Red Dawson's DeKon Chevy Monza 1001

[Steve Holmes]

I've recently been contacted by an enthusiast who has purchased the DeKon Chevy Monza, chassis #1001, from the estate of Scott Carpenter.

For those who aren't aware, this is probably the most significant racing Chev Monza in the world. The car was built by DeKon Engineering (the company founded by Lee Dykstra and Horst Kwech) for the IMSA series' newly introduced All-American GT class, with support from General Motors.

DeKon constructed their first IMSA Monza, chassis number 1001, in 1974. This was the car used in numerous magazine articles throughout the US, and created quite a stir. DeKon planned to produce cars for customers wanting to run them in both IMSA and the Trans-Am.

Chassis 1001 was originally built for Tony DeLorenzo to race, but when his sponsor pulled out, DeKon ran the car themselves, with Kwech driving. Painted white with red and blue stripes, the car made its race debut at the Road Atlanta IMSA race in April 1975, where Kwech qualified fifth behind three Porsches and a BMW 3.0CSL. However, he quickly moved to the front in the race, and was leading comfortably when he collided with a lapped car and was out on the spot.

The Monza was repaired and sold to Maurice 'Mo' Carter, who repainted it in his traditional red and white, and raced it for a few months before then selling it to Kiwi racer Red Dawson, who shipped it back to New Zealand in late 1975, still in Carters colours.

Dawson raced the Monza until late 1976 when he rolled it in a violent crash at Manfeild, ending his career. The car repaired and sold to John Briggs in Australia. It was later sold to Mike Griffin, then Jeff Barnes who made some changes to its layout, and later to Scott Carpenter in the late 1990s, who kept it until the time of his death.

The new owner plans to restore this very important Monza back to its early guise, when it was raced by Carter and Dawson, and is appealing for help both in regards to period photos from when Dawson (or Carter) owned it, and he is also wanting to make contact with any of the crew members who worked on the car when Dawson owned it. Photos from Briggs time with it would also be useful.

If you're able to help with photos, please post them here or please email me at: theroaringseason@gmail.com If you crewed on the car, or know someone who did, or know of someone who did, would you mind emailing me also.

Many thanks. Be great to see this car back out in public once again, restored to her former glory.

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[Steve Holmes]

In particular, the new owner is hoping for engine bay, underside, and interior shots, as snapped here by Mike Feisst. Like many Sports Sedans during the 1980s and '90s, it underwent changes to the layout, most notably in its engine being moved back in the chassis for better weight distribution.

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[khyndart in CA]

I hope it is ok to post this.
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and browse this site.

http://www.scharch.org/Cars/Monza_Racecars/Cars_MonzaDeKon1001.htm



(Ken Hyndman )

[Steve Holmes]

Thanks Ken, yes the new owner is aware of that excellent website. You will see they've taken several images from The Roaring Season. Its a great resource.

[Bailey]

The new owner plans to restore this very important Monza back to its early guise, when it was raced by Carter and Dawson, and is appealing for help both in regards to period photos from when Dawson (or Carter) owned it, and he is also wanting to make contact with any of the crew members who worked on the car when Dawson owned it. Photos from Briggs time with it would also be useful.



How could this car be restored back to it's early guise ? K & A did a major update of this car when John Briggs
owned it Probably all that was left of the original car would be the roof and pillars and the rear hatch
I think the Matich that Bryan Sala has now, was dismantled for the running gear for the Monza

[Steve Holmes]

The new owner plans to restore this very important Monza back to its early guise, when it was raced by Carter and Dawson, and is appealing for help both in regards to period photos from when Dawson (or Carter) owned it, and he is also wanting to make contact with any of the crew members who worked on the car when Dawson owned it. Photos from Briggs time with it would also be useful.



How could this car be restored back to it's early guise ? K & A did a major update of this car when John Briggs
owned it Probably all that was left of the original car would be the roof and pillars and the rear hatch
I think the Matich that Bryan Sala has now, was dismantled for the running gear for the Monza

You can only work with what you have when restoring an old race car Bailey. I'm told there is still a relatively good amount of the original car remaining, including the complete roof, which still bares the repairs from when Dawson had his Manfield shunt in 1976, plus sections of the chassis.

[Bailey]

You can only work with what you have when restoring an old race car Bailey. I'm told there is still a relatively good amount of the original car remaining, including the complete roof, which still bares the repairs from when Dawson had his Manfield shunt in 1976, plus sections of the chassis.

I attended the Gold Coast Indy event in the early 90's when the Australian sports sedans ran there, and this
car was there, driven by Geoff Barnes, along with the Seidel built Chevy Monza I had a good look over
this car, because it was an interesting car, and because I had seen it run in NZ in the hands of John Briggs
years before, and Red Dawson of course. I don't remember seeing much of the original car remaining,
other than the pillars and roof. It has a monocoque chassis fitted up inside where the original floor pan
and rails once were. The work K & A did on it is light years ahead of what Dekon did, hard to see why
one would want to de-engineer it, given it's continuous history etc

[aussiemonza]

Hi Bailey. Over the last 10 years I have fully researched this car (and most IMSA Monza's) and feel qualified to comment on the DeKon chassis'. I have contributed too, and had much information supplied by the owners of 1002, 1004 and 1005 Dekon's with reference photo's and the like regarding these cars. I had many conversations with Scott Carpenter about his car over the last six years and was very sad to hear of his passing. His family made contact with me late last year and I was able to view the car earlier this year.

Having not seen the car for (maybe) 25 years, and now knowing what to look for, I was suprised to see just how much original DeKon was intact. I have spoken with Dale Koennecke at K&A engineering to determine just how much of the car was revised when it had the major rebuild in 1980. Dale's recolections tally with the chassis as it is today. From the main hoop back it has had significat re-fabrication for the fitment of the Hewland. From the firewall foward, the front frame has been replaced with a stressed (monoque style) spaceframe, picking up off the original DeKon frame uprights but utilising the original front suspension. The engine was moved back behind the original firewall (chassis) and the only change to the central chassis has been the lowering of the side intrusion bars on the left (drivers) side.

The repair of the car after Red's Manfield crash were sympathetic to the original construction and there is evidence of these repairs still today. If one was to rate the total of original "car" that has survived, and as Red Dawson ran it, I would rate the car, as it sits, at 70%. I will justify that by acknowledging that the car was involved in crashes from its first race with Horst Kwech, further damage when being campaigned by Mo Carter and of course Red's three years with the car.

[seaqnmac27]

But...it was not 3 years, in fact as a driver, Red barely had it for 1 year, the Camaro went up for sale in late November 75 and and its first race in NZ would have been late December 75 or early January 76, the Manfield crash was early November 76, from which, of course Red never raced again.
He may still have owned it, but...

[khyndart in CA]

This may be old news but the January 2016 Australian Muscle Car magazine has an article on the Moffat DeKon Monza which includes a good interior photo of that car. Would that be similar to DeKon 1001 Monza ?

http://www.musclecarmag.com.au/back-issues/australian-muscle-car-issue-86.php




(Ken Hyndman )

[Steve Holmes]

But...it was not 3 years, in fact as a driver, Red barely had it for 1 year, the Camaro went up for sale in late November 75 and and its first race in NZ would have been late December 75 or early January 76, the Manfield crash was early November 76, from which, of course Red never raced again.
He may still have owned it, but...

You are right Sean, he would have raced the Monza for less than a year. It made its NZ race debut at Bay Park in December 1975, and Red had his Manfield shunt in October 1976. But I'd have thought he would have owned the car for three years, or the best part of three years? It required a big rebuild after Manfield, and the earliest I've seen of the car in Briggs hands was late 1978.

[seaqnmac27]

Yes, thats what I thought as well Steve. Now as I do not have that report, I am assuming from subsequent references in MotorAction that in that initial meet at Bay Park Red had some kind of accident? And from other articles he then found out about one of the previous accidents the car had been involved in, but not advised to Red, as a result the cars handling had been poor at Bay Park.
I have been through all the MotorActions I have and I am missing that initial edition from 1976 that covers that meet and which I thought may have had some photos, there is however an article from 1980 you will be interested in Steve, I will PM you with details.

[Steve Holmes]

Thanks Sean, yes it had several shunts in just its first couple of years. Including the crash on race debut, Mo Carter also crashed the car at least once. Dawson then crashed it at Bay Park in its NZ debut (pictured), then crashed it again at (I think) Pukekohe.

I wrote about the car for NZ Classic Car mag several years ago, but all my stuff is currently in storage.

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[BMCBOY]

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[John McKechnie]

i have a Motorman magazine from 1976 and the article is-
Red and his Marlboro Monza
Seven laps around Puke,inside pic of Red and David Hall., also front on pic with a bit of right hand side.
Apparently Phil Kerr, Mike Hailwood, Dave Bridgeman the Marlboro man were there and they all had lunch together.
Red was also asking if any one else wanted a drive, Mike Hailwood said no, he blacks out at over 50...
Marlboro promotions man hosted the day.
Comparisons with pic #2-
front area of bonnet, grille and lower spoiler is all white- #2 has black on the bottom with 2-SHELL stickers.
Also has MARLBORO in a big sticker across top front screen. #2 has MONZA
So car in my article is more pic #1, and has Red Dawson Motors, not Red Dawson Racing.
Red was 45 at the time.

[bry3500]

Red Dawson Manfield crash

[Steve Holmes]

Thanks Bry. Did Terry Marshall take that one?

[bry3500]

Thanks Bry. Did Terry Marshall take that one?

I shared that from this page - couldn't find a photo credit
http://www.scharch.org/Cars/Monza_Racecars/Cars_MonzaDeKon1001.htm

[Steve Holmes]

Thanks Bry.

[Steve Holmes]

This is one Allan Dick posted on his Autonews page. I'd not seen it before and it captures the terrifying height the car reached.

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[bry3500]

Wow - what happened exactly?

[bry3500]

After the rebuild - John Briggs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSZ8Ub1jbwE

[John McKechnie]

Bry- saw it on TV at the time .
His car went suddenly off the track- the driver - hit a ditch ( I think) and rolled and just kept rolling.
It was shocking.

[bry3500]

Bry- saw it on TV at the time .
His car went suddenly off the track- the driver may have had a medical event- hit a ditch ( I think) and rolled and just kept rolling.
It was shocking.
If I am wrong or out of line here,let me know and I will correct this.

Cbeers John - I have never seen photos of that before

[Grant Ellwood]

Bry- saw it on TV at the time .
His car went suddenly off the track- the driver may have had a medical event- hit a ditch ( I think) and rolled and just kept rolling.
It was shocking.
If I am wrong or out of line here,let me know and I will correct this.

Hi John, I was sitting in the stand near the sweeper and saw that crash. My memory is pretty rusty but I think Red just over steered coming out of the corner and bolted off to the inside of the track where there were a few drainage ditches and nosed in and launched.
I also recall Neville Brickley having a similar incident coming out of the esses at another event. The Manfeild organizers did a lot of work to try to keep on top of drainage problems, just an unfortunate set of circumstances for those two drivers. I hadn't heard of Red having a medical event but I'm sure it's possible. Dennis Marwood and other contemporaries would mostly likely know but whatever the cause it certainly was a sad end to Red's career.

[Steve Holmes]

Hi Grant, I believe your recollection is correct. Magazine reports from the time say Red simply lost traction exiting the Sweeper and spun into the infield. Its a quirk of the Manfeild Sweeper, and has happened to many since then, that when a car breaks traction on hard acceleration, can spun into the infield. In the case of Dawson, had that drain not been there he likely would have spun around a few times, come to rest, grabbed first gear and rejoined the action.

The track was only a couple of years old at the time, and I guess the theory was that a drain on the infield should be safe from any cars finding it. It was thankfully later filled in.

[seaqnmac27]

Photos and article from MotorAction

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[seaqnmac27]

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[seaqnmac27]

That was race 2, then in race 3, this happened.

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[seaqnmac27]

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[aussiemonza]

Speaking with Jim Richards, he has a recollection that Bill Minty was the guy looking after the Monza and did the rebuild. Does anyone know the whereabouts of Bill Minty?

[John McKechnie]

Rowan,-
There is a regular on our threads who has Bill Mintys Bathurst Monaro.
He has been in touch with him recently, I will PM you with details

[aussiemonza]

Rowan,-
There is a regular on our threads who has Bill Mintys Bathurst Monaro.
He has been in touch with him recently, I will PM you with details

Thanks, CCR

[Steve Holmes]

My thanks to Warwick Clayton for the collection of photos that follows:

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[Steve Holmes]

From the Monza's New Zealand debut at Bay Park, 1975.

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[Steve Holmes]

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[Steve Holmes]

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[Steve Holmes]

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[Steve Holmes]

This is an interesting shot showing a paint scheme I'd not seen on this car before, with the white nose. I'm assuming this is late in the 1975/76 season.

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[John McKechnie]

Steve- that is the same colour scheme and stickers as in Motorman June 1976-page 20.
Posted that-#15 here.

[Steve Holmes]

John I haven't seen that issue of Motorman, but as you say, a late season colour change. Dawson purchased the Monza off Canadian racer Maurice 'Mo' Carter, who always raced red cars with white details, and when the Monza arrived in New Zealand, it only required Marlboro decals and a switch to Dawson's #35, and it was good to go. Everything else about the colour scheme was as raced by Carter.

This late season change was then changed again for the 1976/77 season, by which time it appears Marlboro were no longer supporting Dawson.

[BMCBOY]

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[seaqnmac27]

From working through the Motor Actions from 1976 the change in paintjob happened between Ruapuna 7 Feb and Pukekohe 7 March. the white front remained until Bay Park at Labour Weekend in October, the loss of Marlboro sponsorship could be accounted for from any of the following,
1; Red had said he wanted one more title tilt, so 76/77 may have been his last season anyway,
2; The talk that the top class would drop from 0-6000 to 5000, or
3; At Ruapuna, there had been issues regarding sponsorship ie; Rothmans attempted to stop Red from racing, so as Peter Stuyvesant were the overall series sponsors for the 76/77 season (Rothmans/BAT) but also Marlboro sponsored the races of the visiting Australians in Oct/Nov 76 and Red and been a vocal opponent, particularly of the legality of the Corvair. So a split by mutual agreement to avoid any animosity.

Now the Marlboro track day was in May of 76 as well.

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[Steve Holmes]

Thanks guys, these are great!

Some more from Warwick, from that day at Manfeild in 1976.

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[Trevor Benton]

This is one Allan Dick posted on his Autonews page. I'd not seen it before and it captures the terrifying height the car reached.

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I would be interested in who was involved & where the rebuild of Red`s DeKon Monza took place following the Manfield crash plus general details of the repair itself if known & how long it took.

Regards, Trevor Benton.

[Oldfart]

I suppose most have seen this?
https://www.facebook.com/gotransam/videos/1083081748450162/

[Oldfart]

I would be interested in who was involved & where the rebuild of Red`s DeKon Monza took place following the Manfield crash plus general details of the repair itself if known & how long it took.

Regards, Trevor Benton.

Maybe Tony Lowe will chime in? He was talking to me a wee while ago about it.

[Steve Holmes]

I suppose most have seen this?
https://www.facebook.com/gotransam/videos/1083081748450162/

I haven't! Thanks Rhys, that video is outstanding.

[Steve Holmes]

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[Steve Holmes]

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[Steve Holmes]

This is the Monza on its NZ debut, at Bay Park, 1975.

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[aussiemonza]

From working through the Motor Actions from 1976 the change in paintjob happened between Ruapuna 7 Feb and Pukekohe 7 March. the white front remained until Bay Park at Labour Weekend in October, the loss of Marlboro sponsorship could be accounted for from any of the following,
1; Red had said he wanted one more title tilt, so 76/77 may have been his last season anyway,
2; The talk that the top class would drop from 0-6000 to 5000, or
3; At Ruapuna, there had been issues regarding sponsorship ie; Rothmans attempted to stop Red from racing, so as Peter Stuyvesant were the overall series sponsors for the 76/77 season (Rothmans/BAT) but also Marlboro sponsored the races of the visiting Australians in Oct/Nov 76 and Red and been a vocal opponent, particularly of the legality of the Corvair. So a split by mutual agreement to avoid any animosity.

Now the Marlboro track day was in May of 76 as well.

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Any chance of getting a scan of this article? rowan@motoringevents.com.au

[aussiemonza]

This is the Monza on its NZ debut, at Bay Park, 1975.

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Any idea why the "Marlboro" is covered over?

[Steve Holmes]

Any idea why the "Marlboro" is covered over?

I don't have my period magazines at hand Rowan, they're in storage. But from memory, there was an issue over cigarette advertising, as another brand (Peter Stuyvesant?) sponsored the event. From memory, the Dawson Monza was to be turfed from the event, but some sort of common sense prevailed, and he was allowed to continue, with the Marlboro signage covered up.

[seaqnmac27]

Thats it Steve, there was a race, I will check its either Wigram or Teretonga where Rothmans tried to prevent Red competing, British American Tobacco being the parent of Rothmans and Peter Stuyvesant amongst other brands. Rowan, there are 3 articles there, do you want scans of everything I have on Red and the Monza?

[aussiemonza]

Thats it Steve, there was a race, I will check its either Wigram or Teretonga where Rothmans tried to prevent Red competing, British American Tobacco being the parent of Rothmans and Peter Stuyvesant amongst other brands. Rowan, there are 3 articles there, do you want scans of everything I have on Red and the Monza?

Re the covered signs, you and Steve are correct, confirmed by Bill Minty, the meeting was sponsored by Peter Styvesant and the biggest news of the meeting was the Monza's of Red and Moff. Red was jammed between the Promoter and Marlboro and as we see from the images the compromise was to "roughly" cover up the Marlboro. As a past marketing person, I reckon Red and Marlboro would have received more publicity due to the stouch than had the promotor and BAT just copped the signage!

Scans of enything you have would be fantastic thanks seaqnmac27. Much appreciated.

rowan@motoringevents.com.au

[BMCBOY]

I came across this terrifying photo on the net and noticed the date written on the bottom.

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[Milan Fistonic]

This is from the Motoraction report of the Bay Park meeting.

This shot shows Red's car before he was made to cover up the Malboro signs.

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And this explains the reason why he had to do it.

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Robin Curtis did not use Moffat's name at all in the report, instead referring to him as the Australadian.

[Oldfart]

Obviously Robin was not a favourite of Moffats!

[aussiemonza]

I would be interested in who was involved & where the rebuild of Red`s DeKon Monza took place following the Manfield crash plus general details of the repair itself if known & how long it took.

Regards, Trevor Benton.

Hi Trevor, the Monza was repaired by the Stone Brothers. I spoke with Jimmy recently and he remembers the job may have been given to them as they were one of the first to have a TIG Welder in NZ. Lee Dykstra also rembers sending some parts to NZ for the repair.

[aussiemonza]

I trust this won't upset too many people. Following a full examination of the Monza with Lee Dykstra and other members of the consortium, it has been decided to restore #1001 back to its first iteration as the car was presented at the 1975 August Road Altanta IMSA race, Horst Kwech driving.39765

[Steve Holmes]

For most Kiwis, the Red Dawson colour scheme brings with it emotional value. But on an international level, as it appeared at the 1975 Road Atlanta race is more significant. It should have won that race too.

[Gerard Richards]

Genuine Mo Carter (Canada) racing team decal I acquired from Nita Dawson, Red's widow, in the late 80's. They lived opposite a friends of mine in Redoubt Road Manukau at the time. Also acquired a few cool photos, badges and other decals, during the garage sale Nita and family ran at time she was selling the house.