Kiwi big banger Sports Cars of late 1960s and early 70's

[Gerard Richards]

I have recently finished writing a biography story on West Auckland racing driver Garry Pedersen, of which the first part has currently been published in NZ Classic Car magazine. This brought back many memories of a fearsome array of machinery that appeared through out these years. Sport cars were pretty wild and came in all shapes and sizes. What became of some of these machines is my question. Some have survived like the Russell Greer Stanton Corvette, the ex Tyrell Turtle Continental Special and the ex Jim Boyd, Ralph Smith Lola T70 that was originally owned and raced? by Umberto Maglioli (Italy 1966) has gone back overseas. The Garry Pedersen GEMCO Olds which was based on the Tony Shelly ex Reg Parnell Lotus 18/21 was restored by Gray Mathias, the remains of the GEMCO were last seen at the Bruce McLaren Festival Jan 2010 and apparently were sold to the USA. What has happened to the Grahame Harvey Elfin 400 Chev, the Geoff Mardon/Digby Taylor McBegg Chev and the Jamie Aislabie Sid Mk1, which was originally the Heron Daimler V8 that Norris Miles drove at one stage. Also there are other cars like Danie Lupps Rorstan Climax, Glen McIntyres Wilmac Fiat, does anybody know.

[bob homewood]

Sid MK1 and the Heron Daimler that Norris drove were two different cars,I have some photos of the latter.The Wilmac I owned briefly in the late 70's when I traded it on Rhubarb 3 which I was selling ,the Fiat motor went into Rhubarb 3 ,some parts ,shocks etc went to a friend who was / is restoring a Brabham,the chassis and body were onsold ,I believe unfortunately it has probably been dumped

[David McKinney]

I believe the Rorstan-Climax is alive and well and living in Dunedin.
The McBegg was taken to the tip after an accident at Ruapuna, but I believe has since been "re-created" - someone might know more about this than I do.
The Elfin 400 was still in the Auckland area in the 1980s, but I haven't heard of it since

[Steve Holmes]

Sorry to hi-jack your thread Gerard, but where is this car now? Assuming this is the Scuderia Veloce 250LM that Andy Buchanan raced in NZ during the 1966/67 season, winning the NZ Sports Car Championship? Am quite certain its pictured here in Australia.



Photo by Mike Feisst

[David McKinney]

It went back to Oz. Last I heard of it the car was in the US, but that's probably 15 years ago

[Gerard Richards]

Harking back to two other unaccounted sports cars from the 1970-73 era. There was a rear engined 3.5 V8 Oldsmobile sports car, I think driven by Lyn Johnson if I remember and might have been based in Christchurch. This might have had Begg origins and could have been built from some of the remains of the first Begg sports car that Brent Hawes was killed in at Ruapuna in 1969. I think it was initially converted into the Begg spaceframe F5000 car that Leo Leonard drove briefly before being converted into the sports car. Am I correct in this and what might have become of this car? Another car that also comes to mind was the very pretty red Heron Twin Cam driven by Gary Deakon? Thanks Dave McKinney for your update on the Heron Daimler of Norris Miles, the McBegg and the update at least to the 1980s of the ex Grahame Harvey Elfin 400

[David McKinney]

Leo's F5000 Begg contained some parts from the crashed sportscar, but the rest of it was rebuilt as a sportscar raced by Rod McElrea as the Elmac, though later owners reverted to the Begg name. Last I heard (2007) it was with Neville Brumby in Gore

The Heron 1500 was built by Ross Baker in Rotorua: he located the remains in Taupo in 1989 and bought them, though whether the car has been rebuilt I don't know

[Steve Holmes]

More info on the above 250 LM here, thanks to Mike Feisst and Allan Dick:

"The Scuderia Veloce car – chassis #6321 – as far as I know, is part of the Ralph Lauren Collection.

According to Road & Track magazine:

“The 250 LM in the Ralph Lauren collection had an extensive and successful racing career in Australia. Chassis 6321, it had a dozen wins in the highly competitive racing Down Under. Among those wins was one in the Surfers’ Paradise 12 hours in 1966, co-driven by a young driver just beginning a brilliant career: Jackie Stewart.”

The car is also listed on the Ferrari 250LM Register (www.ferrarilife.com/register) – although their entry doesn’t mention Ralph Lauren.

Here’s a photo of the car in the Lauren collection". Allan Dick

[Steve Holmes]

Andy Buchanan lives not far form me and is very good friends with my neighbour. He still drives Ferrari's.

[kiwi285]

Any chance of getting Andy's thought on the 250LM and racing at that time??

[kiwi285]

Reverting back to Gerard's original question, I remember most of those cars but in particular I have a coloured photo of the Lola T70 driven by Jim Boyd at Pukekohe when it was painted in the Cambridge colours.

How did we manage to get such an up to date sports car to NZ and what ever happened to it after the two drivers mentioned had finished with it.

I guess that it ended up back in Europe somewhere !!

[David McKinney]

I've got a colour photo of it in Cambridge colours taken at Silverstone two or three years ago
It ended its NZ racing days when Grant Bloor crashed it heavily at Timaru in 1972. It then passed through a variety of hands, ending with Rob Boult and then Ralph Smith, and has been with Marshall Bailey here in the UK since about 2005

[Gerard Richards]

Here's my take on this rather fascinating story. My historical knowledge is probably not quite in the Dave McKinney league, but this is my understanding. This Lola T70 was originally sold to Umberto Maglioli of Italy in 1966 with a 5.9 litre Chevrolet engine, which was the same motor that Jim Boyd used to my knowledge. There is no race history that I know of for this early period. The car was then sold to an English guy called Dill Pell who brought the car to N.Z. It was then sold to Jim Boyd in 1969. He used it to win the 1969-70 N.Z. sports car championship painted in Cambridge cigarette colours. The car then to my knowledge didn't appear for a couple of seasons, though I may be wrong in this. Grant Bloore drove the car occasionally in the 1972-73 season and to my knowledge was the last to race it, when he crashed into the fence at Timaru on May 20th 1973 following a long lurid spin after hitting oil during a very wet race. While trying to protect the car's bodywork with loose tyres, John Monehan in the Stanton Corvette spun on the slow down lap and crashed into the Lola with the unfortunate Bloore and Flag Marshall caught between the two cars suffering serious leg fractures. It never raced again. Baron Robertson, then bought it with intention of turning it into a road, which wasn't finished. It then passed through a number of hands including, Travis McGregor, Norm Masters, Brian Middlemass, Rob Boult before being bought by Ralph Smith. He finished the restoration and it appeared at a few classic gatherings, before being put up for sale. The car has apparently returned overseas. This is my understanding of the history of the Cambridge Lola, please let me know if I'm incorrect in any part.

[pallmall]

Here are some photos I scanned from a friends collection last year of some of the cars discussed here.

The big bangers, Boyd Lola and Harvey Elfin.




And some not so big bangers, Boyd Lycoming and others, Riley Lotus, and the Daimler V8 Heron.







And a shot of the Gemco as it was about 12 or so years ago. Taken at the first Domain Hill Climb.

[kiwi285]

Attached is a copy of the coloured photo I took of Jim Boyd's Lola T70 in Cambridge colours. This was taken at Pukekohe in January 1970 I think.

[Gerard Richards]

Great to see these period pictures. The John Riley Lotus Oldsmobile of course, being rebuilt into the fabulous G.E.M.C.O. Olds by Garry Pedersen and team from Glen Eden Motor Bodies, which went on to defeat Graham Harvey's Elfin 400 Chev in a hard fought contest to win the 1971-72 NZ Sports Car Championship. Great to see the photos of the Elfin and Lola to. The full story of this epic encounter coming out in the next issue of NZ Classic Car mag in early June.

[timbo61]

The Gemco is still alive, and was spotted at the 2010 Bruce McLaren Festival at Pukekohe.
It was up for sale, but a big restoration job would be needed to get it running again.



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[GD66]

Sorry to hi-jack your thread Gerard, but where is this car now? Assuming this is the Scuderia Veloce 250LM that Andy Buchanan raced in NZ during the 1966/67 season, winning the NZ Sports Car Championship? Am quite certain its pictured here in Australia.



Photo by Mike Feisst

No doubt that's the car, Steve. Not only is it carrying a set of Scuderia Veloce decals, but I reckon that's Andy Buchanan himself standing behind the green Datsun.

[bob homewood]

Sorry this such a old faded photo,it is from 1967 when I worked on the Heron when Norris Miles raced it I never drove the car in a race but I did get to drive it at Pukekohe at the time I thought it was ok ,but from what I know now from my own later cars it was over tired and under powered ,it really needed a alloy Olds and a decent gearbox in it ,that Citroen box was a shocker,no good on downchanges.You will notice in this photo it has not got those added on alloy bits to cover the wheels,that are in the other photo on here

[RogerH]

Another photo of the Heron.