I have some photos of Ian Maskell's Shellsport Datsun 1200 Coupe. We will be at the Skope meeting and would like to meet anyone who remembers the car.
I have some photos of Ian Maskell's Shellsport Datsun 1200 Coupe. We will be at the Skope meeting and would like to meet anyone who remembers the car.
A Datsun Art Car. Very nice.Originally Posted by PETER FRANICEVIC
Malcolm
According to a previous post from Bob Homewood, this may be the car which Ian Maskell has.
Ian Maskell is a member on here, hopefully he can help with info on that car.
I pointed Mr Collingwood in the direction of this site, yesterday,15th Jan, it was to another thread but I will phone him tonight and ask him to stop by this one as well.
Re the Findlays Bakeries 1200 coupe I bought it off Steve Emson (who had won the 0 - 1300 class in the Bank of New South Wales series in 1976) as Shellsport 2 litre made my 13B Mazda RX3 coupe ineligible. The 1977 season in the Datsun I ended up 6th and then the following season I bought one of the Nissan Cherry motors from Reg Cook, drysumping it and moving it back in the car as well. I ended up 3rd in the 1978 series behind Reg and Bryce Platt. Our main problem was shredding gearboxes as we were not allowed to use the 5 speed competition box. At the same time Greg Lancaster built another Findlays car from a spare coupe I had bought using my previous season's motor and spare parts we had amassed. The following season Greg ran the car in Sanyo colours and it was later sold down in Palmerston North. The 1979 season I only contested the North Island rounds and ended up 6th in the series again. After that I only raced it at Pukekohe occasionally and the Datsun sat around until the mid 80's and as I was racing a Lotus Cortina in the historics I talked my late, great friend Glenn Jones into running the Datsun again which he did successfully for a couple of seasons in Dark Green Slumbertime colours then Glenn bought his OSCA Commodore/Chev. I sold the Datsun to Brian Roycroft with Glenn's assistance and it still had the same original 1300 Cherry motor. The Group 5 "Aero" grille was not allowed in Shellsport which is why I did not use it. The same car is now owned by Duncan Hedges but has been altered a lot and I think now runs a Toyota motor. It's best time ever at Pukekohe was 1.10.6 on the old unimproved bumpy track. Cheers, Rex Findlay 0274935279
Hello Rex, great to hear from you. Yes it was a very good car and you went well in it. Jigger sure was a nuisance in it as well, it had a nice looking back to it, can not remember the grill as i did not see the front often, (I had a small mirror).
PS must catch up
Hi Rex yes Glenn was a great bloke and real,good in the wet,did he build the morrie body on the ferrari as well???
Almost right.....the gentlemans name was Cran Judge and he owned a lot more race cars than a lot of people relise. A very astute businessman from Levin where he made clothing for a lot of big department stores and his own clothes shops. I know Cran both personally and professionally and he is one great guy that has assisted a lot of top race/rally drivers for years. He wasnt one to be out in the lime light but I can tell you that his marketing through motorsport would be up there alongside our latest knighthooded Sir Colin Giltrap. Its a pity his clothing factory burnt to the ground back in the 90's. Cran's son I would have liked to see get into the sport because he just loved the race cars as a 14 year old that I remember...........hey and guess who was splashed all over my Mazda as the only sponsor? Kind regards, Tony Rutherford.
This quote should be with the wee story above.
Sorry . Tony Rutherford.
Hey there Rex......good stuff to hear ya mate. Was a neat car alright. One car that hasnt been mentioned here is the Shellsport Anglia raced by Colin Reed and owned by Ross Tebbs. This car had a tilt front front on it and it looked real good in Performance Motors livery, Car was sold to an elderly gentleman by the name of Harold Wooten Snr father of Harold Wooten whom raced an RX3 Coupe in Sports Sedans.......(this your old car Rex? ). Harold Senior was getting on agewise but he was quick in the Anglia. (where is this car now?). Harold Junior has a son and daughter that competed at Western Springs and son Alistaire is currently racing in the TRS Toyota series and runs very well. Also Rod I have a demon photo of your brother Mike in his Chevette V8 in a handicap race just as I caught him on Pukekohe Club Circuit....I will put it up here when I work out just where it is and how to do it. I also have a photo of your good self and Mike ready to do a special family grudge race with you in the Shellsport Escort and Mike in the Chevette. I suppose people will wonder who won .....so to put them out of their misery the result was deemed a draw because your earth wire fell off the battery on lap three and Mike ran out of petrol on lap three. Ian Derbridge had the crowd pissing themselves with laughter for the hard case spectacle it was......see ya soon.
Kind Regards, Tony Rutherford.
" one of the Nissan Cherry motors "
So that explains that! I spent the early 90's chasing Brian around. That engine was pure magic, and Brian could drive the wheels off the car..
Here's the first SS2000 race we did at Taupo. Close examination will show a regular get together of x ShellSport cars, both the Aitken 120Y's, Des Bullas and Phil Greaney in the Avengers, Brian in Rex's old car, Steven Gillard in the 1200, Steve Bond in the Hunter..
When was the last time you saw that many Halliday rims in one event!
The Steve Bond Hunter?
Purely guessing, but I think the gold #45 Capri might be the car that I converted into the LHD Black Capri currently being raced by Pierre Neame in OSCA.
Great photos of a great class of race car. I hope that they car get this series back up and running again and we can enjoy these cars a second time round.
have just passed over to Wayne Murdoch a large envelope stuffed with old photos of race cars in action, mostly at Wigram, and he was thrilled to see them, especially to see both Findlay Datsuns in the one shot. Apparently there were some doubters who thought one real and one a replica. If he doesnt want the rest I shall suggest we get them sent on to you blokes. All taken by my deceased brother in law Gilbert Connor on a semi-professional basis. My sister getting around to a de-clutter after widow for 10 years or so. Regards to all.
Lets catch up at the weekend, you know where to find me
Finally caught up with Kevin Ryan today. The history of the Escort starts like this. It was built by AVO in England with a 2 litre BDG, ZF gearbox etc for a series in South Africa which did not finally take place. Rex Hart purchased the car and ran in in NZ in that configuration. Kevin purchased the car for $5000 as a rolling shell minus engine and fittted it with a 1600BDA and then went about winning OSCA with it. When he decided to go to Shellsport with Big Bertha, the ex XCookie 160J he sold the car to Warren Steel who fitted the twin cam engine and went Shellsport. Steelo of course later onsold the car to the Hallidays
when i was in NZ in early sept 1990 i recall seeing the blue white Imp at Puke with a nissan motor in the rear
somewhere i have photos of it
it was the only race meeting i attended back then in NZ before I made the trip home via Bathurst Tooheys 1000 and Sydney and HK
Did you guys had etch Shellsport Gold star promo for race and class wins in NZ
we had it circa 75-79 IF you ran with Shellsport sun visor won the race or your class you got a gold star sticker and £ which back then covered the entry fee
Yes I know Im behind you guys, i like warm beer and it rains a lot here too.
Good to see you here Rex. Here's a photo of the RX3 you mentioned in your first post.
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