Lost Race Cars

So how about we start a thread on race cars that appear to have vanished from trace. See if we can't track a few of them down.

Here is one I've been trying to learn the fate of for some time, with no luck. I first found out about this car when writing an article for Australian Muscle Car mag a couple of years ago. The reason it grabbed my attention was because it was built in the Wairarapa, in New Zealand, where I moved with my partner Helen a few years ago. While researching various magazines gathering info for the article, I stumbled upon details of this car.

It was built around 1971 by Wayne Fuller, and fitted with an FVA motor reportedly from Paul Faheys Escort. Fuller raced the car in OSCA during the 1971/72 season, and was often the fastest car in the field. At the end of the season Fuller set his sites a little higher, and took the car to Graham Berry (of Berry & Chung hot rodding fame) to have a heap of fabrication work done on the firewall and transmission tunnel, so he could fit a 350ci small block Chevy, with twin off-set Holleys.

This was quite an ambitious project at the time, and appeared to have quite a bit of potential. The newly rebuilt Escort finally debuted at Bay Park in late 1973, driven by 24 year old Roger Brader, another Wairarapa hot shoe. It was very quick in a straight line, as fast as the front running machines of Allan Moffat, Jim Richards, Leo Leonard (in Mustangs), Red Dawson (Camaro), Rod Coppins (Firebird), and Paul Fahey (Capri), but required some development work on suspension and brakes.

Brader and Fuller raced the car at several events throughout the 1973/74 season, but at seasons end Fuller decided to sell it and go boat racing instead. The Escort was sold engineless to Warren Steel in the Hawkes Bay. Steel had planned to fit a smaller Chevy motor to compete in the 4.2 Saloon Car Championship, but failed his eyesight test, and had to sell the car.

It was purchased by John Scott in Auckland, who owned a transport company. This would have been late 1974, or early 1975. From there, the trail goes dead. I'm not sure if the John Scott who purchased the Escort was the same John Scott who raced speedway in the '70s and '80s, but that John Scott did happen to own a transport company, also in Auckland, so perhaps it was the same person. Either way, I've not been able to track him down.

Would love to know what happened to this car, and if it survived. Obviously Escorts were pretty popular during the '70s, and it could have ended up anywhere. Was it converted for ShellSport? Was it scrapped? Was it pushed into someones shed and forgotten about?

Anyway, here is a pic of the car at Levin when it was still fitted with the FVA. It changed little when the Chevy was shoe-horned in, except the wheels became slightly wider. It was silver with a green stripe down each flank, then later had a red or orange stripe.

Attachment 128

Here is a photo taken by Terry Marshall at Wigram 1974, showing Brader in the Escort (left of shot) now fitted with the Chevy, and chasing Trevor Crowe (Chevy Corolla), Glenn McIntyre, Fiat, Bruce Jenner (Camaro), and Don Halliday (Escort).

Attachment 129

And while on the subject of Anglo-American racing saloons, what happened to Ralph Mossman's V8 Viva he raced in NZ during the '80s? And does anyone have a photo of this car?

Ok, I'm on a roll here, so I'll keep going. In the early 1970s, when Jim Richards still lived in New Zealand and was taking just about any drive offered to him, he did quite a bit of speedway and rallying. Those helping his career along were Jim Carney and Jerry Clayton. Clayton would later supply the 302 Boss Mustang he and Murray Bunn would build into the Sidchrome Mustang, but prior to that, had a speedway saloon built from an HQ Holden Monaro, which, at the time, would have been a near new car. From what I can tell, the Monaro sported a couple of different paint schemes, including one for Sidchrome Tools, as pictured.

Attachment 131

Richards raced the Monaro out of Waikaraka Park, though I don't know how much travelling he would have done with the car to other tracks.

It would eventually be sold to Palmerston North racer Bill Dorn, who did just about everything in speedway, including Stockcars and Modifieds. All Dorns race cars were painted up like large American flags, and the Monaro was the same. He raced the car during the 70s, when it was sold to another Palmy racer. It was eventually retired, but I'm quite certain, later re-appeared as a Streetstock, painted black, when Streetstock racing was introduced to Palmerston North speedway in the late '80s/early '90s.

Attachment 132

Most Streetstocks end up getting crushed, as they're eventually no good for anything else. Was this the case with the old Jim Richards Sidchrome Monaro?

Here is another shot of the Fuller/Brader Escort, supplied to me some time back by "faminz". Its taken at Bay Park, during the 1971/72 season, chasing Dennis Marwood (Camaro), Brian Foley (Alfa), Rod Coppins (Camaro), and leading John Riley (Mustang), etc.

Attachment 133

The speedway Monaro was also driven by Steve Millen at Waikaraka Park. I doubt that JR ever raced it anywhere else but Waikaraka and Forest Lake.
And yes, apparently ended its days as a streetstock, but considering these car were built on the original floor pan and had some very hard racing it wouldn't have been much use for anything else.

Here is Mr Millen showing Ray Wright that there are two laps to go...............
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...e-mailview.jpg

And the Capri that Rod and Steve Millen both raced at Waikaraka Park with much success. Steve also drove Midgets at Western Springs.
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...e-mailview.jpg


Photos by Andre Ruiterman used with permission.

Roy Harrington raced this lovely little Holden Torana fitted with a V8 in the 4.2 class of the New Zealand Saloon Car Championship during the mid-1970s. This is the car pictured at Bay Park in late 1975.

Attachment 134

By the 1977 season, Harrington had boxed the guards, and fitted fuel injection to a larger Chevy V8, as seen in this Mike Feisst photo.

Attachment 135

Harrington eventually sold the car to Brian Friend who repainted it in HDT colours.

Attachment 136

By the 1981 season, Friend had painted it yet again and fitted a wild rear wing, as seen in this Terry Marshall photo taken at Bay Park.

Attachment 137

Friend would go on to purchase the Brent Bullivant built V8 Capri off Bob Cullinane around 1983, who'd purchased it off Graeme Baker. So what became of the Harrington Torana?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by pallmall

The speedway Monaro was also driven by Steve Millen at Waikaraka Park. I doubt that JR ever raced it anywhere else but Waikaraka and Forest Lake.
And yes, apparently ended its days as a streetstock, but considering these car were built on the original floor pan and had some very hard racing it wouldn't have been much use for anything else.

Here is Mr Millen showing Ray Wright that there are two laps to go...............
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...e-mailview.jpg

And the Capri that Rod and Steve Millen both raced at Waikaraka Park with much success. Steve also drove Midgets at Western Springs.
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...e-mailview.jpg


Photos by Andre Ruiterman used with permission.

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Thanks pallmall. Do you know the name of the last person to race the Monaro in Streetstocks?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Steve Holmes

Roy Harrington raced this lovely little Holden Torana fitted with a V8 in the 4.2 class of the New Zealand Saloon Car Championship during the mid-1970s. This is the car pictured at Bay Park in late 1975.

Attachment 134

By the 1977 season, Harrington had boxed the guards, and fitted fuel injection to a larger Chevy V8, as seen in this Mike Feisst photo.

Attachment 135

Harrington eventually sold the car to Brian Friend who repainted it in HDT colours.

Attachment 136

By the 1981 season, Friend had painted it yet again and fitted a wild rear wing, as seen in this Terry Marshall photo taken at Bay Park.

Attachment 137

Friend would go on to purchase the Brent Bullivant built V8 Capri off Bob Cullinane around 1983, who'd purchased it off Graeme Baker. So what became of the Harrington Torana?

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I know where all the body panels are for the Harrington Torana - hanging in a Auckland hot rodder's garage. They are in safe hands - he is a total motorsport enthusiast

Oh wow, that is cool! Do you know what became of the Torana Greg? Or does the owner of the body panels know of its fate?

i will see what I can find out

Thanks Greg, that'll be great!

Fuller Escort ,
Steve
I have been looking to get some more positive information on this car for you in later times,now I am not sure if I am right here but I think this car was perhaps the Escort that Ian Knight ? raced in the later Sports Sedan Series around the time I was racing my Mk2 based Escort Sports Sedan,it ran with some Shakespeare Tavern sign writing on it .The Steve Millen connection also rings a bell with me,but I believe at that time it was going to run a 4.2 engine, ,I will keep you posted if I can turn up anymore

Ok here is one ,its not really lost ,as its gone to the scrappies,probably
The Dave Jolly Humber which became the Humber that Frank Radisich raced mid 60's I was involved in the very early stages with Dave when he started thinking about this project in fact the idea was hatched after the November Levin meeting the year before when the Auckland coupe guys went south for that first ? All comer meeting ,we looked at the power the Coupe guys had and figured putting a Corvette engine into a Humber 80 would perhaps be a better bet,moving the engine back etc to get better balance ,doubling up on the shock absorbers ,sounds a bit crude now but it was forward thinking for those times.They idea lingered around for some time until one day Dave came across one that had been fire damaged in Palmerston North ,now Dave's budget didn't stretch to a Chev V8 engine but the same wrecker had a early Customline Ford V8 enine for sale as well so that was what he ended up with.there was another Levin meeting coming up ,so with Dave having completed the purchase we decided to travel down to Levin via Palmerston North and drag it home by A frame behind my 39 Chev coupe ,we travelled down after work on the Thursday night arriving at day light on the Friday morning,slept in the car outside the wreckers until he opened up.They had already removed the Humber engine and gearbox ,we then spent all day Friday shovelling the burnt remains of the seats,mats etc out of it ,on top of that some one had shovelled what seemed like a truck load of soil into it in a attempt to put the fire out ,by the end of the day we were finished ,somehow we managed to manhandle the Ford motor into the now empty passenger compartment and tie it in.We made arrangements with the wrecker guy to meet us back there on the Saturday night after we had been to Levin ,picked it up and travelled back home to Auckland on the Saturday night ,my coupe was modified with triple carbs ,so was more than up to the job of towing it but gas consumption was from memory about 4 to 5 miles per gallon .The car languished around home for a while with out any real progress as Dave had run out of funds ,I went off in a different direction as I got involved with some else for the forth coming season ,Dave eventually scraped enough together to get it up and running but it never really showed any promise and Dave eventually sold it on to Frank Radisich

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bob homewood

Fuller Escort ,
Steve
I have been looking to get some more positive information on this car for you in later times,now I am not sure if I am right here but I think this car was perhaps the Escort that Ian Knight ? raced in the later Sports Sedan Series around the time I was racing my Mk2 based Escort Sports Sedan,it ran with some Shakespeare Tavern sign writing on it .The Steve Millen connection also rings a bell with me,but I believe at that time it was going to run a 4.2 engine, ,I will keep you posted if I can turn up anymore

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Thanks Bob, your memory is amazing! I'm wracking my brain trying to remember the car as Ian Knight raced it, but am having no luck. Do you know where I could find a photo of it as it later raced? Roger Brader said he thought Steve Millen was mixed in there somewhere, but couldn't recall for sure, but it can't be a coincidence that both of you link Millen with the car. Roger also said Trevor Crowe test drove it when they first stuffed the V8 into it, to try and sort some of the handling, as Crowe was racing his Chevy powered Corolla at the time.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bob homewood

Ok here is one ,its not really lost ,as its gone to the scrappies,probably
The Dave Jolly Humber which became the Humber that Frank Radisich raced mid 60's I was involved in the very early stages with Dave when he started thinking about this project in fact the idea was hatched after the November Levin meeting the year before when the Auckland coupe guys went south for that first ? All comer meeting ,we looked at the power the Coupe guys had and figured putting a Corvette engine into a Humber 80 would perhaps be a better bet,moving the engine back etc to get better balance ,doubling up on the shock absorbers ,sounds a bit crude now but it was forward thinking for those times.They idea lingered around for some time until one day Dave came across one that had been fire damaged in Palmerston North ,now Dave's budget didn't stretch to a Chev V8 engine but the same wrecker had a early Customline Ford V8 enine for sale as well so that was what he ended up with.there was another Levin meeting coming up ,so with Dave having completed the purchase we decided to travel down to Levin via Palmerston North and drag it home by A frame behind my 39 Chev coupe ,we travelled down after work on the Thursday night arriving at day light on the Friday morning,slept in the car outside the wreckers until he opened up.They had already removed the Humber engine and gearbox ,we then spent all day Friday shovelling the burnt remains of the seats,mats etc out of it ,on top of that some one had shovelled what seemed like a truck load of soil into it in a attempt to put the fire out ,by the end of the day we were finished ,somehow we managed to manhandle the Ford motor into the now empty passenger compartment and tie it in.We made arrangements with the wrecker guy to meet us back there on the Saturday night after we had been to Levin ,picked it up and travelled back home to Auckland on the Saturday night ,my coupe was modified with triple carbs ,so was more than up to the job of towing it but gas consumption was from memory about 4 to 5 miles per gallon .The car languished around home for a while with out any real progress as Dave had run out of funds ,I went off in a different direction as I got involved with some else for the forth coming season ,Dave eventually scraped enough together to get it up and running but it never really showed any promise and Dave eventually sold it on to Frank Radisich

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Wow, that is an amazing story Bob. Was the V8 a flathead or a Y block? So did Radisich ever race the car with the V8 or did he just put the Jag motor straight in?

Y block sorry meant to mention that it was basically stock with headers ,thats all the budget stretched to,I think the V8 blew up ,when Frank brought that car I think he ran his Zephyr motor in it then put the Jag motor in it,David will know

Re the Harrington Torana - the Auckland hot rodder came across the car in someone's backyard where the body was found to be quite rotten so the all the good panels were pulled off the car with an intention to one day do a recreation of the car. The owner of the panels is a saloon car fan and has really enjoyed the info and pics on here.

Thanks Greg, its a real shame the body couldn't be saved. That was a tough race car. Be great if the owner could join up here and post a few pics.

Yeah thats what my friend said. It was kept outside for a long period of time and was very rotten. However, the panels are in very good shape. I may try and catch up with him and see what pics he has of big banger saloons etc that could be posted on here.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bob homewood

When Frank brought that car I think he ran his Zephyr motor in it then put the Jag motor in it,David will know

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Yep. Ran an ex-Sprague Zephyr engine which blew up (where I was watching from) at Matamata in 1964. I grabbed a piston off the road as a souvenir and kept it for quite a while. The Jag engine went in for the next season

Thanks David,
Thats what I thought I rembered ,Frank used to be pretty impressive at the Chamberlain Road Hillclimb in that Zephyr ,I am actually doing some work on a Raymond Mays Zephyr motor in the next couple of months ,but I will save that for another story when it happens

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bob homewood

Y block sorry meant to mention that it was basically stock with headers ,thats all the budget stretched to,I think the V8 blew up ,when Frank brought that car I think he ran his Zephyr motor in it then put the Jag motor in it,David will know

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Bob, did Dave Jolly manage to purchase any speed equipment for the Ford Y? There wasn't a lot of aftermarket equipment made for those engines, they weren't very popular for any application, so would be interesting to know how he upped the power, or if he did up the power at all.

No from memory it was all just standard ,headers only ?,it was obviously not very quick ,but as I said the original concept of using the Chev engine I think would have given a different result especially if it had been up and running for the start of the season,I believe my original thinking using the Humber 80 would have worked ok as it had a reasonably rigid base to build on,wishbone suspension a huge step forward from the beam axles, etc of the coupes

One of those "what could have been" stories Bob. Even the standard Y in the small Humber bodyshell would have given good power to weight.

This beautiful MkI Escort twin-cam was raced during the 1970/71 New Zealand Saloon Car Championship season by Max Pennington. Magazine articles at the time said it was fitted with the wheels and twin-cam engine from Ken Smiths Lotus 41B. It was certainly a beautiful little car.

Pennington collided with the similar car of David Silcock at an event at Pukekohe that season, and later reappeared driving the ex Gary Sprague/Stan Baird Escort twin-cam. Was his own car too damaged to continue racing? Does anyone know what became of this car?

There is a Max Pennington who runs a car dealership in Taranaki, could this be the same person?

Attachment 453

Mike Feisst Photo

Yep thats the same Max Pennington, still doing a bit of racing/hillclimbing in a GTi Pulsar, hes the Holden dealer in New Plymouth. I bought a mini powered sportscar from New Plymouth a few years back and it had those Lotus magnesium wheels on it.... wonder if they are the same ones ??

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Steve Holmes

This beautiful MkI Escort twin-cam was raced during the 1970/71 New Zealand Saloon Car Championship season by Max Pennington. Magazine articles at the time said it was fitted with the wheels and twin-cam engine from Ken Smiths Lotus 41B. It was certainly a beautiful little car.

Pennington collided with the similar car of David Silcock at an event at Pukekohe that season, and later reappeared driving the ex Gary Sprague/Stan Baird Escort twin-cam. Was his own car too damaged to continue racing? Does anyone know what became of this car?

There is a Max Pennington who runs a car dealership in Taranaki, could this be the same person?

Attachment 453

Mike Feisst Photo

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Steve ,That is the same Max Pennington,at one stage Wayne Murdoch was perhaps living up in Taranaki with Max,they ran a Escort in one of the Heatway rallies together perhaps it was the 72 one which I did

Wow, could well be if the Escort was wrecked. I don't know how badly it was damaged in the crash, the other car involved was the Escort of Silcock, which Bob Homewood has just informed me he owned a couple of years later, so that one survived. Will need to dig further on this.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bob homewood

Steve ,That is the same Max Pennington,at one stage Wayne Murdoch was perhaps living up in Taranaki with Max,they ran a Escort in one of the Heatway rallies together perhaps it was the 72 one which I did

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Ah, was just replying to foggys post above when you also replied Bob. Thanks for clarifying that.

Recently I was looking though the entry list for the latest Manfield meeting and came across a Max Pennington driving a Nissan SKyline. Sounds like the same gentleman and he is still enjoying his racing. Maybe we can contact him and get him involved. Have just found his dealership 'Max Pennington's Auto City' and have sent off an email asking him if he was the driver of the Escort. Hopefully an answer soon.

Quote:

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Pennington collided with the similar car of David Silcock at an event at Pukekohe that season, and later reappeared driving the ex Gary Sprague/Stan Baird Escort twin-cam. Was his own car too damaged to continue racing? Does anyone know what became of this car?

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Pennington and Silcock tangled at Railway at the April Pukekohe meeting. Pennington had his car [the same one?] out at Bay Park in July, but didn't start after catching fire in practice. Stan Baird was also at this meeting, and continued to race [with the same car?] in the 1972 season

I have just got off the phone after talking to Max Pennington for some time. He still owns the Holden dealership but has retired and only goes in ocassionally. He is still racing and uses his Skyline (760 bhp) for tacmac sprints and rallies. He seems to love his racing and is keen to catch up with other historic racers.

The Escort was converted into a rally car and he and Wayne Murdoch wrote it off on the last day of the Heatway Rally. It went over a bank and impaled itself on a fence post. The body work was sold to Neil Cowley who was building up a speedway car and it raced for sometime. The engine and gearbox etc were sold to a person in Geraldine. Max can't remember the name at present but is going to look through his paperwork.

He is interested to know what happened to it all in the end.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kiwi285

I have just got off the phone after talking to Max Pewnnington for some time. He still owns the Holden dealership but has retired and only goes in ocassionally. He is still racing and uses his Skyline for tacmac sprints and rallies. He seems to love his racing and is keen to catch up with other historic racers. The Escort was converted into a rally car and he and Wayne Murdoch wrote it off on the last day of the Heatway Rally. It went over a bank and impaled itself on a fence post. The body work was sold to Neil Cowley who was building up a speedway car and it raced for sometime. The engine and gearbox etc were sold to a person in Geraldine. Max can't remember the name at present but is going to look through his paperwork. He is interested to know what happened to it all.

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Thanks for that ,that is what I thought I remembered happening to it,I will see if I can think of who the engine went to down that way ,Blair Paton ??

Nice piece of investigative work there Mike. Bit sad to learn the fate of the car, I was kind of hoping it was one of those cars pushed into someones shed and forgotten. But at least now we know the outcome. It was a very cool little car.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kiwi285

I have just got off the phone after talking to Max Pennington for some time. He still owns the Holden dealership but has retired and only goes in ocassionally. He is still racing and uses his Skyline for tacmac sprints and rallies. He seems to love his racing and is keen to catch up with other historic racers. The Escort was converted into a rally car and he and Wayne Murdoch wrote it off on the last day of the Heatway Rally. It went over a bank and impaled itself on a fence post. The body work was sold to Neil Cowley who was building up a speedway car and it raced for sometime. The engine and gearbox etc were sold to a person in Geraldine. Max can't remember the name at present but is going to look through his paperwork. He is interested to know what happened to it all in the end.

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The Neil Cowley speedway Escort.
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...e-mailview.jpg

Wow, so thats the same car then?

Back in the mid-70s, Bill Leckie built a Ford Capri for the ShellSport New Zealand Saloon Car Championship, 4.2 litre category. The Capri was built around McLaren M10 F5000 components, including fuel injected Chevy (which must have been sleeved), wheels, tyres, suspension and brakes. It ran a Ford top loader gearbox and (I think) an Atlas rear, or possibly a Ford 9".

It debuted for the 1975/66 season, painted red/white/blue and had heavily rolled wheelarch flares.

Attachment 473

For the 1976/77 it was repainted white, fitted with box flared guards, and sponsored by Sleepyhead beds. This season Leckie ran the full championship, finishing 2nd overall to Jack Nazer and 1st in the 4.2 class. Despite the Capri catching fire at Manfeild, where Leckie suffered severe burns, the car was rebuilt, and raced at Pukekohe a few weeks later driven by Jim Richards, who broke the outright saloon lap record, and beat Nazer to victory.

Following the '77 season, MANZ placed a 2 litre engine limit on the ShellSport championship, and effectively outlawed the V8 machines. Many cars were pushed into sheds, some ended up in the South Island in OSCA, but the Leckie Capri vanished.

I tried to trace its fate a couple of years ago when I phoned Bill Leckie about the car. He told me that because he was a young guy on a budget, and MANZ had just outlawed his race car, he couldn't afford to just park it up, as much as he would have liked to. He had to sell what he could from it to help fund his next project, a Mitsubishi Lancer for the new 2 litre ShellSport series.

All the McLaren F5000 equipment was sold off, and he said he swapped the Capri bodyshell with all the molds for a small block Chevy engine for his Bedford van to a guy out in Papatoetoe (Auckland) who ran a small backyard junkyard. The guy said he planned to rebuild the car for racing using his own running gear, but it seems the car never resurfaced.

Bill can't recall his name, or even where he was based exactly.

Does anyone know the fate of the Bill Leckie V8 Capri?

Attachment 474

Phil Robinson and Mike Feisst Photos.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Steve Holmes

Here is another shot of the Fuller/Brader Escort, supplied to me some time back by "faminz". Its taken at Bay Park, during the 1971/72 season, chasing Dennis Marwood (Camaro), Brian Foley (Alfa), Rod Coppins (Camaro), and leading John Riley (Mustang), etc.

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"Etc" in this case including Reg Cook, Dexter Dunlop and our own Bob Homewood...

PS: that Dulon Wildfire Escort of Max Pennington used to look VERY snappy, but as I recall used to have terminal understeer...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by GD66

PS: that Dulon Wildfire Escort of Max Pennington used to look VERY snappy, but as I recall used to have terminal understeer...

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Pretty impressive to remember that!