The rear wheels, (15 x 14) and later the matching fronts (15 x 10) were made by Dave Wallace through his Span Mags business in Onehunga as far as I can find. Red Dawson had a set also. This pic would have been later in '73 after the PDL sponsorship ended.
Bruce.
Originally Posted by Steve Holmes
In his report on the 1973 Labour Day Weekend meeting at Bay Park, Robin Curtis described the Coppins car as "his pure white Firebird."
At the March 9, 1974 meeting at Pukekohe the Firebird was ".. now looking very smart in a new coat of green paint with Monaco Motors sign writing on it, as Rod now works there."
Not wanting to hijack the thread of Ross's great pics, but you asked about colour shots of it in green. This is from Australia 1974,
The wheels were borrowed locally as they had the 10" width rule and by then Rod was running 14's on the rear in NZ.
Bruce.
In talking with Robin Tanner, who was very good friends with Rod and used to sell a few cars for him, Rod was using some of the Monaco yard to place and sell his own cars, sub-letting part of the space.
I don't know if the green Monaco livery was after or before the Aust trip. The Calder pics were dated March '74.
On Autopics there are two photos of the Firebird at Calder dated 26th May 1974.
Thanks Milan, That makes better sense. So it was Monaco green first then over to Australia and Motor Truck Finance/signcraft.
Bruce.
A couple more for the Rod Coppins theme. This is the Firebird again, but now I believe its passed to Robin Tanner. Bruce?
And the L34 Torana. Built as Group C car, Coppins and Jim Richards shared this car at Bathurst in both 1974 and '75. In '74 they drove to an impressive 3rd outright. This was the first time Richards had raced at Bathurst.
After its Australian adventures in 1974, it was shipped back to New Zealand and contested the Castrol GTX series against a barrage of Z28 Camaros.
Yes, That is Robin, he loved the car and didn't drive it too hard, he was afraid of blowing the good engine that would have cost more to rebuild than he had as short notice.A couple more for the Rod Coppins theme. This is the Firebird again, but now I believe its passed to Robin Tanner. Bruce?
One of my favorite photos of the Torana in the 1975 Series going through the Champion Chicane in the wet.
Trevor Crowe and the first of his two epic Oldsmobile V8 powered Toyota Starlets.
Ross has captioned this one "Curtis, Edgell, Platt". Would Curtis be motoring journalist Robin Curtis who passed away last year?
Couple of shots here if Red Dawson's beautiful Kensington Carpets Camaro Z28. This would be its final season in this colour before a switch to red and white of Marlboro for the 1974/75 season. The gold was, in my opinion, much, much more attractive.
And here is the mighty DeKon Monza. The car only ran Marlboro signage in its first season, although the red and white colours continued for the start of the 1976/77 season before Red had his Manfield shunt.
I assume the first photo is from the cars New Zealand debut at Bay Park Christmas meeting in late 1975, where Dawson ran off the track a couple of times. The car was pretty beat up by the end of this event.
This is the Pukekohe hairpin.
And this is a rare shot of the car with the diagonal white paint on the nose, which better represented the sponsor logo. I think it only appeared this way right at the end of the 1975/76 season?
[QUOTE=Steve Holmes;58718]Ross has captioned this one "Curtis, Edgell, Platt". Would Curtis be motoring journalist Robin Curtis who passed away last year?
Yes it is.
[QUOTE=tonttu;58725]Thank you.
A bit of a mix here. This is a neat shot.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote