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

[Roger Dowding]

Quote Ray Bell " The monochrome shot is from the Farm, entering the esses with Ken Ward's Morgan in Creek Corner behind Bondy...

the Farm photo again ;


Personally I don't ever remember the Healey with a hardtop on it, maybe it was during the 'Country Club' shirt days when they sponsored races for GT cars. When I get a chance I'll see if I can find it. "

Ray answered his own question !!

Not a 'Country Club' GT race, but a GT race all the same...

Oran Park, August 10, 1969.

And the last pic is also the Bond Healey 3000. That rollover bar was sometimes used on the car, it seemed to be changed at will. Pics of the car in early '68 show it to have that roll bar and no signwriting, also the bungee cord over the boot handle.

But where is the photo taken?

Ray Bell again thanks for [ as Ken H would say ]" your inputs " and that information - which will improve details on the photo's.

When Larry Varley posted the photos it generated some details about the race circuit and brought back memories to quite a few Aussie Guys

[Roger Dowding]

The Gates at the Cornwall Park / Domain Auckland - near the sunken garden, was the venue for the Intermarque Concours - before it became Corporatised in more recent times - remember being on the judging panel one year - I think around 1978.

Am unsure whose cars the one left and middle are [ without doing some research the left hand car the number plate is familiar ]
- the 100 Six MM [ right ] was Mark and Cathy Donaldson's at the time .. Mark sent me the photo today.
The MM stood for Mille Miglia and was a hardtop version of the 100 Six - think some other minor mods to emulate the car entered in the event in 1957 - 58.
* Later - mid 1970's the car got the Registration HY1006 - which is still on Carjam..



Another photo of a 100 Six with the MM style hardtop - A Ray Green photo that he posted recently.



Finally a Rallye Poster /Montage from " Oldfart " Rhys Nolan - apparently available from a shop " Circuit Reims " in France as posted by the shop on an Fb page
Hows your French ...

[Ray Bell]

If I may, a little story about Ross Bond and his Healey...

Ken Webb did the preparation and they bought an alloy head for the car. The engine was built up with this head and all the other goodies they'd been using, nice and fresh, and put on the dyno.

To Ross' horror it was down on horsepower compared to the iron head. But Ken was adamant he should race with that head and they went to the Warwick Farm meeting with it fitted. Ross soon found that the 50lbs of weight saved over the front axle was very beneficial to the handling and he was two seconds a lap quicker than before.

[Terry S]

If I may, a little story about Ross Bond and his Healey...

Ken Webb did the preparation and they bought an alloy head for the car. The engine was built up with this head and all the other goodies they'd been using, nice and fresh, and put on the dyno.

To Ross' horror it was down on horsepower compared to the iron head. But Ken was adamant he should race with that head and they went to the Warwick Farm meeting with it fitted. Ross soon found that the 50lbs of weight saved over the front axle was very beneficial to the handling and he was two seconds a lap quicker than before.

What happened to the Bond Healey?

I recall the regulations may have changed requiring it to brought back to more standard.

Bond went on to race a Bolwell Nagari.

[Ray Bell]

I never knew the actual path the car took...

Sure, the rules were changed and it would have to lose performance to go on, very likely no longer being competitive at all.

It did move to Brisbane, it got into the hands of a couple of brothers IIRC and they took it drag racing. One night they were doing a burnout on flaming petrol and the car caught fire.

It moved on, ultimately, to the hands of Brisbane Healey man Carl Stecher. From there I have no idea, Carl died several years ago.

[Ray Bell]

The Bolwell was a couple of years coming, it was tremendously fast, the fastest of all the Bolwell Nagaris running in Australia and a real chance of downing the Porsches. But the next racing Healey of significance, at least in NSW, was Erg's Friend.

[Ray Bell]

'Erg' was a road car, a nice Healey which lived in a Northern Suburb of Sydney. Its name came from the numberplates' letters, 'ERG', and its owners were just about the nicest couple you could ever meet. They were yachties, they built a few yachts from scratch and sailed at least one of them around the world. By building the yachts and selling them off they were able to live a fairly good life and afford things they wanted. Erg was one of the things they wanted.

But they raced their yachts too, as they had a competitive streak. So it was fairly natural that another Healey would fill their stable with a view to competing. Lap dashes, hillclimbs, finally racing. This car was known as 'Erg's Friend' and saw both of them take the wheel in various events.

Erg's Friend was not to race long, purely because of the competitiveness of the driver. Only months after turning out for open meetings it was replaced with a car with much greater potential. But Erg's Friend was not to be the last Healey ever to be raced by this gentleman racer.


.

[Roger Dowding]

Thanks Guys and gals for keeping this thread moving along -have run out of my own photos - but finding a few and getting good comments from Ray Bell [ about the Bond Healey ] and photos from the other Ray - Ray Green.
- Ray Bell and I were trying to get together when I was in QLD but .. it didn't quite happen..

I posted some pics on a thread about Lakeside and it turned out that some photos used on the photo board in the Cafe area were from Ray Bell,

[Ray Bell]

I've been promised some photos of Erg and Erg's Friend to post. I don't know when they're coming.

In the meantime, Terry asked where the Bond Healey is. It's been in the hands of Colin Rule for many years, it seems, Colin being the one who's made all the half-scale Healeys. He entered it for the 1998 50th Anniversary race at Bathurst and it was driven by Neil Dunn, who drove in company with Peter Hopwood for much of the Saturday race. See his website - https://www.hemmings.com/blog/2012/05/31/handsome-half-pints-colin-rules-tiny-tributes-to-the-big-healey/ ...there's a photo there including the Bond car.

Another person who raced a Healey, mostly in Club Racing, was Wally Gates. 'The Gator' had a cream car with dark brown (or black?) side panels. He gave that up when he bought the Sabrina Austin, a home-built car from the late-fifties featuring a 3-litre Austin engine with a very large air pump driven off the front of the crank.

[Milan Fistonic]

Rick Cammick competing in a MG Car Club Hillclimb at Golf Road Titirangi

[Milan Fistonic]

Another shot of Rick Cammick's car at the Golf Road hillclimb.

[Roger Dowding]

Rick Cammick competing in a MG Car Club Hillclimb at Golf Road Titirangi

Milan, had never heard of Rick and even though I lived in New Lynn at the time, still a kid, didn't realise that they ran a Hill Climb there !!. Trying to date it from the number plates - not the 1961 - 64 issue so earlier - 1959 / 60 perhaps !!
Thanks for adding to this thread..

[Roger Dowding]

This encompasses the Big Healey range - 100, 100S, and 3000 - only a 100 Six . is missing have one of those in 1;18th scale but not 1;43 ..







Have three others in 1;43 - 2 - 3000's Red with White Hardtop, BMC colours, and a blue 100.

March 2024 - now have more 1;43 scale Healeys including a Factory Rally 100 Six #414 in the 1957 Mille Miglia Green over Green, as well as a Sebring 1960 3000 in BRG, and a 3000 Rally Car in BMC Red / White Hardtop as raced by Pat Moss and Ann Wisdom.

adding some other colours to the post.

[Ray Bell]

I was expecting to get photos of Erg and Erg's Friend, but they haven't been forthcoming.

However, looking around the internet I found this one of Erg's Friend:



I'm fairly sure that Patrick Quinn won't mind me posting it here as we have always been ardent admirers of the skills, abilities and personality of the driver.

This picture is from my old friend, Mike Harding. Mike's been dead for all too many years (chain smoking probably caused a premature demise) but was a great photographer in his day. The subject Healey 3000 here is 'The Gator'... Wally Gates winning a 6-hour relay race by doing something like 190 laps of Amaroo out of the team's total of 341.



Then Wally drove the car home, just as he'd driven it out to the circuit. He never trailered this car, it was always presented immaculately and prepared by himself.

[nigel watts]

Roger, you've probably seen thses already, but just in case you haven't......https://www.flickr.com/groups/323366@N20/pool/

[Roger Dowding]

Roger, you've probably seen thses already, but just in case you haven't......https://www.flickr.com/groups/323366@N20/pool/

Nigel, thanks for that I had not seen it- Cheers -just had a good look..

[Roger Dowding]

Ross's photo of the car at Ti Point ** near Leigh in 1972 with a Daimler - Jag V8 for company.
Ross owned the AH then which is now with, and has been, since the mid 1970's AHCCNZ current President and Club Founder Mark Donaldson. - told Ross I was " borrowing " the photo.

** Correction to this post : the photo is at Glendowie the house owned by the Daimler people who also owned the house at Ti Point - a photo of the Ti Point house with follow with a different Healey in 1973



a bit of history on the car from Ross
" I sold the BN2 to MHD's then brother in law and I bought the BN7 off the late Gary Reed. The BN2 is still a nice car and has never been restored. I bought the BN2 off my ex neighbour who died recently. He always regretted selling it but needed the money at the time. "

A recent photo of the car .. Alan Horner in the back ground - his Sprite beside the 100.



and a bit of humour which us Healeyites and other " British " car enthusiasts will appreciate ..



This Guy probably sold it to you .. back in the day !!

[Roger Dowding]

Thanks to all for viewing and I hope enjoying this thread - there have been many contributions from other TRS members and many " borrowed " Images.
Thanks also for the idea of getting the name changed from the story around the 1983 Le Mans Relay Race - with photos from my cousin John Dowding - I just drove and pit crewed that day, no photos. !!.

And of course some AH photos, not a new ones of my AH 100 as originally purchased in 1982 - except we [ Lyle Chambers of BSA Special fame and I ] had put a new exhaust on. Photo may be early 1983, as although purchased in February 1982, I went overseas from early July to the end of November, and Lyle was the cars custodian and driver.
It used to be kept at the old Bus Depots at Devonport, along with a number of Vintage Classic and just plain do up cars





The said Lyle in the garage - working as usual on cars - when we weren't demolishing numerous beers or large jugs of Gin and Tonic - the house at 88 Sarsfield Street was a party house - and known for " Three Fridges -no waiting " for cold beverages !!. The residents were myself and the said Lyle, with Cousin John as a frequent visitor.


The house was also a regular gathering point for Austin Healey Club events, including several of AGM's [ 1981 82 and 83 ] and the finish point for an AHCC trial or two !!.

[Roger Dowding]

Just for you Roger - probably from the 1989 event. Just 2 pics on here. Any others will go on my "Mix of Pics" thread.

Attachment 31966

Sometimes, things didn't go totally to plan... I believe the AHCC named the various corners after the people who first came to grief on them (or off them).
Attachment 31967

Just looking at the " accident " photo - the Nissan/ Datsun, and realise that Austin Healey CT1125 in the top photo is there too !! The car the AH 3000 was owned by Adrian and Heather Rhodens and had been rebuilt as commented on by BMC BOY [ Ross Cammick ] It was sold not long after and created a Top Price at the time of around $85,000 - that figure is below where they sit now, but they did drop a lot in the 1990's early 2000's ..

Thanks again Ray for the pictures.

[Roger Dowding]

Note from Peter Sodiatis " it was a historic race class, a combo of Aussie and USA categories, they didnt run nastys at the time so the series didnt have them, the Cars in the poster are the ones that went over to the US for the series. The Aussies won. "
" nastys " as it turns out were heavily modified Bug-eye / Frog-eye Sprites.



The Team Healey Australia poster of their cars that went to the events in the USA.
" Borrowed " from " Austin Healey Owners " Fb page posted by Tim Pyne.
I was not aware of the event, at the time.

Do remember that there was an England [UK ] versus USA series in 1990 that covered about 8 events at 8 different USA tracks - Have the T-shirt from one of the events - " Conclave 90 " given to me by an AH Car Club friend who lived in Fountain Valley LA, Ca. the late Rene Cades - had driven her BJ8, which is now in NZ having been rebuilt again - as mentioned earlier in this thread.