece of machinery, not some computer antivirus ..!!

Cheers
Roger

A bigger Healey ...and is it a Nota NOT A " Norton..??
No ; It is a Centaur



** Notes from Ray Bell
" Centaur is either Will Charlton or John Campbell. " - Centaur's were built in Queensland by Tim Harlock "
- more information

[Ray Bell]

That pic is from Lakeside...

Lakeside is in Queensland where Tim Harlock built the Centaur ciubmans. They were pretty rare in that they had that rounded nose.

Once again we see that the roll bar on the Bond Healey varied from time to time, the previous pic is apparently earlier (by the size of the flares) yet the more modern style of roll bar is in use.

[Roger Dowding]

That pic is from Lakeside...

Lakeside is in Queensland where Tim Harlock built the Centaur ciubmans. They were pretty rare in that they had that rounded nose.

Once again we see that the roll bar on the Bond Healey varied from time to time, the previous pic is apparently earlier (by the size of the flares) yet the more modern style of roll bar is in use.

Ray Bell, thanks for the notes.. so Not A " Nota :.

These appear to be from the same meeting - they were posted on
" The Healey Museum "
- back in 2016 and recently reposted by Joe Armour, on an Austin Healey page on Fb. .
** details from Ray Bell,
The Lakeside meeting April 18th 1971.

** Steve Booker in the MGB.






Bit of an oops - can't get rid of the duplicated image..

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by Roger Dowding
.....These appear to be from the same meeting - they were posted on
" The Healey Museum "
- back in 2016 and recently reposted by Joe Armour, on an Austin Healey page on Fb. .







Bit of an oops - can't get rid of the duplicated image..

These would be from the April 18 meeting in 1971...

Steve Booker is the MGB driver, the Centaur is either Will Charlton or John Campbell.

The colour pics of the Healey being unloaded is at the bottom end of the pits at Sandown, but I can't for the life of me find Bond mentioned in a race report at that circuit. It would seem (by the roll bar) to have been prior to May, 1970.

[Roger Dowding]

These would be from the April 18 meeting in 1971...

Steve Booker is the MGB driver, the Centaur is either Will Charlton or John Campbell.

The colour pics of the Healey being unloaded is at the bottom end of the pits at Sandown, but I can't for the life of me find Bond mentioned in a race report at that circuit. It would seem (by the roll bar) to have been prior to May, 1970.

Ray Bell, thanks for those details - will add to the photos and the post. 1971 Lakeside was only 10 years old.
I have a cap from the 50th Anniversary Celebration meetings in 2011.

The colour ones- realise I had seen them before from Larry Varley - They are at Sandown from 1968.

[Ray Bell]

While there is irrefutable evidence that Bond made it to Sandown in that period, I cannot find a single mention of him in any report from '67 onwards.

He must have run as a very much also-ran in a race with cars like Matich's SR3 and Niel Allen's Elfin out in front.

[Oldfart]

The spread of sports cars became almost too much for organisers to cope with, at least on the eastern side of the Tasman.

[Ray Bell]

I would ask Ross, but I understand his marbles are having a bit of a roll-around these days...

He was always a great competitor, Ken Webb prepared his cars superbly. Did I ever tell you about their first run with the alloy head?

[Roger Dowding]

" Did I ever tell you about their first run with the alloy head ? "

Ray Bell please do.

Meanwhile in America - 15th -16th October 1960 at the Southern California Amateur Championship Races at Riverside.
AH 100S #164 entered and driven by Robert Windhorst.
AH 3000 #100 entered by Phil Gough and driven by Dan Parkinson- an Alfa Romeo in front and several Corvette's behind.
There was another Healey AH 100S AHS3706 entrant " Chucks Foreign Car Service " and driven by Earl Tradeup- is that name for real !! from Rainer Jordan archives



A few years before across the Atlantic and into the Med ..
Lance Macklin in an Austin Healey 100 - Race number 550 .. his start time - Lance drove solo as seen here on the start ramp.

[Roger Dowding]

More pictures of the AH 100S and that accident.
Some of these I have not seen before - and where they were posted was a similar comment.

The image with the Cunningham Race #22 going past is well known and shown before.

[Ray Bell]

Pretty sad stuff...

Okay, back to Ross Bond. And also to Ken and Shirley Webb, who were behind the car.

Ken obtained an alloy head and fitted it to the engine, which by this time had Holden pistons as well. On the dyno it showed 10hp less than it had with the iron head and Ross was pretty dejected about it, wanting it back the way it had been. Ken was adamant that he had to drive it.

So to Warwick Farm they went. The weight reduction (50lbs?) from over the front wheels had such an effect on handling that he was two seconds a lap quicker than before.

[Oldfart]

I thought, at the time, that Ross' car always looked pretty rugged, but I loved it for what it was.

[Ray Bell]

To my way of thinking it was far from 'rugged'...

Look at the photos of it coming off the trailer, the colour pics in post 1281, it looks pretty good there and that's how I always remember it to have been.

It got rugged later when subsequent owners decided to drag-race it and set fire to it trying to do a burnout. Carl Stecher took it from there, I don't know where it went after he died.

[Oldfart]

[QUOTE=Ray Bell;76999]To my way of thinking it was far from 'rugged'...

Looking at the photos of the front in post 1286, which are similar, if not the ones that appeared in Sports Car World, clearly show why I (and friends) had that impression!

[Roger Dowding]

Nash Healey Le Mans 1952 entry Race #11 .. in 1953 the car also raced but without the number plate on the bodywork.
archive - Frederic Brambillo.



1970's-looks like a Jaguar Drivers Club Sprint meeting, lots of Jaguars, an AM and an AH- Glenn Cannie photo - Glen was a Flag / Grid marshall on the day.



In 1979 " Personalized " - with the US " z " Plates were issued by the Authorities in British Columbia, Canada.
A photo and notes from the local paper in Victoria - the Victoria Tomes - Colonist. 6 Dec 1969.
The same photo appeared in " Wings " Magazine - the AH Club of Brirish Columbia in January 1970.
President of the AH Club of BC at the time was a friend the late Nell Holdstock [ later Nell Donaldson, living in NZ from the late 1980's ]



The closest I came to a personalised Healey plate was " LX100 " on my 1955 100 back in the 1980's but I do have this
- a gift from the late John and Shirley Wilson, of Oregon, given to me in 1988.

[Roger Dowding]

AHS3709 was among a group of cars sold through / to " Gough Industries " in Los Angeles - they were despatched from the DHMC works at the Cape in April 1955 - April 21st and 22nd.

In the Geoff Healey book on the " Big Healeys " there is no note of who bought the cars AHS3706 - 3710 and AHS3801.
All supplied to " Gough " at the same time

The car was campaigned by a Jack Breskovich [ Breskovitch ] from 1959 to 1962 at the L A Times Grand Prix for Sports Cars, held at Riverside, near Los Angeles, California - the track is now residential real estate - seem familiar, Baypark, Wigram et al.

A few photos - four taken at the start of the same event in 1962.

First a cutting from a Sports Car magazine published in the USA.



Car has the Race number #163 and the class " D " which was a capacity class in the USA at the time.

Riverside at the Start line - which was in a bit of a " canyon " !! - Ken H may know more about Riverside.










The car in action - a colour photo that has faded .. same Race number



The images were posted by Rainer Jordan in the USA - who is trying to find out more about the car that was
- " written off " in 1963 - no details are known on the reason ..
Would have just been an old and well used racing car by that time !

More photos of this car AHS3709 in October 2023 Post #1393 - includes a duplicated photo from here

[Roger Dowding]

More photos have emerged on the car AHS3709, and re -reading information and looking at my photos I now realise that the Austin Healey 100S of Fred Cohen, that was at Snowmass in July 1982, AHS3707 was part of the same set of cars distributed through Gough Industries of Los Angeles in mid 1955 - they left DHMC at the cape in April 1955.

The car at the back of a group - believed to be Riverside and would be 1962 as the new C2 Corvette's feature.
The last of the C1 Corvette model was the 1961 - 62 version that had the same front as the 1958 on cars but the Stingray tail - the shape of things to come, and modeled on the original "StingRay " of Zora Arkus Duntov the Chevrolet Engineer who raced the prototype .. ray in the late 1950's early 1960's..

Attachment 74193

AHS3709 is it ?. hard to tell from the image .. looks more white than the pale blue of the Jack Breskovich car.
Amongst a group of Corvette's Jaguar XK's and others [ a Mercedes 300SL Gullwing- the Corvette's are C1 with the new for 1958 twin headlights, following the Chevrolet " corporate " image, reputed to be Pomona Race Track - one for Ken H,

Attachment 74194

Refer also Post #1393.

[Roger Dowding]

More photos have emerged on the car AHS3709, and re -reading information and looking at my photos I now realise that the Austin Healey 100S of Fred Cohen, that was at Snowmass in July 1982, AHS3707 was part of the same set of cars distributed through Gough Industries of Los Angeles in mid 1955 - they left DHMC at the cape in April 1955.

The car at the back of a group - believed to be Riverside and would be 1962 as the new C2 Corvette's feature.
The last of the C1 Corvette model was the 1961 - 62 version that had the same front as the 1958 on cars but the Stingray tail - the shape of things to come, and modeled on the original "StingRay " of Zora Arkus Duntov the Chevrolet Engineer who raced the prototype .. ray in the late 1950's early 1960's..



AHS3709 is it ?. hard to tell from the image .. looks more white than the pale blue of the Jack Breskovich car.
Amongst a group of Corvette's Jaguar XK's and others [ a Mercedes 300SL Gullwing- the Corvette's are C1 with the new, for 1958, twin headlights, following the Chevrolet " corporate " image, reputed to be Pomona Race Track - one for Ken H,