Does anyone know what happened to the Barry Wearing 67 Z28 SS Camaro, sold in 74-75

[thunder427]

Nick, I'd be inclined to look into my "Winston Kim" suggestion, as he actually does exist.

Read this list of cars sold by Brian Sampson in Melbourne.... Winston Kim is mentioned (1990's) as having purchsed an Elva Courier.

http://www.speco.com.au/racing.html

...The Terry Allan Camaro is 1967,with 1/4 windows and no side indicator lights,check the rear 1/4 on the 'Indy Speed Shop' Camaro,square side markers,'68 was 1st year for the side marker as standard item and one piece side glass..in those days they were more interested in 'Horsepower' than making one model look like the next model...and where did you get the parts for an 'Upgrade' in those days...........

The Allan Camaro does have the 'SS' bonnet with the power bulge and non Functional Extractor 'glamour' panels,this may have been a USA add on to allow for carburation upgrade,the Grill SS badges are not fitted central (Ellis Frontal 'Tassie' Shot ) and if it was a 'factory' Big Block it would have 396 under the SS grill badge,also the front fender SS badges are set to far forward to be Factory installed, plus the 67 Camaro had a 'nose strip' with the factory SS and RS/ 396 option,the over the roof strip is not factory at all,GM/Camaro never placed stripes,factory,on the roof,not in 67/68/69,even in the 2nd Gen 70.1/2 Camaro,hood (Bonnet!!) and trunk (Boot!!) only!!.......

Nick,I would be scanning as many early 'CUSTOM RODDER' Magazines as possible or better still contact 'Eddie Ford' the editor/publisher, he sill lives in Castlemain area ,he has a great memory for these cars,as most new 'imports' would wind up in one of 'Eddies' magazines,or in the 'for sale' add's at the back of each publication,great effort so far,don't give up !!!!!!........regards thunder427/MJ

[nick_tassie]

...The Terry Allan Camaro is 1967,with 1/4 windows and no side indicator lights,check the rear 1/4 on the 'Indy Speed Shop' Camaro,square side markers,'68 was 1st year for the side marker as standard item and one piece side glass..in those days they were more interested in 'Horsepower' than making one model look like the next model...and where did you get the parts for an 'Upgrade' in those days...........

The Allan Camaro does have the 'SS' bonnet with the power bulge and non Functional Extractor 'glamour' panels,this may have been a USA add on to allow for carburation upgrade,the Grill SS badges are not fitted central (Ellis Frontal 'Tassie' Shot ) and if it was a 'factory' Big Block it would have 396 under the SS grill badge,also the front fender SS badges are set to far forward to be Factory installed, plus the 67 Camaro had a 'nose strip' with the factory SS and RS/ 396 option,the over the roof strip is not factory at all,GM/Camaro never placed stripes,factory,on the roof,not in 67/68/69,even in the 2nd Gen 70.1/2 Camaro,hood (Bonnet!!) and trunk (Boot!!) only!!.......

Nick,I would be scanning as many early 'CUSTOM RODDER' Magazines as possible or better still contact 'Eddie Ford' the editor/publisher, he sill lives in Castlemain area ,he has a great memory for these cars,as most new 'imports' would wind up in one of 'Eddies' magazines,or in the 'for sale' add's at the back of each publication,great effort so far,don't give up !!!!!!........regards thunder427/MJ

Cheers Thunder427

Thats great information and again confirms that the badges were most likely fitted by Bill Thomas Racecars as Ron Ogilvie suggested. Leo's posted photos also clearly show the Camaro all red to indicate Terry had them painted on after the first race at Calder.

From photo's I've seen 67-74 the car never had a model upgrade when race by uncle Terry and Graeme Blanchard, as you rightly say for what purpose would they do so. What happened after the Barry Wearing ownership is anyones guess. I've researched the Web for photo's in speedway and drag racing but with no luck so indications are that it may have gone "on the road". You would think someone in motor racing circles would recall a similar 67 ex circuit race Camaro in the late 70's, who knows, it is a mystery.

I'll certainly give Eddie Ford a call, your right it could have gone through their publication at some stage. I'm more determined than ever, just need to track every lead and see where it ends up.

[Jon Mello]

Terrific further information on the Terry Allan car and I enjoyed seeing photos of it in red without the white stripes. First time I'd seen it and it confirms what Ron Ogilvie had stated. Not intending to take the subject off course but can anyone tell me the date of the first race at Calder? I ask because I'm interested in finding out when the first Camaro entered officially sanctioned competition. I have seen that a 327 Camaro convertible competed in a road race at Nassau on December 2, 1966. That's the earliest race that I know of, but I'm not well educated on what races may have taken place outside of North America. Thanks for any enlightenment!

[Steve Holmes]

Steve
My 8mm films have been converted to digital (at great expense) with music...not V8 music I might add .
8mm and the later Super8 were a bit before they knew how to have sound as well as flickery pics.... lol.
They didnt even have electric lights in the caves in Tas at that time.

If I could work out how to put a segment of the DVD onto Youtube we could link to it.
I also have a lot of Symmons and Baskerville and Longford on the DVD's.

Ellis, that would really be great if you could post a segment on youtube. Let me know if I can help at all, I'd love to see this happen. Any footage from this period is very exciting.

[Steve Holmes]

You can never have too much of a good thing!

Terry Allan in what I believe was his first outing in the Camaro at Calder...... It was yet to aquire the white stripes...
This pic was taken towards the end of the main straight..... Notice Norm Beechey already half way up the back straight in the background.

Hey these are amazing! Thanks for posting them Greg, and thanks to Ray Sinclair for allowing us to view them. Imagine the excitement that must have surrounded this car on debut. It looks incredible. The 3rd photo is interesting, the handling looks very wayward if thats the inside of the corner in the right of shot!

Jon, the Camaro made its race debut at Calder in May 1967, apparently.

[Steve Holmes]

Allan also raced the car at the single race 1967 Australian Touring Car Championship on 30 July 1967. It still didn't have the white stripes by this stage, so must have raced this way for at least a couple of months before they were added.

[Ellis]

In my Calder prog's of .....

May 25th 1969 ...
Terry Allan.... Chevy Camaro..... 6500cc ....#5 ......Blue

Mar 1972
#5 .....Graham Blanchard Motors....Graham Blanchard.....Chev Camaro...White...5700cc

[nick_tassie]

Hey these are amazing! Thanks for posting them Greg, and thanks to Ray Sinclair for allowing us to view them. Imagine the excitement that must have surrounded this car on debut. It looks incredible. The 3rd photo is interesting, the handling looks very wayward if thats the inside of the corner in the right of shot!

Jon, the Camaro made its race debut at Calder in May 1967, apparently.

They are great shots.

I wonder if Ray Sinclair has a colour photo of the camaro when it was blue?? As Ellis has mentioned it raced in this colour at Calder in 69, as well as in Bay Park NZ as we already know.

Leo D would you mind asking Ray if he does have a colour photo of it in the blue duco, it would be fantastic if he does and would be happy to share it.

[nick_tassie]

In my Calder prog's of .....

May 25th 1969 ...
Terry Allan.... Chevy Camaro..... 6500cc ....#5 ......Blue

Mar 1972
#5 .....Graham Blanchard Motors....Graham Blanchard.....Chev Camaro...White...5700cc

Ellis its interesting that Graeme Blanchard raced the car without its Big Block 396 (6500cc) if you can go by the official entry program. What's more it raced as a small block 350 (5700cc) and not the spare Trans Am 302 that Uncle Terry brought over from Bill Thomas Racecars. You would have thought this spare engine would have been sold to Graeme when he brought the Camaro from Terry in 71, although in the NZ advert that Steve posted when Terry had the car for sale, it doesn't mention the spare engine either, interesting!?! I wonder what ever happened to those 2 engines??

It would be great to talk to Graeme Blanchard to find out what he did with the 396 and if he brought the car with the spare Trans Am 302 engine.

[Steve Holmes]

I'm not sure he even had the 302 still by the time the car was sold. As well as the ad he ran in Motorman, he also ran a separate ad for spares. The "6 pints of secret brake fluid" sounds interesting!

[Steve Holmes]

The above ad appeared just a couple of months after he raced the car at Bay Park for the big Xmas meeting, in which Bryan Thomson and Joe Chamberlain were also racing their Camaros. The Pit Chatter section of the February 1971 Motorman issue, which also reviewed the event at which the Camaros raced at Bay Park, said this:

"Terry Allan is returning to the USA with Joe Chamberlain and plans to return with a smaller 350 cubic inch Chevy engine for his well sorted Camaro. "The chassis is now handling and stopping well so there would be no point buying a new car", said Terry. The smaller motor will comply with the new Australian saloon regulations for maximum engine capacity".

So did Allan actually buy a 350 from the US? Is this the engine fitted to the car when Blanchard raced it? Its interesting that he seems still to be quite enthusiastic about his racing at this stage, but then had the car on the market only a short time later. Did he plan to replace it with anything or had he just decided to step away from racing?

[Leo D]

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of the Terry Allan Camaro in Blue. I only ever saw it run in the "Red" configurations, or the "White" configuration. I've never seen a colour picture of it in "Blue".

This is one of it in the Castrol colours.....



John Kay Indy Speed Shop Camaro in blue colour scheme....



David Jarrett Camaro in blue colour scheme....

[Steve Holmes]

That Indy Speed Shop Camaro was a good looking car. Really arrived too late on the scene to have a major impact.

[Steve Holmes]

Cheers Thunder427

Thats great information and again confirms that the badges were most likely fitted by Bill Thomas Racecars as Ron Ogilvie suggested. Leo's posted photos also clearly show the Camaro all red to indicate Terry had them painted on after the first race at Calder.

From photo's I've seen 67-74 the car never had a model upgrade when race by uncle Terry and Graeme Blanchard, as you rightly say for what purpose would they do so. What happened after the Barry Wearing ownership is anyones guess. I've researched the Web for photo's in speedway and drag racing but with no luck so indications are that it may have gone "on the road". You would think someone in motor racing circles would recall a similar 67 ex circuit race Camaro in the late 70's, who knows, it is a mystery.

I'll certainly give Eddie Ford a call, your right it could have gone through their publication at some stage. I'm more determined than ever, just need to track every lead and see where it ends up.

You never know, it could just have easily been rolled into someones shed after its last race, covered up, and forgotten about. A friend of mine owns the Rod Coppins Cambridge Camaro as pictured a couple of times in this thread. That car was raced and continuously developed throughout the 70s until it was effectively a space-frame car by the last 70s. It was sold by John Osborne in 1981 to Chris Cullen. Chris then set about getting it ready for the next season, but struck some funding problems, and it sat in his shed for more than 20 years, and never raced again. He just slowly rebuilt it until it was in beautiful condition, while the rest of the world forgot all about the car. Then one day he offered the car for sale. Many people thought it had been lost forever.

[nick_tassie]

David Jarrett Camaro in blue colour scheme....

[/QUOTE]

Notice its running Bridgestone tyres yet the car has Good/Year sponsorship. Don't think you would see that happen in today corporate driven Motorsport world.

[nick_tassie]

[QUOTE=Leo D;4643]Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of the Terry Allan Camaro in Blue. I only ever saw it run in the "Red" configurations, or the "White" configuration. I've never seen a colour picture of it in "Blue".

This is one of it in the Castrol colours.....



Thanks for trying anyway Leo D, this is the best close up colour shot I've seen of the car in its 71 scheme.

[Leo D]

Norm Beechey powering onto the back straight at Calder ahead of Terry Allan....

[Shano]

More body roll than a weightwatchers' meeting.

[bigbanger]

You never know, it could just have easily been rolled into someones shed after its last race, covered up, and forgotten about. A friend of mine owns the Rod Coppins Cambridge Camaro as pictured a couple of times in this thread. That car was raced and continuously developed throughout the 70s until it was effectively a space-frame car by the last 70s. It was sold by John Osborne in 1981 to Chris Cullen. Chris then set about getting it ready for the next season, but struck some funding problems, and it sat in his shed for more than 20 years, and never raced again. He just slowly rebuilt it until it was in beautiful condition, while the rest of the world forgot all about the car. Then one day he offered the car for sale. Many people thought it had been lost forever.

Not a spaceframe Steve. OSCA regulations of the time allowed only unibody cars and prohibited spaceframed cars. What some in OSCA did though, is to extend their rollcages which might have formerly only been in the passanger cabin to through their front (and rear) firewalls to suspension mounting points/turrets etc. In conjunction with extra door intrusion bars and other safety reinforcement, the cage became more than just a 'bolt in' driver safey device, being an integral part of the vehicles body. A true spaceframe is a standalone chassis/frame on which the body panels can be removed and the vehicle remain structually intact and drivable.

As I recall, Ian Munt's VL Commodore Chev was the first true spaceframe in SI OSCA.

[Ellis]

This B/W one may well be the car in Blue.... at Calder ?.


Symmons Plains Tas in Castrol colours.....

Looks like it could be Terry leaning on front guard

Pics courtesy of Perry Drury Launceston...
Perry builds up models and has done a 1/43rd one of Terry's car in Red/White stripes.