A few articles of potential interest to you I’ve written in the December issue of MotorSport, October’s The Automobile and issue #1873 November 2-15 of Auto Action.
The MotorSport piece is about the long-forgotten Aston Martin DP155 Grand Prix car which really only drew blood during the 1956 New Zealand Internationals driven by Reg Parnell, as above at Wigram. It was potentially a ‘series winner’ too – there was no Tasman Cup at that stage – powered by Feltham’s supercharged DB3S six, but events conspired to thwart that. It’s in the shops in the UK now, in Australia in two months, or see here; https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/archive/issues/december-2023/
Ian Cook with a touch of the opposites, Argo Chev, Calder 1967 (oldracephotos.com via Osborne Collection)
Melbourne racers Tony Osborne and Ray Gibbs did-a-Penske and turned their outdated ex-Jack Brabham Cooper T53 Climax GP car into the muscular Argo Chev V8 sportscar, now owned by Melbourne’s Peter Brennan. But what should have taken three months or so took three years, so by 1967 it was a tad off the pace. Still, Ian Cook and Peter Macrow showed their prowess and that of the car throughout 1967-68. The transmogrification of Cooper to Argo, and decades later, to Argo…and Cooper is an interesting story. In the shops in Australia at present, or click here; https://autoaction.com.au/issues/auto-action-1873
Altas 21S and 55S at rest in March, Launching Place, Victoria (M Bisset)
Regular readers will know that ‘Tiger Ted’ Gray and his Alta Ford V8 and Tornado Ford/Chev V8 1940-50s exploits are close to my heart. The story is about this Alta – the 1100cc, supercharged 21S – and its sibling 2-litre supercharged 55S, which were both raced, then restored by Melbourne artisan/racer Graeme Lowe and are now owned by Melbourne’s Murdoch family. Driving impressions too. It’s just left the shops in the UK and in-store in Australia soon, or click here; https://www.theautomobile.co.uk/october-2023-issue/
Osborne Family Collection-oldracingcars.com, Benzina Magazine and David Hewison, Norman Howard
Tailpieces…
(David Hewison)
Storming through the countryside near Gladysdale, Victoria in Alta 21S pretending to be MI5 Spook Alan Sinclair at Lobethal, in the Adelaide Hills, January 1938 (below)…just love that car and its history, lucky Fiona Murdoch!
From the front, Types 30, 37A, 23 and 44 by two (G Murdoch)
Castlemaine, a Victorian Gold Rush town 120km to Melbourne’s north-west was home to the Victorian members of the Bugatti Owners Club of Australia, Spring Rally.
Event El Supremo Roger Cameron made a great choice of event base, there are some superb roads in the area. The town itself has some wonderful, majestic buildings as befits its status one of the boom-towns within the Golden Triangle, the area bounded by Avoca-Castlemaine-Wedderburn. 1,898,391kg of gold was mined in Victoria between 1851-1896, a few bucks-worth in today’s values.
More than a few examples of early Australian automotive exotica was acquired with gold-wealth, not least Bugattis.
Inglewood. Jim Thompson’s ex-Molina Brescia in the foreground, over the road, Type 44, 3/5-litre Bentley and T35B Pursang at right (M Bisset)Likely Lads: Messrs, Stanley, Thompson, Berryman at rear, and Montgomery, at Inglewood (M Bisset)Roger Cameron aboard his Type 44 on Saturday morning, by mid-afternoon the look of delight had changed to one of concern with maladies which transpired to be a broken brake-shoe spring (M Bisset)
Given the People’s Republic of Victoria’s title as the most Covid 19 locked-up-joint-on-the-planet, it was no surprise to see plenty of Victorian clubbies celebrate freedoms recently returned to us by the talented ruling duumvirate of Scotty-Bro and The Allstars, and Dan The Dastardly. Victoria’s weather can be capricious, but sunny, blue skies prevailed for most of the three days. In short, the planets were aligned for a wonderful weekend of motoring on great roads, albeit many of them are sadly in need of decent maintenance.
The line-up included three Brescia Type 23s, two Grand Prix cars – Types 37A and 35B Pursang – and an interesting mix of two and three-litre eight-cylinder un-supercharged tourers; Types 30 and 44. John Shellard’s Type 57 two-seater Corsica replica body machine is impressive – straight-eight 3-litre DOHC non-supercharged – a car I don’t recall seeing before. Co-stars comprised an interesting mix including two 5-litre’ised 3-litre Bentleys, a Lancia Fulvia 1.3S Zagato, MGA, Porsche 992/911 and my buddy, Bob King’s AC Ace-Bristol.
Avoca Hotel vista with the Shellard T57, and Murdoch and Thompson Brescias up front (M Bisset)Saffs in Castlemaine, very good too (M Bisset)Inglewood. Anderson T44, Montgomery Bentley and Schudmak T35B (M Bisset)
Starting point was the Woodlands Historic Park at Oaklands Junction (adjoining Melbourne Airport at Tullamarine) and then to Lancefield via Romsey.
The post-lunch session was some magnificent roads from Lancefield to Castlemaine. Immediately after clearing Lancefield we headed north west on the Burke and Wills Track, which is great but gets rutted and shitful towards Mia Mia. Then a respectful stop at Spring Plains, the site of the first flight – seven metres – by John Duigan aboard an Australian designed and built aeroplane on July 16,1910. Click here for more; John and Reginald Duigan, Australian aviation pioneers (monash.edu.au)
Electrical and motor engineer, John Duigan mid-flight on the family farm, Spring Plains, Mia Mia circa 1910. Self constructed – of wood, metal and Dunlop rubber coated cotton fabric – pusher type single-seat biplane with a moving foreplane elevator and light undercarriage. Power by a JE Tilley (Melbourne) 25hp vertical four stroke, four cylinder OHV engine, with drive to the four-blade 2.6-metre prop by chain. 9.27-metres long, wingspan 7.47-metres, weight including pilot 280kg, maximum speed 40mph in sustained flights at heights of 30-metres (Museums Victoria)Cameron T44 detail. Nice (M Bisset)The only one owner early Bugatti in the world? The late Dr Noel Murdoch famously did his 1920s rounds at his country, Yarra Junction practice in a Fiat 501 and this T44 – which is still a treasured family member nearly a century later. That’s the Anderson T44 opposite (M Bisset)
Then on to Redesdale, Sutton Grange, Faraday and into Castlemaine via Chewton on its eastern outskirts.
French mistresses are notoriously fickle, high maintenance critters so it was no surprise that one or two of the breed required the care of tender, loving, expert hands before dinner.
Grant Cowie’s Up The Creek (ya gotta hand it to a Kiwi with a sense of humour) enterprise – one of Australia’s acknowledged fettlers of fine pre-war marques, Bugatti included – is in Castlemaine and was called upon once or twice to assist in keeping Ettore’s finest behaving to the manor born.
A quirk of automotive history is that the hot-rod capital of Victoria (Australia?) is Castlemaine and its surrounds. As restoration of fine cars grew exponentially in the 1970s, many specialist body and engine builders, woodworkers and others located in the area to draw upon the technical skills, foundries and jobbing shops which had progressively grown earlier.
While being a treacle-beak at Grant Cowie’s, Bob King spotted David Reidie, formerly proprietor of the Harley City, and a recently minted Bugatti owner (King’s 35B Rep). He showed us through his amazing museum of 125 or so historic, mainly competition Harley Davidsons. Reidie is still working out how often to open to the punters, but it’s complete, ready to rock-and-roll, and will be a must-see even for those not particularly interested in ‘bikes.
Min Innes-Irons T23 Brescia in Clunes (M Bisset)Schudmak T35B and Shellard T57, Clunes (M Bisset)
Proceedings started at 10am Saturday morning, with plenty of rumbling straight-eights being gently warmed up in the cool but sunny Spring breeze, and Adam Berryman getting good oil-pressure sans spark-plugs, by nine. The run was to Avoca, to the south-west, the Avoca Pub to be precise.
There were some dirt sections thrown into the mix early in the day, reminding me again that these folks like to use their cars, they aren’t Pebble Beach poseurs. What was it the late, great Lou Molina useter say? “We are goers, not showers”.
The route went through Muckleford South, the fringe of Maldon, Lockwood, Woodstock, Newbridge and into Inglewood for the first coffee pitstop for the day. Needless to say, the cars are a hit with local folks, it’s not every day of the week automotive splendour of a bygone era comes to town.
Cameron T44, Dillon Bentley, and King AC in Inglewood (M Bisset)King AC Ace at Mia Mia (M Bisset)
The roads are a great test of chassis, my mount was Bob King’s 1960 AC Ace Bristol, what a great car it proved to be.
The 2-litre Bristol straight-six (thanks muchly BMW) is at its lusty best from 3000-4000 rpm, the thing has a gear for every occasion too, with Laycock de Normanville overdrive fitted. Suspension is independent front and rear – with leaf springs nicely controlled by Koni reds – soaks up all the bumps Victoria’s roads throw at it, brakes (disc/drum) are good, the driving position is great as are the seats – which are fantastic. My only grumble is the heavy steering at low speeds, but maybe I’m just turning into a soft-old-codger.
After an hour we set sail south for Avoca via Rheola, Bealiba, Riversdale, and thence the Avoca Hotel, it’s an easy relaxed pace, there was no competitive component to the proceedings and the route instructions are good, clear.
Berryman T37A at left, Shellard T57 in shot, Avoca (M Bisset)Amazing what you can get at Mitre 10 these days. Berryman’s T37A #37327 in Inglewood (M Bisset)
The lunch at the Avoca Hotel was great, but I was preoccupied. Adam Berryman suggested it was time to drive his Type 37A on the return leg to Castlemaine, about 100km.
I’m very familiar with right-hand-shift Hewland ‘dog-boxes but it was still with some trepidation I jumped alongside Adam for the return voyage. The buffeting in the passenger seat sans small-aero screen on the short trip to clear town was incredible, but there was no such problem in the right-hand seat.
You drop your bum into a tight seat, wedged between the gearbox and passenger on your left, and chassis frame to the right. Don’t even think about a drive without your race-boots on and even then, there is no dead-pedal to the left. Your right foot (conventional pedal set-up in this car thankfully) looks after the throttle and brakes, with the left either dabbing the (easy) clutch or sitting as lightly as you can manage above it.
“First is towards you and back, second is straight forward, third is back-across-and away from you and back. Fourth is directly forward again,” Adam shouts. “Yep, goddit.” Without even a feel of the ‘box away we go.
The supercharged three-valve, SOHC, 1.5-litre 110bhp four is hard edged. It’s rappy and revvy with a very light flywheel and is not too many hours back from a Tula Engineering (UK) rebuild. Its magnificent, your whole-body fizzes for hours afterwards, the solidly mounted engine buzzes you good-vibrations. Adam uses ear-plugs, ya need ‘em too.
The whole experience is heightened by being on public roads, nuts of course. Glorious nuts. The thing is deceptively fast, Adam shouts that we are doing 85mph, well over the Victorian maximum, the roads are so poor the chassis is easily affected by the road corrugations, it’s sprung race stiff of course.
I wouldn’t say I covered myself in complete glory with the gearbox, second was my boogie gear on the way down early on, but if you are used to a right-hand shift it’s not too dramatic a change.
Berryman’s rump framed via an Ace bonnet in the wilds of Arnold. Only the muffler underneath ruins the visage – but is appreciated while at the wheel! (M Bisset)Business end of T37A #37327. 1496cc (69x100mm) SOHC, 3-valve, Roots supercharged four cylinder engine giving circa 110bhp @ 5000rpm (M Bisset)
The engine never copped the big rev, rather the trip was about savouring the experience, the view down the road through the aero screen and tall, narrow tyres wobbling away, big wooden rim wheel oh-so-close to your chest, moving constantly – don’t keep correcting it, just let it move gently in your hands – almost sits in your crutch. Its counter intuitive if your long-armed, 10-inch Momo orientation is a Van Diemen Formula Ford or Ralt RT4 phenomena, but the size of the thing makes sense as you negotiate tight corners where the big wheel provides the required leverage!
Sounds assault you, not the exhaust so much, gasses and associated music exits via a long pipe under the car and a minimalist hot-dog muffler at the very rear of that seductive derriere to the lucky schmo following you. Gears assail you in a very raucous mechanical orchestral kinda-way. The gearbox is beside you, the diff immediately behind, while the camshaft and engine ancillaries are mainly gear driven, not to forget the supercharger meshing and doing its thing.
The reaction of the good citizens of Maryborough was so funny. The French racing blue rocket (chassis 37327), looks exactly as it did when raced by ‘Sabipa’ (Louis Marie Paul Charavel) in the ’27 Targa, and later by Frenchmen Jean-Claude D’Ahetze, Vincent Tersen and Andre Vagniez throughout Europe and North Africa from 1928 to 1931.
The look on little kids faces on the footpath, or their front-yards is the five-year-old equivalent of WTF?!, it’s just so out of place. Not behind the wheel mind you, albeit my left leg is tiring of trying to stay clear of the clutch pedal at about the 80km mark, the oil and water temps are good (thermatic fan fitted), the clutch is easily modulated and light and gearbox now more familiar. I could have gone for hours…
All too soon we are in the Castlemaine ‘burbs, one final blat away from the lights, then a U-Turn into the BP servo in Barker Street, and it’s all over.
Some days are forever etched in ‘yer brain as experiences to treasure, a drive of a GP Bugatti is one of them. Sick little unit that I am, I’ve been buzzing with afterglow for days, hopefully my state of arousal will subside soon, it’s quite uncomfortable really. Grazia Adam, bigtime.
Orf-piste @ Targa. Louis Charavel in, perhaps, #37327 during the 1927 Targa Florio. The Dieppe born, sometimes works-Bugatti driver – winner of the 1926 Italian GP aboard a T39 – ‘left the road on the first lap near Polizzi when his Bugatti fell 15 meters down a ravine tumbling over (doesn’t look like it to me) Luckily he suffered no injuries,’ according to kolumbus.fi (unattributed)Murdoch T30, and distant T44 roadside at Arnold West. Fuel delivery dramas being sorted by Geoff Murdoch (M Bisset)
The Murdoch family Bugatti Type 30 (above) always draws me.
Its allure is its beauty and history, powered as it is by the very same 2-litre, three-valve, twin-carb straight eight #89 (below) fitted to Geoff Meredith’s Type 30 chassis #4087 when he won the very first Australian Grand Prix at Goulburn in 1927.
This T30, (chassis #4480 pictured), has an in-period Australian competition record of its own. There is a good chance the remaining parts of Meredith’s ex-AV Turner, and later Jack Clements “possibly most famous of Australian Bugattis” #4087 will be reunited by the Murdochs one day.
Bugatti 2-litre straight-eight #89 fitted to T30 #4480 (M Bisset)Murdoch family T30, and T23 Brescia behind, in Clunes (M Bisset)
The evening functions at the Castlemaine Railway Hotel and Wild Food and Wine, within the space of Castlemaine’s old fire station were great, add them to your list.
Doyens, and founding members of the club, and the Bugatti world globally, are Stuart Murdoch, Stuart Anderson and Bob King. Anderson’s 90th birthday was recognised with Murdoch’s only a short time away, Bob is a veritable youth in this company.
They are interested, and interesting, having been into Bugattis when they were old-bangers, and restored many of them. Anderson’s cv includes restoration and racing a GP Talbot Darracq 700 and a couple of Maseratis, Murdoch’s a couple of Delages and lordy knows what else, Bob’s restoration and race tastes are mainly, but not exclusively French.
These events have a rhythm a bit like a race meeting, albeit without the pressure. Soon we were up-and-attem on Sunday morning, warming the cars up, but this time, after a pitstop in Clunes, then lunch in Trentham – all god’s own rolling hills country – it was time to go home.
Etcetera…
(M Bisset)
A couple of scallywags in Inglewood. Bodybuilder (car) extraordinaire Richard Stanley, and Jim Thompson about to jump into his much cherished ex-Molina Brescia.
(M Bisset)
Des Dillon’s Bentley bullies Bob King’s AC Ace in Inglewood, ‘the world’s fastest lorries’ really do have on-road presence and menace the likes of few!
(M Bisset)
Ecurie Schudmak – Phil and Susan – in Avoca, about to hit the road. These guys and their trusty Pursang T35B have done Bugatti rallies on most continents of the globe in this much loved and used car.
(M Bisset)
The Latreille Lancia Fulvia 1.3S Zagato, very tasty too, and Quinn MGA.
(M Bisset)
Michael Anderson and Bui Khoi before the off in Inglewood, Anderson family Type 44, another cherished car which has been in family hands for decades.
Shellard T57, great in profile, in Lancefield.
(M Bisset)
Clan Murdoch, or part thereof, in Inglewood.
(M Bisset)
Chewton crew. Bob King, then the masked avenger, Trevor Montgomery, Des Dillon and his lady – and Bentley 3-litre.
The Bugatti Owners Club of Australia, Victorian Division held their 2021 rally in and around Healesville, in the Great Dividing Ranges, 70km from Melbourne from 9-11 April.
These gigs are not my stock-in-trade, but Bob King’s wife opted out of a seat in his Type 35B Replica #BC134, an opportunity I was happy to accept.
Over the last four years I’ve got to know one of the marque’s noted authors and historians, he has well and truly infected me with Bugatti-lore, my marque knowledge is probably now a low pass.
King T35B #BC134Trevor Montgomery’s Alfa 6C1500 Spl s/c, McWhirter Brescia T23 #2467 and blue Stuart Anderson owned, Michael Anderson driven T44Murdoch T30 and T57C Atalante
We did three long loops out of Healesville in different directions; on Friday afternoon, all day Saturday with a pit-stop at Eildon for lunch, and then a hardy-souls-only Sunday morning one when it really was ‘pissin down!
Cripes these dudes use their cars!
The Ettore Works Driver awards went to the Adam Berryman/Louise Murdoch T37A, Rod/Rita Quinn T35B and Brendan Dillon Hispano Suiza combinations on Saturday afternoon. They braved the very wet, muddy, dirt, steep, dark Acheron Way to return to Healesville after some wally in a modern 4WD left the road on the Black Spur, causing the Gendarmes to close that road.
All five were buzzing with excitement back at the hotel, but both gals – sans the aero-screens afforded the drivers – were soaked to the skin and had faces so muddy they could have been on the Black and White Minstrel Show (if one was allowed to write that).
Well over 500km was covered over the three days on a variety of roads including some ordinary dirt, with a good percentage of it in wet weather. A good test of drivers, resolve, and steeds.
Reefton Hotel vista across the cockpit of the Berryman 37A, then King 35B, Dillon Hispano, Dillon 35B Rep #BC135 and McWhirter BresciaMessrs Berryman and King looking suitably soggy and happy at Yarra JunctionGP Bugatti parade at Yarra Junction. The Roberts T37 and Berryman T37A book-end the T35Bs of Dillon and King
Living is blatting along at 3,000 rpm in a straight-eight Bug, rain, wind and dirt in your face with the raucous, basso-profundo bark of a supercharged engine assaulting your left-earhole and rattling the spaceframe supporting your brain.
The engine competes with incredible gear whine in the indirects, top-slot provides some relative cruising peace.
I don’t know about all that tearing calico-crap as a descriptor of the exhaust note?
The engine, with its oddball firing order, has a music all of its own, the timbre of which is infinitely variable with a smidge more, or less, of throttle. Lugging-slightly in fourth at low speed, then accelerating, makes the thing breathe really-deep, and demonstrates the flexibility of Ettore’s 2.3-litre, three-valve, under-square design.
The thing is unbelievably stiff, but by the same token the spring/shock rates are well resolved; the chassis itself is also a spring of course, which absorbs the imperfections of Victoria’s B-roads.
Great speed on dirt would threaten your false-teeth, with kidney-belts a necessity. Bill Thompson and his ken were legends to race at the speeds they did in their T37/37As to win Australian Grands Prix on rugged Phillip Island dirt and dust in the twenties – 200 miles flat chat would have been a hard days work, to say the least.
Eildon Hotel, the Corona was nice and cold, as was the day. King T35B, McGann T40 1.5 s/c with Lydia Bugatti style body, and Michael Anderson’s T44 3-litre eightRoberts’ T37 #37146 cockpit. Gauges are tach, clock, fuel and oil pressure. The lever is ignition advance/retard, set here fully retarded. Blue chassis cross-piece under the gearbox. Silver tube is part of gear shift mechanism, shift on right outside the cockpit. First is left bottom, second straight forward, third across to the right away from you and back, top is straight forwardEildon. Murdoch T57C and T23 Brescia, McWhirter Brescia T23. Nice to see a car worth a small piss-ant country driven on normal roads
The Royal Automobile Club of Victoria’s Healesville Country Club was a perfect choice for the gig.
It’s close to Melbourne with plentiful underground car parking for about 12 Bugatti’s and interlopers. These included Trevor Montgomery’s ex-Lex Davison ‘Little Alfa’ 6C1500 s/c, David Hands’ ‘fat’ 3-litre Bentley with Phil Schudmak as sidekick, Brendan Dillon in brother Des’ incredibly quick 1914 4-litre Hispano Suiza Alfonso, Rod and Rita Quinn’s Bristol 400 and a couple of others.
Car parks established for electric Tesla’s became pit-bays for the GP cars which needed a check-over and charge of the batteries before resuming battle the morning after. The irony of these beautiful, charismatic, dirty old gas-guzzlers using facilities established for modern tributes to boredom will not be lost on you.
There was no mechanical carnage, albeit one Brescia, fresh from an engine rebuild, displayed some petulance, but nothing the talented new owner/driver, Phil McWhirter and his patient wife Laurette couldn’t overcome.
The poverty-end of Bugatti ownership these days is about $A400,000-plus for a Brescia, not cheap. What was impressive was the amazing depth of mechanical and racing history knowledge amongst owners, and the high proportion who wield their Stahlwilles with deft skill.
Belle of the ball was the Murdoch family, Type 57C Atalante #57788, which is simply, jaw-droppingly stunning.
Like a beautiful woman, your eyes take in every perfectly proportioned curve, each one of which blends into the next and teases you a little more as you take the thing in, from top to bottom, and back to front. Then do the same thing over and over.
Ooh-la-la indeed.
Yes, the Acheron and Taggerty locals did need chiropractic treatment after passing this lot on the Maroondah Highway roadsideKing T35BMichael Anderson’s T44 3-litre normally aspirated eight at Reefton, wonderful tourer
The T57C has an Australian history since the Dale brothers imported it in the late-fifties. Young Doctor King must have been quite an Ormond man-about-town in it in the early sixties cruising the streets of Melbourne. He sold it just as his sixth-sense suggested the engine may be in need of very expensive TLC soonish.
It then passed to Eric Pengilley, where many an Australian Bugatti became a resident of his Black-Hole-of-Cammeray Bugatti burial-ground on Sydney’s lower north-shore .
Stuart Murdoch made many trips from Melbourne to Sydney before prising it from Pengilley, then starting the long, expensive process of restoration. The Murdoch patriarch is as sharp as at a tack and was much in demand, so I never did get the full T57C story.
He did burst the bubble of one old, oft repeated myth though.
It’s said that his father, Doctor Noel Murdoch made his Yarra Junction 1920s house-calls in an eight-cylinder Type 44, which the family retain. Stuart said that would only have been for the most special of patients, his normal chariot of choice was one of Australia’s first Fiat 501s.
Both these blokes drove with plenty of brio. Brendan Dillon in brother Des’ Alfonso Hispano and Adam Berryman with another brave, lucky ‘victim’King 35B butt-shot @ Healesville RACV. Makes the knees tremble reallyThe Rod and Rita Quinn Bristol 400. I did 150km in the car and thoroughly enjoyed the drive, it only falls short amongst the moderns on long, steepish hills where 2-litres ain’t enough
The most stunning part of the long-weekend took place inside an enormous, designer Bat-Cave, sitting low in a small valley surrounded by sweet smelling, damp eucalypts.
There, the good Doctor King was put very much on the spot, with about 40 of us looking on. His task was to identify a factory T37A chassis. He went to work with a small-torch, and all of the experience which comes from restoration of his share of the cars, and having seen more of them than you and I have had hot dinners.
That was just the sweets course of this automotive archaeology segue, mind you.
The main dish was having laid out, before our eyes, some of the core components of the Geoff Meredith driven, 1927 Goulburn, Australian Grand Prix winning, ex-Turner/Meredith/Clements 2-litre eight-cylinder Bugatti T30!
Neil Murdoch showed the cut down chassis, front cross-member, cast-aluminium firewall and engine. It’s far from a complete car of course, but is heaps of bits in a world where a reconstruction often starts with no more than a vinyl Lola nose-badge.
The ex-Meredith 2-litre, three main-bearing eight cylinder engine currently powers a perfect, black Type 30 driven by Fiona Murdoch. No doubt her two brothers, Neil and Geoff are trying to get little ‘sis engine for this important part of Australian racing history. Stuart Murdoch quipped, “I’ve done my restoration bit, that one is for the next generation.”
So it is too. It’s more of a five year or decade long project, but over time, doubtless the Murdochs will acccumulate the bits they need, including another two-litre eight to pop under the curvaceous long bonnet of the immaculate black Type 30! Watch this space.
Interlopers included David Hands’ Bentley 3-litre which had arrived home from the UK at Port Melbourne a few days before. Drove it to Sydney over two days following the rallyPractical things these long-legged eight-cylinder touring Bugattis. Michael Anderson’s T44 at Yarra Junction Robert’s T37 at Reefton Hotel
It was great to see Tom and David Roberts in Tom’s beautifully patinated T37 37146, and old-mate, Adam Berryman’s T37A, 37327.
Tom has owned the ex-Brearley/McGrath AGP contestant since 1958, the car has not been spotted for a while so Roberts father and son were welcomed like long, lost cousins.
“That car was the first Bugatti I saw. I was standing outside the Melbourne University Union building when Ian Ferguson and his brother pulled up and parked it, jumped out, pulled their trousers out of their socks – done to avoid the inevitable pool of oil in the footwell – and rushed off to lectures. How cool was that, I thought!” recalls Bob King of the late fifties Melbourne Uni car-park which contained its share of old-banger Bugattis.
I reckon todays 85 year olds probably had the best of motoring as we currently know it. They saw the end of the front-engined GP era, the best, pre-wing, mid-engined era, and had available to them a truckload of exotic road and racing cars which were cheap old rockets before their era as global investment grade assets.
T35B Rep, Brescia, Alfa 6C1500 Spl, Brescia, T57C and T30 at Reefton Brescia T23, T35B Rep, Bristol 400 and light blue Triumph of Mr Terdich, EildonBerryman’s ex-Chiron Targa T37A is about as good as it gets. Sex on wheels. Reefton
Berryman’s T37A, a car his father bought in the seventies, was imported by Melbourne racers/businessmen/Light Car Club stalwarts, the Leech brothers in the fifties.
I sat alongside Adam from Reefton to Yarra Junction. The experience was in some ways similar as the 35B, given the chassis of types 35 and 37 are the same, but the engines are quite different of course- the T37A is a SOHC, three-valve, 1.5-litre supercharged four (T37, same engine un-supercharged).
The 37A feels, and is lighter, the engine is notably more responsive to the throttle with a lighter flywheel and higher state of tune than Bob’s 35B. The 35B is ultimately quicker on a like-for-like basis.
A quick refresher course on Australian Bugatti Grand Prix wins. These were achieved with the modified-tourer T30 2-litre eight raced by Meredith in 1927, T37A 1.5-litre supercharged voiturettes raced by Arthur Terdich in 1929 (Tom Roberts’ T37 was second driven by Reg Brearley), Bill Thompson in 1930 and 1932 and the T39 1.5-litre supercharged eight raced by Carl Junker in 1931.
What a weekend.
Many congratulations and thanks to organisers Michael Anderson, Bui Khoi and Geoff Murdoch for their creativity, warm hospitality, attention to detail and deft-touch. Fantastic stuff!
Credits and Commerce…
Bob King quoted the chassis numbers out of his head, not bad at 84. I’m that confident he is right I’ve not checked any of them!
The photographs are all mine, with one exception.
For those with an interest in all the Antipodean Bugattis, see ‘Bugattis in Australia and New Zealand 1920-2012’ by King and Peter McGann. $110 plus postage, email McGann on; pmc24757@bigpond.net.au
Tailpieces…
Let’s finish as we started with the Murdoch T57C Atalante. Man I cannot get this thing outta my sick little mind…
The Longford Motorama, in recent times an annual Labour Day long-weekend event, is an important date in the Tasmanian motorsport calendar to keep the 1953-1968 Longford road-racing memory alive.
I ducked back to the South Island for a few days. Rob Knott, Justin Brown and their merry band of helpers organised a display of racing cars and bikes and special interest cars at the Village Green, 500-metres from the Country Club Hotel aka Pub Corner on Sunday 7, 2021.
There were plenty of stalls selling all kinds of goodies, a Tongan Band did a great job on entertainment and two ‘around the block demos’ by the competition cars and bikes halfway through the day, and towards its end kept the punters happy.
John Talbot’s Harry Firth built #53 Triumph Ausca Special has been the visual in the window feature of the Country Club Hotel for a couple of decades but has been repatriated from its imprisonment in the last few weeks (M Bisset)
(M Bisset)
Belles of the Ball were Rob Knott’s just completed restoration of one of the two Repco-Brabham Rice Trailers used to cart the cars raced by Jack Brabham and Denny Hulme during the 1967 Tasman Series in both New Zealand and Australia- and a Holden tow-car. The ‘HR’ Panel-Van wasn’t one of the cars used back then but a car which took Rob three years to find and rebuild.
At some point Jack Brabham’s BT23A, his ‘67 Tasman Mount (and winner at Longford that year) now owned by the National Motor Museum, and this rig will meet- what a special day that will be.
The other belle was Chas Kelly’s ex-Clark/Geoghegan ‘66 Tasman Lotus 39 Climax which always gives me goose-bumps. It was a static but stunning display car on Sunday.
Repco-Brabham works 1967 entourage- one of two rigs used in NZ and Oz during that seasons full-on assault on the Tasman. It was the only year, during Jack’s Repco-Brabham Engines phase, from 1966 to 1969 when Jack (and Denny that year) did all of the Tasman series rounds in an attempt to win it- Jim Clark won in a Lotus 33 Climax FWMV 2-litre V8. Car is a Brabham BT21 (M Bisset)
1966 Lotus 39 Climax FPF 2.5. Famous car raced with great skill by Jim Clark and Leo Geoghegan from 1966 to 1970. Arguably its greatest win was in Leo’s hands- the 1969 JAF Japanese GP in Repco 830 V8 engined spec (M Bisset)
The highlight of the day were trips to three of the corners- Tannery, Mountford and The Viaduct via a fleet of four or five large mini-buses.
It was a get-on, get-off to have a walk and look around and then get-on again to go to the next destination arrangement which worked terrifically well.
Knott has stunning attention to detail. At each locale there were information boards, a car/bike or two and one or two drivers/riders from the day to explain all ‘yer wanted to know. In addition, at The Viaduct there were Longford videos and a refreshment van. Brilliant.
Tannery corner display, motorcycle historian/author Ken Young manned this spot. Where the tent is would be about the exit point from this second-gear in a Tasman car right-hander. The folks are walking on the straight towards the fast left hander before Long Bridge (M Bisset)
Part of the Viaduct display- Wayne Double’s ex-Jane/Bruno Carosi tribute Jag Mk2 looked grand as did an Anglia similar to the one Phil Brooke raced- and beached nearby in the day. Both drivers (Carosi and Brooke) were on hand to talk to we punters (M Bisset)
It was great to meet Chas Kelly, Ellis French and John Talbot and have long chats with Randall Langdon and a couple of his mates (all the gen on Pat Stride’s Gremlins), Brian Higgins, Phil Brooke, Neil Kearney and Justin Brown.
Kearney, prominent Longford born national sports-broadcaster is making great progress with his Longford book. He and Geoff Harris were busy gathering additional information and anecdotes- pre Xmas this year is realistic timing for the sale of what will be a ripper book by two pro-journos and Longford dudes who attended the event many times in the day.
In the past week the ABC ‘Backroads’ team have been gathering material for a TV show on Longford (generally, not just the racing) so keep an eye out for that on the tello next year. It will be episode one in early 2022. We had dinner with Heather Ewart, the journo who presents the show, and the team of three who are on the road thirty weeks of the year to create an always interesting show from all over Oz.
David Sternberg on the hop during 1964, Cooper T51 Climax (M Bisset)
My final plug is for Stephen Mott’s ‘The Penguin Hillclimb’ book.
I bought a copy from Stephen and his wife who were selling the book from the boot of their car at the gig. Penguin is a small village on Tassie’s north-west coast which had a seven-tenths of a mile hillclimb operational from 1955 to 1971.
It’s very much a buy folks- 196 pages, hard-cover with high production and design standards. 200-plus hi-res photographs, 97.5% I’ve never seen before. The format is meeting date chronological with break-outs throughout on notable cars and drivers. $50 plus postage, email Stephen on penguinhillclimb@gmail.com.
Great news for enthusiasts is that the Longford Motor Racing Museum which has been pushed hard but quietly over the last couple of years by Rob Knott and Justin Brown is getting closer to fruition. ‘Tis said Scomo is after spade-ready projects with council support- watch this space over the next few months.
One of the more amusing parts of the day and the spirit of the times was Frank Manley’s account of racing his FE Holden, which he retains, at the ’62 meeting. He rocked up with his wife and kids aboard, unloaded them, practiced and raced, camping inside the circuit at the Mill Dam reserve and then drove the team home again to Hobart at the end of an enjoyable weekend.
At this point Chas Kelly interjected to point out that Frank is one of Tasmania’s most famous motorists, and owner of the states equally famous HQ Holden Monaro GTS.
When the pissed-captain of the Lake Illawarra bulk-ore carrier ship took out the middle sections of Hobart’s Tasman Bridge in January 1975, Frank was one of two motorists to stop, front-wheels over the precipice, with the Derwent River 45-metres below.
Sadly, his attempts to flag down five other motorists as they came over the bridge were to no avail, all plunged to tragic deaths. Oh yes, he still owns the Munro too.
(B Short)
Etcetera…
(M Bisset)
Sex on wheels, or thereabouts.
The late John Dawson-Damer did the real hard work restoring the Lotus 39 back to the specifications in which it was raced by Clark and Geoghegan in 1966, thirty years ago. Kelly gave it another birthday 15 years or so ago when he acquired it. See here for a feature on the car; https://primotipo.com/2016/02/12/jim-clark-and-leo-geoghegans-lotus-39/
Lotus 25/33 chassis R12, type 39 chassis 1, if that makes sense (M Bisset)
(M Bisset)
Tannery Corner info board. The main photo if you can see it, shows an unusual view of Tannery with the bikes coming towards us along Tannery Straight.
On the right, in the distance, is the Tannery building which still exists as a posh home or B&B. None of the circuit maps show it, but there is a harry-flatters-in-top kink to the right out front of that building.
(M Bisset)
Holden Haitch-Rrrrr and Haitch-D Panel Vans. Knott’s attention to detail in this exercise fantastic.
Takes me back to the Monash Uni students car park in the mid-seventies when these mobile shaggin’-wagons were very popular and cheap.
(M Bisset)
Viaduct vista.
The cars came down the hill and turned left under the first arch where the info-board is being inspected. The dual-lane carriageway, which was part of massive road-works and water levee banks throughout flood-prone Longford, can be seen beyond the second arch.
(M Bisset)
About all that is left of Long Bridge sadly.
Good news on the bridge front is that there is a proposal before the Northern Midlands Council for construction of a pedestrian and bike bridge in the location of the old Kings Bridge.
From our perspective this would allow easy access from Longford village along Union Street, then over the bridge towards the Viaduct on your walking tour of the circuit. It won’t be possible to walk all the way to the marvellous railway edifice though- it is on private land, the MacKinnon’s ‘Mountford’ property.
Trains use the Viaduct and bridge over the South Esk River daily on trips to and from Hobart and Launceston. The Viaduct is not in danger of being knocked over while trains operate, only freight trains these days mind you.
I’ve written a feature In the current Auto Action #1803 on Dan Gurney’s win in the 1961 Victorian Trophy aboard his works BRM P48 at Ballarat Airfield.
He and Graham Hill raced at Ardmore, NZ, Warwick Farm and Ballarat that summer. Dan’s win was an interesting one in his last BRM drive- it was his first international victory and the only one for the P48 on the last occasion the machine was raced in works hands.
It’s a nice piece, but then I would say that.
For us historic nutters there is also the first in a two-part series on Tim Schenken written by Mark Fogarty. This issue covers his formative years to F1, the next one his Ferrari sportscar drives, Tiga period with Howden Ganley and beyond.
Other standout reads in the sixty page issue are five pages on F1, four on the year ahead for F1, Indycar, F2/3, Moto GP and Taxis, two pages on Oz international Scott Andrews with whom I was unfamiliar and coverage of the Monte, Dakar and the Symmons meeting I was lucky enough to attend a week ago. Plenty of maxi-taxis too of course.
If you haven’t read fifty-years-young Auto Action for a while give us a whirl.
Hopefully the Tasmanian Back to Back Double-Banger season openers at Symmons and Baskerville become a fixture- lets hope so. It makes so much sense on all levels, get you bums down there next year if you can.
The racing was great, imbibing Longford for a cuppla days was magic not to forget some great Tassie touring, sun on the sand and a shandy or three. It was heaven on a stick really.
(unattributed but very keen to know the ‘snapper)
The more you look the more you see. All the fun of the fair. Longford AGP weekend March 1965.
Jack Brabham waits for the pressures in his Goodyears to be adjusted, Brabham BT11A Climax. That’s Roy Billington with hands on hips to the left and Bib Stillwell hovering- his new Brabham BT11A Climax is to the right. Next in line is the ill-fated #12 Ecurie Australie Cooper T62 Climax of Rocky Tresise.
Further along, obscured near the pit counter, is the Scuderia Veloce Ferrari 250LM with Lynn Archer’s #20 Elfin Catalina Ford 1.5 on the painted line. The light coloured car at the end of the queue is Frank Matich’ Brabham BT7A Climax.
Just when i thought my pre-war Oz racing history may get a pass mark, Smailes comes along and bursts that bubble.
The last bloke to do that was John Medley, his list of early Australian international racers in ‘John Snow: Classic Motor Racer’ had me running a long list of fellas to Google.
John Smailes new book is a wonderful, skilfully crafted yarn about ‘Australia and New Zealand’s quest to win the Indy 500’. Some garnish is added to the drivers by inclusion of the likes of Barry Green and Steve Horne who joined teams as mechanics and ended up running the show.
I knew about Jack, Chris and Denny but not really the rest. Indy has not had huge appeal to me. One could argue that Indycars is the toughest of all the elite open-wheeler classes given its unique challenges of road-racing and super-speedways not least Indy.
John has become prolific in recent times with works including the history of CAMS (which is a mighty fine summary of Oz racing since day dot), the ’68 London-Sydney, Allan Moffat, Mount Panorama and now Indy with ‘Speed Kings’.
The book is an eminently readable yarn chockers with heaps of factual material including wonderful contextual stuff about the US auto industries need for, and then embracement of The Brickyard. John interviewed over 50 of his subjects or related parties in 2020. He didn’t lock down his final copy until a couple of days after this years 500 so it is right up to date.
Jack Brabham, Bruce McLaren, Denny Hulme, Chris Amon, Kevin Bartlett, Graham McRae, Vern Schuppan, Geoff Brabham, Will Power, Ryan Briscoe, Scott Dixon, Matt Brabham and James Davison are all here together with tales of their commercial and race (or non-race) challenges interwoven with Indycar politics and evolution. There are others too but i don’t want to spoil those surprises.
Make sure the chief or the kids pop it in your Xmas stocking. It’s a ripper book.
I’ve popped it straight into my Oz Key Reference Collection which lives in my kitchen. There is little point in cook-books if boiling water is a culinary achievement, you are beyond Margie Fulton’s help right? If you can get the ankle-biters under control on the 27th, Boxing Day is a tad optimistic, you should be able to knock it over in a long but enjoyable day. Have the odd frothy after midday to assist.
Rupert Jeffkins is the dude who caused the fail on my Pre-War Oz Racing History exam paper BTW.
Rupert Jeffkins and Ralph de Palma push their wounded Mercedes towards the finish line at Indy in 1912
Whaddya do starved of media buzz when the lights go off simultaneously around the globe? Think of a great cost effective promotional idea like this.
The Australian S5000 guys, SS Media have come up with the notion of applying retro liveries to the silhouette of their new 5 litre Ligier JS F3-S5000 Ford V8 rockets- and doesn’t this late 1971 early 1972 Matich A50 Repco scheme look sensational- remove the halo and its perfect! My S5000 piece is here; https://primotipo.com/2019/10/26/progress/
The photograph is Frank Matich on the way to winning the November 1971 Australian Grand Prix at Warwick Farm in his just finished, very first race Matich A50 Repco F5000- but for the VHT and Hoosier branding the livery is period kosher. Matich’s F5000 career in terms of cars and competition results is here at length; https://primotipo.com/2015/09/11/frank-matich-matich-f5000-cars-etcetera/
Not to forget Ansett Team Elfin circa 1977, Alec Mildren Racing circa 1970 or Equipe Graham McRae circa 1972.
Motorclassica must be the top-gun car display and concours in Australia these days…
Held at Carlton’s Exhibition Buildings, it’s just outside the city grid so has great access, the punters have been out in droves given some magic Melbourne Spring weather.
Its not really my thing, the racing content is not what the event is all about but a freebie ticket from Bob King, one of the concours judges changed my mind and got me in the door early, well before parents and kidlets dominated as the day unfolded.
Stan Jones, Maybach 1 ahead of the Gib and Alf Barrett driven, BWA Frazer Nash Spl during the 1953 AGP at Albert Park (Dacre Stubbs Archive is my guess)
One of the beauties of the thing is that there is something for everyone- current road exotica, car club displays in the capacious grounds outside, ‘classics’ ranging from ‘art deco’ which was a theme this year, through to American muscle-cars of the sixties and seventies as well as racers.
From a racing perspective ‘we celebrate the 90th anniversary of the Australian Grand Prix’- which was great as a swag of cars from the 1928 Phillip Island ‘100 Miles Road Race’, subsequently claimed as the first Australian Grand Prix, and adjacent Phillip Island GP events made a great display.
The faux pas, to say the least, is that most of us with an interest in Australian motor racing history now recognise the first AGP, in name and actuality, if not substance, as the January 1927 event of that very name held at Goulburn in New South Wales.
Aston DBR1- if it wasn’t on a tow truck you could see the whole car rather than this peek-a-boo (M Bisset)Flouro in your face US homologation muscle cars a nice contrast to Euro subtlety! (M Bisset)‘Morrie’ vans near the Nicholson Street Exhibitions Buildings entrance. I well remember the ‘Baker Boy’ bread man home delivering his wares with one of these vans in the, ahem, sixties (M Bisset)
It seems that some of the Victorian motoring establishment, and it is such conservative folks who own and are the organisers and officials of this event, are intent on ignoring ‘the majority’ including the Confederation of Australian Motorsport who recognise Goulburn and have moved on. Scratch the surface and state based rivalry is never too far away in our Commonwealth of Australia!
I took a million photos with my trusty iPhone, I think the best approach is to pop a few up today to give you the flavour of the gig as well as some favourites rather than carpet-bomb you with 300 happy snaps! Some of the AGP cars present lend themselves to juxtaposition of Bob King’s period race shots and the same cars now, so treat this as Motorclassica 1.
Tom Roberts’ Maserati 6CM (M Bisset)
If I had to pick one car of the show it’s the Tom Roberts owned ex-Johnny Wakefield Maserati 6CM-1500 Voiturette, chassis ‘1546’, just restored marvellously by David Rapley.
It gets the blend of originality and patination spot on, I love the fact we don’t do ‘chrome and shiny’ restos of cars which never appeared that way in period, in Oz. Tom Roberts has done great justice to a car which has not seen the light of day for decades.
(M Bisset)
This short history of the car is courtesy of an article I have truncated a bit by G Jackson published in the Victorian Vintage Sports Car Club magazine, received via Bob King.
‘Johnny Wakefield, a wealthy young Englishman and top racing driver of the pre-War period…took delivery of the Maserati in June 1937, he was 22 years old.
One of 27 built, the car featured a six-cylinder supercharged engine, with twin OHC of 1993cc capacity, developing 155bhp.
In his race debut in the car at the 1937 Florence Grand Prix, Wakefield was unplaced, but in his dozens of appearances in European Grands Prix, Donington, Phoenix Park and Crystal Palace he achieved a number of placings. In April 1938, Wakefield crashed at Cork in Ireland but he and the car escaped serious damage. The Maserati was not driven again as Wakefield bought a new racing mount, ERA R14B.
During the war he flew as a test pilot for Vickers Armstrong while serving for the Fleet Air Arm, but was killed in a plane crash in 1942, a couple of weeks after his 27th birthday…’
(M Bisset)
‘After the 1938 accident the engine was removed from the car and sent back to Maserati for overhaul, but the war intervened. The car languished at Brooklands until 1940, when, under Wakefield’s instructions, Rex Tilbrook, an Australian and Wakefield’s mechanic, shipped it to Port Adelaide. As importation duties would not be paid by representatives of the Wakefield Estate, the Maserati remained in a crate on the dock for a number of years.
When acquired in 1943 by Bill Brookes of Adelaide the car was complete apart from the engine, gearbox and steering box with some accident damage to the rear of the body and chassis, and still wearing its Cork racing number 34. Brookes rebuilt the chassis and body and in 1947 sold the car to Frank Kleinig still missing the engine, gearbox and steering box’.
Beautiful 6CM body hides a 1.5 litre, DOHC, 2 valve six-cylinder supercharged engine and 4 speed Fiat derived gearbox (M Bisset)
‘Kleinig had the intention to instal the supercharged 8 cylinder Miller engine that he had removed from the Kleinig Special to fit the first Hudson motor, but the car lay untouched until the Maserati body was transferred to the Kleinig Hudson in 1954.
Alf Blight of Adelaide bought the Maserati from Kleinig as he already owned another Maserati 6CM, chassis #’1542′, but #’1546′ was later purchased by Tom Roberts who had bought the Kleinig Hudson from Kleinig’s Estate in 1992.
‘Roberts has been able to source the original engine from Edinburgh, and a gearbox from Japan. Now with the original body fitted and the car meticulously restored by David Rapley, the magnificent Maserati is about to speak for the first time in 80 years since the Cork mishap…on display at Motorclassica’.
(D Rapley)
Since first writing this article the cars restorer David Rapley sent these two engine photographs of the 6CM, his comment ‘In the absence of the correct carburettor a two inch SU set down, twin bowl set up for alcohol was used. We received no help from anyone world-wide and had to work from pictures in books’- the result is truly stunning.
(D Rapley)
One of the great things about the day was meeting up with so many online buddies: Facebook, The Nostalgia Forum and primotipo have been great that way. That internet thingy is such a connector of kindred spirits. Bob King, Pat and Conor Ryan, Nigel Tait and his wife, Nathan Tasca, Tony Lupton, Phil Zmood and James Lambert were all folks i caught up with, only Stephen Dalton and Mike Gasking were there but we missed the connects.
Alan Jones looking pretty fit, and ‘muttering rotter’ Mark Fogarty (M Bisset)
Whilst wandering with James and his impressive armoury of cameras and lenses we watched Alan Jones being interviewed by Mark Fogarty, a local racing journo, the interview had substance rather than being at the ‘whaddit that Eff-Wun car do Jonesy? dull-shit boring end of the spectrum.
The boy from Balwyn’s toughest opponents were Nelson Piquet and Gilles Villeneuve ‘who was mad and never going to die in bed’ with Jones talking at length about that horrible last day for the acrobatic Canadian at Zolder.
His two Ferrari misfires were amusingly told- the first offer to join the famous Scuderia the occasion when Gilles got the drive Alan thought was his when Andretti re-signed for Lotus- that one turned out rather well for Alan as he fell into the nascent Williams team of Frank and Patrick Head. The second was when AJ messed them around when they wanted the retired Aussie to replace the injured Pironi, a drive which went Mario’s way- he popped the Ferrari on pole at Monza in the first of those rides, much to Jones’ chagrin!
Paul Faulkner’s ex-Jones Williams FW07- directly in front the ex-Clark/Geoghegan Lotus 39 Climax and alongside the Lotus a Brabham Climax Tasman car forgotten which (M Bisset)
From the top- ex-Piquet 1981 AGP Ralt RT4 Ford F Pacific, ex-Jones 1980 Williams FW07B Ford, ex-Bowe/Hunt Elfin MR8C Chev F5000 and ex-Allen/Bartlett McLaren M10B Chev F5000 (M Bisset)
He candidly admitted he retired from F1, the first time, too early at the end of 1981 ‘the first Victorian winter at Glenburn 80 Km from Melbourne (where AJ bought the pub and a farm) convinced me to move to the Gold Coast’.
A question about current F1 elicited a long response about the aero rules in particular, and their impact on the lack of overtaking, he didn’t talk about the mechanical package but said the need to bring back passing, spectacle and glamour was paramount. The grid girls got a 3 minute burst- to bring them back, his final riposte, politically incorrect as ever, ‘but why bother, they will all be wearing burkhas in a couple of years anyway’!
The Trumpster would approve, no fake news or Ruskies here (M Bisset)Wowee. Alfa Romeo 6C2300 Mille Miglia (M Bisset)
An absolute jaw-dropper is the Alfa 6C2300 Mille Miglia Spyder, it first broke cover for me at an Alfa Club Concours a few years ago, the local restoration completed about 5 years ago.
Amazing to see young kids totally unfamiliar with Alfa Romeo, Vittorio Jano and Zagato’s work drawn to it like bees to a honey-pot- it’s sensuous lines are just oh-so-visually arresting whatever your age or automotive knowledge base.
(M Bisset)
Singers have been on my mind for the last month or so, it was great to meet young Bendigo enthusiast Nathan Tasca who has helped with some recent articles.
He is in the process- with his father from whom he inherited his Singer passion, in restoration of a car which is now objectively assessed as being the Singer 9 Sports which Bob Lea-Wright won the 1934 AGP at Phillip Island. Lea-Wright’s family, and Bob King and his archive have assisted in both the identification process and details of the cars specification event to event.
Nathan Tasca’s 1934 AGP winning Singer 9 Sports is coming along nicely with a flurry of activity to get it to the show- engine and ‘box fitted (M Bisset)
John Lawson’s Delahaye D6/70S is a local ‘Figoni and Falaschi’ build on an imported chassis, but hey, what a car. Interested to learn more about it.
(M Bisset)
Of the racing stuff you can never see enough of the ex-Clark 1966 Tasman car- Lotus 39 Climax.
This machine’s entire racing history has been in Australasia, it’s reassuring it’s still here, James tells me Chas Kelly has given the car another ‘birthday’ in recent times inclusive of a new crank.
Chas Kelly Lotus 39 Climax- who can criticise John Dawson-Damer restoring it so well to its original plus one spec- that is not in Climax Flat 16 stillborn form but as raced by Clark in the 1966 Tasman 2.5 Coventry Climax FPF engined- Me?, i lusted after it in 1967/8 Repco ‘740’ engined spec as raced by Leo Geoghegan (M Bisset)
Earlier but more importantly in the Lotus pantheon, as Col’s first Grand Prix Lotus (whilst duly noting its primary purpose as an F2 machine), is Mike Bennett’s Lotus 12 Climax.
With seat removed is was great to get a squizz at the cars ‘Queerbox’ and driveline. Too perfect to race, it is used in demonstration type events occasionally, an impressive run in Adelaide’s Victoria Park event springs to mind a few years ago.
Lotus 12 Climax FPF 2 litre (M Bisset)Secrets revealed- Lotus 12 ‘Queerbox’, delicate spaceframe and Chapman Strut rear suspension. Chassis ‘353’ ex-Hill (M Bisset)By Harley Earl or one of his acolytes- the subtlety of the thing is what blows one away…and the size (M Bisset)
From a Repco Brabham perspective, two Art Valdez cars have come to Australia- Aaron Lewis has acquired Brabham BT23E Repco, Jack’s 1968 Tasman mount and Nigel Tait Brabham BT17, a sportscar ‘it’s fitted with a ‘740’ and I think has a 5 litre crank but we shall see when I pull it down’ said Nigel with a very big smile upon his face!
Nigel Tait’s just outta the container last week ex-Brabham BT17 Repco ‘740’ (M Bisset)Aaron Lewis’ ex-Brabham/Harvey 1968 Tasman Brabham BT23E Repco (M Bisset)
There is and was, much, much more, but let’s save that for bite-size slices for other times…
Bob King and his latest in a long line of Bugatti restorations- the Ettore designed Peugeot ‘Bebe’. We must get him to write about this car (M Bisset)Lotsa Lambos, Ferraris, Porkers and McLarens (M Bisset)
Tailpiece: Perky little minx- Lotus 12 Climax…
(M Bisset)
Three sixties single-seater cars seductively in the distance are Adam Berryman’s ex-McLaren/Mayer/Hill Cooper T70, a Brabham BT7A and the Clark Lotus 39.
This blog or ‘online magazine’ as some have described it is growing which is nice, it doesn’t really matter mind you as it’s primary purpose is to ‘keep me off the streets at night’. Its secondary purpose is to teach an ‘old dog’ a few new tricks about the digital world in which we all live. I’ve learned a lot frigging round with the thing which i have applied in my day job!
Funny thing is I thought the readers would be Australian given the ‘core content’ but most of you, 92% to be precise are from countries yonder. Great! It’s global this internet thingy.
Regulars will have worked out the content is eclectic, which is partially a reflection of my automotive tastes and also down to ‘a photo spotted’ driving topic choice. No great logic, just the way it is!
It’s not an interactive forum mind you, Facebook is.
I’m on FB, in fact my journey to the blog was via FB which is good but has it’s limitations in terms of exploring things in depth. With the blog I am not hindered by word limits, some of the articles are ‘epic’ in size if not quality.
So check me out on FB. Key primotipo.com into the FB search engine, ‘like me’ and you will get the stuff I upload, which is every day or so, many of you already do.
Suss the motorsport groups on FB for the interactivity they offer; key into the FB search engine your car or form of racing of choice, i guarantee you will find a global group of like minded enthusiasts.
In fact the whole thing for me started with one of my first subjects, ex-Australian International Racer Buzz Buzaglo ‘friending me’ into a couple of FB groups he was in. The ‘Tasman Racing Cars’, ‘F5000 Australia’ and ‘F5000 Racing Cars’ groups for example have many ex-mechanics, engineers and drivers loitering with intent to correct the ‘i reckons’ of fellow enthusiasts which is great, its content rich.
I’m on Instagram too, but if you follow primo on FB you’ve got it covered, Instagram would be a double up really. Hard to keep up with it all ‘innit- Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, plus the online forums each of us like, not to forget good ole text messages via Snapchat, WhatsApp, and Skype has it’s place too. And emails. Bizarre really.
Spring has well and truly sprung in Australia, it brings lots of good things; The AFL Grand Final at the MCG, Bathurst 1000, Motorclassica, Melbourne Cup, Moto GP at Phillip Island and lots of Car Club Concours events…
I’m not talking Pebble Beach, not my cup of tea at all, its much more owner display stuff, a nice way to spend a couple of hours. On Sunday 29 November 2015 the Alfa Club and Porsche 356 Register had events on adjoining ovals at Wesley College in St Kilda Road, Melbourne, a good ‘dropkick’ from Albert Park for those of you who have attended the AGP.
Alfa 2000 Spyder ‘Touring’ acquired by an Aussie in Brescia and apparently restored there. Very nice cruiser! 1975cc DOHC 4 cylinder 113bhp@5700rpm. 5 speed ‘box, drums front and rear.
Alfa 8C2300 Corto Replica…’Pursang’ Argentinian car, 4 or 5 years old now and used a lot so now has some patina. I’ve no issue with Replicas…as long as the punters who own the things make it clear they are. Even the seriously wealthy can’t afford real stuff like this, one of these is on my ‘dream on’ list, so its a sensible way to experience, at circa $A300K! what the real McCoy is like.
I wrote an article on the 8C2300/Monzas a while back;
8C2300 in foreground. Car the ‘snapper’ is leaning against is called a 6C2300 Mille Miglia by the owner. Circa 185bhp from a blown engine. Acquired in Argentina some 30 years ago, car used a lot, as they should be
Our Historic Racing Regulations in Australia are the strictest in the world, which is a good thing.
A car like the 8C2300 or even a ‘Cameron Millar’ Maserati 250F cannot get a CAMS historic logbook/’certificate of description’ to race here.
Mind you, the only 250F in Oz is a CM 250F. I would love to see it being raced and would create a class(es) so Replicas can run but are overtly described as such. Some of the crap which races in Oz from overseas in the AGP and Phillip Island meetings is laughable in terms of specification. That is, not resembling the spec of the car ‘in period’ if in fact the car existed ‘in period’!
This 1951 356 Cab is especially stunning. Chassis # 10110, built on 13 July 1951 is the first RHD car made by Porsche and one of the first cars imported by Norman Hamilton to Australia in September 1951
Hamilton famously secured the first Porsche franchise in the world, when on a European trip and cruising through the Alps was ’rounded up’ by Ferry Porsche at a fast pace in a very early car. Hamilton approached him at a roadside stop where Porsche was enjoying a coffee and a business deal followed which saw the marque flourish in Oz over the decades.
I wrote about son Alan Hamilton’s racing exploits a while back;
This car was raced, sprinted and hillclimbed in 1952/3 by Hamilton, Ken Harper and Ken McConville as part of a ‘brand-building’ program before being restored complete mit 1300 motor between 1990 and 1995.
The information sheet says there are less than 20 1950 and 1951 model 356’s left in the world. Makes me laugh, the values of the things now, when i was a Uni student in the mid-seventies there were 3 0r 4 of em’ in the Monash University car park all beaten up, held together by ‘bog’, just a cheap car. If only!…
Tidy chassis’ both. Mid-sixties 365 GTC and owner both delightfully sculpted by Pininfarina. 1968, 4.4 litre ‘Colombo’ 320bhp V12, 5 speed ‘box. Beautifully balanced for a big car, Ferrari locating the gearbox and final drive at the rear.
Driving a 356 was a disappointment years ago but early-ish 911’s are a different kettle of fish. I had an ’85 Carrera 3.2, the last of the light, leaded-fuel cars as a daily driver for 7 years from ’97-2004, what a fantastic thing it was. Big enough to cart 3 growing boys around but a blast to enjoy every day. I still have left leg muscles which reflect the butch, beefy mechanical clutch! This is a 2.4E, nice. A 2.4S about as good as they get this side of a 2.7RS but prices are ‘nutso’.
Best of the Sixties to Finish? P400S Miura,Australian delivered RHD car, had more changes of color than most but oh so nice! 4 litre V12, circa 370bhp, mid mounted, 5 speed ‘box. Design team Gian Paolo Dallara, Paolo Stanzani and development engineer, Kiwi Bob Wallace. Couture by Marcello Gandini. About as good as it gets.
primotipo... 