1975 Grand Prix and not just 2 heavy hitters in their twilight, actually 3. The HK Monaro of George Bunce in front of the Firebird was also in its last year. .Fortunately all 3 have survived and will be reunited one day.What a photo shoot that will be.
Last edited by John McKechnie; 10-27-2012 at 04:52 AM.
Hi Gerard, I agreee Red was my hero too. He didn't always have success but he was always a real trier and seemed to lack the support that Paul Fahey had. The Mustang with the big gold numbers was just the bees knees to me. Loved it.Originally Posted by Gerard Richards
Mike, When Frank Ryan had the car, do you think it had charisma when it was plain white (like Bowdens) ?When Red had it this gorgeous metallic blue , it transformed it .Same as when John Riley painted his metallic green, it also looked stunning. When the two were parked side by side at Puke they drew big crowds.Saloon cars came of age, not just boring family cars any more.They were colorful.
As Steve suggests the John Riley Camaro was looking very second hand by this late stage of its competition era. The main culprit in its demise particularly in the second season that Johnnie raced it, was taking some advice from a so called expert who convinced him he could max out its competitiveness by space framing the front end. However as Tony Antonievich the man responsible for saving it and rebuilding it stated, the attempt at reconstructing the front clip was a total disaster. It was done in a very poorly devised setup and ruined the once magical handling. Also the front guards were no longer supported by frame and flapped about in the wind. A sad end for a once illustrious race car. The salvation being that the ruins were fortunately saved and refurbished to its earlier glory.
The Ron Grable, Rod Coppins, Robin Tanner genuine Trans Am Pontiac Firebird enjoyed a slightly less grim racing retirement than the Marwood/Riley Camaro. Although it ended up as a street hack for a number of years, it was no where near as badly chopped about as the Camaro. I once saw the Camaro, rattling through Mt Wellington in Auckland in the early 80's, trailing a cloud of blue smoke with a crowd of young party groupies on board. It looked like heading to a quick demise at that junction.
The Firebird as pictured here, was in its last season with Robin Tanner aboard. He is pictured here with the long hair standing by his mount at the Jan 1975 NZ Grand Prix Meeting. Tanner I was once told was a bit of a hippie and didn't quite fit the image of a tough, big banger punter of the era. He knew Rod Coppin's quite well and had previously bought a Chevy Coupe with a well prepped 350 V8 Chevy motor from Rod in the early 70's.
Fortunately the Pontiac Firebird which has been owned by Bruce Thompson?, for many years has now also been beautifully restored with the help of Tony Antonievich's great restoration skills.
Yes apparently Red, couldn't resist trying to eek out the maximum horses wherever possible and often sucumbed to broken cranks and various other mechanical maladies...
I absolutely know what you mean John. The wild electric green and blue metallic paint on those Mustangs drew crowds like moths to the light in local racing paddocks during the 1969-72 era. They were stunningly beautiful to behold and as you say transformed saloon car racing into an electrifying affair
Red was my hero too back in the day.One of my photos is a pit shot of his 1st Mustang,which he really did drive the wheels off!! next to the other car he raced at the same meeting! is/was it a Brabham? Now thats a racing driver
Yep, it was the ex-Frank Matich Brabham BT7-A. In those days Red was doing a grand job in both disciplines.
A couple of the teenie-boppers. The fantastic little MkI Escorts of Rex Hart and Jim Stone. The Stone car was just 1300cc. Does anyone know what might have happened to these two cars?
Jimmy Stone's car still lives. I think Dennis Thompson (no relation) has it and either it is restored or very close to it. That car could fly.
did that become the Roy harrington AutoTrader car????????????
As mentioned, the Riley Mustang
It certainly did
Wow, thats interesting. I had no idea! So this is the same car?
Couple of Monaros at different stages of their careers. The famous Beechey 1970 ATCC winning car, and the former Spinner Black, Grady Thomson car, owned here by George Bunce. The Beechey Monaro visited NZ in January 1971, so at the time was the reigning Australian Touring Car Champion. Of course, the 1971 ATCC was pretty disastrous for Beechey, winning just a single race, and only actually finishing two races from the seven rounds. He was really stretching the Monaro to keep pace with Bob Janes new Camaro, and Moffats ever-improving Mustang.
The Bunce Monaro was at the opposite end of its career when pictured here during the 1975 season. It arrived in 1969, was raced intermittently by Spinner Black, and, I think, Rod Coppins, before being sold to Grady Thomson. Grady actually raced it with a 350 Chev, so wasn't allowed to compete in NZ Saloon Car Championship races, as they had a 5.5 litre engine limit. So Grady basically just ran it as an Allcomer. It was later sold to Jim Carlyle, who tried to get John Riley to race it, but Riley decided it required too much work to get it competitive, and reverted back to his Mustang. John M, it pains me to post this photo but I know you'll enjoy it!
Steve, thanks for this photo.You are more than welcome to swing past at any time and have a bonding session with it..With the HK Monaro, I cant find details of Spencer driving .Also Rod did practice at Puke Dec 1969,-Motorman Jan 1970-and did not race the next day.Its racing history really started with Grady at the Mercury 1000, but he did not do all the rounds.After that it became Bronze and seen like this April 1970. Jack Nazer remember the car as fast, loose and wild. Like Red , Grady was very hard on machinery-breaking a gear lever, gearbox, engine overheating, brakes overheating, tyres blowing-but he was fearless.
I will get as many details such as race results from these mags and previous owner and post as this is car is worthy of being remembered. Grady was the most successful driver of this car equalling lap record of 1 min 37.5 on big Puke track April 1970.He won races and hill climbs in it.John Riley definitely was not happy in it with a massive brake lock up at Baypark. Was the first Monaro to race here and ran from 1969 to 1975, and there no other Aussie car in the big bangers till Jim Richards did his Falcon Coupe. Like all race cars, it either became a road car or chopped into OSCA.It was a road car and then sat until it was a stripped body. Fortuately some bog had come off the flare wheel arch and this paint colour and some sign writing was seen.
Last edited by John McKechnie; 10-29-2012 at 02:53 AM.
In relation to the Beechey Monaro at Pukekohe , Paul Fahey was forced to run from the back of the grid, making huge gains in his Mustang till he retired, and Rod Coppins broke a power steering hose (Motorman) .So Beechey was never really pushed.A real anticlimax that race.
And unfortunately it was the only time the Beechey Monaro and Fahey ran together. Fahey told me once in an interview with him his new Mustang was bottoming out heavily over the Puke bumps in practice, so the team took the car back to the workshop to fit taller front springs. As a result, he didn't post a time, so the officials, in their wisdom, forced Fahey to start from the rear in the Allcomer race, robbing the punters of what should have been a real slug-fest between these two big-bangers. The car had only been completed a few weeks earlier, and this was the first time it'd been run at Pukekohe. He was still running his Escort in the championship races, and the Mustang was an Allcomer car with a bigger motor than the 5.5 litre limit. He did score fastest lap in his pursuit of Beechey, but that was of little consolation.
Yeah Steve, lets demand a rerun, we punters deserve our moneys worth. Let those officials carry the cost-and I bet the track would be packed.
Last edited by John McKechnie; 10-29-2012 at 08:18 AM.
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