Cant beat 20/20 hindsight vision. Found some pics of John racing it, so will check magazines for any reference on it. Hi Jack, hows things down there, you and AB ticking away OK down there?.Originally Posted by Jac Mac
Update, -Motorman January 1974 page 26 there is a pic of John Dymond spinning the immaculate Cologne Capri at the Hairpin. Has number 75 on the side. No accompaning text .
Most important it is road registered with licence plate - GR 6453
Last edited by John McKechnie; 11-03-2014 at 10:37 PM.
Hi John,
Have not been anywhere to see AB for some time, keeping a low profile and as far away from other peoples race cars as possible myself, Targa went past here on Friday last, saw a few of those while out walking the dog. Gossip in relation to Tullochs latest wealth devaluation Item is keeping the informants busy. Silver Fern is due thru here later this month I think.... more noise-dust- and verbal pollution. Pity old number plates like that are no longer freely searchable, many were off wrecked cars or tractor 'E' rego to allow use on closed public roads.
I was heavily involved with that Crowe Corolla. It (the shell) was used by Dave Bray (Chassis Shop) to build a modified with a screamer of a Valiant based motor. Dave also built a lot of the Crowe Skoda chassis and a Pantera for Trevor. That was before he went to the US and spent a bit of time with some very notable stock car guys. On return he built the offset modified with a DX Corolla 'glass body that I made. We were given/lent a full set of panels by Toyota before the road car was even released.
Dave and Sharon's son Daniel is the Karter doing so well on the international scene (and hardly recognised for his successes)
Kwaussie-your wife is quite right. The blue/silver Capri in Hastings was a genuine Cologne Capri. It was imported into Australia by Sir Jack Brabham and subsequently purchased by Barry(ie) Lee, a Kiwi who had raced an A40 in South Island before moving to Oz. Baron Robertson bought the car in 1975 and (thankfully) replaced the auto transmission with a DIY 'box. The Baron sold it to Andrew Blackberry (one time NZ Mini 7 Champion and sports car racer and brother of Bryan).
I seem to remember Andrew telling me he sold it to someone in the BOP and that it was "written off" in a crash. Pity-it was a most attractive looking thing with huge flares and massive "Minilite" wheels.
Last edited by rf84; 11-05-2014 at 09:09 AM.
That is very interesting!
Was there two or possibly four Cologne cars, counting Paul Fahey's and Norris Miles's cars in New Zealand?
Was Miles' a Cologne? I had not realised that, so that is the one now, and for a while in Ian McAffer's hands?
If its the same Barry Lee I am thinking of [ Auto Trans specialist-might have worked with Peter Leversedge ] then that's likely the car of John Dymand in pics shown on this thread-- Sooo Fahey-Dymand- Miles? cars, where do you get the 4th Cologne car?
Seems to be a little confusion creeping in here. The Barry Lee I mentioned raced an A40 in the South Island and then moved to Australia to live. He bought the Capri off Sir Jack and used it as a road car in/around Sydney. Baron Robertson bought it off Barry and imported it to NZ. He too only ever used it as a road car-to my knowledge he never used it in competition, not even as much as a local HB Car Club event.
Got it sorted I think, #1 Barry Lee, auto trans guy- raced 38 ford coupe, 33 ford Coupe , ACEIII Zephyr special and a couple of escorts in OSCA Ch Ch man. #2 Barry Lee originally from Dunedin raced @ SI meets, shifted to OZ, friends of the Dymand boys raced in OZ [escort etc].... all info courtesy of TNF, Ron McPhail & Peter Leversedge.
More likely the latter one to have Capri connection unless there is #3?
I asked John Dymand about this car. Here is his reply:
This was a ckd car on 3 pallets that Jack Brabham brought back from Europe it came direct from Fords Cologne factory in bits I BOUGHT the whole thing and we fabricated allsorts of bits for it couldn't afford $30000 for the original V6 engine so we fitted a Boss 302 to it raced it a couple of times andi returned to NZ with the car and OSCA wouldn't let me race it the way it was so we had to move the engine forward 14 inches we never ever got the balance right after that . I sold the car to Clyde Collins when I needed cash for a new busnt Dsatsuniness (The Motormarket).my partner Lawrence Bruce and I bought a couple of Minis which we raced for 2 seasons Then I went Datsun for Shellsport and Osca until I moved to the USA I don't know what Clyde did with the Capri
this could turn out to be an interesting story, when all the sleuths get involved.
Just to throw a curve ball, there was a white and blue one (maybe a built up one but bloody nice with all the gear) in Auckland (Wade Motors I think) He lived on North Shore up Wairau Rd. Ran it a few times at club circuit Puke.
Post #84 page 5 this thread...
Steve, I have a colour pic of the car at Ruapuna or levels, but cant seem to downsize it for TRS, so if you send me a PM , I can pass on the image as an attachment to a return email,
you maybe able to do something with it, cheers.
Photo supplied by Rascal as mentioned in the last post. I will post the original and a slightly adjusted one so we can see just a little more detail without ruining this great photo.
Great job Tony, many thanks.
You are very welcome.
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