Bought one for $12,500 in Mount Albert, Auckland in 1973 - a mate told me a year later it was now worth $15,000 - inflation wow !!Originally Posted by Paul B
Bought one for $12,500 in Mount Albert, Auckland in 1973 - a mate told me a year later it was now worth $15,000 - inflation wow !!
I have been asleep for a while to Ken after the Rugby - and great - the oldest Austin Mini Cooper in the USA, well done Friend..
I see that Stirling Moss recently turned 90.
https://www.thedrive.com/accelerator...ears-old-today
I am grateful for the few minutes I spent talking to him at the Laguna Seca Historics in August 2011.
He was most interested in my 1962 Ardmore Grand Prix programme and kindly signed it in several places with his easily recognized signature and we laughed at the water stained pages from that very wet race Jan. 6th. 1962.
I think my programme may be worth a bit more than the 2/6d I paid for it that day.
My attempt at keeping a lap chart in the rain got 2 autographs from Stirling. I know I won't get that opportunity again.
The 1962 NZ Grand Prix field which included a young Lorenzo Bandini who was not related to the Bandini family that built Etceterini cars.(The 1962 water stain is on the right side of the page.)
They came from all over the world to race for this amount !
(Ken H.)
Last edited by khyndart in CA; 11-03-2019 at 08:54 AM.
I recall an interesting short chat I had with Stirling Moss. He made the significant comment that he considered that for him motor racing as such ended with the introduction of sticky tyres. I agree with his opinion.
From the era when the drivers were fat and the tyres were skinny.
José Froilan Gonzalez. 1953 French GP at Rheims.
(Ken H )
The 1962 NZ Grand Prix programme regarding motorcycle racing and advertising plus the Honda invasion was on the horizon.
John Hempleman rode the first Honda I had seen. A Honda racing 250 c.c. # 64.
The Honda story through 1961.
Some of the choices we had in 1961/62.
It looks like the deposit was about 1/3 of the full price.
( And that, ladies and gentlemen, is in pounds, shillings and pence. )
(Ken H)
Last edited by khyndart in CA; 11-04-2019 at 09:31 PM.
Couldn't agree more. One of the (many) joys of the Goodwood Revival is seeing cars 'drift' - not modern drifting. Cars have 'attitude'. Cornering as if on rails is neither exciting nor photogenic.
Yes, I also agree and that is what makes the Goodwood events so exciting to watch. I have to put that on my "bucket list" to go there when a "Revival" is taking place. I only went to Goodwood in 1973 when Trojan were testing and the place was virtually abandoned.
(Ken H)
Ken H,
That 1962 Ardmore programme - great you still have worth keeping it and drying it out. [ Have ' borrowed ' the images from it. Thanks
1962 at Ardmore is also part of the Ruddspeed 3000 Austin Healey story I am working on, that car became the AH 4000 and eventually the Austin 4 litre six was taken out to 4200cc approx..
At least enlarging it to 4.2-litres would have taken away some of the massive weight of that truck engine...
The front shocks would have been happy about it.
In the Healey Club we had an acronym for Healey ..
" Heavily Engineered Almost Likeable English Yacht " - ' boat anchor ' for an Engine even the 100 Four 100 Six and the 3000 motors were heavy ..
Yes, a 3000 head weighed 112lbs...
Have I ever related the change it made to Ross Bond's 3000 when they fitted the alloy head?
Ken Webb dynoed it and it was down a few horsepower over their existing iron head. Bond wanted to reject it, he wanted the horsepower.
"Just try it," Ken told him.
At Warwick Farm it was two seconds a lap quicker.
Ray Bell,
" Have I ever related the change it made to Ross Bond's 3000 when they fitted the alloy head? "
A story for the Austin Healey thread, in there, but don't tell Ken H .. am working on the Ruddspeed 3000 to Austin 4000 / 4200 story as you know, and more information on Ruddspeeds has emerged .." Watch that Space "
I found this very interesting, especially with the scenes of the original Donington Park and the Germans racing right up to the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939.
A true blast from the past !
( Ken H)
Great footage Ken, that is an informative narration of early racing and truly impressive power and speed developed in the German powered pre- WW2 cars. Well worth a watch.
The Ford versus Ferrari at LeMans in 1966 movie comes out here this week and it will be interesting to see how it is received.
https://www.caranddriver.com/feature...e-race-scenes/
I liked this documentary from a few years ago which I recommend.
This clip gives an idea of what it was like around the track in 1966 although a lot of it shows spectators shaving and waking up !
I wonder what is like to go to the 24 hours of Le Mans as a spectator where not a lot of the track can be seen ?
Can anyone describe their own experience there ?
(Ken H )
Last edited by khyndart in CA; 11-11-2019 at 08:30 PM.
As an apprentice in 1966 I started out at 5 pound and three pence for the week so I guess I would have had to save for a long time to buy a watch like this that cost almost 55 pounds in 1962.
( Almost 3 months of income !)
Plus being a 1959 model it is already 3 years old.I wonder how long the unconditional guarantee lasted ?
(The one I have now cost less than 1 hour of my income and is a heck of a lot easier to use !)
Ad from 1962 NZGP programme.
(KH up early due to knee pain..)
Last edited by khyndart in CA; 11-15-2019 at 12:20 PM.
I went to Le Mans in 1981...
I somehow cadged a press pass (I was writing for Racing Car News at the time) and could go anywhere. It was the year Alan Hamilton entered Brock and Bond in a Porsche 924 (?) and it didn't make the race, so they had drivers' passes and could go anywhere. At one point I joined them down the Mulsanne Straight, which wasn't a spectator area.
We were placed not far before the braking area, so where the cars go their quickest, with cars coming into sight through the kink in the straight and out of sight over the crest of the braking area. You would be watching a car, say a 935, come into sight, follow it through and see it start braking, then you'd go to turn back to see the next car and it would be one of the quick ones and it would be right there in front of you.
I did get pics of a few cars there, including the WMs, which were the quickest things on the straight.
While I was there with these blokes I chatted with John Harvey (who'd also been dragged along) about how these forests would have been a part of the arena for WW2.
In the night I walked around to Arnage and it was very hard to believe that the cars were in control as you had no perception of the attitude of the car, you could only see the lights.
Other recollections included being tossed out of the restaurant when I didn't know to say 'Sil vous plait' ordering breakfast, eating lots of 'Frittes', seeing the spare engines in the WM tent and realising that the blocks were standard Peugeot 604 while the heads and turbos were very different, walking behind the main stand and seeing an old bronze plaque...
"Robert Benoist, winner (with Jean Wimille) in 1937, ~ ~ fought with the resistance ~ ~ garotted by the Germans in September 1944"
That must have been an unforgettable experience being at Le Mans with that group, Ray.
If you find the photos from that event it would be great to see them.
Thanks for sharing.
Ken
(I now know that being garroted is an awful way to die !)
There is a documentary on Netfix called "The 24 hour war" about the 1960s battle between Ferrari and Ford at Le Mans.
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