Ha ha ha, yeah good call, though might be a bit of a mis-match now, given how heavily developed the Fahey Mustang became over the next ten years.
Ha ha ha, yeah good call, though might be a bit of a mis-match now, given how heavily developed the Fahey Mustang became over the next ten years.
I've posted this photo twice, first as originally captured by Gerard, then cropped, just so you can see the attitude Beecheys Monaro has going on here. Look how far the inside front wheel is off the deck! The big fella was giving it plenty.
And check out the size of the crowd! As if we need reminding.
Thats for sure Rhys. And Norm's Monaro being as loud as it was/is, that row of spectators would have been blown backwards another 10 feet!
I think I was leaning on that gate, or was I in the flaggie spot at the top of the hill?
Larry Small, a car dealer from Takanini, aquired the Tanner Firebird circa 1980 and brought it to my place in Mt Maunganui. The intention was to run at one of the Baypark meetings. Larry was quite a character, he neglected to bring any ramps so we backed it up to a sandhill on Marine Parade and drove it off the trailer. My elderly neighbour thought the roar was an earthquake/tsunami and apparently had a "turn". Anyway, to cut a long story short, I checked the car over and it was obviously in poor condition, cracked front discs, rooted tyres etc, I decided I didn't want a repeat of jumping the fence at Baypark so Larry took the car back north,probably sold it to the party guys in Gerard's post.Originally Posted by Gerard Richards
Grant, I have the ownership papers of the Firebird from just after Robin Tanner had the car, there are several car yards named. What was the name of Larry Small's business ?
Bruce.
Steve, a lot can be learnt from that photo. Firstly, look at how PC motorsport and life in general has become with no armco, no real crowd control ( mind you they didn`t have to deal with some of the morons we have today) people enjoying themselves, real cars racing,etc. Try standing on the roof or bonnet of a modern day shitbox! From a Roaring Season perspective, how many of those people took photos that day, and where are they today? Oldfart: I don`t think you would be leaning on that gate anywhere near as much as Beechey is leaning on the accelerator in the Monaro!
Yep, you got that right Steve. Those days will never return, all we can do is view them through rose tinted glasses, and try and at least recapture some of the essence of those cars. Its true, we do tend to view history through rose tinted glasses. It wasn't all quite as good as we sometimes think it was, the racing was invariably processional, the cars unreliable, the grids often small, but at the same time, the cars had so much character, they were each unique, they could each draw a crowd in their own right, they were dazzling at any speed, but especially when really being pushed hard, and, best of all, they made the ground shake. There must have been something in it, those big crowds kept turning up every year.
Brilliant description Grant! Its fascinating the roller-coaster ride some of these cars take during their lives. They start out as state of the art, all shiny and beautiful, and draw big crowds. As time goes on, and they lose their competitive edge, their values plummet, and eventually they get to a point where they're not much good for anything, and hold very little value. I love Gerards description earlier in this thread of the former Joe Chamberlain/Dennis Marwood/John Riley Camaro when it had hit rock-bottom: "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". And then, eventually, interest in them begins to build again, not because of the duties they can perform on a race track, but because of their historical significance. And their values begin to rise again, they get bought by the right people who restore them and cherish them. And once again they become the centre-piece that draws a crowd.
Bruce, I can't recall the name of his business, if you post the names of the yards you have listed in the OPs I might be able to confirm which one was Larry's. Or you can email me - ellwoodusa@yahoo.com
Cheers, Grant
Larry was a hard case Aussie with a gravelly voice caused by an over enthusiastic marshall at Oran Park firing an extinguisher down Larrys throat after he had crashed an F2 car. Years later and back in Takanini he asked me to help him repossess a car somewhere in the hills near Clevedon (at night-time). We stopped some distance from the customers house and sneaked up in the dark. I asked Larry why we needed stealth and he said the SOB had threatened to shoot him if he tried the repo (gee thanks mate for that news). Peering through the windows we noticed a family eating dinner and leaning against the wall near the nearest door was a shotgun. Larry calmly wandered in, picked up the gun and said to the owner 'you weren't really going to use this on me were you?"
Lots of Larry stories like that I could share, many unrepeatable on a respectable site like RS though!
The big crowd was there to see the hit up between Norm and our NZ version of Allan Moffat- see Paul Fahey -in a Mustang going head to head. Could an Aussie car with an Aussie driver beat our 2 top tintops? Also 350 vs 327 vs Boss302. Behind Norm is Jack Nazer, Rod Coppins, Paul Fahey any takers for the rest?
The mystery surrounding the Spinner Black/Rod Coppins/Grady Thomspon/George Bunce Monaro also fascinated me over years. In truth probably way more than it deserved in terms of the hard results it did achieve. Apart from seeing it in its twilight season with George Bunce at the helm, who reputably didn't like the car, I was privileged to see it at it Pukekohe on the long circuit at the April 1970 NZ Saloon Championship meeting. As John mentioned, my distant memory of the Grady's performance in the car that day was impressive. He drove with a ragged John Riley, wild tail out oversteering technique, and as young 14 years olds we lapped that up! Over the years I wondered what happened to that car and was happy to hear recently the remnants have been discovered. Along with the classic Beechey 1970 Australian Touring Car Championship winning machine, both these cars remain saloon car racing icons. The Monaro shape is such a beautifully styled and proportioned car and possibly the high point of classic Australian Muscle cars, along with the original Torana XU1. Just a small point you mentioned John, that the Black/Thompson Monaro was the only Aussie modified racer in the NZ Saloon Champs before the Jimmy Richards Falcon Coupe. Not true! The PDL Falcon V8 raced by Clyde Collins between 1969-1971 would be the other and was more successful in terms of results achieved.
Pretty sure thats Clyde Collins in the PDL Falcon behind Fahey. Re the engine in the Fahey Mustang during this first season, it was my understanding that it had a 302. However, a war of words erupted a few years ago in Classic Driver magazine after a story on Fahey was published, and in which Fahey was quite critical of Lyall Williamson, who was in charge of the PDL Racing team, that Fahey sold the Mustang to after this season. In one of the letters, Lyall suggested Fahey raced the car in the 1971 season (as in the picture above featuring Beechey) with a 6 litre motor, when the maximum engine capacity for the NZ Saloon Car Championship was only 5.5 litres. Fahey then came back and pointed out he never actually raced the car in any NZSCC races that season. Take from that what you will.
Ha ha ha, brilliant story Grant! As far as this site being respectable is concerned, screw that, start posting more of those stories. Thats what this place was built for!
Yes, good point Gerard. The Clyde Collins V8 Falcon was a pretty stout car, very quick, and looked fantastic, especially during its second and last season, when fitted with the big Minilites and flared guards. Looked very much like a red XW version of Pete Geoghegans Super Falcon, and not unlike Allan Moffats ill-fated XW/XY Super Falcon.
Thanks Steve! By the way, please spare a thought for Steve Twist, he is right in the cross-hairs of hurricane Sandy in Delaware tonight. The next 12 hours will be pretty scary......
Duh, I feel silly over this oversight.You are right Gerard, I remember Clyde racing it at the time.My only excuse for this senior moment was that I was thinking about Coupes.I have a high opinion of Clyde in any car he drove and my apologies on this oversight.Also there were XU1s being built up with v8s. Ron Sylvester built 2 Monaros , one for him the other for Steve Dymond. Grant tells me one ended up at the dirt track , the other disappeared.My own fascination with the Monaro was that friends and families had them so they were a real family car at the time.Not many Mustangs, Firebirds, Camaros around then.As a teenager you could look at your neighbours road driving Monaro ,dream of Beechey and Thomson, and know there was a Q ship waiting to happen.Gerard ,you are more than welcome to come round the see this car which is actually in quite good condition
Monaro Mania
No worries an easy oversight. I think the Collins Falcon often gets forgotten, because it was a such utilitarian looking car, though as Steve pointed out it looked much more purposeful in its second season, though was more unreliable with overheating problems. With a Fahey sourced Shelby 289 Ford V8 in 1969-70, it was a reliable and effective trouper, if slightly underpowered compared with the Coppins/Dawson/Fahey brigade. I'm afraid to say I've never been a great fan of the XY Falcon GT shape, just my personal preference though.
The Monaro was much more evocative and certainly in the Grady era, it was a colourful entry into field of '69-'70 NZ Saloon Car Champs as was the Falcon. Thompson was undoubtably a hairy driver and cemented that reputation with his almighty spin at Bombay Bend at Wigram when he lost the Monaro on the "bump" and with sublime luck planted it right between the hangars, instead of into them as several unlucky punters had done in the past...
Prompted by Grant Ellwood's little aside of repossesion in the early posting, reminds me of an aside that Spinner Black told me about the slightly hairy antics of Grady on a parts buying episode to the U.S. around 1969-70. Quoting Spinner from the article I wrote: "Grady was a bit of a crazy dude, impetuous and a little bit chaotic. He was visiting the West Coast of America for the first time. He'd never been overseas before and had a very quick and sobering lesson on how to gravely upset the cops. We were stopped by the Californian Highway Patrol, and the protocol is that you stay in your car, and don't move a muscle until you're told. What did Grady do, he leapt out with his bag, then committed the ultimate sin of reaching into it, for his passport or licence I guess. The cops figured this cowboy was going to pull a piece on them and in a nanosecond Grady was up against the car, a gun pressed at his temple and he was being frog-legged and searched. He was totally freaked and so was I! I thought that was the end of him!"
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