Urqhart brothers, Coventry Motors. They are still around. I understood they built the engine, and had a flattie called Miss Coventry III, very quick boat. Glenn Urqhart went on to win the class II world offshore powerboat championships in Guernsey with Barry Thompson. Glenn knows a fair bit about the original Custaxie.
Urqhart bros. had a boat Miss Coventry powered by a 427 SOHC. Would like to know where the 427 went?
The last time I saw the Custaxie it was powered by a Flat Head Ford V8, it didn't have the nose on that it raced with, and I think it was running fairly skinny wheels and tyres. I think this would have been in late 1969 or early 1970. It actually looked very rough, like a pile of horse droppings actually.
Originally Posted by woody
In a white Ford with a couple of stripes i believe for a year and then I am not sure, but hope to find out soon.
Yep thats when I saw it also. And yes it did not look to smart,
A rather unhealthy Custaxie appeared at the Wiri Drags in Jan 1971 as reported in NZ Hot Rod Mag. I understand that the Custaxie body was later removed and replaced with a Ford Pickup
hi rod, on this friday gone i went to horopito motors just north of ohakune.i went to look at all the customlines that he had there,not one good one left. he had a e type jag there so i had a look at the brakes on it,looking at them i would say not up to racing at all in my eyes.i got there late and had a small look around,will go back for a good look .there have been a number of old race cars that have ended up there,i have to say that i had the feeling that i could have just walked around and there it was.because the place just does that to you,because pipiriki is not to far from horopito and someone said that the custaxie end up there.
Custaxie50: Go have a good look, as you don't know what may pop up in there. Maybe put a day aside, as there is a bit to look at. Maybe some photos of whats there. Best of luck in the hunt.
Geebee NZ: Smoky Thompson ? was that Royden Thompson from "Purple Haze" fame and Thompson Performance in Otahuhu or some one else.
do you know if some parts from the old custaxie went into the new car, allso do you know who were there to build the new custaxie.
Woody, that 427 Cammer engine done the rounds, in the 70's it ended up in the Trevor Gray 68 KR Shelby Mustang dirt track saloon and is now currently running in the Nostalger drag circles in a old front engine rail out of Levin, owners name is Alex Hogg(i think)
I've raced with Paul Urquart, Glen is Pauls Uncle,have spoken with them all on several occasions about there racing exploits, all very interesting and great history, they have North Shore Complicance in Porana rd, Glenfeild these days.
Dale Mathers
May 1971.
Think Smoky Thompson was AKA as Croydon Thompson, he use to widen wheels and build hot rods. His company was called Thompson Performance or maybe Thompson Developments around the late 60s or early 70s
Yea sorry was spelling mistake (R/Croydon). I was chatting to him at the funeral up here of the poor guy who died in the fire at Karekare Peninsula. I have known him for a few years. Croydon has a chopper up north. I will catch up a bit and will source some more info. I discussed with him because he made the wheels for Murray Soames that are on my Escort that Murray and a couple of others built.
OK....replying to oldfarts post 169 on 'going even older'. Custaxie50 asks what was used from the original custaxie in the custaxieII rebuild. I have in my possession, a skite board that was used in the South Island to inform the curious public what the custaxie achieved in 1966, and how the custaxieII came into being. I will quote part of what it says..........' The custaxie was sold, and had largely disappeared over the years. When it resurfaced, it had been severely cut up and much was missing, however Robbie Francevic and Peter Talley purchased the vehicle to bring the legend back to life. They began with half a car, the back only, no nose or doors. Rebuilt it to its original racing form, including Borg Warner T10 gearbox, Jaguar disc brakes all round, and the original steel wheels'.......So there you go custaxie50, make of that what you wish.
As reported in New Zealand Classic Car March 2010 Vol. 20 No.3. If you can find read.
When eventually found, the car had been severly cut and much was missing. The owner had many Customlines and expressed an interest in restoring the Custaxie. When Robbie was asked for his help with a possible restoration, he apparrently said only he could do this as only he knew the car well enough to do the job.
Robbie purchased the car and Peter Talley and John Millar talked him into rebuilding it.
as Tony Krilitich could not be contacted, John Millar (Dauphine Chev fame and clever man) took over some design parts in his workshop at Riwaka. They began with only the back body. They found another donor car which was partly restored.
In regard to the front of the car help came from John Dobbie who makes fibreglass kayaks.
The inside alloy panels are held in place by tech screws instead of the pop rivets of old days. (also very much neater) To meet new regs it has a new approved seat and harness and extra bracing in the roll bar and for safety a fuel cell.
to amco72 are you telling me this is a quote from robbie himself about the custaxie,looking at what you have said you dont know at all about the custaxie do you,you are just reading somethink that came out in new zealand classic car in march 2010 that someone has put up at the race meeting.
Yes, custaxie50, all I am doing is reading what has been written on an information board that is in my possession, which is similar to what Rod Grimwood quoted from the Classic Car magazine. I know absolutely ziltch about the car, other than what I have read, and what I have seen. HOWEVER, you apparently DO know something, by all your comments in this and other threads, so why dont you put us all out of our misery and tell us WHAT it is. Please.
At the end of the day Robbie is the one who knows all and until someone can sit down and catch up with him, we can only go by what knowledge has been made available. If you do know more please share as this is a very interesting car and a big part of NZ Motorsport history. It is certainly not everyones baby, but coming from a tin top background is an interest to me. I had a very quick catch up with him when he ran the car at Hampton and again at Teretonga but did not go too much into the car as we were both busy keeping cars mobile. So if you do have info-share please, as we all have the same reasons at heart.
Custaxie 50, I am not going to get into a war of words with you, especially on a subject I know nothing about. As I said elsewhere, your name suggests that you have/had an intimate connection with the car, and as this machine is part of NZ motorsport legend, we would all like to know what that connection is. You seem to be hinting..wink wink,nod nod, that you know something no one else does. For the sake of history, it would be helpful if you could share it with us, then we could all make informed decisions as to whether or not to reply. At the moment, all you are doing on these posts is requesting answers to your questions......'how do you know that'....'can you give proof'....'could you post some pictures'...etc etc etc. It is very difficult for the rest of us to have a meaningful discussion with someone who only asks questions. Dont forget, this forum is about 'give and take'. At the moment it is very one-sided.
i have just heard from a reliable source he sat in the gradstand most of the time
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