Originally Posted by John McKechnie
Before his holiday
Before his holiday
Not only the old cars but the old fellas with them.
Yep...I used to work on this car for Gail. She was a lovely lady..Colin's wife..Had "Drag On Lady" written down the sides and had shock absorbers that held the front up on take off...$09 Porkepine motor...In the days when the early Hot Rods most had flathead engines..apart from a hand full of OHV engines like Mike Gearings Caddie powered Roadster and others that had "Corvette" engines...was bugger all OHV motors. It seemed the everything Colin Praast drove had a 427 in it! Man. We built his Model A Roadster with a brand new 427 Chev engine plus we got a set of L88 heads for it...this this did 12 sec quarters on very average rubber. At the time the record was only in the 11's. We would road test it down Porana Rd on the Shore which was dead end at that time...This car was pulled apart and Keith Vazey owned it for years. There had his 331 Hemi in for a while then it was left outside for a tree to grow up thru the middle of it!! Years later Peter Church bought the car (in two bits) and is trying to restore it..now there's a project ...Then came the Fairlane. with the 427 as previously said... ha and as for John Dorn who was at that same meeting...where do you want me to start. He ran a genuine Shelby Mustang GT500 at that meeting (painted the tyres pink)...bought the car in the States without a front on it....he put a 69 Mustang front on it...Drove this car as well...went good and managed to put the fear of Christ up him....he bought a 427 Corvette '66 with all the fruit..now this car was a gem ...another car of his I gave a jolly good road test to with him white knuckling it in the passengers seat....customs seized this car and held it for quite a few years. It is in a museam down the line I am told. I could prattle on a long time about this character...whom turned up at my doorstep at midnight one night towing a trailer that had a Berry and Chung plastic Mk1 Capri bodied funny car with out any running gear..Tow car was 428 T-Bird landau...he wanted me to pull engine from T-Bird and put it in Funny Car...which I did...then I ran it a couple of times at Wiri drags....this is where the Custaxie also ran with a 272 Y block Customline motor in it...Croydon Thompson's brother ran it.....Custaxie 50..when you put the Custaxie on the road is this when it had the flathead in it....(mate owned it and we drove it around for a while..up and down Queen St with me hanging in to the cage...outstanding stuff)...Brilliant car in its day for sure.....Cheers. Regards, Tony Rutherford.
So Peter Church has the old C&J Roadster? Used to work with him at Motor Specs in 73-74 . He works at George Bunces now.
I remember Vazey used to grass track it.
Croydons brother is Kevin-Cuza. Good ole Thomson Performance in Otahuhu.
Tony, you are a museum-every time you come here, more history comes alive.
Last edited by John McKechnie; 06-02-2013 at 07:39 PM.
So Peter Church has the old C&J Roadster? Used to work with him at Motor Specs in 73-74 . He works at George Bunces now.
I remember Vazey used to grass track it.
Croydons brother is Kevin-Cuza. Good ole Thomson Performance in Otahuhu.
Tony, you are a museum-every time you come here, more history comes alive.
Croydon lives up this way now and catch up occasionally, he is a good bugger. Remember his rail 'Purple Haze".
Had a mate who bought a brand new XA Falcon ute and drove it to Croydons in Otahuhu and had him fit a worked up 302 in it because Ford couldn't supply a V8 ute at the time. Stuck big feet on it etc. bit of humour. Tony would remember it well.
Had offshore powerboat race up here yesterday and caught up with some interesting people from days gone by, one being the original owner of a certain engine that has been talked about on here, and told a bit of its history including the custaxie and other things. Also may have some history on the original car.
Running the classic offshore powerboat 'Topaz" was Ian Reeves and co. from Rotorua who were very good friends with our late mate Glen "Jigger" Jones, more history for that thread also coming. These gentlemen were racing offshore boats back in 60's and are still pounding around in a bigblock turbo'd V8 powered v-bottom having a ball.
You know life can be funny in some ways,you may meet & talk to a lot of people out there as you go ,but there will be one or two nice ones you have run into Drag on Lady was one a nice Lady.Yes thats right i put the flat head v8 in the Custaxie and a 3 speed box.The car only had a roll bar in it at that time, the seat that was in the car went missing from the car yard one night also,so someone may have it in their shed or in a boat. Now you say you worked on the Fairlane,so the 427 from the Custaxie went into this car did you use the Headers also from the Custaxie in this Fairlane.
Pretty sure the 'Coventry' engine did not go into this Fairlane, more to come on that 'engine' hopefully.
............I sold Gails daughter a 67 Mustang about ten years ago and Gail still looked good for her age. She drove her own Mustang at this time too...The Fairlane....I actually totally rebuilt the engine and fitted it to the Fairlane...the headers wouldnt fit ...as it was it was a tight squeeze and Peter Philpott (a jeweller by trade..) handcrafted a set for it....he did some beautiful work and actually taught me to weld....this engine was one of two that came from Miss Coventry. They always bought their motors in pairs...(having a spare) Unsure what happened to the other one. We put 4 IDA Webers on a Holman Moody manifold and sump was altered as well. Went well..ran 12's first time out which is what the roadster was doing.
John...yep the very same car mate Peter still works for George Bunce....C & J Roadster...Colin Praast and John Windelburn is what the C&J was...Model A with a duece grille and a very bent front axle under hard braking...haa...wearing workshop grinder goggles so we could see and just stopping before the brickworks (McKays)...at the end of the road. Hey great chatting chaps and Rod do drop in next time you down. Kind regards, Tony Rutherford
So what did they do with the headers from the Custaxie,so the motor you worked on was not the one from the custaxie but the one from the boat ,any one out there know where the custaxie 427 ended up.
As i said before, talking to someone very involved (in Custaxie) and hopefully can get more info.
Hi Guys -This Fairlane under discussion here, is this the 2 door Fairlane Robbie raced after the Custaxie?
The motor in that seemed to have overheating , valve and piston issues that the Custaxie never had- every race meeting that Motorman reported this at.
It was certainly not the reliable unit from the previous season.
Maybe Peter Urquhart would like to jump in here,and have his say on how this car was built and where this 427 ended up,i think thats the best way to get it from the man himself.
Paul, Custaxie50 will always take things the wrong way. Why else do you think I wind the poor sod, up?
Now be nice russ.
In previous bit I did mention I was at a powerboat race on weekend (where a classic boat from yesteryear was racing) and I think Petes brother Glen knows as much. I have told him to have a look at this site as it is interesting, so lets wait and see. I am also going down that way soon so will go and have a cuppa tea.
John, no not the Fairlane Robbie raced, a completely different car/model and was a drag/hot rod machine. Very nice also maybe Tony has some photos.
As we know there is a story in Classic Driver Issue 31 April /May 2010 about the Custaxie,about someone having there say on where this car ended up the name John Climo came up,anyone know where he may be in nz.
Will try and get time over the next few days to look into this but I'm pretty sure John Climo raced a Mini 7 in the early days. I think he may have been domiciled in the Hutt Valley.
John Climo lived in Levin. He did indeed race a Mini 7. He now resides in Oz (and has done for some years). I have an email address for him and will try and get him to join TRS.
John Climo lived in Weraroa Road Levin. He did indeed race a Mini 7. He now resides in Oz (and has done for some years). I have an email address for him and will try and get him to join TRS.
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