The Mike Feisst Collection - Part 6

[Leo D]

The Yellow McLaren 10B was Kevin Bartletts car which was purchased from Niel Allen, when he retired.

Niel Allen had 2 McLaren 10B's, one sold to Kevin Bartlett, the other sold to Alan Hamilton.

Both have now been re purchased by Alan Hamilton who is restoring both of them.



This is the Yellow 10B when Niel had it, painted dark green, the car in which as far as i know he won the NZ Grand Prix. The other 10B was Red, which was the car sold to Alan Hamilton.

Niel Allen was almost the first Australian to win the Tasman Series..... An engine failure causing a DNF at Sandown whilst leading the race was the reason he did not win the series.

[thunder427]

[QUOTE=Steve Holmes;3584]A couple more Lawrence machines. Can anyone ID the Madel A roadster hot rod next to the Lawrence McLaren? Greg Stokes will know. Also appearing here are the beautiful Graham McRae Crown Lynn McLaren M10s.

Attachment 2671

...I'm betting that Mr Graham McCrea with his back to the camera,flash shirt,Black pants.....and he's probably saying.."EASY,BLOODY EASY, I SAID"!!!!...........There is a real 'stunning' paint job on the 67/68 Mustang #52 in the back of the Graeme Lawrence f5000 photo.......imfo somebody please!!!!!....................regards thunder427/MJ

[David McKinney]

No.52 Mustang is Dexter Dunlop's (same number as on his McRae-FVA on the same page)

[Steve Holmes]

[QUOTE=thunder427;3612]

A couple more Lawrence machines. Can anyone ID the Madel A roadster hot rod next to the Lawrence McLaren? Greg Stokes will know. Also appearing here are the beautiful Graham McRae Crown Lynn McLaren M10s.

Attachment 2671

...I'm betting that Mr Graham McCrea with his back to the camera,flash shirt,Black pants.....and he's probably saying.."EASY,BLOODY EASY, I SAID"!!!!...........There is a real 'stunning' paint job on the 67/68 Mustang #52 in the back of the Graeme Lawrence f5000 photo.......imfo somebody please!!!!!....................regards thunder427/MJ

As David said, thats Dexter Dunlops Mustang which Bob Kennet raced in the Trans-Am. It later won the OSCA championship with Kevin Haig and is now owned by David Bowden in Queensland.

[Steve Holmes]

The Yellow McLaren 10B was Kevin Bartletts car which was purchased from Niel Allen, when he retired.

Niel Allen had 2 McLaren 10B's, one sold to Kevin Bartlett, the other sold to Alan Hamilton.

Both have now been re purchased by Alan Hamilton who is restoring both of them.



This is the Yellow 10B when Niel had it, painted dark green, the car in which as far as i know he won the NZ Grand Prix. The other 10B was Red, which was the car sold to Alan Hamilton.

Niel Allen was almost the first Australian to win the Tasman Series..... An engine failure causing a DNF at Sandown whilst leading the race was the reason he did not win the series.

Great info there. Neil Allen tried racing touring cars for a while too but he seemed much more suited to single seaters. What other cars does Alan Hamilton have in his collection?

[kiwi285]

The Yellow McLaren 10B was Kevin Bartletts car which was purchased from Niel Allen, when he retired.

Niel Allen had 2 McLaren 10B's, one sold to Kevin Bartlett, the other sold to Alan Hamilton.

Both have now been re purchased by Alan Hamilton who is restoring both of them.



This is the Yellow 10B when Niel had it, painted dark green, the car in which as far as i know he won the NZ Grand Prix. The other 10B was Red, which was the car sold to Alan Hamilton.

Niel Allen was almost the first Australian to win the Tasman Series..... An engine failure causing a DNF at Sandown whilst leading the race was the reason he did not win the series.

I seem to remember that the Niel Allen M10B was a pale blue colour when it raced in NZ. See Part 3 post # 15 - last photo. There is also another photo on this car side on that I don't think has been posted as yet.

If these two cars are currently being restored plus the other three or four in NZ there should be a healthy collection of M10's in the southern hemisphere.

[Steve Holmes]

Car in previous post is the Graham Vautier Model A roadster with the Hemi in it. Its still in the Hamilton area albeit a little different to what it was.

Cars in this post from the top
Maurice Campbell's channelled '32 roadster with 283 Chev and Jag gearbox. It was a Queen City Roadster car that Mike Gearing helped build, thats his Cad powered A roadster in the same shot. The red roadster went onto Gary Rae who has just rebuilt the car with B/C mags as he updated it in the early seventies.
Next is Keith McQuade's V12 powered A roadster from Hamilton
Then there is Bill Perriton's channeled '34 Plymouth coupe pre Crown Jewel guise. Car now owned in original Crown Jewel guise by Mike Hooper.
Group shot
Then Allen Hare's '34 coupe (looks like some art by Rob Campbell alongside it) and Dave Chung's Pink Panther roadster that went on to Eddie Fairbarn in Chch who had a major crash in it.

There you go folks, when you have questions that need answering about hot rodding history, Greg is your man. Thanks heaps Greg.

By the way, what does the Vautier Model A look like now?

[Rod Grimwood]

[QUOTE=Steve Holmes;3614]

As David said, thats Dexter Dunlops Mustang which Bob Kennet raced in the Trans-Am. It later won the OSCA championship with Kevin Haig and is now owned by David Bowden in Queensland.

how long has David Bowden owned the car Steve.

[Steve Holmes]

Oh, about 10 years or so I guess Rod. He bought the Fahey, Dawson, and Kennet/Dunlop/Haig Mustang all pretty much at the same time. The Dawson Mustang has since been sold to Kiwi Nigel MacDonald.

[Leo D]

Just following up on these cars, you can read the note from Alan Hamilton about his purchase of the cars here

http://www.vhrr.com/newsletters/2011...Newsletter.pdf

Niel Allen was one of the first F5000 runners here in Australia. His car was in fact painted a light iridescent blue colour, which would be the colour mentioned earlier.

The Elfin Traco Chev


The Elfin ME5




That was his "Team" colour at the time, being used on the Elfin Traco Chev as well as the Elfin ME5 sports car that he had built to order by Garrie Coopers Elfin Sports Cars in Adelaide. Niel only did a few races in the ME5 before moving into F5000.

The 1967 Mustang that he had was an ex Greg Cusack car that he ran for a while alongside the Elfin Traco Sports Car.

[Leo D]

Here we have Graham Harvey in the Elfin 400 Repco sports car, and a couple of Graham Watsons cars, including his Mini Cooper and Brabham. Anyone got info on the Honda S600? This was taken in Sydney.

This was the third of the Elfin 400's produced by Elfin..... not Repco powered though.

The Bob Jane Elfin 400 was the only Repco powered model, being the 2nd of the series produced by Elfin. Seen here driven by dual Gold Star Champion Spencer Martin at the Hume Weir circuit. The car was destroyed in the terrible accident that took the life of Bevan Gibson at Bathurst in 1969. The wreck was purchased by Ken Hastings complete with the Repco power plant. The car was on sold and the engine removed.... after many years, it has now been restored and is running in Historic events in Australia.



There were only ever 3 of the Elfin 400 models produced. The first being the Globe Product car driven by Noel Hurd (pictured below) which was powered by a Globe Products Quad Cam Ford.... The Bob Jane Repco powered unit and the Graham Harvey car.

It could be argued that there were 4 of the 400 series, but the first car built for Frank Matich was called an Elfin Traco.



The Elfin Traco being driven by Niel Allen at Calder

[Steve Holmes]

This is amazing info Leo. I'm surprised to learn the Bob Jane Elfin has survived. I assumed it was wrecked after the accident. Of the other Elfin 400's, how many more still exist?

What happened to the ME5? Do you have any more info on this car, and what sort of engine powered it?

Fred Gibson drove Niel Allens Mustang in the 1968 ATCC. Why was this? Had he already retired from racing aftre his Lakeside crash?

[Leo D]

Steve,

Ken Hastings purchased the wrecked 400 off Bob Jane, complete with engine. Garrie Cooper lent him the original Jig for the car to enable him to rebuild it. The rebuilt car looked slightly different to the original. You'll note the diffence around the windscreen area, as a spare wheel was no longer required to be carried, the side doors also had air iintakes that were not in the original car



Ken subsequently sold the car and the engine and chassis were seperated, the engine going into a speed boat, the chassis receiving various engine configurations before it was restored to the condition you see below, taken at the 2009 Phillip Island Historic Meeting.







The first of the Elfin 400's (The Blue coloured Globe Car) now resides in a Motoring Museum in Launceston Tasmania. (Copyright Holder on pictures unknown)

[Leo D]

The original Elfin Traco is now owned by Victorian Historic Racer Peter Brennan.
The car has been restored using the original style Elfin 400 bodywork, which is different to the configuration that Niel Allen ran it in. Frank Matich had removed the original front "Horns" as seen on the other 400's, the bodywork at the rear was also different. Niel Allen also fitted Chevrolet power, which replaced the Oldsmobile power plant that Frank Matich had.



The Elfin ME5 was built by Elfin with the express purpose of beating Frank Matich and the SR4 in mind. The MR5 won on debut at the RAC Trophy meeting at Warwick Farm. Frank Matich had, rare for him, mechanical problems which resulted in a DNF if my memory serves me correctly.

The car was built in 1969, but saw little use as Niel went into F5000. The ME5 was powered by a Bartz 5ltr Chevrolet, and latter went through several owners in Australia, Charlie Occhipinti (VIC), Johnny Walker (TAS), being 2 of them before being sold overseas. The car is now back in South Australia.

Fred Gibson drove both the Niel Allen Mustang and the Elfin Traco during this period. Fred subsequently ended up owing the Elfin Traco which was re bodied and called the R&T Chev from memory. R&T being Freds business at the time.

Niel Allen, as mentioned before sold his 2 McLaren 10B's when he retired from F5000 after the 1971 Tasman Series.

However, later in the year, he obtained a new Lola T300 HU4 but had a practice crash and the damaged car was sold to Bob Muir.

[Steve Holmes]

Thanks Leo, did the pointed nose design come before or after the blunt design? I thought I read somewhere that Frank Matich wasn't keen on the pointed nose because he felt the car lost front downforce? Or am I thinking of a completely different car?

That ME5 is a fantastic looking car. What sort of state is this car in now? Has it been restored?

[Leo D]

All of the Elfins came with the pointed noses. Frank Matich removed the "Horns" on his car early in its life.

There is some conjecture as to the effect that the "Horns" had on the front of the car. Some said it produced lift, making the car too light in the front.

Another theory is that the "Horns" made no difference, and it was air pressure build up behind the front wheel under the bodywork that caused the car to lift at the front.

To the best of knowledge, the ME5 is being restored back to it's original condition in South Australia.

[GD66]

Would any kind soul be able to contribute a pic of the Andrew Buchanan car in its' original white-with-a-red-stripe livery ?
Jeez, that looked horn !

[seaqnmac27]

Here you go

[seaqnmac27]

And also

[GD66]

Ka-Pow ! Gotta love The Roaring Season !
Thanks, Sean.