Historic Sport Sedans

[Steve Holmes]

What would be better for the sake of "parity", the "Nascar" engine in the Merc or the original Twin turbo power plant which would be a damn side quicker. If I was able to get home and see this event I would not care what the engine was, I would just be happy to see the car.
I did not think there were any cattle stations on offer at this event so what does principles have to do with the speed you are prepared to drive your car at. The public are not idiots, 99% know that the cars are from different eras and don't care. They just want to see and hear the cars.
It all seems a bit silly to me but what do I know.
Regards
Tony

I think the twin-turbo motor was good for around 800 - 900hp back in the mid-1980s wasn't it Tony? That was an immensely powerful car for the time. I recall reading somewhere about how it was entered in the Sandown round of the World Sportscar Championship, the Porsche 956 drivers were quite astonished as it was actually pulling away from them on the main straight! Of course, that was only in practice, the car didn't last long enough to still be working for the race. And that was its biggest problem, and the reason why the small block Chevy was put back in it.

So even if it did still have the twin-turbo motor, the speed difference wouldn't be an issue at the Festival, as it would last two laps and stop.

[Steve Holmes]

Dad found the photo he took of Barry standing with his car at Pukekohe. We have it dated as 9 October 1988, I was 11 then.

We would have driven out to watch the days' racing in Dad's 1967 MK 2 Cortina, white with red vinyl interior, bench seat, and 4 on the tree. I used to love going to the race track with Dad in his Cortina, which he'd rebuilt and painted at home, a trend that has continued with all of our old cars right up to this day. Dad kept that car immaculate, as he does all his cars. Ah the memories of the good old days, and I'm only 36!!!!

Thanks for the update John on Barry's progress, and I hope others are having success with their preparations. I think this class will be the spectacle of the event and create a lot of excitement.

This is a fantastic photo!

[RacerT]

Email from George

'No I wont be taking the siddy to the festival as I don’t want to wipe away the hard fought achievements of this old racecar by cars like the Mercedes that look like they were from the same era but in fact have an 850hp nascar engine in them that lap HD 7 seconds a lap faster than the likes of my poor old car.

I don’t have a problem with any period correct car blowing the doors off the old girl as that is just how it was. Don’t get me wrong but I do hope that the allcomers race at the Festival does bring out some more true Sports Sedans although I have my doubts after my experience, but then you do get a lot of people that will run their cars when there is a large audience to watch. I will still be a runner in something like the defunct NZHSS if there ever is enough cars but for the meantime she can just sit in the garage.

Also, I don’t do show and shine as I am a racer and prefer to be on track with the cars going as hard as I can with my cars without damaging them. So it wasn’t something I liked doing when I took the siddy to those shows to try to help get that series going. But anyway I hope you have an enjoyable day there, but I wont be going at all because of course I would be pissed off that I wasn’t running. Sorry to disappoint you but I am a man of principle and don’t hesitate to back them up.'

George

I just spoke to Roger to find out all the facts on the Mercedes Coupe. It is a 362 cubic inch, 5937cc Chev V8. Not a NASCAR engine!
Roger revs it to 7,500 and makes just over 660 bhp. He has recently replaced the electronic fuel injection with the original Lucas McKay mechanical setup to make it period correct and said it has the bonus of running a lot better!

The car sports the original brakes and Hewland LG600 5 speed gearbox.

George needs to remember that the Sidchrome Mustang was an early 70’s car and the Thompson Mercedes Coupe was a winning car in the 1980’s, so he shouldn't be embarrassed by the speed difference. Roger is also a very experienced and fast driver of big banger Can-AM and F5000 cars, having won races in the USA, so will always be the man to beat. But we must always keep in mind that this series is not about winning, it's about being there and people would like to see the Sidchrome Mustang at the Festival.
Merry Christmas to All.

[John McKechnie]

Thank you Tony for this.
In the public interest and fairness, I have allowed both sides to be presented
There are no NASCAR engines in our class.
This subject is now closed.

[Rod Grimwood]

Thank you Tony for this.
In the public interest and fairness, I have allowed both sides to be presented
There are no NASCAR engines in our class.
This subject is now closed.

Some engines get quoted as things they are not. This is something that can be sorted when there are 40 'classic' cars on the grid, until then, Don't forget the chilly bin for later guy's.

Been fairly busy but keeping an eye on whats happening. as said before, Roger does mileage and the car is awesome as it always was in it's hay day.

[ERC]

Sent the money today John. Use however you think fit. Two transactions as discussed.

When chatting to John at the TACCOC meeting, I offered him the use of our AES Series BBQ, which resides in my apartment garage at HD, for the use of this group (and maybe HMC as they seem to be overlapping groups!).

Sorry, I am not in a position to be able to transport it to the paddock myself nor cook for you. So, if someone can get in touch with me or through John (who will have his hands full) and sort out moving it to and from the paddock, checking all is OK and sorting out supplies, it may prove to be a useful congregation point. There is certainly some gas in the bottle, but not sure how much. You'll need your own oil, ketchup, mustard, salt tongs etc., and some means of cleaning it of course.

It can always be stored in someone else's garage at the conclusion of the Festival - or maybe if you speak to Tony Roberts nicely, he may be able to sort it, as his garage almost backs on to mine.

Equally, as I only have one car in my garage at the moment, there is space for another if required, but again, I'll let John decide that, but I only have one garage door zapper and I'll need that.

I'm planning to be there for the first Friday at least.

[John McKechnie]

just posting a couple of stories for those who have a life away from reality-

Only thing that comes to mind storywise right now, is one time I met Dave Algie at LAX on his way back to NZ to run the
Monza over the new year meetings He had a bunch of parts and some tires also from memory He got a right prick
customs man, and was severely grilled and they kept most of his parts at the airport pending payment of a decent sum
of money After a week or two, they were able to get access to it at the airport customs, so they swapped all the good
parts for old junk parts and tires, and just never paid the duty or ever claimed it- Anon

[John McKechnie]

And another-

John

In Reading that story you wrote about the Algie journey across Canada etc, it reminds me of a time in late ’85, when Ian and I went
to the end of season IMSA event at Daytona in December Of course the main reason for the trip was to bring back a bunch of
Chevy engine parts and other Sport Sedan items, like wheels etc Barry needed a pair of new heads for the Monaro, for which we
took an old pair of ‘smog’ type mid 70’s heads with the appropriate bowtie head part numbers stamped into them I think there was
also a crankshaft and a carb’ on the list as well, with the necessary part numbers stamped on

When we arrived at LAX, we claimed our bags and all the old parts, and with them now having served their purpose, they were
dumped in the nearest trash bin at the exit of the terminal As we had a bit of time up our sleeve, we decided to wait for the
rubbish man, who looked very much like Mr Obama, who was several bins further down the terminal, to get to the bin with all
the discarded cast iron We figured it was worth watching the reaction to getting a thin plastic bag containing 100 + lbs of
cast iron out of the bin and into a rubbish cart Alas he was too slow and we ran out of time, so we never did see, but it
was well worth a laugh

Of course a couple of weeks later we cruised into Mangere with all the ‘reconditioned ‘ parts with the appropriate paperwork
and after the mandatory grilling and bullshit session with some customs Hitler, set off for home

Obtaining parts today is a breeze in comparison


merry Xmas everyone!!!!!!

[Rod Grimwood]

This is a few words that Roger Davis put together about the life of his Torana Sports Sedan.

* (I (Grimme) have added a little from my memory banks from back then. (in brackets with *)

Hi John

Basically it came about like this.

Dad (Syd) and I were doing a bit with a Torana XU1 and the time came to move to something better. The Ex Coppins Richards L34 came up for sale, and we all-but brought it, but for some confusion over ownership.

So plan B, We will build something ourselves !

This is around late 1985 and Commodores etc were too new and out of the question.

The car we brought was a 1976 Torana, one owner 4 cylinder, and quite a nice car.

We brought an ex post office Bedford truck that had been repowered with a 308. Kept the 308, and sold off the truck.

We weren't "Rolling in cash" but my family had a transport engineering business, so we did have a bit of gear and shop space.

We brought a smashed 6 wheeler Fiat truck , raided that for parts and wrecked for more funds .

The 308 didn't reach the car, as a 350 Chev was a cheaper option, so chev it was. 308 Gone !!

We picked a Muncie and also brought the whole rear end from John Windelburns trans am.

*(This from an email from John Windleburn.)*

*(Yes that 9" that we sold to the Davis lads It was a Lincoln diff that came from Garth Hogan from memory, and Pete Lodge narrowed it up a bit. Can't remember where the LSD centre came from, or the CW&P, but possibly from Warren Arthur. Peter Bruin made the Watts Linkage setup for it and the suspension links I think Roger Davis took all that as well)*

The engine was moved back, had some mild mods done to it and away we went.

Basically it was a big family effort to build this thing and we first had a run in late 1986.

*(This is when I and the other Sports Sedans boy's meet Roger and the family. If I remember right it was at Taupo. What I do remember is seeing this nice looking red Torana being towed into the pit area and the boys all looking and commenting how good it looked. We wandered over in time and introduced ourselves and chatted about the car. One thing I do remember is the whole family being there and helping out. Roger, Dad (Syd, now there is another story for a rainy day) his mum and brothers (one who would later race a quick Toyota) The car then had flares, spoiler etc and sounded the part. watched Roger in practice and he drove real well, always was a tidy driver.)*

We ran club stuff, and Sports Sedan stuff normally toward back of the field. But who cares, because the front end of the field was made up with the likes of Crowe, Huxford, Osborne. The Alfetta, and the likes, so it was a buzz to be on the same bill as those blokes. bearing in mind the year before I was a sitting in the stands with my school mates.

*(I enjoyed when Roger ran back in fields as we could play, this did not last long as these guy's were always improving the car with new suspension mods and bits and they moved up with big boys. These people did it right, crawled, walked and then ran. And as a family group.)*

We ran at the support races for the Nissan Mobil 500 and the Grand Prix when that was all the rage

*(About this time it grew a rear wing)*

Pretty much ran on and off through until 1991. when we could afford it, and quietly did our own thing around mid field.

*(1991: This was when I and family shifted to Bay of Islands to live and run our business. Sadly just before we shifted I had blown the motor in my little Escort at Pukekohe on the kink in back straight, with a rod bolt shooting out the side and clouting Ian Algie on the foot as he stood beside the Alfetta which had stopped the lap before, he came into pits and gave it to me and asked what the engine looked like, as we had just arrived back we lifted the bonnet and there were 2- 1 litre Fords hanging in there, sadly this spelled the end for a long time as business, family etc took over. I would still travel down and watch the meetings and was always impressed how the Torana got a little quicker each time.)*

As with everybody else we were constantly chopping and changing.

1991 I went off the road in it whist doing the Heads Rd Hill Climb (Dad did the same thing about 15 years later in his Porsche. So that's a 100% DNF crash result at that event to date)

That necessitated a big rebuild, and it did not turn a wheel again until around 1996. We ran Kiwi Sports Sedans predominantly at Taupo and Manfield until 2002 We did have the Taupo lap record for that class for quite a few years, so that was pretty cool , because there were a few hot shoes running around down there at the time.

2002 it was parked up.. Its not restored as you will see, and still has all the stone chips and scrapes.

Pretty much just changed all the fluids

Now 25 years after getting blown away buy these gents, I might finally be able to make amends. I'm a generation behind, age wise so must surly be able to keep up with these pensioners.

We are pretty much ready to run at the festival, just rewiring the old girl and a new MSD to cure the fails from that first meeting

Im keen as hell to see that Monaro run again, I will likly have some free days during the holiday period, Happy to swing a spanner if you guys start to run out of time

Cheers

Roger Davis



*(I had bumped into Roger and Syd at some meetings at Hampton Downs over the last 3 odd years as they kept themselves busy in their Porsche's. The first Sports Sedan meeting a couple of months back was the first time I had seen the car and it looked good. All new front suspension configuration from last time I had a good look, and trick bit of gear, (have a look when you can). These guy's are what Sports Sedans and motorsport are about, they have a go, they talk, they listen, and they produce, but most of all they enjoy what they are doing.

Mr Addis, Williams, Algie, Burr, Jack and others, don't drop the ball or he will have ya.

Welcome back Team Davis and that beautiful Red Torana)*

[John McKechnie]

Thanks Rod- now here, folks is one about our Grimmie-
Barry was driving out to Puke with the race car on the flat deck of the Ford truck he was driving.
At the township, he was running late and failed to give way to a cop.
He kept going all the way to the track , cop behind, lights and siren going.
On arrival he started off loading the race car, with the cop doing his job to Barry
Rod walks up to the cop car and says to the cop- Youre running late mate, you need to do your entry and put some numbers on the car.
Any more to add on this story Rod?

[Rod Grimwood]

Thanks Rod- now here, folks is one about our Grimmie-
Barry was driving out to Puke with the race car on the flat deck of the Ford truck he was driving.
At the township, he was running late and failed to give way to a cop.
He kept going all the way to the track , cop behind, lights and siren going.
On arrival he started off loading the race car, with the cop doing his job to Barry
Rod walks up to the cop car and says to the cop- Youre running late mate, you need to do your entry and put some numbers on the car.
Any more to add on this story Rod?

Yes, remember that. He was a fairly important looking type and just stood there and looked at me. I smiled and said basically 'loosen up mate only a little joke' but he wasn't in a joking mood. At least it gave Barry something to smile about.
Must admit, we did all have a chuckle when we heard this siren and looked up the entrance and the truck with big car on back trundling down the hill with cop car following. Think I was standing with Tony Rutherford and my crew and we all joked to the tune of 'shit didn't know Algie was that important that he got a police guard to the track'
As we discussed later, Barry was hard of hearing.

Ahh good harmless fun John, did make us all keep an eye out on way out of town later though.

[John McKechnie]

Calling for assistance here- Barry Algie is making a new front for the Monaro off the mould.
The first effort was unsuccessful owing to wrong information on the epoxy mix.
If anyone is a competent fibreglass mat and epoxy user and has some time, it would help Barrys schedule- especially after losing several days.
Barry is in Remuera, no contact number, but please pm me with your number if you can spare the time.
At the moment I would say this weekend , he is chasing more material at the moment.
His radiator is made, the guys at NSA helped him with the welding of the end tanks, now he doing the ducts and, get this- making his own dizzy rotor as the original is lost and replacement cant be identified.

[John McKechnie]

Roger Davis has very kindly stepped in and has someone organized for this, will post pics as they come through

[Habu]

Nice photo of Barry's Monaro. That's my older brother standing at the rear of the car wearing the glasses with his arms folded. It would have been one of a handful of times he helped Barry with this car. I was also there that day. We couldn't believe Barry raced his car wearing "Nomad" crepe soled shoes - how many people remember those! If you look closely you can see them in this photo. When the car ran, it sounded fantastic

[John McKechnie]

Habu- just found your post from 2012-
[QUOTE=Steve Holmes;20127]I'm really enjoying these Ray, just fantastic! That shot of the Algie Alfetta is brilliant. Those pieces of wood being used as a ramp look slightly perilous.

Yikes - look how young Barry is, standing next to the car!!!
The ramps were dodgy alright - probably the same ones i saw collapse as they unloaded Barry's Monaro off the Ford/Dodge transporter about 5 years later !
Another one from Ray also 2012-
The Ian Algie GTV blew me away when I first came to NZ. Now safely in the hands of Gordon Burr so we have seen it out at Hampton Downs. I hope some of the other wilder cars are seen out again.
Am getting Ray to post this pic here from another thread.

[ERC]

I dated these two pics as the same day, but it appears now that there are differences so I suspect the action shot was taken later than the paddock shot. I'll need to go through my original negatives to find the truth!





January 16th 2010

[AMCO72]

Habu.........'brothel creepers'......the shoes that is. Used to be all the go.

[kiwi285]

All of us would have had at least one pair of brothel creepers in our wardrobes.

[Rod Grimwood]

All of us would have had at least one pair of brothel creepers in our wardrobes.

Mike, I don't know what you mean. I know what shoes and a wardrobe are, but whats a brothel.

[Frosty5]

Mike, I don't know what you mean. I know what shoes and a wardrobe are, but whats a brothel.

Come on Rod, didn't you ever have broth as a kid and it was as hot as 'el