KATO SPECIAL

[CUSTAXIE50]

somethink new to talk about besides the custaxie ,i would like to hear some talk on this car and maybe you can put some photos of it up to look at. i know a bit about this car that was driven at racing speed from auckland to palmerston north and back.all this went on in 1968 with racing rubber from jim clarks f1 car, the first part of the trip started allright till this little red anglia pulled up beside the kato special and wanted to race.shit what a race that was,at very high speed something went in the back end of the kato and it went a bit side ways had to back out of that race .on the way back from palmerston north it did it allso in mangaweka ,racing again with a car but this time stopped to have a good look at what was going on with it. got going again it was great racing around the old mangaweka roads ,back racing with this car again all going well till the gear lever came away leaving an inch out of the gearbox. got some vise girps out of the toolbox fixed it got back into racing this car in front of me ,in the end had to stop before someone got killed.so lets talk about this car and put up some good photos of the kato special.

[Oldfart]

Have a look on the Sports Cars thread, I posted a period photo there.

[bry3500]

Have a look on the Sports Cars thread, I posted a period photo there.
buggered if I can find it...exactly which Sports car thread OF?

[Oldfart]

buggered if I can find it...exactly which Sports car thread OF?
Sport Cars of Yesteryear post #2, my fault, should have been more specific!

[CUSTAXIE50]

the old kato special was traded in at jim boyd motors for a standard 10 van,the kato special was sold on and pulled apart to have the back end repaired. it ended up its days under a house on the ground rotting away in mt roskill,years later i was walking around at manfeild and there was this car that someone was calling the kato special, so i just had to stop and have a look see as you would.just like a lot of cars that turn up saying that they are this and that,ok they look like the old cars but they go and put mag wheels on-alloy radiators-electric fans-dry sump it. the list goes on now if you are going to make up a car that has raced before do your home work first ,because there will be some out there who know about the old car that was out there.i would say if it was 95% like the old car that would be all right in my eyes.

[Oldfart]

5226Very true.
There seem to be 2 schools of thought.
1) have to be as fast as possible. With cars like the original Kato, you have to pick a period to rebuild to. The photo above was a case in point.This is as it was used at the GP meeting 67 according to my 16 year old schoolboy writing at the time. The wheels are massive, engine was a pushrod Ford. Previous to this it had a variety of engines, wheels etc. Now it is immaculate, body is not the same, wheels?
2) Put it back like it was.
Where it all goes wrong is finding a place to run it. The "factory" cars have various places. An NZ sports car is another kettle. Run with HRSCC and have U2s, Lotus etc? Run with Vintage and be all pre 1961 mechanicals? South Island another issue again.

[David McKinney]

This one from 15 months earlier (Paritutu)

[CUSTAXIE50]

what about the humber jaguar,did it start off with a 4 in it, a zephyr- and last the jag motor. can you tell me the way they built this car up, and do you have some good photos of this car that you can put up.

[David McKinney]

I presume you're talking about the Radisich allcomer?

In 1964 Radisich raced a Mk2 Zephyr with an ex-Sprague engine. For the following season he dropped the engine into a Humber 80 - from memory the car was a Series I but I don't know whether it had been raced by an earlier owner with its original engine. The Zepyhr of course passed to Rod Coppins who popped a Corvette engine into it

For 1966 Frank replaced the engine with one from a crashed Jaguar XK150

I don't know anything about the Humber 80's construction methods, but do know the six-cylinder engines went a long way back into the passenger compartment!

[bry3500]

what about the humber jaguar,did it start off with a 4 in it, a zephyr- and last the jag motor. can you tell me the way they built this car up, and do you have some good photos of this car that you can put up.
http://www.theroaringseason.com/showthread.php?72-Lost-Race-Cars
check Bob Homewood's post #14

[bob homewood]

A couple of things that I am sure I have mentioned on here the Kato got the bigger wheels in the "fit huge Firestones to everything "days ,and the Dave Jolly Humber beginnings I covered in my earlier post,there was certainly nothing trick in its original form

[Paul Kirk]

I presume you're talking about the Radisich allcomer?

In 1964 Radisich raced a Mk2 Zephyr with an ex-Sprague engine. For the following season he dropped the engine into a Humber 80 - from memory the car was a Series I but I don't know whether it had been raced by an earlier owner with its original engine. The Zepyhr of course passed to Rod Coppins who popped a Corvette engine into it

For 1966 Frank replaced the engine with one from a crashed Jaguar XK150

I don't know anything about the Humber 80's construction methods, but do know the six-cylinder engines went a long way back into the passenger compartment!

If I remember rightly, the Jag engine in Frank's Humber/Hilman was beside him inside the car and there was a tricky gear selector back to the gearbox.
PK.

[ERC]

I know this thread probably died sometime ago, but whilst yet another time consuming (and often frustrating) scanning session, where the scanner refuses to stay in focus, I thought I may as well post this from the Domain Hillclimb 2003, May 4th.

55247

[John H]

I know this thread probably died sometime ago, but whilst yet another time consuming (and often frustrating) scanning session, where the scanner refuses to stay in focus, I thought I may as well post this from the Domain Hillclimb 2003, May 4th.

55247
Hi I have a photo taken at the Kerepahe sprint I think it was light blue not sure who was driving. Around.....1963-4? Will try and find it :)

[Ray Bell]

So what mechanicals did the car have during its lifetime?

That is surely the interesting part...

[Oldfart]

So what mechanicals did the car have during its lifetime?

That is surely the interesting part...

That list would be about as long as the encyclopedia Britannica! From some of what I remember, 1172, non crossflow. A good friend of mine did the chassis "rebuild" for a customer who specified what he wanted and it became very little like the original. de Joux body originally as per the early photo.

[Ray Bell]

The rear guards seem to be formed straight from an Austin Healey...

[ERC]

Whenuapai 1996
55300

Chelsea Hillclimb 1997
55301

[ERC]

Similar? Paton Ford 1983.
55302

[khyndart in CA]

Back in the day I knew a Chris Kay and John Paton in Morrinsville. Are they connected to these vehicles ?

Ken H who has been away too long !

[ERC]

I think the Paton relates to Paton Engineering in Penrose, but I stand corrected.

[Roger Dowding]

I think the Paton relates to Paton Engineering in Penrose, but I stand corrected.

The Paton Ford was the name of Jim Short's car - built by I think Eric ?? Paton - could be connected to Paton Engineering.

Ken H's comment " Back in the day I knew a Chris Kay and John Paton in Morrinsville. Are they connected to these vehicles ? ".

Now i have go back through some stuff that Jim Short and Stuart Short, Jim's son, have posted elsewhere.

[Oldfart]

Kato certainly had something to do with someone with the surname of Kay, but I don't recollect first name.

[khyndart in CA]

I found this entry in the 1964 NZ Grand Prix programme for the sports car race.

Number 33.

55376







Ken H

[Roger Dowding]

Believed to be the Kato at a Matamata Street " Festival " Meeting in 1964 / 1965.
Photo from the Scott - Given archives - now with BMC BOY.

I think this is 1964 but need to check against some other info I have.

The Car
67263

There was also a Mistral there - from the same set of photos.

67264

Entry lists I have from Matamata

1964 - from Keiron Guinness
The Cover ;
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Races 1 and 2.
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Another Entry List - Sports car Race - I have noted it as 1963 !! - but need to check Car Race Numbers.
Note that the type is the same as the 1964 programme above Races 1 and 2, has similar entrants and numbers - and that the Kato has the same number #12 - not 18 as in the photo - so seems to be 1964 !!

This from Myles Hick - who is restoring the mentioned Ruddspeed 3000 / Austin 4000 - Austin Healey -of Russell Leathers and the McLaughlin brothers - another story.

67267

PS This thread was on Page 13 of 64 pages of threads - that is a lot of stories !! Now back to Page #1 ..!!

[khyndart in CA]

I got a message from Spinner Black today and he had spoken to Chris Kay about the Kato Special. His father was Ken Kay who had Kay's Motors somewhere near Morrinsville. The fabrication work was done by Kay's mechanic named Greg Tordoff who would go on to have his own garage in Morrinsville and did a lot of work for Spinner including work on his Camaros and the Cambridge Monaro now driven by John McKechnie.
So the "Kato" is derived from the Kay and the Tordoff surnames. A Stu Graham had a Buckler in the shop at the time which may have been copied to some degree. Not sure of the engine but in the above 1964 programme it is sized at 1991 cc. so it probably had a Triumph TR 3 engine.

( Spinner said only 2 were built and one was wrecked when Chris rolled it while driving with a friend and both had gravel and thorns still coming out of there backs years later !! )
Thanks Spinner for the update.)

(Ken H)