The Trans Tours colours were from the last outting on Australia, Robin bought the car when it was based over there and Rod drove it at Bay Park before it was repainted yet again.
B.
The Trans Tours colours were from the last outting on Australia, Robin bought the car when it was based over there and Rod drove it at Bay Park before it was repainted yet again.
B.
A great read of your build Bruce, you have some amazing pieces for the car.
Nice work!! I bet Robin would be pleased to see the car being restored.
Cheers
Paul B
Cheers Paul, it is very slow buy satisfying to play with the original unique parts, replacements are not an option.
The day job gets in the way some time though.
Robin is always happy to see the car as were his 3 daughters when they came to visit a while back. It got a bit emotional for them.
Bruce.
Interesting set of wheels fitted to the Firebird here. Red Dawson had a similar set of wheels on his Camaro. I assume they were available in wider options than what could be bought from Minilite. Does anyone know what brand wheels these are? I'd guess they were possibly New Zealand made? I think the Dawson Camaro still has its set. I can't think of any other car in period fitted with these wheels.Originally Posted by Steve Holmes
Those are "Span" mags, made by Dave Wallace in Onehunga. I still have the Coppins Wheels and yes they are the same as the Dawson wheels. Fronts are 15 x 10 and the rears were 15 x 14. Apart from very light weight F 5000 type wheels there wasn't a lot else available in those sizes, though Croyden Thompson was also making wheels in Otahuhu, and one big sizes too. I believe they were cast at the NZ Railways workshops near by.
B.
There are a few companies in UK that make Mini lites, here is one:
http://www.johnbrownwheels.com/produ...minilight.html
I have another good one but I need to find it.
I hadn't seen the John Brown Wheels before, I have Miniltes from the original guys. [URL="http://minilite.co.uk/index.htm"[/URL]
Thanks Bruce. When NZ switched to its Schedule E regulations from circa 1973, teams were allowed to fit much wider wheels than they were allowed previously. Up to 14 inches wide. Some teams such as PDL Racing used McLaren Can-Am/F5000 wheels, but Dawson and Coppins obviously switched from their Minilites to the wheels pictured above.
I imagine there were very limited options for wheels this wide back in the early '70s.
How did you come to own the Span wheels? Were they with the car when you bought it?
The Span wheels were part of the deal when I bought the car, they are the actual ones Coppins raced on.
Bruce.
Good to see Rod supporting local industry....did he have advertising on the car for Span wheels?
I don't think so John. 'Span' wasn't around for very long. Dave Wallace went on to own Mission Bay Motors, later you could find Dennis Dunbar on he spanners at the same place.
B.
Are they alloy or magnesium? I assume they're alloy.
There were quite a few NZ cottage industry businesses making wheels during the late 1960s and early '70s. They were usually a cheaper and more accessible alternative to the expensive products being produced in other countries. Graeme Addis was another one making wheels around that time.
The Span wheels are aluminium, so not that light , I had some 15" x 14" or 15" on a T bucket back in the early 80's and they were magnesium, no name so could have been locally made.
Bruce.
While Bruce had the Firebird at the track today, he was running in my XA Coupe.
At his first race meeting, he showed quick learning and genuine race craft .
He was lapping in the low 1 minute 17 seconds.
Last edited by John McKechnie; 10-14-2017 at 07:45 AM.
Thanks John, That car (lets call it El Gordo) is a dream to drive though a little on the heavy side. It was a very enjoyable day.
B.
Sheesh, 1:17 is pretty impressive!
Yep, we have all known him here as Bruce302, now we can see him as a racer in his own right and have a better understanding of why he has the Firebird.
We towed both cars down on Friday and you could easily feel how heavy my Bluebird was on the trailer compared with his Whitebird.
Man, just imagine how light weight Falcon Coupes would have been if they had been in TransAm............"he cars were stripped, seam welded, then acid dipped, before the chrome moly cages were Tig welded in"
Last edited by John McKechnie; 10-14-2017 at 09:08 PM.
Not as light as this Falcon!
That looks extreme Grant, what series or class is that competing in ? On your part of the country I guess ?
Bruce.
Hi Bruce, the "Falcon" was running in the GT1 class in the recent annual SVRA Gold Cup historics event at Virginia International Raceway.
I think it has a fairly modern TransAm chassis but the builder decided he wanted something different so cloaked it with the Falcon bodywork. I did see an article some time ago about the car in one of the vintage magazines, if I can find it I'll post more info.
I ran the Peter Bennett A40 twin cam at this event, probably the first time aNZ ex-Allcomers car has run here in USA. Certainly attracted a lot of attention! I plan to post an article about the experience on RS soon.
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