"Production Supercars" of the late 70's/early 80's

[Steve Holmes]

Yeah I reckon you'd be right on that one John.

[Rod Grimwood]

George Bunce and Rod Haines ran a silver one in B&H and then John had a go, Robin Irving (The DD) then had it and him and Rod Millen did Maramarua rally in it, amongst other bits that car could tell. We went to Bay Park in it once now that is another story to be told in confines of secrecy.
Got a photo of it somewhere.

[Steve Holmes]

White ute that screamed, and was the king of club curcuit in it.

Is this the ute?

[John McKechnie]

Steve-absolutely Trevor McLean. Whenever you see Papakura Automatics , thats him. I worked at Davie Motors in late 70s with his girlfriend Mavis.

[TonyG]

Jimmy Stone worked for Trevor for a while too before relocating to Oz.

3 Versions of Trevors Commodores

[TonyG]

[TonyG]

Hey Vern, is this Legit or is it someone trying to make a buck off you.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/ws/eBayIS...m=221150176902

[Rellum]

Hey Vern, is this Legit or is it someone trying to make a buck off you.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/ws/eBayIS...m=221150176902

Good spotting! Yeh its legit, a good mate of mine in Aus - Richard Sherman (he used to live here and in his time has raced a couple of real nice XU1's and a genuine L34) helps me from a distance - he runs our facebook page (www.facebook.com/falconcobraracing) and screen prints T shirts as a sideline. Richard was instrumental in resurrecting Production Supercars in the mid to late 80's. Great pictures of Trevors VK by the way (I remember at one of the Nissan Mobils at Puke where Trevor was quick and had qualified well only to be turned around going over the hill by Charlie O'Brien in a BMW M6 within the first couple of laps - did this car get turned into a VL or was that another car?

[rogered]

Good spotting! Yeh its legit, a good mate of mine in Aus - Richard Sherman (he used to live here and in his time has raced a couple of real nice XU1's and a genuine L34) helps me from a distance - he runs our facebook page (www.facebook.com/falconcobraracing) and screen prints T shirts as a sideline. Richard was instrumental in resurrecting Production Supercars in the mid to late 80's. Great pictures of Trevors VK by the way (I remember at one of the Nissan Mobils at Puke where Trevor was quick and had qualified well only to be turned around going over the hill by Charlie O'Brien in a BMW M6 within the first couple of laps - did this car get turned into a VL or was that another car?

its the car that tony boyden runs in central muscel cars. yes it has been vled

[Milan Fistonic]

Another couple of shots of the McLean ute on a very wet Club Circuit.

[seaqnmac27]

Great shots Milan, who is the Farina?

[16bbls]

What a great site. I stumbled upon it yesterday and joined straight away. I'm currently living in Scotland, though will be back in NZ very soon for an extended period.

On 3 February 1980, there were Production Saloon support races for the Aurora AFX Series Finale for Formula Pacific cars at the Pukekohe circuit. George Bunce raced a Hot Mustard E49 Charger on the day that had been prepared by Trevor McLean. The owner's permission for the car to compete had been requested by Trevor and George had been invited to race the car subject to paying for its preparation! After qualifying second fastest, the car was unfortunately retired in the first race with a frost plug failure. In the following handicap race for Production Saloons and Sports Sedans, the car finished fourth. I understand the field to have also included the 340ci McDonald Charger, Trevor McLean's E38 Charger (E49 spec) and a Limelight E49 Charger. I'm told the Limelight Charger had problems in practice, so a frost plug was removed from this car and fitted to the Bunce E49. It would be great to see photos from the day. The Bunce E49 wore number 90.

Trevor performed most of the maintenance on the Hot Mustard E49 and even borrowed the driveshaft on one occasion when he suffered balancing problems at a race meeting with his own Charger.

The car is incredibly quick, remains unrestored and has been owned by me for the past 24 years.

[macpac]

Hi Steve

I remember the cars well, but unfortunately do not have many photos. Part of the reason I started this thread was in the hope that it might result in photos being posted, particularly of those initial years 1980-82. I'm sure I do have some photos of Trevors E49 which I'll post if I dig them out. Didn't he start out in a triple webered Valiant Ute? - it would be cool to see pictures of that too.

Hi Vern

Yes Trevor started out running is pretty quick old valiant ute. The engine was pretty much the same configuration as an E49 engine. When he sold it to a mate of his Ross (his surname escapes me) must be old age. Ross turbo charged the thing and I believe it was a pretty quick weapon.

Cheers Steve

[macpac]

Is this the ute?

Yeap thats Trev's quick ute. He pretty much used to go to all of the club meetings at Puke and clean up.

[macpac]

Thanks for the pics Tony. I think my family must have been Technologically challenged and couldn't use a camera because other than the pics of dad and Trevor on this site I don't have any. So thanks for the memories and your efforts everybody. I must have suffered the same fate because I don't even have any pics have the green E49 I raced. Ha ha.

Steve McLean

[macpac]

Another couple of shots of the McLean ute on a very wet Club Circuit.

Thanks for the great pics Milan.

[Milan Fistonic]

What a great site. I stumbled upon it yesterday and joined straight away. I'm currently living in Scotland, though will be back in NZ very soon for an extended period.

On 3 February 1980, there were Production Saloon support races for the Aurora AFX Series Finale for Formula Pacific cars at the Pukekohe circuit. George Bunce raced a Hot Mustard E49 Charger on the day that had been prepared by Trevor McLean. The owner's permission for the car to compete had been requested by Trevor and George had been invited to race the car subject to paying for its preparation! After qualifying second fastest, the car was unfortunately retired in the first race with a frost plug failure. In the following handicap race for Production Saloons and Sports Sedans, the car finished fourth. I understand the field to have also included the 340ci McDonald Charger, Trevor McLean's E38 Charger (E49 spec) and a Limelight E49 Charger. I'm told the Limelight Charger had problems in practice, so a frost plug was removed from this car and fitted to the Bunce E49. It would be great to see photos from the day. The Bunce E49 wore number 90.

Trevor performed most of the maintenance on the Hot Mustard E49 and even borrowed the driveshaft on one occasion when he suffered balancing problems at a race meeting with his own Charger.

The car is incredibly quick, remains unrestored and has been owned by me for the past 24 years.

Here's the entry list for that February 3 meeting. Interesting that there was a dead-heat for first place by Trevor McLean and Derek MacDonald.



The other race was a handicap with the Sports Sedans also included. Alan Woolf (Mazda RX3) won from Gary Bromley (Falcon XB GT) with Bruce McLean third (Torana). Bryce Platt was fourth in his Escort TC and George Bunce fifth.

[16bbls]

Thanks for posting that Milan. From some old notes I found, it appears that the Limelight E49 I referred to was that of Allan Scott. I had heard mention that there was a dead-heat for first in the Production Saloon race, so is good to hear that confirmed. I wonder how they shared the magnum?

[J42E48]

be great to see some pics of the limelight 49!

[macpac]

Thanks for posting that Milan. From some old notes I found, it appears that the Limelight E49 I referred to was that of Allan Scott. I had heard mention that there was a dead-heat for first in the Production Saloon race, so is good to hear that confirmed. I wonder how they shared the magnum?

The Allan Scott E49 (Limelight) is the car that got repossed with a conrod hanging out the side of the block. Trevor McLean bought the car for about $4K (bargain now) and we put another engine in it. I ran it for a season in the same colour with sponsorship from Captain Snooze Waterbeds. Does anybody have any pics? Trevor later sold the car to his mate Mick Quinn (who raced a Z28 Comaro in production supercars) who used it as a road car. He may still own it.