New Zealand Historic Racing Cars Book

[Trevor Sheffield]

Yes that's no problem Steve. I'm in the process of getting it back from Don Suckling and I'll then undertake a refurbishment back to 1952 format with Ardun heads on the Flathead.

The GCS is a very important treasure in respect of Kiwi motor sport and personifies all of that was the grass routs of an important era. The car and its creator deserve a full chapter in any book.

But it is important that he GCS is not beautified to a degree that will conceal its down to earth nature, so illustrative of the Kiwi attitude. It was created crude as a result of necessity but wa/is a model of absolute basic common sense and as a result was certainly effective. The car had/has presence.

When I last was close to it, I pointed out a missing essential and very important accessory, i.e. a length of binder wire permanently attached to the dash support, used to positively hold the lever in second gear no matter what. As soon as second gear was engaged during a hillclimb, a twitch around the gear lever prevented any possibility of lost engagement, as was a common ongoing problem which could be fixed but not reliably trusted.

Furthermore the plug leads were not tied onto the plugs with string, as was George’s well proven time honoured practice. And I don't think the single substantial webbing ex WW2 aircraft lap belt was in use or the spring leaves bound with rope in order to dampen movement. George in spirit was somehow sadly absent.

George Smith, in spite of usually appearing in oil stained overalls, was a gentleman and a true sportsman, as well as a down-to-earth dedicated engineer. Ralph Watson understood his motives and held him in high regard as a man of real purpose, and strange as it may seem, they had a lot in common and a quietly undisclosed mutual admiration.

I have fond youthful memories of an occasion leaving the Orange dance hall at night to encounter George, backing out from his small workshop in his just acquired glistening Allard J2. Envy was writhing inside of me. However the Allard with its split front axle proved to be a disappointing treacherous beast and did not successfully supersede the faithful old GCS, which did not mislead the driver when right on the limit and could be over driven accordingly. The Allard was not and never became George’s kind of weapon.