Denny Hulme Festival

[AMCO72]

In conjunction with the racing program at the festival there will be a display of some of Dennys cars, trucks, and boats that he owned throughout his life. Being a Mini man, Jim Barclay asked me if I could inspect the Mini that Denny owned, and that had been languishing in a barn near TePuke since 1989. Reports that he had indicated that the car might be past recovering, and that any attempt at removal would result in a large pile of rust sitting on the barn floor.

So having nothing better to do, and with time on my hands since I had stopped writing 'drivel' for the RS, my Wife Judith and I headed off to Kiwi fruit country to inspect the remains. What we discovered wasnt nearly as bad as was portrayed. In fact there was no VISABLE rust, but plenty of suface rust underneath. Even the floors were in tact.....a bit of a surprise as these parts seem to be very vulnerable in all Minis.

The whole car was very scruffy and was surounded by the usual detritus that collects on a farm and that needs storage. Needless to say the tyres were flat and attempts to push the car were not successful. Everything seemed to be seized, or corroded, but I decided nothing ventured, nothing gained, and made an appointment with Anita,Dennys sister to come back with trailer, tools, CRC, towrope, jacks, and drag the car out, and load on the trailer for the trip back to Cambridge. We had plenty of help on the day with Anitas son and her ex husband, Murray, on whos farm the vehicle was located.

While all this was going on Judith had a long and very interesting chat with Anita, and we found out allsorts of interesting things about Denny and the early days. I think Anita was a bit suspicious of us for a start, and it was only the fact that Jim Barclay had assured her that we were not going to rip her off or steal the car, and she warmed to us and our project........which was to present the car in barnfind condition for display at the festival.

The picture that I hope has come through, is of the car as it arrived in my motor-house after it's initial steam-clean.
I will continue this narrative with other pictures, and a history of the car as we know it.

[Oldfart]

Welcome bak Kotter, whoops Gerald, Look forward to your lierary stuff, just don't wind Jim up so much that he hijacks this thread with Jag stuff too

[AMCO72]

OK, on with the story. The Austin Mini 850 was purchased in september 1960 by Denny. With Denny at the time was George Lawton, also on the driver to Europe scheme, and he purchased an identical car. The pair used to zoom round London and it's environs, and knowing both these drivers to be 'lead-foot larrys', have no doubt that they terrorised the neighbourhoods where-ever they went. Anita, Dennys sister, thinks that Denny may have got a loan from his Father, Clive, to buy the car, in any case they clocked up some miles over in the UK, with Anita doing driving duties at times!!

The car came back to NZ when Denny returned. There doesnt seem to be a record of what happened to Georges car, but was sold before he died. Denny bought the Mini back to the farm in TePuke and eventually sold/gave it to his brother in law, Murray, Anitas husband. He kept it, replacing the engine at some stage, till he passed it on to his son Paul in 1984. Between these two the car underwent a few 'modifications' to make it more suitable for rallying.....extra lights, oil pressure gauge, vacuum gauge, flash wheel trims, Cooper grill and speedo, and just the latest high-back seats from a Japanese van. Not sure how much 'rallying' was done, but a good bit of thrashing round the farm was in order.....hence the very noisy gearbox it has today.

Eventually it was parked in the barn in 1989, this date coinciding with Anitas divorce from Murray. The boys meantime had used the passenger seat for a gocart, which they eventually tired of and the remains went to the tip......so the only front seat left is the tatty drivers seat, the one that Dennys bum sat in!!!!

The interior of the car was in very poor condition, with A1 Axminster carpet replacing the thin original, and also used as door linings.......CHOICE. It's a shame that the front seat has dissappeared, even though it was scruffy, as to find an early replacement in red with silver brocade today is nigh-on impossible. For the festival I have installed a couple of seats from a Riley Elf which look ok but are not correct.

The task of getting the thing to go was a major, and I wont bore you with the details. Suffice to say that everything needed complete dismantling, cleaning and freeing with a couple of gallons of WD40 used. Sometimes resorting to the BIG hammer was necessary, but in the end everything now works, sort of, and I have been for a drive out in the country behind Cambridge.......because I couldn't resist it!!!!!!!!!!
Fortunately the 'law' was asleep that evening and I escaped a jail sentence.I dont think the cop would have been impressed by the fact that the car used to belong to one, Denis Hulme.....NZ's only world champion F1 driver........'who do you think you are Sir, Stirling Moss. Well no, actually Denis Hulme. Yeh right!

I have spent a good few hours trying to get some gleam into the paintwork. Unfortuately the body has been repainted at some stage, rather poorly I'm afraid. I am only trying to get it into respectable condition, because I think Denny would appreciate the effort, and the public will see a tidy little car, instead of an old clunker and perhaps wouldn't have inspected it as closely as they might. Having said that, Greeta told me that at one stage after their split-up, Denis had told her to 'dig a big hole and bury the bloody thing'. not a very sentimental man I dont think.

The question now is what happens to the car after the festival. I have tried to convince Anita that they should sell it after its exposure at the festival. Unfortunately I think they have an unrealistic idea of it's value, so I fear it will end up back in the barn, to 'rust in piece'...........

The car will be on display over the two weekends of the festival, and Anita and myself are going to drive it round the track during the lunchtime demonstrations.......cant wait.

[Shano]

Great stuff, looking forward to seeing more.

[Oldfart]

We can't wait either. Well done all, The Bear will be grinning, I think.

[Jerry Entin]

Denis and his beloved son Martin and Beautiful wife Greeta in much happier times.
AMCO: Thank you very much for getting Dennys mini out of that barn. We have Anita and her family to thank for holding on to it all these years.
photo: Gary Knutson collection

[Steve Holmes]

Wow, Gerald, what an amazing thread, and an incredible story! And good for you dragging that car out of the barn and cleaning it up, and getting it running again. Fantastic! You say the car returned back to NZ with Denny, was this when he retired from F1, or on one of his annual trips home with the Tasman series? If the car stayed with him until 1974, its in pretty amazing condition considering the harsher conditions in Britain, and salted roads. And if he kept it for that long, you'd think there must have been some sentimental value in it, you'd assume he would have had several cars in the interim.

[Steve Holmes]

Denis and his beloved son Martin and Beautiful wife Greeta in much happier times.
AMCO: Thank you very much for getting Dennys mini out of that barn. We have Anita and her family to thank for holding on to it all these years.
photo: Gary Knutson collection

Again Jerry, beautiful photo! Thanks for posting this.

[Kiwiboss]

Gerald, good to see you have entered the AMCO Mini in the DH Festival, just keep Angus out of it please, took me 3 laps to catch him last time!!LOL

Dale M

[GD66]

Greeta told me that at one stage after their split-up, Denis had told her to 'dig a big hole and bury the bloody thing'. not a very sentimental man I dont think.

Maybe not, Gerald, but you have to consider that after the tragedy of losing Martin, Denny fell deeply into depression and struggled to keep things together, making several life choices along the way he may well not otherwise have made. Denny and Martin were very close, and made good friends among the motorcycle community as they rode enduros together for a few seasons. So the offer to "bury the bloody thing" may have been made from a dark place.
Having said that, it's great to see what you're doing with the Mini, and I'm sure it will be a thoughtful addition to what promises to be a stirring weekend, well done.

[AMCO72]

Steve........the car is in far too good a shape to have spent much time in the UK. I suspect that Denny bought it back to NZ when he returned after that season racing. Minis are notoriously bad at rotting in the UK, you only have to look at the 'Mini Forum' to see what piles of junk/rust that the UK restorers take on.

I havent got the full story on the car.....memories fade pretty quickly over the years, especially when family matters intervene, but I think Denny sold/gave the car to his brother in law fairly soon after bringing it back, and moved into more 'sporting' machinery. Murray then sold/gave it to his son Paul in 1984, at which stage it was re-registered with the current rego....LL7676, which is a 1984 plate. It could well have been sitting for a while with a dead rego until Paul,then 16, took it over, and the modifications began.

The engine replacement happened sometime during Murrays ownership. The engine was removed from a Mini that had crashed, fatally outside the farm gate. It had apparantly been been reconditioned. It certainly runs very sweetly today, although the gearbox is very noisy. When I first started it up after 25 years of idleness, I expected there would be clouds of smoke and ominous noises issuing from the engine, but no. I had freed up the valves and filled the bores with WD40, then just turned the engine over with the starter motor to free things up. Amazingly, after stripping and cleaning the distributor, and carburettor, and with new plugs, it fired up quite rapidly, and showed 65lbs oil pressure.

As I said in a previous post, Greeta had said that Denny wanted the car buried, so there was not too much sentiment involved.
The family isnt really interested in the car now, and that is why I suggested to Anita that they consider selling it, otherwise I can see a trip back to TePuke, for the car to be parked up for the duration. A bit sad really now that it is running again. There again what price do you put on a vehicle that Denni Hulme owned. If it had been a Cooper or a Cooper S for instance, and Denny had competed in it, the situation would be quite different. I think Greeta was quite surprised that we wanted it for the festival......'What do you want that old heap of junk for'????
It needs to go to a genuine enthusiast/collector. Maybe left in its current barnfind condition, or sympathetically restored. It is hard to put a realistic figure on such a car, but I would have thought $3000 would be plenty, but I could be miles away. The other problem is that there is no docmentary evidence that the car was once Dennys. I know it is, and of course so does the family. It is a one family owned car. However down the track a bit, whos to say this is correct.....wheres the proof. I have contacted the registration dept and have been told that all records prior ot 1996 have been destroyed, so thats it.......bloody vandals!!!!!

[AMCO72]

Half the trouble here is that no one seems to know who actually owns the car. There was some 'discussion' on the day we picked it up between Anita and Murray.......Murray is sure that he is the registered owner, and Anita is equally sure that their son Paul is the registered owner.......one of the reasons I contacted the rego dept to clarrify the situation. Murray was getting all keen on the car again after we dragged it out of the shed, and indicated that he would like to drive it again. He was promptly shot down by Anita and told 'not to be a silly old fool' !!!!!!!! Frankly, Murray is an old man, recovering from cancer, and in my opinion is not fit to get behind the wheel of a crappy old Mini again....One gets used to modern brakes, clutches, gearboxes and steering, and driving one of these things again is a bit of a shock. When I took it for a 'spin' around the back roads of Cambridge, I couldnt believe how gutless it was, and how it wandered all over the road with its funny little crossply tyres, and I am sort of used to these old English jalopies.
Ah well, I suppose we can dream.....

[Steve Holmes]

Thanks Gerald, is there no paperwork at all for the car? As you say, thats what any potential buyer would want it for, and that dictates its value. I think it needs to be in a museum.

[Oldfart]

Gerald, you are such a fan of these things. How can you say I couldnt believe how gutless it was, and how it wandered all over the road with its funny little crossply tyres, and I am sort of used to these old English jalopies.

[Oldfart]

This appeared today on Facebook. As Dick said "don't know where it came from" would this not be a fantastic signature photo for the Festival?

[ERC]

That is because the difference between a 1300 "S" and what I presume is an 850, is indeed such that the 850 is gutless...

Driving a Mini back in 1959 it was probably a rocket then, compared to cars that made an appearance at the same time, namely the Triumph Herald and the Ford Anglia.

[AMCO72]

Well I can tell you it is light years away from my MG 1100, a car designed by the same Guy at around the same time..... oh allright a couple of years later, but the difference in EVERYTHING is amazing. I would quite happily jump into the 1100 and drive to Wellington tonite, but I would think twice before driving to Tokoroa in the Mini.....to see Jim of course!!!!!!! And actually my Mum had a Triumph Herald coup which I thought was pretty damn good. Cant comment on the Anglia, but these two cars, Mini and Anglia changed the face of motoracing for ever.

[AMCO72]

Ok, back on track. Of everything that was seized/rusted on the car the brakes provided the biggest challenge. Why, because I couldnt get the bloody wheels off. Car was up on stands, out came the wheel wrench, but when applied to the nut it turned but didnt unscrew. The nuts were so rusted onto the studs that it was the stud that was turning. What now. I could have taken the hub nut off and pulled the whole wheel/drum/hub off in one go, but getting at the split-pin etc with the wheel in place was a mission, and the brake shoes may have got in the way. I then tried my rattle gun on full power to see if I could trick the nut into undoing......but no, all that happened was the stud reamed out the hole in the hub even more making everything really loose!!
Eventually what I did was to get my small right-angle grinder with a very fine cutting disc on and cut a slot into the end of the stud into which I could tap a decent screwdiver, which I held with vise-grips while working the nut back and forward with copious amounts of WD40 squirted around......like a one-armed-paper hanger.
Victory......needless to say I lubricated everything before reassembly so the next person to remove the wheel will have a fair go, and be able to use the slots if necessary. Not me.
I tell you, Ive lost a bit of sweat over this machine, hope it is all worth it.

[GD66]

This appeared today on Facebook. As Dick said "don't know where it came from" would this not be a fantastic signature photo for the Festival?

That'll be the BT23 Denny drove in the 1968 NZGP, until the extremely unfortunate Brownlie crash.

[John H]

That'll be the BT23 Denny drove in the 1968 NZGP, until the extremely unfortunate Brownlie crash.

Yes it is Puke 1968. I was standing on the railway as he thumped his front wheel into Brownlie coming into the corner. Never been sure if he was trying to boot him out of the way (he had been shaking his fist at Brownlie) or Brownlie shut the gate on him...but I have a very clear memory of the body panels wheels and dirt etc flying into the air further down the straight. They could both have been killed as there was still power poles on the back straight. Hulme looked very pale as he was walked to the ambulence. A very big day. Just like it was yesterday...