Photos: The Gerard Richards Collection - Part 1

[John McKechnie]

Steve, thanks for this photo.You are more than welcome to swing past at any time and have a bonding session with it..With the HK Monaro, I cant find details of Spencer driving .Also Rod did practice at Puke Dec 1969,-Motorman Jan 1970-and did not race the next day.Its racing history really started with Grady at the Mercury 1000, but he did not do all the rounds.After that it became Bronze and seen like this April 1970. Jack Nazer remember the car as fast, loose and wild. Like Red , Grady was very hard on machinery-breaking a gear lever, gearbox, engine overheating, brakes overheating, tyres blowing-but he was fearless.
I will get as many details such as race results from these mags and previous owner and post as this is car is worthy of being remembered. Grady was the most successful driver of this car equalling lap record of 1 min 37.5 on big Puke track April 1970.He won races and hill climbs in it.John Riley definitely was not happy in it with a massive brake lock up at Baypark. Was the first Monaro to race here and ran from 1969 to 1975, and there no other Aussie car in the big bangers till Jim Richards did his Falcon Coupe. Like all race cars, it either became a road car or chopped into OSCA.It was a road car and then sat until it was a stripped body. Fortuately some bog had come off the flare wheel arch and this paint colour and some sign writing was seen.

[Gerard Richards]

Steve, thanks for this photo.You are more than welcome to swing past at any time and have a bonding session with it..With the HK Monaro, I cant find details of Spencer driving .Also Rod did practice at Puke Dec 1969,-Motorman Jan 1970-and did not race the next day.Its racing history really started with Grady at the Mercury 1000, but he did not do all the rounds.After that it became Bronze and seen like this April 1970. Jack Nazer remember the car as fast, loose and wild. Like Red , Grady was very hard on machinery-breaking a gear lever, gearbox, engine overheating, brakes overheating, tyres blowing-but he was fearless.
I will get as many details such as race results from these mags and previous owner and post as this is car is worthy of being remembered. Grady was the most successful driver of this car equalling lap record of 1 min 37.5 on big Puke track April 1970.He won races and hill climbs in it.John Riley definitely was not happy in it with a massive brake lock up at Baypark. Was the first Monaro to race here and ran from 1969 to 1975, and there no other Aussie car in the big bangers till Jim Richards did his Falcon Coupe. Like all race cars, it either became a road car or chopped into OSCA.It was a road car and then sat until it was a stripped body. Fortuately some bog had come off the flare wheel arch and this paint colour and some sign writing was seen.

The mystery surrounding the Spinner Black/Rod Coppins/Grady Thomspon/George Bunce Monaro also fascinated me over years. In truth probably way more than it deserved in terms of the hard results it did achieve. Apart from seeing it in its twilight season with George Bunce at the helm, who reputably didn't like the car, I was privileged to see it at it Pukekohe on the long circuit at the April 1970 NZ Saloon Championship meeting. As John mentioned, my distant memory of the Grady's performance in the car that day was impressive. He drove with a ragged John Riley, wild tail out oversteering technique, and as young 14 years olds we lapped that up! Over the years I wondered what happened to that car and was happy to hear recently the remnants have been discovered. Along with the classic Beechey 1970 Australian Touring Car Championship winning machine, both these cars remain saloon car racing icons. The Monaro shape is such a beautifully styled and proportioned car and possibly the high point of classic Australian Muscle cars, along with the original Torana XU1. Just a small point you mentioned John, that the Black/Thompson Monaro was the only Aussie modified racer in the NZ Saloon Champs before the Jimmy Richards Falcon Coupe. Not true! The PDL Falcon V8 raced by Clyde Collins between 1969-1971 would be the other and was more successful in terms of results achieved.

[Steve Holmes]

The mystery surrounding the Spinner Black/Rod Coppins/Grady Thomspon/George Bunce Monaro also fascinated me over years. In truth probably way more than it deserved in terms of the hard results it did achieve. Apart from seeing it in its twilight season with George Bunce at the helm, who reputably didn't like the car, I was privileged to see it at it Pukekohe on the long circuit at the April 1970 NZ Saloon Championship meeting. As John mentioned, my distant memory of the Grady's performance in the car that day was impressive. He drove with a ragged John Riley, wild tail out oversteering technique, and as young 14 years olds we lapped that up! Over the years I wondered what happened to that car and was happy to hear recently the remnants have been discovered. Along with the classic Beechey 1970 Australian Touring Car Championship winning machine, both these cars remain saloon car racing icons. The Monaro shape is such a beautifully styled and proportioned car and possibly the high point of classic Australian Muscle cars, along with the original Torana XU1. Just a small point you mentioned John, that the Black/Thompson Monaro was the only Aussie modified racer in the NZ Saloon Champs before the Jimmy Richards Falcon Coupe. Not true! The PDL Falcon V8 raced by Clyde Collins between 1969-1971 would be the other and was more successful in terms of results achieved.

Yes, good point Gerard. The Clyde Collins V8 Falcon was a pretty stout car, very quick, and looked fantastic, especially during its second and last season, when fitted with the big Minilites and flared guards. Looked very much like a red XW version of Pete Geoghegans Super Falcon, and not unlike Allan Moffats ill-fated XW/XY Super Falcon.

[John McKechnie]

Duh, I feel silly over this oversight.You are right Gerard, I remember Clyde racing it at the time.My only excuse for this senior moment was that I was thinking about Coupes.I have a high opinion of Clyde in any car he drove and my apologies on this oversight.Also there were XU1s being built up with v8s. Ron Sylvester built 2 Monaros , one for him the other for Steve Dymond. Grant tells me one ended up at the dirt track , the other disappeared.My own fascination with the Monaro was that friends and families had them so they were a real family car at the time.Not many Mustangs, Firebirds, Camaros around then.As a teenager you could look at your neighbours road driving Monaro ,dream of Beechey and Thomson, and know there was a Q ship waiting to happen.Gerard ,you are more than welcome to come round the see this car which is actually in quite good condition

[Gerard Richards]

Duh, I feel silly over this oversight.You are right Gerard, I remember Clyde racing it at the time.My only excuse for this senior moment was that I was thinking about Coupes.I have a high opinion of Clyde in any car he drove and my apologies on this oversight.Also there were XU1s being built up with v8s. Ron Sylvester built 2 Monaros , one for him the other for Steve Dymond. Grant tells me one ended up at the dirt track , the other disappeared.My own fascination with the Monaro was that friends and families had them so they were a real family car at the time.Not many Mustangs, Firebirds, Camaros around then.As a teenager you could look at your neighbours road driving Monaro ,dream of Beechey and Thomson, and know there was a Q ship waiting to happen.Gerard ,you are more than welcome to come round the see this car which is actually in quite good condition

No worries an easy oversight. I think the Collins Falcon often gets forgotten, because it was a such utilitarian looking car, though as Steve pointed out it looked much more purposeful in its second season, though was more unreliable with overheating problems. With a Fahey sourced Shelby 289 Ford V8 in 1969-70, it was a reliable and effective trouper, if slightly underpowered compared with the Coppins/Dawson/Fahey brigade. I'm afraid to say I've never been a great fan of the XY Falcon GT shape, just my personal preference though.
The Monaro was much more evocative and certainly in the Grady era, it was a colourful entry into field of '69-'70 NZ Saloon Car Champs as was the Falcon. Thompson was undoubtably a hairy driver and cemented that reputation with his almighty spin at Bombay Bend at Wigram when he lost the Monaro on the "bump" and with sublime luck planted it right between the hangars, instead of into them as several unlucky punters had done in the past...
Prompted by Grant Ellwood's little aside of repossesion in the early posting, reminds me of an aside that Spinner Black told me about the slightly hairy antics of Grady on a parts buying episode to the U.S. around 1969-70. Quoting Spinner from the article I wrote: "Grady was a bit of a crazy dude, impetuous and a little bit chaotic. He was visiting the West Coast of America for the first time. He'd never been overseas before and had a very quick and sobering lesson on how to gravely upset the cops. We were stopped by the Californian Highway Patrol, and the protocol is that you stay in your car, and don't move a muscle until you're told. What did Grady do, he leapt out with his bag, then committed the ultimate sin of reaching into it, for his passport or licence I guess. The cops figured this cowboy was going to pull a piece on them and in a nanosecond Grady was up against the car, a gun pressed at his temple and he was being frog-legged and searched. He was totally freaked and so was I! I thought that was the end of him!"