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

[nick_tassie]

I have always wondered why Terry changed the Camaro to blue in 68-69 when it appeared there was no sponsorship reasons, the car was striking with the red paint and Z28 stripes so to go to an all blue colour with a small pin stripe at the top edge of the guards and door seemed strange.

Well I can only speculate that maybe the Mark Donohue Sunoco Camaro was a look he was trying to copy. I just noticed tonight the similarities in the placement of the pin striping and signage, especially when Terry ran the car at Bay Park with AUSTRALIA across the rear guard and TERRY ALLAN on the front guard.

I would be interested if people who remember the car painted blue can recall if the colour was similar the the early Sunoco Camaro colour scheme, also can anyone remember if the pin stripping might have been yellow?

Food for Thought...!?!

[Steve Holmes]

Yeah well that makes sense. Even without the modern day technological conveniences such as the internet that make the world a smaller place, the Penske Donohue Camaros were legendary all over the world. I'm really hoping we'll get a break through soon and find a colour photo of Terrys Camaro in blue.

[nick_tassie]

Received a nice surprise in the mail from the one and only Graeme Blanchard. I emailed Graeme to let him know that his Blanchard Holden post card was in the latest AMC mag so he could check it out. He has kindly sent me 4 originals that he still had sitting around the house....

How cool is that!!

[nick_tassie]

While I'm thinking of it, I would really appreciate it if those who have posted photos of the Camaro here on the thread could send me through some high resolution copies. I would like to get them blown up into posters for the workshop, they will also help in replicating the profile of the flares and roll bar for the tribute car.

Steve I would love those Bay Park shots you have posted.

[nick_tassie]

Mega frustrated, we thought we had discovered Uncle Terry's lost Camaro this week, so so close.....

Its amazing how you uncover potential leads, I happened to get an email from a guy who saw my Gumtree wanted advert for a project 67 camaro. When I called him we got to talking about my idea of building a Terry Allan tribute race car, we also talked about the search for his old car. Amazingly this guy once owned the Captain Rats Camaro, the drag car that was raced by Barry Wearing, the car we also thought at some stage may have been Terry's Camaro, how freaky is that......

Anyway he also suggested I contact one of his mates in Sydney who knows a lot about drag racing and Camaros, this mate did the deal to buy Captain Rats for him those many years ago. Always interested in chasing something new I immediately called this guy and "bang" straight away he told me he had seen the MIA and Muscle Assist articles in AMC on Terry's lost Camaro and he had wondered then about a 67 Camaro drag car he recalled raced at Castlereagh and if it may be the car people were looking for.

What got me extremely interested in the lead was that the car was a white 67 and raced with Castrol GTX sponsorship, the biggest thing that got me excited was that he believed that the car still exists, it is believed to be in the yard of a house in a Sydney, he also suggested that it could have been an ex circuit race car. This guy had been to see the car in the early 80's, it was under a track tarp still with its drag racing slicks having been dropped there after it finished racing, he tried to buy it them but the owner who has heaps of old collectable cars wouldn't sell. Initially he couldn't remember the names of the guy who drag raced the Camaro or the guy who now has it, but I had a new lead and enough to start hunting. This just could be the one and it still exists, plane fares to Sydney weren't booked just yet but the thought was there.

An hour on the internet and I had a name Lionel Caines, next was to find a photo of the car to see if i could identify if it may have been Terry's race car, no luck, nothing I could find anywhere. I did however find another white 67 Camaro drag racing at Castlereagh on a website, it was called Split Second and although a 67 it was clearly a standard road car, no roll cage, flared guards or bonnet pins, it was also a RS Camaro with the Rally Sport front clip and RH drive. 99.9% sure not Terry's old race car (67 SS front clip and LH drive). The photo's of Split Second weren't clear enough to identify the drivers name the only clear bit being its race number 548.

My Source did some calls to people he knows from the old Castlereagh days, after 3 days of research he got back to me with news. The Lionel Caines car was indeed a 67 Camaro, it was white, it is still believed to be owned by the same guy who won't sell and its deteriorating into the dirt. The bad news, it started out as a standard road car and was first raced in mid 1973 as a 327 RS, and its was called - yes you guessed it Split Second. The story goes it raced as Split Second in the standard bracket for a while until it disappeared for some months and came back as a full on drag racer sponsored by Castrol GTX and running a high hp 350.

I have also been sent a few photo's of the Castrol GTX car from someone else and it clearly shows the Caines car was Split Second as it has the same race number 548. A close inside shot reveals no roll cage and a standard road car interior. The exterior shot points to it being a 67 RS car. Why would anyone remove a roll cage for a drag car, replace the SS front clip with a RS front, remove the original bonnet pins and remove the front and rear flared guards. Doesn't make sense that this car could once have been a circuit racer.

So not Terry's car, 1973 tat Spilt second first raced would have been to early as Terry's car was in the hands of Lakis Manticas at about this time frame, remembering my photo from Barry Wearing is marked September 74 and the car is still in its circuit race trim, roll cage, bonnet pins and flares.

Oh so close and oh so frustrated - the search continues.........

[nick_tassie]

Barry Wearing - Captain Rats 67 Camaro at Castlereagh


Lionel Caines - Split Second Camaro at Castlereagh




Lionel Caines - Castrol GTX Camaro

[Steve Holmes]

Bummer! That lead sounded awesome! But, as you say, definitely a different car.

[nick_tassie]

Yep Bummer......

The one shinning light is that this guy knows his drag racing and knows his Camaro's. He can only remember 4 drag racing Camaro's in that era. the two 67 cars of Wearing and Caines, a 68 called Hawain....... something or other from Victoria and a 69 model, (Bob Janes ZL1 maybe)?? He is pretty sure that there was no other 67 Camaro being drag raced at least not on the East Coast.

Could suggest that Terry's car never did go into Drag Racing. Barry Wearing always said that he didn't recall ever coming up against the car when he was racing Captain Rats at Castlereagh or Surfers Paradise.

That leaves Speedway as the next area to search deeper and so far I haven't found trace of it there.

[nick_tassie]

We can once and for all cross the Lionel Caines Split Second/Castrol GTX drag car off the list as being Uncle Terry's missing Camaro. I had a great conversation last night with a guy who has done some extensive further research into the history of that Camaro, what we now know is that this car first started drag racing in June 73, the car was built up from a optioned up white 327 RS/SS. The June 73 date rules it out as we thought, Terry's car was in the hands of Lakis Manticas at this time frame. Information we have received indicates this car never had a roll cage fitted or any signs of flared guards. Interestingly this car also had castrol GTX sponsorship just as Terry and Graeme Blanchard had in 71-72.

Anyway another lead that can be ruled out, looking forward to the challenge of the next one.

[GD66]

[QUOTE=nick_tassie;12432]Yep Bummer......

The one shinning light is that this guy knows his drag racing and knows his Camaro's. He can only remember 4 drag racing Camaro's in that era. the two 67 cars of Wearing and Caines, a 68 called Hawain....... something or other from Victoria and a 69 model, (Bob Janes ZL1 maybe)??




This may be the car outlined in the second part of the Bob Jane ad on page 2 of the Old Race And Road Car Ads thread.

[Powder]

Allan raced the Camaro in NZ three times; Easter 1970, Labour Weekend 1970, and Xmas 1970. The Xmas meeting it was painted white, whereas the two previous visits it was blue.

Here's some scans from the Baypark meeting programme from 28 Dec 1970.

[Steve Holmes]

Wow, those are really cool Powder! And that line-up of cars is pretty impressive. Would have loved to have been there for that. Two big block Camaros! Imagine the noise!!!

[nick_tassie]

Agree great stuff, interesting the money for the places in the scratch race. Doesn't seem like much now but for 1970 I guess it would have been well worth racing for.

Nice shot of the car in Castrol colours, replicating those front and rear guards will be challenging.

Steve if you want to hear a great sounding Camaro in action search Youtube for Longford Revival 2012 Camaro great piece of footage and sound of the late John Zeigler 67 at full song down the flying mile. The car is now owned by Chas Kelly.

[Ross nova one]

nick_tassie, I've enjoyed reading your story so far in the search for the Comaro. Unfortunately I can not help but I am interested in contacting Tony Bowden to research some details on his association with the Beechy Nova. Ross nova one

[nick_tassie]

Cheers Ross nova one, nice to hear you have enjoyed this thread, hopefully there is more to come down the track. Geez I'm not sure what I have done with Tony's contact number as it would have been written down on one of the many pieces of research paper I have used over the journey. I'll have a look and see if I can find it, it was a while ago now that I was researching the Indy Speed Shop Camaro as a lead. In hindsight I should have kept all those bits of paper in one place. I can't even recall how I tracked down John Kay's widow who eventually put me onto Tony.!?!

I'll PM you if I have any luck.

Best of luck as well in your research. Nick

[markec]

[tweaks]

Geez,

Baypark were a bit steep with there Admission charges ...a whole $1.oo admission and 50 cents extra for a stand seat...

This weeks Townsville Taxi Race has $75.00 general admission for Sunday only.

Cheers
Lynds

[nick_tassie]

This is an interesting article as it refers to a 520hp 350 engine, I haven't seen any race report that showed Terry raced with this engine. Every report I have seen including the races at Bay Park suggest he was only using the 396 big block. It would be interesting to find out from Graeme Blanchard if this is the same 350 engine he used after dropping the 396 shortly after buying the car from Terry.

[Steve Holmes]

Nick, I wonder if it was just an error by whomever wrote that article? I think this was to promote Terry racing in NZ for the first of his three visits. Each time the Camaro was fitted with a big block.

[nick_tassie]

Yeah you could be right Steve, its a shame all those closely involved with the car in the later stages are not around to ask although as I mentioned it would be good to ask Graeme where he sourced the 350 engine he raced after dropping the 396. If I recall correctly an article you previously posted from the NZ race mag indicated Terry talking about getting 520hp from the big block engine, seems a bit of a coincidence that the numbers are the same.