this one still looks a morrie that could pull up next to you at the set of lights, main street, eltham on a busy saturday night...............
this one still looks a morrie that could pull up next to you at the set of lights, main street, eltham on a busy saturday night...............
yep, i was sitting outside the eltham police station and this rough old v8 morrie was lined up next to a sleek pontiac.
guy in the ponty thought he had it nailed,looked like just a noisy lowlite minor, but never had a chance.
morrie gave the boy racer a head start, then nailed it,
still reckon he nearly sucked the doors right off that gto doing about 95 changing gear right outside the bp
twas a still night, about midnight, sound of that machine continued through hawera, think it backed off going into patea.
man, those crickets sounded noisy after that.
Last edited by John McKechnie; 12-07-2017 at 11:08 AM.
How would a V8 Morri go in Historic Sport sedan class? - could be fun... I have a spare 289 and T10 in the shed.
John, I also have a heap of photos of your Monaro from Manfield I will try and set up a dropbox for you,
PM me you email. Cheers
I am impressed at what Chris Isaacs did with his mother's 1968 Morris Minor.
Check out all the details at this site ; http://www.chris-isaacs.com/morrisminorcircuitcar.html
Before the upgrade to a Chevy V-8 383 engine.
The V-8 easily installed !
# 68 Looking good and ready to roll.
I don't think this "Moggy" will be used to go shopping in again !
(What a beautiful piece of workmanship. I hope you visit Chris Isaac's site. )
http://www.chris-isaacs.com/home.html
( Ken H )
Last edited by khyndart in CA; 12-07-2017 at 08:03 PM.
John,
That was a good V-8 "morrie" story from Hawera to Patea.
Thanks for that.
Ken
My first experience with the Morrie was my best mate bought a high lite flattie which burnt oil like it was free. Us lads thought it was the bees knee.
Next up was the company van was a 1100 powered unit and that was great to drive...so I thought...!
Next was a friend built up a saloon car for the stock car track, all stripped out and Holden powered....the Red Baron..
I bought in my words a 61 2 door sports coupe for my then wife...I loved it but no she did not so on sold to a work mate.
Yes I have seen a yellow chopped Minor with the Rover V8 slotted in to it and that was on the hot rod circuit.
Great little cars of a by past era.
The answer to that is of course 'not a chance'.
Having built an MG Magnette with an old Rover V8 as a road car (though some thought I was building it as a race car!), MSNZ /T & C rules effectively allow you to build a single seater out of period bits, but not a saloon. Don't ask me why, but unless one was built in period, you can't do it.
It is OK to shove a Ford V8 into what was a 2 litre Ford Capri and call it a Perana, or bung a 1300cc engine into a humble Mini and call it a Mini Cooper, Rover V8 into a TR7 and call it a TR8, a Ford BDA into an Austin A40, a Ford Zephyr with Chev V8 power, Escort V8 etc, because someone did it a few years back, but you cannot build what someone COULD have done in period.
You can also get several hundred extra horses out of an F5000 engine but no, you can't put a 289 into a Moggie - unless you can prove someone did it in period, then it would be up to officialdom to decide exactly what would be acceptable and what wouldn't.
Personally, the days of V8 A40's, Cortinas and Morris Minors and early UK Super Saloons were magic and far preferable to watching utes racing, but I don't make the rules. Vauxhall Magnum-Aston Martin, Big Bertha and Baby Bertha, Janglia, Corvair V8, Daf Rover, 2 litre and V8 Skodas, Chimp, Berpop V8 and so on. Individuals doing their own thing and making the sport entertaining.
But can you have an Historic car with no history? Nope.
I am left wondering why none of the Mainland members haven't posted a pic of Fowog yet!
Somewhere on the net should be a photo, and perhaps a story, of a Minor that was indecently fast around the British hillclimb/sprint scene. If I was to take a stab, the driver's surname was Mann and it had a heavily modified - perhaps turbocharged - Rover V8.
I should have consulted Google before starting to type - I will now check because this could be a test of whether I am 'loosing it'
Nic Mann. Check out one of his other cars called "Mannic" (a rather clever play on words). It's a sports/racing car powered by a turbocharged BDA but is unusual in that the turbocharger is not driven by waste exhaust gases but by a jet turbine (actually a starter motor off a big helicopter). The advantage is that this provides constant drive to the turbo (i.e. no turbo lag). He built his own 4WD system adapted from a Ford Sierra. There is an interesting clip on "Youtube" of them firing the thing up using a big compressed air bottle to get the jet turbine going and then the car taking off from a hillclimb start. Nic annihilated hillclimb and sprint records everywhere he has driven the car.
Steve Homes posted on the "Brett Young Collection" thread this : (There are some great pics on this thread)
The name on the drivers door says Peter Yock, but this looks to me like the Lotus powered Minor built by Warner Collins. Did Yock buy the car off Collins? I know Warner bought brother Clydes A40 Allcomer after the 1967 season. Either way, really nice shot of a well executed Allcomer. That nose has some hours gone into it. Did Warner build this from scratch or is it a modified sports car or single seater nose?
http://www.theroaringseason.com/show...ung-Collection
Last edited by Paul B; 12-07-2017 at 10:59 AM.
in 1970 i had a sidevalve v8 that i was going to put in a model a roadster- 17, i thought i knew enough to do it
changed my mind and a friend who i went to school with- nigel- said he wanted it .
great says i, lets move it and btw what are you putting it into.,i asked.
a morris minor he said.
nigel had a honda 4 500,very dull, predictable, normal, electric start.........and here he was a closet morrie v8 fanatic bursting at the seams, couldnt wait to get started, he would rave at length about how neat it wold be driving it on the road
stopped when he took the sump off and found a nylock locknut on a conrod.............alas, another minor v8 that was never completed.
Last edited by John McKechnie; 12-07-2017 at 07:46 PM.
Is it an optical illusion or is the Peter Yock Minor a split screen model?
Pukekohe
Nostalgia Drags, Meremere
2017 Beach Hop
The Red Pre65 Minor #82 is currently for sale on TradeMe