That would have been the Barry Morgan built T-Bucket, not sure if second owner Bob Jarvis owned it at the Autorama show, I had a drive of the 'T' @ wanaka~68/69 & Barry still owned it then, think it was called 'TnT' IIRC.
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Listen up......a bit of psychology.......if your not into that sort of rubbish, don't read this!! The human mind is a wonderful thing, mention a name and it takes off in a Google like frenzy searching for connections with similar threads. There has not been a huge response to the original title, as I suspect all the yards of interest had disappeared at the end of the 1970's. Now I know that a lot of the contributors here are of an age that will remember such yards, but then again a lot aren't. You would have to have been born at least by 1950 to have any memory of them. So perhaps we could slightly modify the title of this thread from...car yards with........to, car YARNS with Motorsport connections. A term you dont hear much these days is....someone with a 'one track mind'. That person can focus on one thing to the exclusion of all others. Fortunately most of us can do some lateral thinking and allow ourselves the luxury to drift in all directions. Might I suggest, with the permission of our co-ordinator of course, that instead of creating ANOTHER thread, we adopt a lateral thinking mode in car yards/yarns, while perhaps keeping the original title as our heading. Obviously when a good subject comes up we can concentrate on that in another title, but there are masses of little anecdotes out there that can't support a thread of their own and will be lost forever if not jotted down. I know that a lot of people are shy about writing things down as they think they are not 'educated' enough. I edited a car club magazine years ago and had the very devil of a job to get members to contribute. I told them that, I, as editor would 'clean up' their grammar if necessary before publication....but no. A lot of members were just happy to look and read even though they ALL had a story to tell. But thats OK..takes all sorts, and the fact that increasing numbers of lookers are plugging into 'the roaring season' shows there is big interest out there. There are similar forums going on all over the world and I note that one is having a bit of strife at the moment because someones 'comments' have upset someone else. I have been repeatedly told that this is a FRIENDLY forum of like minded enthusiasts for sharing photos/memories/ stories etc.....keep it light.....don't get stroppy. I'm trying.
TnT is owned By Barry. Bought it back and restored it. Barry lives in Wanaka.
I like the idea of it being Yards and Yarns.
Steve, can you fix it please?
ALL threads include yarns...
OK guys, thread title has been changed as requested.
'All threads include yarns'......yep, and I hope we can keep weaving threads, and that the yarns are not too implausable. After all, a yarn is part of the rich tapestry of life, and I hope I don't screw up.
John Sergel Motors, one of dozens of yards down Addington road in Christchurch. John was part of the Sergel family that owned Southwell School in Hamilton, so not short of a bob. He was a good friend of mine at school in the 50's, probably because we were both hopeless at sport....John because he had had polio as a child and his body wasn't up to active sport, and me just because I hated the fact that it was compulsory. I couldn't see the point of running round a paddock in the middle of winter, getting cold and muddy, chasing a football! Johns polio didn't count either, you had to have spina bifida to get out of games!!!! John did have special dispensation to drive a car to school on a daily basis, the only day boy at that time to do so. His mother had bought him a new Standard 10 which he always drove with great gusto, an attribute that stood him in good stead when he later competed in the tough world of rallying. He competed in a number of International events...Heatway etc, and also in rallysprints.....Ashley Forest and others, and his name appears in the results tables of the time. On the odd occasion when we could skip sport after school, John would drive out the school gates in his car and I would follow on foot. We would meet at a prearranged spot down the road out of sight of the school, where I would get into the car and duck-down low so as I couldn't be seen, and we would head out into the country to find a good shingle road, of which there were plenty then, and John would practice rally driving while I 'navigated'!!!!!!! The thing I remember about John's driving was that he always had his left hand tucked under his leg on the seat, and just whipped it out for gearchanging and other more difficult tasks. His hand and arm may have been affected by the polio, but I always marvelled at his one handed car control!! I visited John some years later when he had his yard and he didn't seem to be too pleased to see me....this after what I had thought had been a good friendship at school. I later found out that he had been doing some dodgy deals, I have no idea what, but he obviously thought I knew all about it and was distinctly cagey . John was always very dismissive of circuit racing drivers. He decided that rally drivers were much more skilled....I was inclined to agree, but I conceded they are very different skills. When I think of John I remember what Timo Makinen said after one of the Monte's.......'you have to have a big VILLING to VIN. Amen to that.
George Palmers' garage and service station was in upper Victoria street in Hamilton. Probably the better known Palmer was Jim, a very successful single seater driver, but George was good driver in his own right with victories to his credit. He had a single seater Cooper Bristol which he campagned for a couple of seasons, eventually selling to Len Gilbert who had a sports car type body constructed on it...well fairing the rear wheels and guards on the front....so he could compete with the sports cars. Hardly a thing of beauty but that was the key then....you did what ever was necessary to compete. Saw Jim at the Bruce McLaren festival, still very recognizable with his distinctive hair style...just a little older and greyer. He was sitting in one of his old cars, warming up the mechanicals before taking it out for some demo laps. He looked fairly bemused, and could have been thinking....'how the hell did I drive these things'. There are quite a few drivers from that era who you would think would be right into Historic motorsport now, but aren't. Maybe they have moved on from those days and just an occasional guest drive is plenty for them. Ken Smith is the obvious exception here.
Saw a post last night that featured a race car powered by an outboard motor engine, not the first time time thats been done, or maybe it was. Anyway I got thinking...lateral thinking.....why not motor mowers? Probably stepping out on a limb here as I'm interpreting motorSPORT in the widest possible way. 250F to ZTR....sublime to the ridiculous. The ZTR is not some Corvette powered super mower.... stands for Zero Turn Radius....a handy feature on a ride-on. Modifications to 'racing' mowers are limited, removal of the cutting device, speed is relative, BUT it brings a smile to your face. When was the last time you saw spectators SMILING at motoracing? They are all standing, or sitting there, looking like stunned mullets thinking of the next hot-dog and chips!!!!! Anyway we went a step further at Lincoln College. I worked as a farm trainee on the Lincoln farms in 1959 and we would have clandestine 'race meetings' with the tractors we were assigned to drive. The College farms had about 18 tractors for the various jobs that we did on the mixed cropping unit. At the end of the days work a group of us that had been working adjacent paddocks would get together for an impromptu 1/4 mile drag down the farm track, before heading for the yard. Ferguson, Ford, Allis Chalmers and Massey Harris models all took part, but the King was always the Massey-Harris....this was before the Massey Ferguson. The tractor in question was the early 50's Massey Harris 101 which had ,unusually, a 6 cylinder Chrysler based car engine fitted as standard. We discovered that if we attached a length of baling twine from the governor arm to the steering wheel, we could over ride it's job of controlling engine revs from about 2500 to about 3500! All that was needed was a good tug on the string...trying to hold the string AND steer at the same time was a bit like the proverbial one armed paper hanger, and we had a few mishaps that had to be explained to the farm manager...Tom Taylor. Tom used to cruise round all day in his MK2 Consul ute checking up on us trainees...good job. The tractor fleet, all petrol engined, provided a source of fuel for the student cars. We could never siphon off too much, as fuel use was recorded but we got away with a gallon or two!!!! [you didn't read that] These days at the National Fieldays in Hamilton they have what is called the tractor pull where custom built machines with supercharged 1000hp engines, sometime 2, compete for trophys. There are usually some spectacular blow-ups but all this may have been started by a group of farm trainees doing 1/4 mile sprints on old Fergies all those years ago!
Going on from there, I was thinking of SMILING at motoracing and todays crowd looking so damn glum, is it that all the excitement has gone out of motoracing. I wonder. Maybe in todays world with all the violence and mayhem on our telly screens, excitement means more than just a few cars going round and round. As I said my buddy John Sergel was very dismissive of circuit racers, where as rallying....now there was where the excitement is. Take a look at the crowds at those old race meetings. Have a look, not just at the cars, but the backgrounds, of the amazing photos posted on here by members. What was it back then? Well the cars were pretty wild LOOKING....they sure as hell were noisy, smelly, and all seemed ready to blow up any second. Drivers wrestling with the steering wheel trying to control the monster beneath them...poor suspension and tyres not helping. Just getting to the chequered flag by sheer guts. Todays stuff is all so antiseptic, so politically correct, so predictable....it's no wonder the hot dog and chips stands do so well. Iv'e often said that the only class today that is actually RACING are the formula Fords. They at least have...shock, horror.......overtaking!! Promoters wouldn't dare have the Porsche GT class as the last race on the programme as all the patrons would be heading for the exit gate. How can cars that can exceed 300kph be boring? I'm sure they are not boring to drive, in fact they are not. I have done a few laps with a decent driver, and I can tell you they are terrifying. So it's back to the spectacle of motoracing......the watching public.....the folk we try to entice to our meetings. Perhaps that is why classic racing has the following that it does. Just ask someone like Dale Mathers, who knows a thing or two about cars that look the part, and I'm sure that he will tell you that the cars are the stars at these meetings.....they LOOK, and SOUND, and SMELL..........like racing cars.
Too true.
How about choosing between watching these or another one make series, or for that matter a two make series.
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Well said Amco 72. I couldn't even be bothered going to Hamilton this year. After watching it on TV I am pleased I didn't as it would have been several hundred dollars that could have been better spent on the race car. The crowds in the amazing pictures we are watching are incredible. The numbers, the hairstyles, the side burns, a lot leaner, the cars in the background. About the only thing that is better now is the dolly brollies. Back then half of the adventure of going to the races was getting there, and back home. Drive from Masterton to Puke all Friday night, through the old Maungaweka's stuck behind the slowest Bedford truck in the world. There were some super slow ones. Watch practise and racing on Saturday and Sunday, sneak into the pits when the whitecoats weren't watching, a pair of grubby overalls worked well, "sorry mate I left my tickets with my good gear, Jimmy Richards will tell you I am part of his crew". After the last race we would then drive all the way back to Masterton, eating pies to keep us going. All this in a car that would qualify for the Vintage Car Club. Ah the good old days, it was all a lot simpler then.
All this reminiscing, bad for you. But why was it a lot simpler then beowulf? I think telly has got to take a lot of the blame. But just look at that photo from pallmall...what a sight. A wobbly old AUTOMATIC Ford verses Bernie in the Mini...great stuff. Big verses small...10000cc verses 6000cc....and all competing together, and frankly who cares who won, it was a tussle. You might say, how can a 1000cc car compete against a 6000cc car, well it's surprising how well they do, but then there is always handicapping. Dennis Marwood has famously said that he can't see the point of a handicap race....well maybe he was always on the front row of the grid. I have watched some of the best racing ever under a handicap system. The endeavours of the back markers carving their way through the field has produced some absolutely riveting displays of driving skill. The spectators are sure as hell not going to the hot dog stand....they are busy calculating in their heads, watching the gap close, can he do it!!! Then the last frantic lap, if the handicapper has got it right, and the drivers are behaving. Theoretically they should all cross the line together. Of course this never happens...drivers get baulked, some cars suddenly find a few more horsepower, but usually it is pretty good. If you want a good example of a recent David and Goliath battle, and there have been a few, go to....youtube...skope classic, fogg morris [3 way battle]. Is a short clip taken by some cowboys on the top of a bus at Ruapuna this year. No one told Foggy not to take on the Sylvester Chev, and the X Reg Cook Datsun, certainly NOT in a Morris '1100', but being a racer he did. The Morris didn't win, but had the crowd on it's feet. The film shows why Classic racing is so good and believe you me those drivers are pushing those valuable cars HARD, and everyone is rooting for the underdog not the hotdog!!!!!! Even the young folk at the meetings, those bought up on 1 or 2 make racing get excited not just old fogeys [sic] like us.
I hope somebody from the Manawatu can tell a few tales about Pringle Motors in Palmerston North. It must have bee a go to place for those building race cars, hot rods, etc. in the sixties.
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What a neat picture posted by pallmall of the old Ford outside Pringle Motor Supplies in the Manawatu. Bought to mind another Lincoln story. I have also been reading Scott Thomsons book....'Up to Speed'....the Roycroft years in NZ motoracing. Amazing stuff, and what a collection of photos, mostly B&W from the family album. I see one of Rons early speedway midgets was powered by a B4 engine, then a Plymouth 6. The B4 was the successor to the ubiquitous Model A but a much better engine in terms of smoothness...I think 'Henry' was actually balancing his cranks then. The B4 roadster became the machine of choice for the Hot Rod boys and with a V8 transplant was turned into some rather beautiful rods for the Bonneville speed weeks. So popular was it ,that to find a B4 in it's original shape today is rare, and I think a few have been restored back to their pre Hot Rod form. Anyway the next yarn features both these cars so here goes. A pal at Lincoln bought a fairly basic B4 while we were there. This chap, Brydon, had an insatiable appetite for cars and girls and we just couldn't keep up with his purchases and 'pussies'....the pillion variety, because at the start he had motorbikes. He was in fact the most hopeless rider....no 100mph pillion rides to get 5/- Morris's with him. Of course bikes are the most inconvienient things to carry girls around on, and some of the girls mothers had literally told him...'on yer bike sonny'....dont even think of taking my daughter out on that!! So while Brydon was casting his eye around for new girls, he was also casting his eye out for a suitable vehicle with which to impress these stroppy old tarts.....the mothers that is......and came up with a beaut. A 1938 Ford coupe... similar to the one in the picture......fitted three across the front very cosily, but Brydon being a very impatient bloke often had trouble starting the thing. With those old flat-heads you had to hold your tongue just right or they would refuse to kick into life. Brydon soon got sick of this nonsense and the next thing we know he turns up in a 1938 Morris 8 sports. What a sweet little car that was but at completely the opposite end of the performance scale to the V8. Problem was that Brydon found the Morris a bit TOO cosy with not enough room for 'heavy petting'. Blow me down a few weeks and a few different 'birds' later he shows up with the B4. It had had a mild chop 'n' channel and was fitted with a side valve V8 with special heads. It could go like stink, and was reputed to be able to exceed 90 mph in 2nd gear!! I think Brydon had tested this claim and the car had very nearly pitched him into the ditch. He got no sympathy from us and frankly was the most unsuitable vehicle for his needs, so he traded it, and the girl, on something new.....a 1936 Chev sedan.....of Roycroft engine transplant fame. Brydon had fitted this machine with a quick release seat back on the front bench, so that when things started to get a bit steamy with his latest catch, a sharp yank on the quick release and.....hey presto...instant bed!!!!!!! Thinking back on the starting procedure of those old flat-heads. I have driven a number of Ford V8 trucks on farms and almost without exception the drill was....full choke..full throttle. If it didn't start almost immediately you might as well have walked away and done something else. Can still hear that starter motor engaging with that ominous 'thunk'. Not sure whether they were 6 or 12 volt but the engines always seemed to be churning over very slowly.
Oh, they were 6 volt. First job on an old V8, change it over to 12 volt.
I should have said that the B4 had a 3 speed gearbox, but even so, 90 mph in 2nd gear! Would that have been possible, or was it just an urban myth....the hotrod boys will know. And yes, the heads really were special, they had some sort of finning on them, the only detail I can remember....weren't just old heads with some silver paint sloshed on them. The thing is those old engines did the business with torque rather than revs. When I hear the old Gee Cee Ess 'chuffing' along these days it all sounds very relaxed compared to some of the screamers around it. Too many revs and that old enemy of the race motor, heat, sets in, and there were more steaming kettles on the track than at a Sunday school picnic!! Vintage car man Roy Rowe has a classic flathead V8 midget speedway car which I watched at the recent Roycroft Trophy meeting at Hampton Downs. A beautiful little machine with a wonderful history and really looking the part in it's yellow paint job.. He was telling me of his efforts to keep the thing cool..ish...and the water in the radiator where it belonged, it being a much more efficient item than the original. Indeed he has gone to 'waterless' coolant....very expensive but it works and allows a much higher boiling point. He was also saying that in the flathead V8 the exhaust gasses exit the block in such a way as to heat up the coolant even more than usual....is this right, can't remember the details. There are some pictures of the old GCS with a massive truck-like radiator that George has No8 wired on to the front of the beast in an attempt to keep the temparature down....didn't help the steamlining much. So, 90 mph in 2nd gear with a 3 speed box...yes or no. Has been worrying me for 50 years. I need to know, otherwise my vision of Brydon in the B4 ending up in the ditch will be for nothing.
off to school...I remember coming back from Ruapuna one day..back roads of Halswell and the wooden floor boards popping out with the air pressure
The Ford Flathead V8 engine is probably the worlds most efficient water heater! Especially the early versions.
But, I still love them.
We always raced our flathead stockcars in second gear, with a hook on the dash to put the gearlever in to stop the box jumping out of gear.
90 mph in second in a tuned flathead with alloy heads and maybe multiple carbs? Maybe, she would be screaming, certainly in top gear it would be possible.