What happened to all the Breadvan Anglia's?

[Steve Holmes]

Breadvan story;........got to work one morning in the mid/60's to be hailed into the bosses office,where a discussion was in progress.the subject, much to my interest, seemed to be centred around cars !!!

It seemed our 2nd in charge was a little miffed regarding an incident that had occurred the previous evening on his return drive from a 'Skiing Weekend'

"Myles,you figure this out,I'm driving back to Christchurch along the Eyrewell State Forest road..(which if I remember right was Concrete that went for literally Miles)...in my new Volvo 403,when I look in my rear view mirror,because I'm intending to pull out to pass about 8 cars in front,well would you belive this joker is sitting right on my back bumper,a 'bloody' Anglia like I used to have, w.e.l.l, I indicate my intentions,shift down to 3rd,pull-out and of I go past those 8 cars,I look again in the rear view mirror and the 'BLOODY' Anglia is still attached to my bumper,W.E.L.L I indicate my intentions and that Dam Car pulls along side me like I was parked,slaps into top gear and just dissappeared into the distance......I don't ever remember my Anglia having that sort of performance"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A quick mental picture came to mind that there had been a 'Hill Climb' event that Sunday at the Northern end of the State Forest Road ,..uMMMM??????? (Can't remember the events name at this late hour!)

"You didn't happen to notice the Colour of this Anglia,like, did it have 'BIG' wheels hanging out the front by any chance"????????????

"Well Yes!!..it was a dark Green colour and yes the wheels where at a very odd angle,sticking out the front fenders and 'OH!! very loud.....would that be legal"?

" Hell!!! David,don't panic,like don't trade you 'new' Volvo back in, what ever you do...that would have been Niel Doyle in his Anglia/Corvette heading home to Ashburton,he would have been at the local 'Hill Climb' you would have come by on you home journey" !!!

Only in NZ, in the 60's !!!!!!!!!!!!.......................................regards thunder427/MJ

LOVE the story! Very cool. I heard recently the Doyle Anglia may still exist?

[Steve Holmes]

This is a list of the fastback Anglias I know of. Some were not “fastbacked” by their first owners

1. Dave Simpson (Auckland) 1966, Frank Radisich 1967. Sprague family (Timaru) 1968-70, Peter Kocis (Dunedin) 1970-71, Gary Lang (Wellington) 1971, Ian Taylor 1972

2. Paul Fahey (Auckland) 1966, Ward and Coppins (Gisborne) 1967, John Elliott and Neil Johns (Northland) 1969, Kerry Rout (Christchurch) 1969-70

3. Jack Nazer 1967

4. Gary Huxford (Wellington) 1967, Dick Slacke (Christchurch) 1967-68

5. Hamish McLeod (Wellington) 1967-68, Dave Mitchell (Timaru) 1967

6. Gary Huxford 1970, Trevor Eve 1970-71

7. Bob Slade (Christchurch, LHD) 1970, Malcolm Coffey (Wellington, Triumph 2000 engine) 1971-72, Robert Bartley 1972-73

8. Paul Barnard (Hawke’s Bay) 1972-73

9. Dave Goodlass (Hawke’s Bay) 1972-76. May be Barnard's

10. Paul Barnard 1975-76 (possibly his earlier car), Ross Gordon (Wellington) 1976

Plus of course the ex-Doyle Anglia Corvette: Alec Dickie 1970-72

E&OE

You're like a walking encyclopedia David! The knowledge you have stored in your grey matter is incredible.

[Steve Holmes]

OK, so not a Breadvan, but John Riley built a candy red Anglia for the 1966 Allcomers season, fitted with an alloy Oldsmobile engine. It never ran well (I think the block may have been warped or something similar) and he gave up on the idea in the end, but does anyone have any more info or photos of this car?

[David McKinney]

The Riley car looked a lot better than it went!

There was also a Zephyr-engined Anglia from Rotorua, possibly built by Ross Baker (of Heron fame), and in the South Island one with a V6 Ford. Can't off the top of my head think of any V8s apart from the Doyle and Radisich efforts though

[Steve Holmes]

Few shots here of various Breadvan Anglias including, I think, the red version we had been trying to ID (Gary Huxfords #92?). Whose is the #89 car? http://www.anglia-models.co.uk/saloon-photor43.htm

[Steve Holmes]

Here's a fastback Anglia that I photographed in the Claudelands show buildings at the time when Graeme Lawrence had his McLaren M4 car in Air NZ colours. It was at the same show. I think it was only a road car and didn't race. Anyone know any better ??

Pretty certain this is the same car? http://www.anglia-models.co.uk/saloon-photo45.htm

[pallmall]

Possibly a Jack Inwood shot.

[Steve Holmes]

Fantastic photos as always Gavin. Is that the Jennings Special next to the Radisich Anglia in your last post? I assume a South Island shot as there seems to be a pre-war coupe next to the Custaxie.

[pallmall]

No I don't think it is the Jennings car, pretty sure this is a SI photo, early season as the Custaxie is still in white primer. Must be Renwick.

[Steve Holmes]

Yeah, seems certain to be Renwick. And thats probably Sylvesters (second?) coupe in the background, which was wrecked a short time later.

[bob homewood]

Fantastic photos as always Gavin. Is that the Jennings Special next to the Radisich Anglia in your last post? I assume a South Island shot as there seems to be a pre-war coupe next to the Custaxie.

Is that topolino possibly the Milligan ? car, should remember but its too long ago !!

[David McKinney]

That's what I was thinking, Bob
Built by Eric Johnston, IIRC, and driven by others before or after Milligan

Just did the intelligent thing and checked the programme - it's John Miliigan

[Steve Holmes]

The Milligan car was painted red wasn't it? What engine did it use?

[David McKinney]

Pretty sure it was a 1500 pushrod Ford
I saw it race often enough, but its colour has been wiped from my RAM

[bob homewood]

David yes it was red, with a Ford Cortina 1500 type engine ,but I think it was 1650cc capacity

[David McKinney]

You're probably right
It was entered as 1500 in the Renwick programme I checked...

[thunder427]

Possibly a Jack Inwood shot.

...Don't you just love those old 'Urban' Myths.....it was touted that Nazers 'breadvan' was out to 1675cc,and after each race they used to drain the oil to remove the water and dump the water to remove the oil !!!!!!!!!!!..........we were all in awe of this 'hi-tech' world of our time.....'"man those cylinder walls must be thin"!!!!!!!........oh !!well we had a lot to learn and now nobody wants to know!!!!!!!!,,so be it!.....regards thunder427/MJ

[Jac Mac]

The car on trailer in posts 15/26 could have been done by the trailer owner- Julian Tordoff- I remember several well built Anglias from this guy around the country at the time...

[bob homewood]

Not a breadvan but this was something we tried in 1965 in the search for more speed down the Pukekohe back straight ,if you look closely you will see we faired the rear wheels in and ran a undertray under the front and at the rear ,this photo would have been at the 65 back to front meeting as we had to uncover the side light covers to get some more brake cooling ,now before you rubbish it yes it did help the top speed a bit but we found it also sucked the back of the car down around the fast corners ,it was probably a bit short sighted that we did not experiment with it more the next season

[Rod Grimwood]

No way I would rubbish any thing you did Bob. Just goes to show that even back then you looked out side the square. Would have been interesting to have kept up with the modifications, as they were obviously starting to work. The little Anglia I had years later I had to cut holes along the bottom of my rear window to stop it sucking out going around the sweeper at Puke. You could put little bits on them to help with air flow. I had a little alloy lip along the front edge of the vent at the back of the bonnet at same angle as windscreen, it caused a ventury type system and you could see the hot air sucking out from under the bonnet and it stopped it carrying alot of air and helped cooling. Was also great in wet as it sucked rain/water straight off screen. PS you also knew if you had any oil leaks.
More photos and info Bob, you must have a few.