Geohegan Brothers 1964 GT Cortina

[Cortina GT]

Hello everyone, I'm new to the forum and I was hoping someone out there knows what happened to the Blue & White 1964 two door GT Cortina used by the Geohegan brothers in the 1964 Armstrong 500 at Bathurst.

16979
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Any information would be great


Cheers,

Lee

[zombie289]

Try posting over at www.cortina-mk1.com One of the guys over there is restoring one of Harry Firths bathurst cars, he may know a bit about the geoghegan car... I doubt its still around today, if it was it would be in someones collection Id imagine....

[Cortina GT]

Hey Zombie289, I've spoken to Paul T on the MK1 Cortina Forum and tried a few other racing clubs and forums, so far no luck, so I thought I would try here as there seems to be a lot of information on early Australian touring cars on this site.

Cheers,

Lee

[Steve Holmes]

Lee, was there a lead at all after its Bathurst race, where you could start to track its early owners, or can you not even find out were the car went after Bathurst?

[Cortina GT]

Hi Steve, so far I'm not having much luck, someone suggested I try to Michael Geohegan. I have also contacted the Victrian Motoring Clubs Association who I've been told have access to old Vic roads records, so I'm hoping they can find something. It was also suggested to try a private investigator, but I will persist with some of the more traditional methods first.
I would have thought someone out there knows of the fate of this car, but it is early days.

Cheers,

Lee

[Jac Mac]

Lee,
Have you got a copy of the book 'Ford the racing history' by Stewart Wilson & Max Stahl, on pages 32 thru 35... there is a pic of the car as above~ 1964 plus pics of what may be the same car converted to a Lotus in 1965, clues same exterior rear view mirror & stripes on bonnet. The Blue/white car has JBO934 rego, White #1 car on P34 is a later 65 aeroflow model and #5 rollover car is now a Lotus but has similar mirror & stripe to #21c car, think there are some more pics of the #5 car elsewhere on this site.

Check~post #55 by Dale Harvey in the thread titled-The Bruce Wells Collection-Catalina Park-part 2.... currently about page 4 on the threads list

[superroo69]

I know where their Black Lotus Cortina is... but not allowed to say just yet. Its a genuine Lotus 'A' arm model and definitely not a converted GT. It will be stunning when completed!!! :-)

[Jac Mac]

Pic from Bruce Wells-Catalina Park thread of car that might be same one- other rollover car has lotus badge & split bumpers, this one has neither, but photo credits driver as Pete Geoheghan, only a guess on my part, but you might need to clarify this avenue ..

[Dale Harvey]

Pic from Bruce Wells-Catalina Park thread of car that might be same one- other rollover car has lotus badge & split bumpers, this one has neither, but photo credits driver as Pete Geoheghan, only a guess on my part, but you might need to clarify this avenue ..

That's not big Pete driving, it is George Garth. He bought the car from Geoghegans. To the best of my knowledge he still has the car but, it has been changed a lot.
Dale.

[Cortina GT]

I was reading through some old threads on the Mark 1 Cortina Forum and one mentions a wikipedia link for the 1964 ATCC, the information is from Jim Shephard, A History of Australian Motor Sport, 1980, page 103;
"In the lead up to the race Ian Geoghegan rolled and destroyed his Cortina and a factory test car was driven up from Melbourne to get Geoghegan back in the race" Not sure if the reference is to the Blue & White GT used at Bathurst that same year, but this would explain why he was driving a black GT when he won the chamionship at Lakeside.

I will try to confirm this, but it looks like that is what happened to it.

Thanks for all your help.

Lee

[Steve Holmes]

Yes, that is apparently what happened to Geoghegans Appendix J car that was due to race in the ATCC, a replacement was sent in quickly to replace it after it was put on its lid in testing at OP. That put the Geoghegan team on the back foot for the ATCC race, but he managed to win the race. However, the Appendix J car featured a few more modifications than did the car he raced at Bathurst. Also note, the 1964 ATCC at Lakeside was held on 26 July 1964. Bathurst was held on 4 October 1964.

[Dale Harvey]

Why not track down Leo Geoghegan and ask him? He is still around somewhere.
Dale.

[Cortina GT]

Good point Steve, I didn't check the dates and a good idea Dale, I will try to contact Leo Geohegan, go direct to the source!

Cheers fellas

[Dale Harvey]

Ray Bell has probably got Leo's contact details. He has just started to post on here. Try r@ybell.net
Dale.

[Cortina GT]

Thanks again Dale, an email has been sent to Ray, I will keep you posted.

Cheers,

Lee

[Cortina GT]

Hello all, good news, the latest update is this;
Thanks to Dale Harvey/Ray Bell I was able to speak to Leo Geohegan....an amazing experience in itself....and he remembered the blue & white GT Cortina quite fondly, it was a Ford owned car that he and his brother used for the race, he told me they wanted to buy it as they were very impressed with it's performance, but unfortunately it went back to Ford who subsequently sold it to Bill Tuckey the famous motoring journalist. So now I'm trying to contact Bill to find out what happened after his ownership, if anyone can help with this I would appreciate it.

Cheers,

Lee

[Steve Holmes]

Hey that is fantastic! Great work. Keep us posted Lee.

[Dale Harvey]

it went back to Ford who subsequently sold it to Bill Tuckey the famous motoring journalist. So now I'm trying to contact Bill to find out what happened after his ownership, if anyone can help with this I would appreciate it.

Cheers,

Lee[/QUOTE]
Once again, Ray Bell could probably help out there. Seeing as they were both in the same line of work.
Dale.

[Cortina GT]

Ray did give me an old email address for Bill, but it bounced back, he may have an email address for Bill's son, so hopefully shouldn't take too long to get the next piece of the jigsaw, good to know it wasn't the GT rolled by Ian at Lakeside, Leo mentioned the accident when I spoke with him on the phone, sounds like Ian was very lucky to walk away from that one!

Cheers,

Lee

[Fred Mark 1]

Ray did give me an old email address for Bill, but it bounced back, he may have an email address for Bill's son, so hopefully shouldn't take too long to get the next piece of the jigsaw, good to know it wasn't the GT rolled by Ian at Lakeside, Leo mentioned the accident when I spoke with him on the phone, sounds like Ian was very lucky to walk away from that one!

Cheers,

Lee

Lee

My father purchased the car after the race and picked it up from the Goegeghan workshop before they could take off the cheater bits and pieces. It became my mother's everyday road car. It was destroyed in Centennial Park Sydney when an unnamed motoring journalist who was looking after the car while we were on holidays had a head on collision when he was playing boy racer. Skill level required = 10, skill level possessed = 1. The accident was in 1965 if I remember correctly. It was a Consul Cortina and dad put a set of wide wheels on it which he had painted white. Wish I had it today.

Kind regards

Stuart Tuckey (aka Fred Mark 1)

[Steve Holmes]

Wow, amazing outcome to this thread! Stuart, thanks so much for posting here. What a sad demise to this car. I love that your father collected it immediately after the race before they could remove the good bits. Did he plan to compete with it at all?

[Fred Mark 1]

Steve

Slight correction to the story, it was written off in 1966 not 1965. Dad had no plans to race it as he was to busy with Wheels magazine. He did race at Bathurst in '67, '68 and '69. 1967 and 68 in a Scuderia Veloce Fiat 124 (with Max Stahl) and 124 Sport (with Gricey) and '69 in a Boyded of Bankstown 350 Monaro (DNF).

The Consul GT was purely mum's car which was then replaced by a '67 Cooper S (wish I had that as well.

I haven't given up on the idea of finding a Consul GT and building a replica, however they are like hen's teeth.

[Steve Holmes]

Thats a great story! So did he want to keep the go-fast bits in it just to make it a really hot road car? Must have been a blast. I knew he was a keen race driver, but wasn't sure if he ever raced this car. Thanks for the info. Bet you have a lot of stories you could tell about your Dad.

[Cortina GT]

Hello Stuart, thank you very much for your time and my apologies to your Dad, I misunderstood the message I received from Max, I though your Dad was at the wheel at the time of the accident.....whoops.
I know it sounds like I'm flogging a dead horse, but there was no chance the car could have been rebuilt? I know today if a car is a statuatory write off it cannot be re-registered, but back then cars were rebuilt and sold again. Would you happen to know the details of the chassis/engine number, the reason I'm being so persistant (annoying) is that I know of a similar car which has evidence of repairs that would indicate a substantial front end collision, if I could compare the chassis numbers then I would know for sure.

Cheers,

Lee

[Cortina GT]

The latest information from Stuart Tuckey, is that the car was repaired and traded for a Renault 4......so as Sherlock Holmes would say "The Game is afoot" the search shall continue.

Cheers,

Lee

[Steve Holmes]

Wow, that is great! Keep up the good work, this is really interesting to watch.

[superroo69]

The latest information from Stuart Tuckey, is that the car was repaired and traded for a Renault 4......so as Sherlock Holmes would say "The Game is afoot" the search shall continue.

Cheers,

Lee

Hi Lee

Not sure if this helps, but there is a gentleman in WA who recently contacted the HRCCQ looking for information on his 1964, 2 door, Consul Cortina GT, that was used as an Appendix 'J' car in Queensland the 1980s. As 2 door GTs aren't that common and old race cars tend to keep on racing, it might be worth chasing up. Please contact me if you would like his details.

Paul