The cossack jack Nazer escort

[car mad]

I have just noticed jack Nazers cossack escort is for sale on trade me ....
Oh how I would love to own this classic race car
A question to the wise ones on their web site ...
Would it be eligible to race as a classic race while powered by the cosworth engine
or would it have to be powered by a period correct engine ..........

[John McKechnie]

Check the history of the car through motoring magazines to find out the motors that Jack ran in that period.
To be correct...as it was, so it will be.

[Andrew Metford]

http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/specialist-cars/competition-cars/auction-1262987347.htm

Better be quick, Roger Williams has got his eye on it!!!!

[Spgeti]

To be correct to race under HSC it would need to be Twin Cam or FVA/C powered with the period correct gearbox.
We have been aware for sometime that it was for sale and a prospective buyer has been looking at buying it subject to due diligence.
A historicly important car and we hope it will sell to someone that will race and display it so the public can appreciate another historic Escort.

[seaqnmac27]

Sorry, but where has this been hiding? I was under the belief that this car was written off at Levin in 1973 on its debut under the new ownership of Malcolm Coffey

[Jac Mac]

Done an awful lot of racing since then,yet another car that could be restored in any of its previous forms, but I suppose if it is still the original shell then any of the Nazer versions would be suitable which might rule out FVA. IIRC Nazer used the FVC, but Im going by old magazine articles. The Coffey pic looked bad, but really the shell was pretty much intact, just all the wheels, suspension and wheel arch stuff torn off.

[GD66]

I thought it may have had a twin-cam, then an FVA, and that Fahey ran an FVA, then an FVC.

It's all a long time ago, though, sigh....:cool:

[John McKechnie]

Jack had a twin cam in, later then put a FVC from Evan Noyes BT29.
This engine has been called a Cosworth 1850 cc 4 cylinder in race programs.
Compare this with the 2 litre engine being offered with the car

[Jac Mac]

Yes, I questioned the 2 litre swap at the time, lot of work, new exh to opposite side, rack, x-member, tunnel mods to clear, but hey, its the owners car & his $$$.( No, I did not fit it. ) Im not aware of any giant slush fund that gives out wads of cash to car owners to ensure they keep cars in original state, plenty of wanna be's to critique though.

[John McKechnie]

Yes, just like its a shame that they didnt do the word Cossack in red letters like Alan Boyle designed it and Jack had it painted at that time.
Jack premiered this Twin Cam Escort with Dave Simpsons similar T/C at Bay Park 5 October 1968.
Daves was the much faster of the two.
Jack called into ACC small circiuit on the way back, and a camshaft failed on it.
The Jim Richards Escort came in 1970 also debuting Bay Park when Terry Allen was here

[Peter M]

When the Mark One Escort came out in 1968, Ford NZ imported 4 new Twin Cam models.As well as one for Jack and Dave Simpson.
Jim Carney got one he competed in it for a brief time before handing it over to Gentlemen Jim Richards,the ex Mike Crabtree car arrived a season or 2 later. This is now Rayden Smith.
The other one was the Mt Cook Airlines car Of Gary Sprague, Stan Baird (dad of Craig) lastly raced it Before it did a few seasons rallies With a 2litre sohc motor (RS2000) David Civil a Hamilton Car Club member, he was the original driver who rallied it.
Back in the decade of the 70s Rallycross was very popular at Mystery Creek David was a regular competitor also did sponsor as well

[Steve Holmes]

Sorry, but where has this been hiding? I was under the belief that this car was written off at Levin in 1973 on its debut under the new ownership of Malcolm Coffey

Hi Sean, many years ago I was writing a story on the Halliday Escort for NZ Classic Car. This was when the Escort was owned by the previous owner to John Dennehy. The owner sent me several photos to use in the story, which included various of other cars. These included one of the Nazer Escort. The car was on display at an event in the South Island, and looked just as it does now. It must have been nearly 15 years ago I saw the photo, so assume the car has been restored for quite a long time. But its obviously rarely been seen in public.

[Rod Grimwood]

I took these at Scope Teretonga 2011

had good look at car and under her, under showed age.

[dekon]

I took these at Scope Teretonga 2011

had good look at car and under her, under showed age.

Was talking to a bloke today with a very good memory. Coffey took car to Levin first race in it. Some driver named cook not Reg gave Malcolm a giant serve up the Arse, car went way up in the air and landed heavily, breaking suspension and wheels etc. Wheels were welded and repaired at air nz

[Jac Mac]

This car had a lot of success during its OSCA life in the hands of Kevin Ryan/Californian Fried Chicken colours.

[John McKechnie]

Tell us more please Jack....any pics at all?

[Spgeti]

My understanding is that the car has been sold and is coming north.

[Jac Mac]

Newspaper/ Motoraction? clipping of OSCA champ final round at Timaru. Car is at front of pic, was predominately white with red/blue? secondary strips etc. This is the ex Nazer car, Kevin also had a later second car in early 80's that came from UK as a race car shell IIRC that was used in shellsport by Hallidays etc.
This is 77/78 season. NB... notice the 'cheques' as well as trophies!!! Dont see much of that today. Second pic with Ross Cameron & Dave Waldron on grid is 78/79 season as OZ is now in Camaro.

[John McKechnie]

Jack- thanks so much for posting this, its a fantastic read of all the cars- PDL, Ian Munt, Tulloch .I missed out on this period so it fills the gaps.
And Jack Nazers car was still a consistent top runner, with a lot of history,a new owner can be proud of this cars achievements

[spinner32]

Newspaper/ Motoraction? clipping of OSCA champ final round at Timaru. Car is at front of pic, was predominately white with red/blue? secondary strips etc. This is the ex Nazer car, Kevin also had a later second car in early 80's that came from UK as a race car shell IIRC that was used in shellsport by Hallidays etc.
This is 77/78 season. NB... notice the 'cheques' as well as trophies!!! Dont see much of that today. Second pic with Ross Cameron & Dave Waldron on grid is 78/79 season as OZ is now in Camaro.

Jac Mac, you are partially right. Kevin Ryan did indeed race the Cossack car, with a BDA in it. It was still in the same colour scheme, but the green was changed to a red/orange. I remember it dropping it's clutch on the start line at Ruapuna , and the brooms had to come out to clean up. Kevin sold the car to Kevin Munro and bought the AVO built car (from Rex Hart?) and put the "California Fried Chicken" sign writing on it, and went on to win the OSCA championship.
Kevin Munro put a pushrod 1600 in the car, and changed the car to look like a Zakspeed Escort. (front spoiler, and filled in the bottom of the rear guards and colour scheme). Kevin moved to Fiji to live, putting the car into storage. During one of the Fiji coup's (around 1986), Kevin came home, and announced that he wished to sell the Escort. Luckily the announcement was to me, and knowing the history of the car, I grabbed it as a roller. It was missing the magnesium wheels, but I discovered that Ron Rutherford had bought them for son Mark's Shell Sport Escort, but they didn't fit, so were stored up in the loft.So I was able to purchase them. I stripped the car down, discovering the various colour schemes. I did some restoration, but not very much. I had the car for 10 years, but with other race cars in the garage, and nowhere to race an old Escort, progress was minimal. A guy Abbot from Invercargill approached me to buy it, and the car went south. Where it was restored to Cosack colours.
Hope this fills in some gaps.
Cheers, Pete Blomfield

P.S I have the John Hazard RX3 on the 2nd row in my garage now, and restoration starts in the next couple of weeks.

[Jac Mac]

So Pete, did the ex Nazer/Cossack car never have the Cal Fried Chicken paint job on it? I see Kevin Ryan has commented on a FB thread for HMC and mentioned that it won class B a couple of times so the above articles must refer to the AVO car for the Overall OSCA champ.

[spinner32]

So Pete, did the ex Nazer/Cossack car never have the Cal Fried Chicken paint job on it? I see Kevin Ryan has commented on a FB thread for HMC and mentioned that it won class B a couple of times so the above articles must refer to the AVO car for the Overall OSCA champ.

That's right Jac. When I sanded the car back it only had the Cossack paint scheme, with a red/orange over the green. Kevin raced this car before my time in OSCA, and suspect that he only raced it for one year. Perhaps Carlo or Kevin can clarify please.

[Steve Holmes]

Jac Mac, you are partially right. Kevin Ryan did indeed race the Cossack car, with a BDA in it. It was still in the same colour scheme, but the green was changed to a red/orange. I remember it dropping it's clutch on the start line at Ruapuna , and the brooms had to come out to clean up. Kevin sold the car to Kevin Munro and bought the AVO built car (from Rex Hart?) and put the "California Fried Chicken" sign writing on it, and went on to win the OSCA championship.
Kevin Munro put a pushrod 1600 in the car, and changed the car to look like a Zakspeed Escort. (front spoiler, and filled in the bottom of the rear guards and colour scheme). Kevin moved to Fiji to live, putting the car into storage. During one of the Fiji coup's (around 1986), Kevin came home, and announced that he wished to sell the Escort. Luckily the announcement was to me, and knowing the history of the car, I grabbed it as a roller. It was missing the magnesium wheels, but I discovered that Ron Rutherford had bought them for son Mark's Shell Sport Escort, but they didn't fit, so were stored up in the loft.So I was able to purchase them. I stripped the car down, discovering the various colour schemes. I did some restoration, but not very much. I had the car for 10 years, but with other race cars in the garage, and nowhere to race an old Escort, progress was minimal. A guy Abbot from Invercargill approached me to buy it, and the car went south. Where it was restored to Cosack colours.
Hope this fills in some gaps.
Cheers, Pete Blomfield

P.S I have the John Hazard RX3 on the 2nd row in my garage now, and restoration starts in the next couple of weeks.

Hi Pete, I'm sure I speak for everyone when I say we'd love for you to run a restoration thread here so we can all see it coming back to life.

[seaqnmac27]

P.S I have the John Hazard RX3 on the 2nd row in my garage now, and restoration starts in the next couple of weeks.

Thast is of course the Haszard/Grindley RX3

[Jac Mac]

Pete, how many OSCA cars have you had/owned over time.. The McCoomb/Hargreaves V8 Mk1 Cortina, Triumph, Nazer Escort, Hazard RX3, Im sure there were/are others.

[John McKechnie]

Jack- The McCoomb/Hargreaves V8 Mk1 Cortina- is this the one that Gerald put on its roof after tripping over Grant Aitkins ?

[Jac Mac]

Jack- The McCoomb/Hargreaves V8 Mk1 Cortina- is this the one that Gerald put on its roof after tripping over Grant Aitkins ?

Yes, I believe so, in the sweeper coming onto main straight at [old] Ruapuna. There is a multi frame pic of the accident elsewhere ( might have been you who posted it?) Pete wrote about the car on another thread some time ago. Gerald had lunch with us at Timaru/Levels a few years ago, was able to recall a few 'stories' from days gone by as we all do.

[spinner32]

Yes Jac, when I add it up I have raced a few cars in OSCA. Back in 1978 I raced the ex Peter Beck Truimph Herald coupe. Vauxhall 2 litre engine to a Ford Twin Cam gearbox to a Datsun 180B LSD. The rear uprights were Morris 1100 giving 4 wheel discs.
My next car was the ex Hargraves/McComb Cortina Cobra. The car was reshelled after the famous roll. Powered by a ex Fahey 289 to a rockcrusher and 9 inch diff with detroit locker and 15inch minilights on the front it was full of good gear.It was sold to Rod McElrea who stripped it out and the body dumped. I moved to Auckland in the early 80's racing a Formiula Ford. I was there when all those fabulous Sports Sedans were racing. Returning to Christchurch I was racing a HB Viva with a 3.3 engine when I was offered the Cossack Escort. After stripping it down and starting a rebuild I was offerd my dream car of the time, the ex Leckie Mitsi Lancer now fitted with a 12a rotary. I had 5 great seasons with the car until I had a tyre blow at Timaru, putting me into the bank and badly damaging the car. I had recently purchased my nemesis car, Jamie Stewart's HB Viva rotary, for my wife to race. I took over the car and finally managed a class win. This car was sold to Evan Munt as his first race car. in 1997 I was able to purchase a ex Brock BMW M3 GpA car, which I raced in Historics for 9 seasons. With so many race cars, and self funded, when a guy from Invercargill approached me to buy the Escort I decided to let it go. His first comment on purchasing was that he intended to reshell the car. I hope that he didn't. Around 2000 a friend was offered the ex Findlay/Haszard/Grindley/Hool RX3 coupe bodyshell in very poor condition. It sat in the corner of my shed until I moved 2 weeks ago. So we have it to his place and started the rebuild, which will be a massive job.
Hope my story isn't too boring. Regards, Pete

[John McKechnie]

Great reading Pete, you certainly had a few cars, and were deeply involved at the time.
Thanks for posting your story, every one of them is important and interesting to us who read these threads to widen our understanding of our motor racing history

[Michael Clark]

Excellent post Pete

[seaqnmac27]

Yes Jac, when I add it up I have raced a few cars in OSCA. Back in 1978 I raced the ex Peter Beck Truimph Herald coupe. Vauxhall 2 litre engine to a Ford Twin Cam gearbox to a Datsun 180B LSD. The rear uprights were Morris 1100 giving 4 wheel discs.
My next car was the ex Hargraves/McComb Cortina Cobra. The car was reshelled after the famous roll. Powered by a ex Fahey 289 to a rockcrusher and 9 inch diff with detroit locker and 15inch minilights on the front it was full of good gear.It was sold to Rod McElrea who stripped it out and the body dumped. I moved to Auckland in the early 80's racing a Formiula Ford. I was there when all those fabulous Sports Sedans were racing. Returning to Christchurch I was racing a HB Viva with a 3.3 engine when I was offered the Cossack Escort. After stripping it down and starting a rebuild I was offerd my dream car of the time, the ex Leckie Mitsi Lancer now fitted with a 12a rotary. I had 5 great seasons with the car until I had a tyre blow at Timaru, putting me into the bank and badly damaging the car. I had recently purchased my nemesis car, Jamie Stewart's HB Viva rotary, for my wife to race. I took over the car and finally managed a class win. This car was sold to Evan Munt as his first race car. in 1997 I was able to purchase a ex Brock BMW M3 GpA car, which I raced in Historics for 9 seasons. With so many race cars, and self funded, when a guy from Invercargill approached me to buy the Escort I decided to let it go. His first comment on purchasing was that he intended to reshell the car. I hope that he didn't. Around 2000 a friend was offered the ex Findlay/Haszard/Grindley/Hool RX3 coupe bodyshell in very poor condition. It sat in the corner of my shed until I moved 2 weeks ago. So we have it to his place and started the rebuild, which will be a massive job.
Hope my story isn't too boring. Regards, Pete


Please, do not consider your story Boring!!

[Steve Holmes]

Yes Jac, when I add it up I have raced a few cars in OSCA. Back in 1978 I raced the ex Peter Beck Truimph Herald coupe. Vauxhall 2 litre engine to a Ford Twin Cam gearbox to a Datsun 180B LSD. The rear uprights were Morris 1100 giving 4 wheel discs.
My next car was the ex Hargraves/McComb Cortina Cobra. The car was reshelled after the famous roll. Powered by a ex Fahey 289 to a rockcrusher and 9 inch diff with detroit locker and 15inch minilights on the front it was full of good gear.It was sold to Rod McElrea who stripped it out and the body dumped. I moved to Auckland in the early 80's racing a Formiula Ford. I was there when all those fabulous Sports Sedans were racing. Returning to Christchurch I was racing a HB Viva with a 3.3 engine when I was offered the Cossack Escort. After stripping it down and starting a rebuild I was offerd my dream car of the time, the ex Leckie Mitsi Lancer now fitted with a 12a rotary. I had 5 great seasons with the car until I had a tyre blow at Timaru, putting me into the bank and badly damaging the car. I had recently purchased my nemesis car, Jamie Stewart's HB Viva rotary, for my wife to race. I took over the car and finally managed a class win. This car was sold to Evan Munt as his first race car. in 1997 I was able to purchase a ex Brock BMW M3 GpA car, which I raced in Historics for 9 seasons. With so many race cars, and self funded, when a guy from Invercargill approached me to buy the Escort I decided to let it go. His first comment on purchasing was that he intended to reshell the car. I hope that he didn't. Around 2000 a friend was offered the ex Findlay/Haszard/Grindley/Hool RX3 coupe bodyshell in very poor condition. It sat in the corner of my shed until I moved 2 weeks ago. So we have it to his place and started the rebuild, which will be a massive job.
Hope my story isn't too boring. Regards, Pete

Pete, out of interest, what happened to the Leckie Mitsubishi after your crash?

Also, the Viva Rotary you mentioned, is this the car Scott Wiseman built with the Repco (I think?) V8? I don't know that he ever got a chance to race it before his motorcycle accident.

[Growler]

If its of interest I did see a comment on Facebook a few months ago showing the Leckie Mitsi shell sitting in a corner of a garage looking pretty sad with a comment that it was going to be rebuilt...

[seaqnmac27]

If its of interest I did see a comment on Facebook a few months ago showing the Leckie Mitsi shell sitting in a corner of a garage looking pretty sad with a comment that it was going to be rebuilt...


These would be those images

47773

47774

47775

[seaqnmac27]

Pete, out of interest, what happened to the Leckie Mitsubishi after your crash?

Also, the Viva Rotary you mentioned, is this the car Scott Wiseman built with the Repco (I think?) V8? I don't know that he ever got a chance to race it before his motorcycle accident.


That is the car Steve, the "Sparkles" Viva. No I do not believe he did drive it, I have a MotorAction somewhere with the ad for its sale, posted by Scott after his accident.

Here it is being driven by Evan.

47776

[Growler]

These would be those images

47773

47774

47775

That's the one. Any further news of it being restored?

[Steve Holmes]

Thanks guys, good to know the Lancer has survived. From what I can tell, Bill's V8 Capri that preceded it is gone. Would hope to see the Lancer restored one day. Neat looking car.

[Steve Holmes]

That is the car Steve, the "Sparkles" Viva. No I do not believe he did drive it, I have a MotorAction somewhere with the ad for its sale, posted by Scott after his accident.

Here it is being driven by Evan.

47776

Thanks Sean. I have an old magazine article from NZ Hot Rod or similar of the Viva just after Scott had built it. It was a good looking car. He had a Thames van painted up in the same colours from memory. I need to try and find the article.

[camaroman slp]

Thanks Sean. I have an old magazine article from NZ Hot Rod or similar of the Viva just after Scott had built it. It was a good looking car. He had a Thames van painted up in the same colours from memory. I need to try and find the article.

Scott Wismans viva was powered by a I think 308 V8 also it had flared bubble type flare gaurds sponserd by sparkles cool car in its day.

Scott Passed away a few years ago being parralized from the unfortunate accident. R.I.P

His son may also tell the story

Peter blomfield may be able to tell some of the story.

[camaroman slp]

Scotts Viva can be found in NZ Hotrod magazine
issue 314
May 1975
Vauxhill Custom Viva 375 bhp
I hope someone can put the article & photos on the roaring season.