Motor Racing pics - my early years, 1964-71 ; Pukekohe Racetrack ;by - Roger Dowdingl

[Trevor Sheffield]

Duncan, I have no desire to start an argument. LOL However:-

Laurie’s “B4” was always painted a metallic dark maroon colour, i.e. in accordance with the house colours of his carrying business, as were his Bedford trucks, Morris Minor convertible, V8 Special and DeSoto? sedan.

Years ago I heard a rumour which I have just now had confirmed, that the car was turned into a hot rod and this tied in with the modified car I came across, and that later it was broken up for parts. Please send me a PM, whereupon we may be able to arrange a phone conversation.

[duncan fox]

Duncan, I have no desire to start an argument. LOL However:-

Laurie’s “B4” was always painted a metallic dark maroon colour, i.e. in accordance with the house colours of his carrying business, as were his Bedford trucks, Morris Minor convertible, V8 Special and DeSoto? sedan.

Years ago I heard a rumour which I have just now had confirmed, that the car was turned into a hot rod and this tied in with the modified car I came across, and that later it was broken up for parts. Please send me a PM, whereupon we may be able to arrange a phone conversation.

Ill Pm you , meanwhile is this the car we are talking about? I went to buy this of Laurie in the early seventies to replace Gp Deuce but I walked away because it was quite rusty. Thats why I was so amazed to see it in Puhanui Rd .I talked at length with the guy who restored it. It was definatly Lauries 32.
In this shot at Seagrove its a light colour not the Maroon his trucks were. Another thought comes to mind here , who in their right mind breaks a 32 Ford roadster up for parts ? Even Pink Panther was ressurected after Eddie had crashed it .Something not right here. I love a mystery ........

[duncan fox]

Ill Pm you , meanwhile is this the car we are talking about? I went to buy this of Laurie in the early seventies to replace Gp Deuce but I walked away because it was quite rusty. Thats why I was so amazed to see it in Puhanui Rd .I talked at length with the guy who restored it. It was definatly Lauries 32.
In this shot at Seagrove its a light colour not the Maroon his trucks were. Another thought comes to mind here , who in their right mind breaks a 32 Ford roadster up for parts ? Even Pink Panther was ressurected after Eddie had crashed it .Something not right here. I love a mystery ........

OK.....heres the oil on the Powell 32.

I was correct in my recollection of Lauries car being light green it was never Maroon Im reliably told. It was also looked at by my longtime 32 Ford owner friend Warren Fairhurst when Laurie was trying to sell it. He confirms it was light green also, as rusty as all hell but was equally surprised later to have seen it restored by Paul Grace in Auckland. (not the Hot Rod mag editor who also owned a 32 roadster at the time) I knew the name was a double up , just not Lauries. It was later exported to the US.

[Trevor Sheffield]

OK.....heres the oil on the Powell 32.

I was correct in my recollection of Lauries car being light green it was never Maroon Im reliably told. It was also looked at by my longtime 32 Ford owner friend Warren Fairhurst when Laurie was trying to sell it. He confirms it was light green also, as rusty as all hell but was equally surprised later to have seen it restored by Paul Grace in Auckland. (not the Hot Rod mag editor who also owned a 32 roadster at the time) I knew the name was a double up , just not Lauries. It was later exported to the US.

Duncan,

I had been anxiously awaiting your PM so that an argument would not take place here. This site is used by several as an historical reference so that accuracy is important. It is therefore unfortunate that You have been very unreliably delivered used oil and therefore badly informed.

I can't recall the colour of the car when it raced at Seagrove, however later I was intimate with the “B4” for a period of say twenty years and am certainly not colour blind. I can feel the old car in my bones at this instant, LOL. I have also checked with several friends of like age who also knew Laurie and the car very well and in close exact detail. What is more although the car was last in a sadly well used state, none of us recall it being, "as rusty as hell". Unfortunately Laurie's son Terry is also no longer with us.

You may have been told that the light green rusty as hell car you came across had been owned by Laurie Powell, but if your “reliable” informant said “it was never maroon”, you have been badly lead widely astray.

Please as requested earlier, send me a PM so that we can discuss this further by phone. If you are located outside of Auckland City, I have free calling and can call you at no cost. Incidentally, I am listed in the Auckland phone directory.

Sincerely, Trevor.

[Steve Holmes]

Ill Pm you , meanwhile is this the car we are talking about? I went to buy this of Laurie in the early seventies to replace Gp Deuce but I walked away because it was quite rusty. Thats why I was so amazed to see it in Puhanui Rd .I talked at length with the guy who restored it. It was definatly Lauries 32.
In this shot at Seagrove its a light colour not the Maroon his trucks were. Another thought comes to mind here , who in their right mind breaks a 32 Ford roadster up for parts ? Even Pink Panther was ressurected after Eddie had crashed it .Something not right here. I love a mystery ........

Thanks to Bob Homewood for supplying this image, which includes the '32 roadster in the background.

[Roger Dowding]

Thanks to Bob Homewood for supplying this image, which includes the '32 roadster in the background.

Steve, thanks for that I sent a message to Bob on TRS Facebook page to show the photo, a great mixture of Midget, Sports cars and Specials. does Bob know where it was taken ??, a big crowd ..

[RogerH]

Steve, thanks for that I sent a message to Bob on TRS Facebook page to show the photo, a great mixture of Midget, Sports cars and Specials. does Bob know where it was taken ??, a big crowd ..

I think the photo is the 1948 Mt Eden hill climb. The winning car was #66 (the second car back on the left). This was Des Herrick's midget powered by a Hudson Terraplane engine. The car had an interesting life and was converted to a circuit car in 1950, pranged in 1956 and rebuilt by Bruce McLaren (with Phil Kerr and Colin Beanland), was Chris Amon's first race car in 1959 and morphed over the years by a number of owners. It now appears as in Ray's Collection of Photos thread at post #676.

[bob homewood]

That photo was in Lester's old scrapbook as the Kidston Hillclimb Cup and according to what else I have been able to decipher was that although he had labelled it 1949 it was actually on December 11th 1948,and apparently it used a flying start, i.e no hockey stick was used .Sometime I must have a look but I think the start might have been at the end of Edwin Street ?

[Roger Dowding]

Thanks to Bob Homewood for supplying this image, which includes the '32 roadster in the background.

This photo features in Graham Vercoe's book p 17 as Mt Eden Hillclimb 1949, Ron Roycroft in the " works " Austin 7 R type " Rubber Duck " , midgets of Bill Massey and Des Herrick and Laurie Powell's Ford V8 Vercoe shows photo source as unknown, Does Bob know who took it !!
an example of a New Zealand " run what you brung " event allcomers welcome.

Going back through the thread Roger H thought is was 1948 and that Des Herrick won.

Roger H's post " I think the photo is the 1948 Mt Eden hill climb. The winning car was #66 (the second car back on the left). This was Des Herrick's midget powered by a Hudson Terraplane engine. The car had an interesting life and was converted to a circuit car in 1950, pranged in 1956 and rebuilt by Bruce McLaren (with Phil Kerr and Colin Beanland), was Chris Amon's first race car in 1959 and morphed over the years by a number of owners. It now appears as in Ray's Collection of Photos thread at post #676.:"

[bob homewood]

This photo features in Graham Vercoe's book p 17 as Mt Eden Hillclimb 1949, Ron Roycroft in the " works " Austin 7 R type " Rubber Duck " , midgets of Bill Massey and Des Herrick and Laurie Powell's Ford V8 Vercoe shows photo source as unknown, Does Bob know who took it !!
an example of a New Zealand " run what you brung " event allcomers welcome.

Going back through the thread Roger H thought is was 1948 and that Des Herrick won.

Roger H's post " I think the photo is the 1948 Mt Eden hill climb. The winning car was #66 (the second car back on the left). This was Des Herrick's midget powered by a Hudson Terraplane engine. The car had an interesting life and was converted to a circuit car in 1950, pranged in 1956 and rebuilt by Bruce McLaren (with Phil Kerr and Colin Beanland), was Chris Amon's first race car in 1959 and morphed over the years by a number of owners. It now appears as in Ray's Collection of Photos thread at post #676.:"

No I have no idea sorry Roger ,we always thought it was a NZ Weekly news photo or similar as Les had a huge collection of newspaper cluppings and photos from both here and Australia from that era and later ones ,if it made the papers you can bet he cut it out.I do know however there was a lot more stuff than I ended up with
,borrowed and never returned by someone !