Article: The Ian Algie Alfetta

[Steve Holmes]

There is a general acceptance that the golden era for New Zealand racing Specials was the late 1940s through late 1950s. This was a time in New Zealand history when stringent import laws forced Kiwis to become adept at creating and building for themselves if they wanted to go motor racing. Stifled as they were, however, for many, it was the personal challenge that came from designing and building their own car that proved the ultimate reward.

As international racing gathered momentum during the 1950s, so New Zealand embraced its place in the world, and made full use of its Southern hemisphere summer racing season, which attracted racing teams and drivers from the Northern hemisphere. And with them arrived an abundance of modern European racing machinery. Indeed, even cars two or three years old were proving more than a match for the locally produced Specials. And inevitably, the Specials presence in New Zealand front-line racing combat faded as the 1950s drew to a close.

The New Zealand Grand Prix was first contested in 1950. More than half the grid were New Zealand Specials. Furthermore, John McMillan’s Jackson-Ford, Hec Green’s RA-Wolseley, and Fordy Farland’s Singer-Buick were the first three to finish, and all were classic examples of locally produced ingenuity. Fast-forward ten years to the 1960 New Zealand Grand Prix, and Malcolm Gill’s famous Lycoming Special was the only locally built car in the field. Other than Ted Gray’s Tornado-Chevrolet from Australia, every other driver that formed the 24 car grid was mounted aboard a specialist European Grand Prix car. Times were changing.

However, Kiwi ingenuity didn’t simply die out. Creative New Zealand racing car builders simply sought new horizons. During the 1960s, the growth in saloon car racing, and its relative freedom under Allcomer rules, attracted the same creative approach that was so prevalent during the Specials era. That creative flame was then doused when Motor Sport New Zealand dropped the Allcomer rules in favour of FIA Group 5 regulations for 1968. While it provided many positives in bringing saloon car racing back to its roots, Group 5 restricted the ingenuity that was so robust in Allcomers. However, the 1970s brought about constant regulation changes, and while the New Zealand Saloon Car Championship was stubbed out in 1977, such was the momentum for building radically modified saloon cars, a new club-based era of New Zealand Specials rose from the ashes, under the Australian adopted title of Sports Sedans.

While Sports Sedan competition may have dawned a new era for Specials builders, this was strictly a North Island phenomenon. Ten years earlier, a similar category had been created in the South Island, and named the Open Saloon Car Association (OSCA). OSCA was the result of MANZ decision to scrap the Allcomer regulations from the New Zealand Saloon Car Championship, and replace it with Group 5. A Christchurch based group of Allcomer car owners wished to continue getting value from their machinery, and thus established a category in which to race them.

Although OSCA tightened its rules during the 1970s, creative freedom was still at the core of its values. And while a small number of North Islanders ventured South and embraced OSCA, and OSCA even held races in the North Island, it wasn’t until the advent of the new Sports Sedan category that almost total creative freedom was restored in the North.

North Island Sports Sedan rules differed to those of South Island OSCA. However, the similarities were such that, by the early 1980s, regular events were contested where the two rival divisions faced off against one-another. But while Sports Sedans grew to become the most popular racing category in the North Island, it suffered numerous early growing pains.

The Sports Sedan Association wished to pick up where the old ShellSport sponsored New Zealand Saloon Car Championship left off. But it was a difficult process. By 1977, the New Zealand championship suffered from small grids, and the cars had become expensive and extremely specialised. When the New Zealand championship was killed off, most of the cars were either broken up, or moth-balled. And tempting owners to dust them off and race them once more proved a challenging task. However, the likes of Graeme Addis, George Sheweiry, Warwick Gray, Brian Friend, and a small number of others, persevered.

New Zealand motor racing was in poor health in the late 1970s and early 1980s. And as such, smaller club-run classes like the new Sports Sedan category were given a berth at national and international racing events. But the Sports Sedan ranks were light on numbers, and needed cars.

Had the new Sports Sedan Association been over-subscribed with cars in its early years, this incredible V8 powered Alfa Romeo Alfetta might likely have never been among them. It was shrouded in controversy before it even entered its first race. It was owned by Ian Algie, and built and raced by Ian and his brother Barry. Indeed, much of the Algie family were involved. The Alfetta’s most prominent feature was the location of its engine. It was this which caused much controversy, and would ultimately bring about rule changes to the Sports Sedan division. But it was this feature that drew so much attention to the car, which in itself helped boost the popularity of Sports Sedan racing.