Bucklers!

[Oldfart]

Thank you Milan, these are all great. Isn't Motorman fantastic in that format?

[Michael Clark]

I am pretty sure Donn was born in 1945 - incredible to think he was writing this stuff at 13...

[Oldfart]

Contribution from Kelvin Brown, Author of the authoritative Buckler "Book" Bucklers in NZ"


Photo 1. Merv Mayo and the Mk.90 under construction, possibly Merv's father on the left ? it was first registered in October 1956
I am unsure of any weight difference between the original Jarvie and the AMW DeJoux body used by others.


Photo 2. The Mayo Buckler 90 at the NZGP meeting Ardmore Jan 1957, the car was very well finished and originally painted dark blue.
English chassis, Ford E93 gearbox brakes and diff with Buckler ratios. Ford 100E Engine with alloy Elva OHI head
The Jarvie body was a local design by Brian Jarvie that used the Ford 100E grille. It was later remodified and became the Corsair.
The car was advertised for sale in the Motorsport Review the NZGP mag mid 58 photos ex B Sutcliffe / M Mayo

Unfortunately no photos of the Malcolm Gill era the 1959 season so far, he repainted the car white.

Photo 3. Malcolm Gill took over the Lycoming so then Scott Wiseman a young ex school friend became the new owner driver.
He had started racing in the family Zephyr for a short time until he was found out. Here shown working on his new car at home.
Scott raced the Buckler over the 1960 / 61 seasons then went over to the UK for experience.
One of the first Mk.90's raced in NZ, the car was raced hard by some good young drivers and they had a lot of success,
it had a few mishaps, including Scotts roll at Levin so a roll bar was an addition, many later pictures show some racing damage in the nose area.

Andrew Buchanan also had the racing bug, he too as a teenager had a major shunt at the Levin Cabbage tree corner and demolished his first car
an A40 Farina, so he bought the 90 and used it for the 1962 season before doing a similar OE. photo ex S Wiseman.

[stubuchanan]

Here is Merv Mayo in the Jarvie-bodied car hillclimbing at Peach Hill Road Ramarama, late in 1958.



I have possibly posted this picture on another thread, but it's a nice looking car anyway.

Stu

[RGM]

Firstly Bruce Sutcliffe is alive and well and living in a retirement village in Avondale.
I drove the Blue Brick for Bruce for about 15 years from memory and have a lot of
memories of a great time we had and having people take notice of these great
little cars.
The Blue Brick had MK5 sign written on the side of the car the whole time I drove it.
We had a team of cars which we ran in the Leman relay races for a number of years
and so long as we had no break downs we usually won the index of performance.
I still have a number of the trophys we won as a team.
I enjoyed seeing the video clip of the Blue Brick at Taupo a place we raced at many times.
When the Juniors first appeared the Blue Brick was very competitive with them and
capable of beating some of them.

[John McKechnie]

RGM- thanks for the update on Bruce. He always had a huge imput and passion for Historics, and did a lot instead of just talking.

[Oldfart]

RGM- thanks for the update on Bruce. He always had a huge imput and passion for Historics, and did a lot instead of just talking.

There would be unlikely to be any following for Bucklers in this country were it not for his efforts. I believe that he has recently re-married, I don't get the very long knowledgeable phone calls any more!!

[RGM]

My wife & I visited Bruce 2 weeks ago and although he has a new lady in his life he is still single and living on his own.
Bruce still has a passion for the cars and on our regular visits he is always asking about whats happening out there.
I am personally a bit out of touch with the cars as the historic racing scene has changed so much and only get to see
Bucklers on very few accasions these days.
I have offered to take Bruce to the Roycroft meeting the last 2 years but with his limited mobility he feels it would be too
much for him.
Another MK5/6 is being built by Dewer Thomas on behalf of Bruce so hopefully we may get to see him at an event in the
future.

[BMCBOY]

[BMCBOY]

[BMCBOY]

[David McKinney]

I'd love to know why the modern De Joux bodies as illustrated here have a different - and to my mind less attractive - nose shape from the original '50s AMW product

[Oldfart]

I'd love to know why the modern De Joux bodies as illustrated here have a different - and to my mind less attractive - nose shape from the original '50s AMW product

David, Ferris did more than one version. The story goes (as told to me by Bruce Sutcliffe) that the very original mould was a female one made of plaster of paris. There was one car taken from the moulds and the mould broke up when releasing. That car was driven in Queen St Auckland and backed into by another vehicle. The shell was repaired, according to Bruce not quite symmetrically at the nose, and a mould taken from that car. That mould is known as the Mark 1 and has the tilt front.
Minor alterations including the "hatch" bonnet are the Mark 2. This was all done by Ferris.
Rumour has it that there are a number of moulds. Bruce Sutcliffe says he repaired a body and took a mould off that, a number of the cars have shells from that mould. However "modern" is not really correct as there have been very few if any, shells done since the mid 80s. Does that address your query

[markson]

My old Buckler DA5574 how it started off
and how it ended up .Markson

[stubuchanan]

I'd love to know why the modern De Joux bodies as illustrated here have a different - and to my mind less attractive - nose shape from the original '50s AMW product

This 1962 shot of Alwyn Marshall's car at Ostrich Farm Road illustrates the point. I think this AMW body dates back to 1958.



The nose appears longer, similar to Maserati and Osca sports cars of the same period (unsurprisingly) although car has a well-used air about it. Definitely not Concours d'Elegance.

Stu

[David McKinney]

David, Ferris did more than one version. The story goes (as told to me by Bruce Sutcliffe) that the very original mould was a female one made of plaster of paris. There was one car taken from the moulds and the mould broke up when releasing. That car was driven in Queen St Auckland and backed into by another vehicle. The shell was repaired, according to Bruce not quite symmetrically at the nose, and a mould taken from that car. That mould is known as the Mark 1 and has the tilt front.
Minor alterations including the "hatch" bonnet are the Mark 2. This was all done by Ferris.
Rumour has it that there are a number of moulds. Bruce Sutcliffe says he repaired a body and took a mould off that, a number of the cars have shells from that mould. However "modern" is not really correct as there have been very few if any, shells done since the mid 80s. Does that address your query

Yes, thanks OF
By "modern" I meant post-period

[Oldfart]

Thanks for posting that Stu. That is a tilt front Mk1 shell (in my opinion) and certainly has the longer nose. That is the car now owned by Roger Munns number 90 in one of Ross' super photos from Chelsea and illustrates the nose very well in both photos. I think that it would pre-date 1958, but need to do a bit more checking to be sure of that.
Interesting to note that the photo Stu posted has the carbs RH side, perhaps those are the Elva head valve covers poking through the other bonnet cut.

[Roger Dowding]

Interesting stuff, thanks BMC BOY for the photos, question, who is in the Car - dark body white stripe and Roundel for the race number, the Gent has a beard, from a 1982 TACCOC sprint, ??, From memory he was quite an authority on Bucklers like Bruce Sutcliffe, and a member of the Waitemata branch of the Vintage Car Club, that ran Chelsea and other sprints / hillclimbs. ( Lyle Chambers, who had a 1930's BSA front wheel drive [ 4 wheel ] special - with a side valve Ford 10 engine in place of the four cylinder BSA, new him well. the said BSA was run at a Pukekohe sprint with owner Lyle driving and myself been given time to do a few laps too The BSA could hit about 80 mph on the back straight at Pukekohe [ pre-chicanes ] ). Also remember the Glendene Sprints, [ as pictured earlier ] where the Bucklers were and Peter Bruin's, beautiful Lotus 11 sports [ where is that car now ??].

[RGM]

The late Ken White campaigned that car throughout the 1980s and early 90s until he moved on to the Masserari? then on to F5000

[Oldfart]

IF my ownership database is accurate (and we are constantly correcting it) that car (Ken Whites) is now in the hands of Steve Day who ran it at Leadfoot and Roycroft this year. The next previous owner was Dallas Crampton.
Could also be the car now owned by Steve Sharp which was in the hands of Ron Roycroft for a time. If that is correct it was a car which we show as being first owned by Arthur Harris.