When Stan Jones took the chequered flag at Ardmore to win the New Zealand Grand Prix seventy years ago today – on January 9, 1954 – he became the first Australian car racer to win an international Grand Prix. His weapon of war was the Charlie Dean built, then Dean/Repco Research developed and maintained Maybach 1.
That’s Ken Wharton in the BRM P15 V16 behind, he pitted with mechanical problems and finished second with Tony Gaze’ HWM Alta s/c third.
Victory spoils that much sweeter after the adversity of the previous 24 hours – Charlie Dean all smiles at right rear. Sportscar derivation of Maybach 1 clear (Lib NZ)Maybach 1, Ardmore 1954. HC Dean in the light, short sleeve shirt. ‘Ecurie Australie’ is the sign below the tonneau. Repco always seemed pretty cute about their lack of signage on Maybachs 1-3 while noting the no-advertising-on-cars rules of the day (N Tait)
I’ve done Stan and this topic to death over the years, see the links at the bottom of this article. So much so, I’ve no photos on this race I haven’t already posted so let’s recognise the occasion and scale of the achievement and then jump to the very end of the Maybach program, in terms of the three cars being Maybach six-cylinder powered at least.
With Repco’s stash of blocks in short supply, Maybach 3 – first raced at Templestowe Hillclimb on April 11 1955 - was powered by a 260bhp @ 5000rpm, 3.8-litre variant of the German SOHC, two-valve engine, albeit the motor was now fuel injected, such work done by Phil Irving and Charlie Dean.
With Big Red Cars growing locally in number – Davison Ferrari 500/625, Hunt Maserati A6GCM and 250F – the big silver beast was hard pushed despite Stan’s undeniable skills at twiddling its steering wheel.
Jones on-the-hop, as always, aboard Maybach 3 at Gnoo Blas in January 1956 before she let go at bulk-revs. Mercedes Benz W196 stylistic influence clear from this angle (R Donaldson)3.8-litre, direct-injected Maybach-six was mounted 60-degrees to vertical. Port Wakefield AGP paddock in 1955. Dean – the very fast Charlie Dean – at the wheel, Jones DNF in the race won by Jack Brabham’s Cooper T40 Bristol (E Gobell)
1956 opened with the international meeting at Gnoo Blas on January 30. Reg Hunt’s new Maserati 250F set the pace and won the South Pacific Championship easily against skinny opposition compared with previous years. Squeezing all that Maybach had to offer, on lap 23, with Stan 38 seconds adrift of the 250F, the engine let go in a major way.
Jones then got with the strength and bought a 250F. #2520 was demonstrated by Stan at the Geelong Sprints on May 27, first racing at Port Wakefield the following weekend.
While Stan got to grips with his new Italian Stallion, his mate, the brilliant engineer/racer Ern Seeliger set to work turning Maybach 3 into Maybach 4 inclusive of modified Chev 283cid V8, de Dion rear suspension and other mods.
Stan had an occasional steer of Maybach 4 Chev, winning a Gold Star round in it at Port Wakefield in 1959, but in essence, the Maybach Program of 1946-56 was at an end…oh-so-critical bits of Repco and Oz racing histories.
As Paul Cummins put it, “Stan with the NZ Trophy in one hand and a glass of champers in the other; or is that a martini shaken not stirred?” (Cummins Archive)(Motor Manual May 1954 T Johns Collection)
Credits…
Auckland Star, Libraries NZ, Bob Donaldson, State Library of New South Wales, Naomi Tait, E Gobell, Tony Johns Collection, Cummins Archive
Tailpiece…
(R Donaldson)
Look out ladies!…
Stan was a good-lookin’ Rooster at 32, that portrait is the best! He’s at the wheel of Maybach 3 during the ’56 SouPac, Gnoo Blas meeting. With hair Brylcreemed back, Raybans and terry-towelling T-shirt sourced from Buckley & Nunn, Stanley really looks-the-goods. Jones had a life of great achievement, he was not a bloke who died guessing, bless him.
Start of the Australian Tourist Trophy at the Lowood airfield circuit in Queensland on June 14, 1959.
The 36 lap, 102 mile race was won by Wangaratta racer, Ron Phillips’ ex-Whitehead Cooper T38 Jaguar (#42 partially obscured on the second row). Bill Pitt’s Jaguar D-Type #1 was second, Bob Jane, Maserati 300S #56 third and John Ampt, 1100cc Coventry Climax engined Decca Special #58 was fourth. Car #87 is Frank Matich’ Jaguar C-Type.
These fantastic photographs were taken by Mr R Donaldson and published in the Pix news-magazine, one of those slightly naughty magazines to be found in Steve’s, the local barber shop. The meeting also featured the sixth round of the Australian Drivers Championship, the Gold Star, and drew a crowd estimated at 20,000.
#18 is Tom Ross eighth place Triumph TR2, #31 Tony Basile, Porsche Carrera and #101, E Laker, Triumph TR3.
(R Donaldson)
The grid ready to start with the Chas Whatmore Lotus 11 Le Mans Climax at left on the front row, then Matich and Pitt. The second row comprises Allan Jack’s Cooper on the left, winner, Phillips’ largely obscured Cooper Jag, John Cleary’s Healey 100S, Jane’s 300S and John Ampt’s Decca Climax.
Ampt was a later owner of the Cooper Jag and raced in Formula Junior in Europe with some success in the early 1960s.
(R Donaldson)
With the flag dropped, Phillips is at the far left, the Bobtail Cooper is Allan Jack’s Type 39 Climax, #36 John Cleary, Austin Healey 100S, #10 Les Agnew, Lotus 11 Climax, #56 Jane, #31 Basile, #28 B Coventry, MGA and #18 Tom Ross, Triumph TR2.
While Bob Donaldson did a great job, he has managed not to take a decent shot of the winning car. Here it is, shown above on the way to victory on the cover of the July issue of AMS.
Test of straight-line-squirt between the E Laker TR3 and J Ausina MGA. And below the beautiful lines of the Allan Jack Cooper T39 Climax.
(R Donaldson)(R Donaldson)
That battle between the Triumph TR and MG seems to have been settled in the TR’s favour.
(R Donaldson)
Bob Jane and John Ampt. The grunt of the 3-litre, DOHC-six engined, relatively light 300S prevailed over the very light 1.1-litre Decca. See here for lengthy feature on Derek Jolly and his Decca and Lotus cars: https://primotipo.com/2017/11/09/dereks-deccas-and-lotus-15s/
Awards were made for outright and class placings in the TT. Phillips won outright and the over 3-litre class, Jane the 2-3-litre class, Ampt the 1.1-1.5-litre class and Les Agnew the up to 1100cc class in his Lotus 11 Le Mans. Unusually, the organisers, the Queensland Racing Drivers Club, ran a handicap event over the first 20 laps, with Coventry’s MGA prevailing over the Ross Triumph TR2 and Tony Basile’s Porsche.
(S Dalton Collection)Rare shot of Arthur Griffiths in the ex-works/Parnell/Glass Ferrari 555 Super Squalo (R Donaldson)
Lowood Trophy Gold Star round…
1959 was the third year in which the Gold Star was contested. Lex Davison won it aboard his famous ex-Ascari Ferrari 500/625 3-litre in 1957, with Stan Jones the reigning champion during 1959, his primary weapon of war was a Maserati 250F but his Maybach 4 Chev occasionally got a run too, as here at Lowood.
Lowood was the sixth of twelve rounds – the longest Gold Star series of all – and in a year where victory honours were spread widely. Melbourne auto-parts manufacturer, Len Lukey won with a mix of speed and consistency aboard a Lukey Bristol and an ex-Brabham Cooper T45 Climax.
Len Lukey, Cooper T45 Climax at the end of a lose: Ern Tadgell, Lotus 12 Climax/Sabakat goes past in this shot, with Bill Patterson doing likewise in his Cooper T43 Climax below, and Arnold Glass, Maserati 250F rattles past as well in the next shot, with Len about to decamp, unable to restart the car (R Donaldson)(R Donaldson)(R Donaldson)
Alec Mildren won three races in his Cooper T43 and T45, and Stan Jones, Bill Patterson and Lukey two apiece, with singleton wins for Jack Brabham, Ross Jensen and Bib Stillwell. Brabham and Jensen were non-residents and therefore ineligible for Gold Star points.
At Lowood, Mildren won from Stan Jones in Maybach 4 Chev, Arnold Glass, Maserati 250F, Arthur Griffiths, Ferrari 555 Super Squalo and Glyn Scott, Cooper T43 Climax.
Patterson in his immaculate white with central blue-stripe Cooper T43 (R Donaldson)
Coopers had a mortgage on the Gold Star for a while: Cooper drivers, Len Lukey won it in 1959, Alec Mildren in 1960 (T51 Maserati), Bill Patterson in 1961 (T51 Climax) and finally Bib Stillwell won in 1962 (T53 Climax). The Brabham era followed…
(S Dalton Collection)
Credits…
R Donaldson-State Library of New South Wales
Tailpiece…
(R Donaldson)
Stan Jones hustles his Maybach 4 Chev around Lowood.
He used four cars in his fight to retain the Gold Star, primarily his Maserati 250F – it was just quick enough to prevail over Len Lukey’s 2-litre Cooper at Longford during the AGP – Maybach 4, which had been extensively updated by Ern Seeliger, not least by fitment of a Chev 283 engine, Sabakat and a Cooper T51 Climax.
Cathy Ford looking all pert and perpendicular in a Paula Stafford bikini, a mighty fine chequered flag design it is too. The car is a Valiant Charger R/T (road/track) at Surfers Paradise International Raceway in 1972’ish…
Once upon a time Australia had a motor industry. It was largely owned by the US Big Three, Chrysler was the smallest. Based in Tonsley Park outside Adelaide, the company punched well above its weight, the product, especially the Hemi-six cylinder engined cars were good in the context of the times.
The Big Three’s pony cars in 1971-72 comprised Ford’s four-door road Falcon GT 351 and Bathurst winning GTHO 351 variant, General Motors Holden’s mid-size 202cid six-cylinder road Torana GTR and Bathurst winning GTR-XU1, and the 265cid-six powered road Charger R/T E37 and Bathurst E38 in 1971, and E48/49 in 1972.
These amazing Australian designed and built road cars – in world terms they were fast and acccomplished – were fundamentally built to win Series Production races, especially the annual Bathurst 500 bash. Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday, it was that simple for the snappily dressed marketing men and their whiteshoe, sales foot-soldiers.
The David O’Keefe/ Jack Nougher Valiant Pacer VF on the way to a Class C win in the 1969 Sandown 3 Hour
Valiant put a toe in the competition water with mildly tuned ‘Pacer’ variants of their four-door VF and VG family man machines in 1969-70. Then they got serious with the new shortened 105 inch wheelbase Charger which was released two months after the mainstream 111 inch VH Valiant sedan in 1971.
The American styled VH suited guide-dog-owners, it’s big arse, cavernous overhangs, high waisted looks and narrow track weren’t a patch on the looks of the contemporary Holden HQ, Falcon XY or XA.
When Chrysler Oz CEO David Brown realised what a mutt his new car was going to be, he bundled up a tiny-budget and built a two door coupe, the design of which was led by Brian Smyth at Tonsley Park. It had to plug a hole in his range and grab some halo-effect for his four-doors.
I’ve cheated with photo selection here, the VH Pacer to me looked pretty good, all stripes and wide wheels. But the base models were very grim shit-fighters.
And what a horn-bag Smyth and the Chrysler International Design Studio, under Bob Hubbach, came up with. Charger was an immediate sensation when released in August 1971. The best bit of the Valiant, its front, was retained and otherwise the team crafted a low, squat, muscular, sexy machine that still looks great from every angle.
With Elle McPherson looks at an affordable price it was a sales smash aided and abetted by a brilliant marketing campaign. Hey Charger! was on everybody’s lips, young or old, male, female or confused. Winning Wheels magazine’s coveted Car of The Year award in ’71 was the cherry on the cake.
The range went from the poverty-pack 215cid, drum braked, three-on-the-floor Charger to the fire-breathing race-bred 265cid – a bored-out 245 Hemi – 1971 E38 280bhp @ 5000rpm and 1972 E49 302bhp @ 5600rpm R/T machines of interest to us.
For a while 70% of all Chrysler sales were Chargers, but they were far from niche. With a big back seat and a boot you could fit granny in, they were legit four-folk-family-cars. Read Mel Nichols’ account of what a great drive these competition bred Chargers were on the road; https://www.classicandsportscar.com/features/chrysler-valiant-charger-australian-odyssey
Chrysler competition chief, engineer John Ellis put together a strong development team in the Pacer days which included 1970 Gold Star champion single-seater racer, Leo Geoghegan who raced the cars and acted in a consulting capacity. Another sportscar/single-seater racer/mechanic, Ian Cook, a Chrysler employee was key too. This group, and others, concocted a potentially race winning car, the only missing ingredient in the formative stages was a four-speed gearbox…
John Ellis circa 1971 (CCC)A goal perhaps Leo? Geoghegan with a VG Valiant Ute at Mallala in 1971. Two Utes were cut and shut to replicate the upcoming Charger’s track and wheelbase, engine and big-tank location (autopics.com)
The A84 Track Pack option included a very direct 16:1 ratio steering box, Sure-grip LSD, a choice of tall 3.23:1 and short 3.50:1 diff ratios, light 14×7 R.O.H. cast alloy ‘Dragmag’ wheels and a huge 35-gallon tank with twin-fillers.
On paper, the big-Val had Bathurst shot-to-bits but the lack of a four-speed box was a big shortcoming; there was no Oz four-speeder available at the time, a situation rectified in 1972.
While it looked the goods, there were other shortcomings, as Mark Oastler outlines. “The Charger was built on a relatively short 105-inch wheelbase, which magnified the ‘see-saw effect’ of dynamic weight transfer from front to rear, resulting in excessive squat under acceleration and forward pitch under heavy braking.”
Leo with the real McKoy E39, again at Mallala. Squat at the rear, nose up a characteristic of the cars as per the text, the bonnet air duct doesn’t – it’s a styling addition only (autopics.com)Geoghegan practicing at Oran Park before the Chargers race debut in September 1971
“This was not helped by the high location of the big long-range fuel tanks fitted to the Bathurst cars. The VH Valiant’s bulbous bodywork ended up being more than 100mm wider than that of the VF/VG ute-based development mules, which added to the R/T’s lateral inertia and tendency to understeer in hard cornering. The Charger’s wheelbase was also quite short relative to its track. This wheelbase-track ratio created a car that was very responsive to directional change, but was twitchy and nervous at high speeds.”
The Charger’s track was similar to the GTHO but its wheelbase was six-inches shorter than the big Roaring Ford. It wasn’t stable on high speed Mount Panorama but was better suited to shorter, twistier tracks. The Chargers were dominant in NZ production racing for years, a status never accorded them at home.
The 11-inch non-power assisted ventilated front discs and calipers (which flexed badly) were marginal on track too. Ford’s similar challenges with the beefy 351 Cleveland powered HO were met late in the 1971 piece with Ferodo’s trick DP11-103 pads.
Oastler quotes Leo Geoghegan as saying that the Chargers could have beaten the Toranas in ‘the six-cylinder class battle’ and applied greater pressure on the HO’s had Chrysler sorted its front-disc problem. A set of pads was only good for 60 miles if given a hard workout.
Leo Geoghegan in the Charger E49 he shared with Peter Brown in the 1971 Bathurst 500 (Chevron Publishing)
In 1971 expectations were high after Doug Chivas won a 100 lap enduro at Oran Park a fortnight before Bathurst. While it was a great drive, Chivas was advantaged by Colin Bond’s HDT XU1’s race-long gear selector problems…the works HO’s were absent too.
With vastly inadequate Bathurst preparation: simulations to determine fuel consumption, brake and tyre life etc, Geoghegan’s Top 10 Q8 was great – quickest of the Class D cars including the XU1s – but was still six seconds off Moffat’s GTHO Phase 3 pole.
Moffat won by a lap with Geoghegan’s Charger seventh outright and second in class behind Bond’s HDT XU1. Impressively, eight of the 10 Chargers that started, finished. Geoghegan’s post-race list of shortcomings included tyre wear, fuel consumption far greater than that anticipated and brakes…
In the later rounds of the 1971 Australian Manufacturers Championship (Manchamps), Chivas was third at the Phillip Island 500K, while Geoghegan was second to Moffat’s HO in the Surfers Paradise 250 – ahead of the two LC XU1s of Brock and Bond – with Chivas sixth. Progress was being made.
Geoghegan’s E39 Charger from Colin Bond’s LJ XU1 at Warwick Farm during the 1972 Tasman Cup meeting (L Hemer)Leo did the final Bathurst 500 solo in 1972. E49 was Q6 and fourth (autopics.com)
Chrysler’s response for 1972 was the 302bhp @ 5600rpm E49 Charger variant…fitted with Borg Warner’s new four speed gearbox, the more aggressive cam-profile was possible thanks to a better set of ratios which could exploit the peakier power delivery.
Just as in 1971, the E49 was short on Bathurst development, in part as a result of the Supercar Scare, see here for chapter-and-verse on that important bit of Australian Motor Racing History: https://primotipo.com/2018/04/12/holden-torana-gtr-xu1-v8/
A byproduct of the Supercar Scare was Chrysler’s withdrawal from motor racing with factory cars, an incredible decision really after all the clever development and homologation. The better call would have been to contest that years Manchamps and then pulled the plug; but Chrysler was in big financial strife globally.
Noel Hurd raced his E49 to fifth in the first round of that championship, the Adelaide 250 in August, while at Sandown, the traditional Bathurst curtain-raiser, the two cars raced by Victorians, Tom Naughton and Lawrie Nelson failed to finish.
Tom Naughton’s car was a Victorian meeting regular, here at Sandown in April 1972Geoghegan E49 at Lakeside during 1972
Off to Bathurst, Geoghegan was again the quickest of the Chargers at Mount Panorama, qualifying sixth. Again Moffat was on pole in an XY GTHO, but this time the margin to the E49 was 3.3 seconds. Leo led for a while early in the race but a faulty starter motor, loose battery lead and misfire late in the race ruined what could have been a good run. Geoghegan was fourth in the race won by Peter Brock’s GTR XU1, with John French’s GTHO second, with the Doug Chivas/Damon Beck E49 the best of the six Chargers entered, in third.
Tom Naughton was sixth at the Phillip Island 500K, while Leo was sixth in the Surfers Paradise 300. Chrysler placed fifth in the the Manchamps behind the GTHO, XU1, Ford Escort Twin-cam and Mazda 1300.
Pete Geoghegan enroute to third place in the final Warwick Farm ATCC round in July 1973. Look how nice and flat that Charger is with Sheppard’s suspension mods: geometry, spring and shock changes
With the end of Improved Production and Series Production in 1972, and adoption of Group C as the formula to which the Australian Touring Car Championship and Australian Manufacturers Championship were run in 1973, a group of New South Wales and Victorian Chrysler dealers supported the construction of a Group C-spec Charger built by ace engineer/mechanic, John Sheppard at his Monaro Motors workshop in Melbourne. It was to be raced by Leo’s brother, four-time Australian Touring Car Champion, Pete Geoghegan.
Pete finished sixth in the ATCC in this quick, often forgotten car, but switched camps to Ford for the Manchamps. Successfully so, he co-drove Moffat’s factory XA 351 GT Coupe – FoMoCo’s response to the two-door Monaro and Charger – to victory at The Mount. This Group C Charger is beyond the scope of this article but is a good one to pick up soon with some input from Sheppo, who is still razor sharp.
Etcetera…
In Chrysler’s own words above, “You’re watching Charger’s Hemi/Weber Six Pack during a dyno endurance test. After 480 hours at both ends of the rev range, it’s running red hot at peak revs for longer than it ever would on road or track. The Six Packs an unbelievable mill. But don’t get the idea it’s just a 265 cube Hemi with three double-barrel Webers bolted on.
The whole engine’s been tuned to the Webers. In fact, we flew a car (a VG Pacer driven by John Ellis from London to Bologna) over to the Weber factory in Italy. Breathings been freed up with a high overlap camshaft, bigger valves and tuned length extractors. And the crankshaft, conrods and valve springs have been shot-peened for high-speed strength.
But there’s more to a Six Pack Charger than just a great engine. The E37 Street version offers dual disc clutch, close ratio gears, 20:1 steering, 3:23 diff and pancake air-cleaners to pick up bottom end torque. The E38 Track Pack version picks up compulsory alloy wheels and special engine, brake and suspension mods. All of which make it ready to roll straight on to the track.
Your Chrysler/Valiant dealer has the Six Pack systems to make you believe in the unbelievable. And at Charger prices, you can’ attord not to.
CHRYSLER. GREAT IDEAS IN MOTION. BELIEVE.”
(L Nelson Collection)
Laurie Nelson’s Group C Charger E49 being harrasssed by an LJ GTR XU1 at Shell corner, Sandown circa 1973.
(J Edwards)
Following the privateer theme – these cars were very fine cars for those on a tight budget – here is Tim Slako’s car at Wanneroo Park circa 1971.
Credits…
Chevron Publishing, ‘Australian Touring Car Championship’ Graham Howard and Stewart Wilson, ‘VH Valiant:The R/T ‘Super-Charger’ that never made it’ Mark Oastler, Lynton Hemer, SS Auto Memorabilia, Graham Ruckert, Chrysler Car Club, Julian Edwards, John Lawton, Laurie Nelson
Tailpiece…
The ROH aluminium alloy ‘Dragmag’ was adopted by Chrysler for the Charger programme. It was made across town in Finsbury by Rubery Owen and Kemsley Pty Ltd one of the local subsidiaries of Owen Organisation/Rubery Owen, a global automotive UK based transnational of which the Owen Racing Organisation/BRM (British Racing Motors) F1 team was a part.
I wondered whether Chrysler inspired the design of the fabulous Dragmag – easily my favourite Oz Alloy of the period – for the Charger programme but Moff ran the wheels on his famous Boss 302 Trans-Am in 1970, and the ad above was in the June 1970 issue of Wheels so they were on the market at the time Charger was being developed.
Obiter…
It transpires – the power of internet searches – that the factory Rubery Owen Kemsley took over in 1946 dates back to WW2. After the British retreat at Dunkirk in 1940 the Australian Government decided to decentralise ammunition production away from the more populous eastern seaboard cities, Adelaide’s Finsbury/Hendon were two such locales.
The Finsbury ammunition factory was established on a massive 50acre/123ha site and commenced production in February 1941. It comprised about 20 buildings where up to 4000 people made cartridge cases and shell fuses for munitions, but not the explosives themselves. The castings and arms cases were sent by rail on a new spur line from Woodvile to Finsbury, to the Salisbury Explosives Factory for filling and assembly.
Dan Gurney’s – Brabham Racing Organisation – Coventry Climax FWMV 1.5-litre V8 during the 1963 Monaco Grand Prix weekend. F1-1-63’s second race.
The car is a Brabham BT7, the second type of GP Brabham, Jack having debuted the BT3 Climax in 1962. Two F1 BT7s – there was also two BT7A Intercontinental/Tasman Formula cars – were built. Dan debuted BT7 F1-1-63 at the International Trophy, Silverstone on May 11, 63, and Jack first raced F1-2-63 at Zandvoort on June 23, 1963.
(LAT)
Dan in front of Tony Maggs (fifth) and Willy Mairesse (DNF final drive) at Monaco that year: Brabham BT7 Climax, Cooper T66 Climax and Ferrari Dino 156. Gurney was out with crown wheel and pinion failure in the race won by Graham Hill’s BRM P57 from teammate Richie Ginther’s P57. Bruce McLaren’s Cooper T66 was third.
(MotorSport)
Gurney on the way to an historic first Championship Grand Prix win for the Brabham marque aboard his BT7 at Rouen-les- Essarts, France in June 1964. Dan also won the non-championship 1964 Mexican GP with this F1-1-63, while Jack’s best in F1-2-63 was a pair of wins in in the Aintree 200 and the Silverstone International Trophy in April/May 1964.
Somewhat incredibly, Allen Brown records the last of 48 in-period race meetings for this (Jack’s) car was at Indianapolis, where Dave Rines won the SCCA Regional at Indianapolis Raceway Park in May 1968, at which point the car was powered by a 3-litre Coventry Climax FPF-four.
Dutch GP: second, Clark won in a Lotus 25 (MotorSport)
Coventry Climax FWMV 1.5-litre Mk3 V8: Lucas fuel injected, DOHC, two-valve, 195bhp @ 9500rpm. Early five speed Hewland HD gearbox with distinctive upside-down VW Beetle case, but not yet with neato, bespoke side-entry rear housing. The ‘vertical bomb’ is Lucas’ hi-pressure fuel pump. Rear end comprises mag alloy uprights, inverted wishbones at the top, single links at the bottom plus two radius rods doing fore-aft locational duties. Ron changed his mind about the respective locations of the wishbones and links pretty soon after this.
Doug Whiteford won the first Australian Grand Prix held at Albert Park in his Talbot Lago T26C 70 years ago today, November 21, 1953.
He won the Formula Libre race from Curley Brydon’s MG TC Spl and Andy Brown’s MG K3. 40 starters took on the challenge, racing in the opposite direction to today on a course that goes around the lake but is a bit different to the original.
I’d forgotten the anniversary. The Australian Grand Prix Corporation celebrated the occasion back in March during the F1 weekend. My mate, Auto Action publisher Bruce Williams called before to say they were going to post online the article I wrote back then for the pre-AGP Auto Action, see here: https://autoaction.com.au/2023/11/21/australian-grand-prix-at-albert-park-70-years-young-2
That front row above is Lex Davison in his ex-Moss F2 HWM, then fitted with a Jaguar C-Type spec 3.4-litre XK-six at left, Stan Jones’ Maybach 1 4.3-litre and Whiteford’s 4.5-litre Talbot-Lago at right.
(S Wills)
The bolter early was Stan Jones in Maybach 1, he led till the halfway mark but retired after completing 58 of the 64 lap, 250 mile journey. Whiteford lost a tyre off the rim with 10 laps to run, but he was close to his pit, and had a huge lead so the 30 second stop to change the wheel wasn’t a problem.
(The Age)
Whiteford looking modestly chuffed with his win. He took the same car to AGP victory at Mount Panorama, Bathurst the year before, and won at Nuriootpa in the Barossa Valley aboard his famous Ford V8 Ute based special, Black Bess, in 1950.
Dicer Doug was a formidable, aggressive driver who was also a master-mechanic. His preparation and presentation skills were legendary, so too his mechanical sympathy. He was the complete package.
Jack Brabham being pestered by Frank Matich before the start of the Tasman Series Sandown Park Cup on February 16, 1969. Frank is after some tips on how to extract the best sponsorship deal from Repco Ltd management.
It’s intrigued me that Jack clearly forgot to bring his nice modern Bell Magnum helmet home with him when he jumped on his Qantas 707 at Heathrow for Sydney in December 1969.
When his Brabham BT31 Repco was finally offloaded at Port Melbourne and had its nice new RBE 830 V8 fitted at Repco Brabham Engines in Maidstone, he cast around for a skid-lid and – seemingly – this circa 1960 helmet and pair of goggles were the only ones available to head off to Calder to test the car two days before the Sandown race. See here for a BT31 epic: https://primotipo.com/2015/02/26/rodways-repco-recollections-brabham-bt31-repco-jacks-69-tasman-car-episode-4/
The lovely shot above seems to be the helmet in question sitting atop Jack’s noggin on the grid of the BRDC International Trophy at Silverstone nine years before, May 14, 1960: second in his works-Cooper T53 Climax behind Innes Ireland’s Lotus 18 Climax.
(unattributed)
Our very own Jack during the ‘69 Sandown Cup. He is on the run out of Peters above, and on the way into Dandy Road below, wearing the same 1960 helmet or one very much like it.
Small things as I say…mind you, I don’t like ‘yer chances of racing with a nine year old helmet in today’s homogenised, pasteurised over regulated times.
Brabham finished third in the race, proving brand-new BT31 was quick right out of the box, which was won – so too the Tasman Series – by Chris Amon’s Ferrari 246T. Jochen Rindt was second in his Lotus 49B Ford DFW.
(R MacKenzie)
Jack returned that Easter to fulfil his final Australian Repco commitments, winning the Gold Star round at Bathurst in BT31. This time (below) Jack remembered to pack the Bell Magnum but not his modern goggles…
Ouch. Wow, that’s daffy-ducked isn’t it!? Alan Cooper’s very dead 4.8-litre, straight-eight, 1919 Ballot 5/8LC lies on the front-straight of Olympia Speedway, Maroubra, Sydney on January 2, 1926.
Behind is his brother, Harold ‘Hal’ Cooper’s 2-litre Ballot 2LS #15. In the feature that night, relative novice Alan tried an outside pass on his vastly more experienced younger brother on the last lap, snagged a hub on the fence and cartwheeled along the track at over 100mph and into the sandy area between the track edge and the spectator compound. Alan walked away – shaken and stirred – but the poor riding mechanic wasn’t so lucky, the worst of his injuries was a pair of broken thighs.
Alan Cooper aboard #1004 earlier on the fateful day (Sherwood Collection)
Alan never raced again, but chassis 1004 was repaired by racer/mechanic/engineer John Harkness using an Australian Six chassis, and appeared again at Maroubra with Harkness at the wheel that August. Whatever thoughts I had about the original chassis being repaired have been well set aside…
The Cooper boys were from a family of 11 children. They were brought up in Melbourne’s Botanical Gardens where their father was Chief Gardner. Via a familial connection, Alan Cooper met the 30-years-older Stephen Brown not long after he returned from the Great War. The Brothers Brown owned a large vertically integrated Newcastle coal mining and distribution business named J & A Brown (now part of Yancoal Australia). Stephen treated Cooper as his son and lavished stupefying levels of wealth on him including the most exotic racing cars of the time; the Ernest Henry designed Ballot’s were the best there was, the 1919 ‘Indy’ Ballot undoubtedly one of the fastest cars on the planet.
Indy 500 1919. #4 Ralph DePalma, Packard, #32 and 31 are the Albert Guyot and Rene Thomas Ballot 5/8LCs, #3 is Howdy Wilcox – the winner – Peugeot, and #33 Paul Bablot’s 5/8LC. The pace car is a Packard Twin Six V12 (IMS)Louis Wagner, Ballot 5/8LC #1004 before the off (IMS)
Louis Wagner raced 1004 at Indianapolis 1919 as part of a four-car factory assault on the race. The Ballots where the quickest cars too, but the hastily built machines were geared too-tall. The quick fix, in the absence of an alternative diff-ratio, was the use of smaller diameter locally made wheels and tyres – Goodrich instead of Michelins. These failed, Wagner was out with a broken wheel after only completing 44 of the 200 laps while running third, then Paul Ballot crashed when a wheel failed after 63 laps, so the other two 5/8LCs of Albert Guyot and Rene Thomas cruised home in fourth and 11th places.
While it was a bad day for Ballot all wasn’t lost for Ernest Henry, the winner was Indiana boy Howdy Wilcox in one of Henry’s old Peugeot GP cars. Indy was/is tough and dangerous. Of the traditional 33 cars that started, 18 didn’t finish, four of whom crashed, two fatally: Louis Le Cocq and Arthur Thurman both lost control aboard Duesenbergs. Robert Bandini, Thurman’s mechanic died as well.
As a result of the rise in pole-time speed to nearly 105mph in 1919, and one suspects, perhaps the three deaths, the Indy Formula engine size was reduced from 300cid in 1919 to 183cid for 1920. Ernest Ballot immediately had four very expensive racing cars surplus to requirements, just the thing for a bright-young-colonial with somebody else’s dosh jangling loose in his pockets.
By the time Brown and Cooper swung past Paris’ Boulevard Brune to acquire 2LS #15 – the ex-Jules Goux second-place 1922 Targa machine – Monsieur Ballot was using #1004 as a swish, speedy roadie. Fitted with Perrot brakes, mudguards and a windscreen, he cut quite a dash on the Boulevard St Germain.
Thelma – quite tidy too – at the wheel of #1004 at what became known as Safety Beach, Dromana on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula in December 1928 (B King Collection)
That’s why the car before Alan Cooper crashed (pic 2 above) it looks road-equipped, it was. When shipped to Australia it supposedly arrived with three bodies, the one shown and destroyed in the prang, a slipper body which Harkness fitted (or built) when he rebuilt it, and another, a shot of which I’d love to see…
Harold Cooper raced 5/8LC 1004 for a while south of the Murray at Aspendale, the Melbourne Motordrome and other venues. He was described as “Victoria’s best known racing driver” by the Melbourne Herald before racing on the 2-mile 163 yards rectangular gravel course at Safety Beach, Dromana in December 1928, and duly set the fastest time.
Unfortunately Harold didn’t contest the 1927 Australian Grand Prix at Goulburn, nor did he ever give the 2LS a gallop in any of the early (2-litre supercharged and under) Phillip Island Road Races/Australian Grands Prix. Had he done so he would have been a red-hot favourite, he is the most underrated and forgotten Oz driver of the period…
Melbourne racer Jim Gullan and mechanic during practice for the January 2, 1939 Australian Grand Prix at Lobethal, South Australia. The exotic eight let go at warp speed, a rod carved the block in half with expensive shrapnel being spread across the Adelaide Hills countryside. It would be 40 years before the chassis was reunited with another Ballot engine (N Howard)1004 in the Edgerton suburban garage, date unknown. Other than the Dino I’ve no idea of the identity of any of the other machines (R Edgerton Collection)
Both Ballots raced on. The 2LS’ svelte twin-cam 16-valve four was replaced by a succession of V8s and raced in Western Australia for decades, its mortal Ballot remains survived and are well cared for in Australia. The 5/8LC was restored after being tracked down to a northern Victoria farm by ‘Racing Ron’ Edgerton in the 1970s. The ‘Edgerton’ branded crankcase side covers were a tad vulgar for most but he got the car running and competed in it, a state to which it has never returned in the hands of the UK owner for the last three decades or so.
Check out the May 2021 issue of The Automobile. I wrote a never-published-before long yarn about the Coopers, Ballots, the elusive Stephen Brown and the staggering lifestyle he afforded them, and their later second lives as Captains of The Turf. See here to purchase; https://www.theautomobile.co.uk/may-2021-issue/
(R Edgerton Collection)
Ballots up. Frying tyres, rings or bearings? Ron Edgerton attacks Shell corner (Turn 1 in today’s vulgar parlance) at Sandown on one of 1004s relatively few outings – partially restored by the look of it – before the car was sold overseas. The following Ballot is Wes Southgate’s 2LS, now restored to original bodywork and owned by publisher/hotelier/renaissance-man Douglas Blain, who keeps the car in fine fettle in Victoria. Those Rothmans brake markers are circa 1978-79’ish, so a meeting about then?
Etcetera…
(AD Cook Collection)
Harold Cooper aboard #1004 at La Turbie Hillclimb in 1925. Hal did four ‘climbs: three venues near Nice including this one, and another in Monaco, before the car was shipped from Le Havre to Melbourne. Quite why this slipper-body was removed back at Ballot HQ at Boulevard Brune for the ‘Indy’ body before shipment to Australia is anybody’s guess. The body above is different to the form in which the car emerged Harkness’ workshop after Alan Cooper’s Maroubra accident.
While Alan Cooper makes much of his racing career in the Smiths Weekly serialisation of his life story – a grand, rollicking, bullshitty yarn it is too – in fact he did relatively few competition miles. Harold, on the other hand, competed a lot from 1922 when the 2LS arrived and was a man of great skill. He was far more competent than Alan, had competed in the 5/8LC in France already, so had a level of familiarity with it.
The car was ministered to in Sydney by Giulio Foresti, Ballot factory racer/dealer/mr-fixit who tested it at Maroubra and schooled the brothers in its use and mechanicals. We know from contemporary reports that a planned early Maroubra test by Alan was thwarted by steering problems. Harold should have raced the 5/8LC and Alan the 2LS that fateful night; letting Alan loose in it at Maroubra was akin to a modestly credentialed Formula Ford driver have a lash in Oscar’s F1 McLaren. Alan Cooper was kissed-on-the-dick-by-tinkerbell – to use vulgar Oz slang – many times during his long life, not least on that fateful 1926 evening.
The Argus December 10, 1928
“Thrilling motor-racing was witnessed at the Aspendale Speedway (Melbourne) on Saturday afternoon. The best display of driving was that given by Harold Cooper, who is shown here negotiating a corner at speed in his eight-cylinder Ballot car. He defeated Albert Edwards who drove a front-wheel-drive supercharged Alvis.”
Credits…
Peter White Scrapbook via Colin Wade, Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum, The Argus, AD Cook Collection, Ron Edgerton Collection, Norman Howard, Bob King Collection, John Sherwood Collection from the wonderful ‘A Half Century of Speed’ by Barry Lake
Tailpiece…
(R Edgerton Collection)
The essential element of Edgerton’s rebuild of #1004 was locating one of the very exotic, Ballot 4.8-litre DOHC, four-valve, straight eight engines or the bones thereof.
As luck would have it, Briggs Cunningham had one, and wanted a Cottin & Desgouttes, Edgerton was happy to oblige. Here is Ron’s (at right) pride and joy (with Silvio Massola) – didn’t he have a lot of those in his automotive lifetime – on a 1977 rally in Tasmania, Australia’s South Island.
The ex-Johnnie Wakefield 1.5-litre, supercharged Maserati 6CM Voiturette, chassis #1546 is the lowest mileage Maserati racer on the planet, it’s been nowhere near a circuit since April 1938.
The Society of Automotive Historians in Britain caption for the beautiful drawing above reads, “Here is the front suspension of the Maserati 6CM produced in 1937 and 1938. Its torsion bar suspension gave much improved roadholding and cornering speed. The torsion bars were 24-inches long, the left-hand bar can be seen extending back from the pivot of the top wishbone. The friction shock-absorber is linked to the front end. The hydraulic drum brake is wide and well-ventilated.”
The confluence of ‘finding’ the drawing above, a period newspaper article about the ex-Wakefield Maserati in Australia, and several photographs of the same chassis, naked in Adelaide are the stimuli for this article.
John Peter Wakefield meeting folks? (D Zeunert Collection)
John Peter Wakefield was born into incredible wealth in Marylebone, London on April 5, 1915. In a tragic childhood, his mother died when he was four, and his father – who ran the family gunpowder business – when he was seven. Brought up by his family in Kendal, in the Lake District, he was a natural athlete who commenced racing bikes: Ariels and Velocettes in 1933.
Wakefield focused on learning to fly 1934-35. Having achieved his wings, he bought a second-hand Gypsy Puss, and shortly thereafter, a new British Aircraft Eagle Gypsy.
Into the deep end, he switched from motorcycles to cars and bought Alta 56S, a monoposto 1.5-litre supercharged machine – which Tony Gaze brought to Australia post-war and was ultimately restored by Graeme Lowe – that he raced regularly throughout 1935-37 with good results.
In 1937 he bought the Maserati 6CM in which he contested 18 meetings into 1938 with his best results two 2nds, four 3rds, two 4ths and a fifth place. Then in April 1938 he crashed it during the Cork GP, hospitalising himself with cuts, abrasions and broken ribs in what was his only serious racing accident.
Wakefield in the Brooklands paddock, Maserati 6CM, chassis 1546. JCC International Trophy 1937, second place. Ray Mays won in ERA R4C (Bill Brunell/Getty Images)(Bill Brunell/Getty Images)
Undaunted, our intrepid adventurer placed an order for an ERA B-Type. Wakefield raced Ian Connell’s B-Type before he took delivery of R14B; in around 20 meetings with the two cars he did exceedingly well, taking three wins, two 2nds and six 3rd placings until May 1939. Johnnie then raced a new Maserati 4CL, chassis #1569 for the balance of that season, again excelling, with wins in the UK, France and Italy. He was a rising star, a man to watch.
As Hitler and his merry band of perverts took on the world, Wakefield signed up with the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserves as a sub-lieutenant in September 1939. From then until 1942 he flew 25 different aircraft in eight squadrons. By March ’42 he had resigned his commission to undertake pilot flying test duties with Vickers Aircraft on Spitfire PR MkIVs.
Johnnie was attached to RAF Aldermaston, one of five hangars where Spitfires were assembled. Wargrave Aerodrome (sometimes called Henley Aerodrome) had no formal control tower and Vickers shared the place with a busy RAF pilot training school. On 24 April, as Wakefield took off in his Spitfire (MkIV BR413) for a production test flight he was confronted by a Miles Magister on a collision course, while he swerved in avoidance as he took off, he crashed. The plane burst into flames and he was killed instantly.
Wakefield was on course as a potential great, the BRDC Gold Star, awarded to the most successful driver of the season, was awarded to him posthumously post-war, his wife Kay received it. The Johnnie Wakefield Trophy, is awarded in his honour to the driver who achieves the fastest race lap of Silverstone each year, to this day.
Back to #1546. The doyen of Australian racing historians, John Medley wrote that “Wakefield’s 6CM Maserati was donated engineless (it was sent back to Maserati for a rebuild) to his mechanic, Rex Tilbrook, a South Australian who imported it to South Australia but refused to pay the customs duty…so it became the ‘box of stones’ in the customs store, rescued but unused by one of the Brooks brothers, and eventually bought by Frank Kleinig for the final version of his Kleinig Hudson Special.”
The Mercury Hobart, March 4, 1939 (C McLaren Rumblings)
Rex Patterson Tilbrook was a man of immense ambition, an intuitive engineer who left an amazing heritage in motorcycles. An aspiring South Australian racing driver and engine designer, he headed for the UK in 1933 and soon landed a job with Vickers at Brooklands. Before long his capabilities as a mechanic and fabricator were such that he opened his own workshop there. His clientele included some top riders and up-and-comers of the day including Fergus Anderson and Dennis Minett…and some racing drivers such as JP Wakefield.
Disaster struck Tilbrook in 1938 when a failed acetylene gauge caused a fire which gutted his workshop. With the drums-of-war getting louder, Rex opted to return to Australia. He had dreams of motorcycle manufacturing at home and brought six ‘bikes and and an engineless racing car – Wakefield gifted 6CM 1546 to Tilbrook – to sell to raise the working capital for his planned venture. Then the Fiscal Fiend intervened, Australian Customs seized the Maserati to pay for the import duty payable on six motorcycles. See this fabulous article on Rex Tilbrook; https://www.oldbikemag.com.au/remarkable-rex-tilbrook/
The newspaper article above was a catalyst for this piece, it is such a good detailed technical period article on the 6CM. I rather suspect that the journo obtained much of the nitty-gritty from Tilbrook rather than a glossy brochure. The race alluded to was the 1939 Australian Grand Prix held at Lobethal, South Australia on January 2, it was won by Allan Tomlinson’s MG TA Special s/c. Obviously Tilbrook was never going to contest the race ‘coz his nice, one owner, only-driven-on-Sundays Maserati didn’t have a donk under its svelte bonnet.
Maserati built 27 6CMs. The six-cylinder 1493cc engine (65x75mm bore/stroke) had cylinders cast in pairs and twin overhead camshafts driven from the nose of the crank. A single Weber was used and Roots type blower, ignition was by Scintilla magneto and the engine was dry-sumped. Power output was quoted initially as 155bhp @ 6200rpm, and later 175bhp @ 6600rpm.
Anthony Pritchard wrote that “The 6CMs were beautifully engineered, almost like a jewelled motion in comparison with the rather crude ERAs, and gave the impression of being Grand Prix cars in miniature. There were times, however, when Maserati cut corners in the standards of assembly and in the main the British owners became unhappy with the performance of their cars.”
There was a big difference in performance, and as Pritchard wrote, sometimes build quality of the works and privateer cars. The compression ratio of works cars was 6.75:1, of British customer cars, 6:1, supercharger size – 140mm blower for works cars, and 130mm for customers. Blower boost of 15-16psi compared with 11-12psi. Whether or not Giacomo the Junior assembled the machine on a Friday afternoon was doubtless a factor too.
The modified four-speed Fiat gearbox was mated to the engine and, being designed for a 34bhp Fiat 532 taxi, was unreliable. This situation wasn’t remedied until Maserati built their own transmissions. The rigid rear axle, made by Isotta Fraschini, was suspended on semi-elliptic springs.
Another bit of intrigue in all of this is that within Racing-Ron Edgerton’s photo collection are some naked shots of a Maserati chassis which looks suspiciously like that of a 6CM…it is 1546 actually.
Ron’s minimal captions include: ‘Maseratti’ (wrong), ‘1 1/2-litre chassis’ (correct) and ‘4CL Maserati (Brooks) Adelaide 1939’. The latter tells us it is the Wakefield car – he got the 4CL bit wrong – albeit the current orthodoxy is that Bill Brooks bought the car from customs in 1943. My suspicion is that Racing Ron made his notes about the photographs decades after the events themselves, the same blue biro he used throughout aids my forensic conclusion. We know from photographs in the Bob Shepherd Maserati Scrapbook – now in historian, David Zeunert’s care – that the car was not taken apart as shown in the chassis shots in 1939. More about Bob Shepherd here; https://primotipo.com/2021/12/03/werrangourt-archive-13-bob-shepherd-artist-extraordinaire/
Edgerton was a businessman who raced on the circuits and speedways throughout Australia; he got around when not many folks did. It’s highly likely he considered purchase of the car and travelled to Adelaide to do so, his high end automotive road and racing car CV is pretty much unmatched in Australia. More about Racing Ron here; https://primotipo.com/2021/03/17/racing-ron-edgerton/
If you read the first link above you will have seen photos of the car in its restored but unused state as below.
#1546, MotorClassica Melbourne 2018 (M Bisset)6CM #1546 probably during the Brooks period of ownership, an Adelaide front yard (Bob Shepherd)
Etcetera…
(BRDC Speed Magazine)
Johnnie Wakefield in his Alta, #56S 1.5-litre s/c at Brooklands. Some lengthy research by Stephen Dalton identifies the meeting as the BARC Brooklands Campbell Circuit Meeting on July 10, 1937. The race is the First Short Handicap and the following car is Kay Petre, Austin s/v.
(MotorSport)
Wakefied at Brooklands during the Junior Car Club 200 Mile Race on August 27, 1938. He had a very successful weekend, winning his first major race in ERA R14B, the last B-Type constructed. Bira was second in his Maserati 8CM 34 seconds adrift, and Earl Howe third in an ERA C-type.
(MotorSport)(unattributed)
Wakefield surprised the Italians on their home ground by winning the 246km Coppa Principessa di Piemonte at Posillipo, Naples on 28 May, 1939 aboard his Maserati 4CL. In an all Maserati field of 14 cars, Johnnie took a very good win, and fastest lap, from Piero Taruffi aboard a Scuderia Ambrosiana 6CM, and works-4CLs driven by Franco Cortese and Gigi Villoresi.
Wakefield was plenty quick in the final races he contested in 1939. A fortnight after Piemonte he won both races of the GP de Picardie, then led the Sporting Commission Cup, French GP support race at Reims on July 9 until his brakes faded, finishing second behind Armand Hug, Maserati 4CM. Off to Albi on July 16 he was victorious in front of Reggie Tongue, Maserati 4CL and Bira, ERA B-Type – then won again in the second race. At Berne Johnnie was third in the Voiturette heat and third in the Voiturette class of the Swiss Grand Prix with Giuseppe Farina and Clemente Biondetti’s Alfa 158s the class of the 1.5-litre field.
Wakefield really looked the goods as the dark years approached.
MotorSport in their September 1940 issue quote a power output of 200bhp @7000rpm for the “short stroke, square” 16-valve four-cylinder 4CL, the Alfa Romeo 158 straight-eight at 195-210bhp @ 7000rpm, the ERA E-Type 220-250bhp @ 8000rpm, and Mercedes Benz W165 V8 250bhp @ 10000rpm; all engines were supercharged.
(D Zeunert Collection)
More #1546…
Bill Brooks with #1546 as bought from Australian Customs circa 1943. It looks shite, is it as crashed at Cork, less engine? Or was the machine subject to some repair prior to being given to Tilbrook?
(D Zeunert Collection)
This series are as purchased by Tom Roberts prior to the restoration work of David Rapley.
Credits…
Cameron McLaren’s Rumblings, ‘Maserati : A Racing History’ Anthony Pritchard, Society of Automotive Historians in Britain, Bob Shepherd Collection via David Zeunert, David Zeunert Collection, BRDC Speed Magazine August 1937 via the Stephen Dalton Collection
Tailpiece…
I love scrap-books, Cam McLaren’s is far more posh than mine too. He lists his address at the time – wartime I guess – as ‘Sub/Lieut C.S. McLaren, 456 Glen Eira Road, Caulfield’ in Melbourne. More about McLaren here, can anybody tell us more? https://primotipo.com/2019/12/20/tooronga-park-light-car-racing/
The lighting of this shot of Ted King’s Rajo Ford is poor but it also makes the shot, so very evocative!
Historian Nathan Tasca chased up a fellow who posted another photograph on Facebook and was rewarded with some other shots including these two,. At this point ‘Prof’ John Medley came to the rescue and identified the car, as he does…
As luck would have it, my loan-copy of a ‘Half Century of Speed’ has the shot below of King “after winning a championship at Penrith in 1927.” What follows is a truncated version of the late-great Barry Lake’s narrative.
Ted King lived in Newcastle (NSW) and raced mainly on dirt tracks in that area. King used to ship his car by steamer to Sydney and back to attend meetings. In the mid-late 1930s groups of speedcar drivers would do the reverse of this trip; travel overnight on Friday, race in Newcastle on Saturday, then return overnight on Saturday to be home in Sydney on Sunday.
Is this Ted King at his Newcastle area servo? Ring a bell folks (Ro Ander Family)
In the first half of the twentieth century road travel between cities was long and arduous. Roads were narrow, rough, winding and dusty, with many ferry crossings. Coastal steamers were cost effective alternatives right up until the early post-war years; Sydney to Adelaide an example.
Frontenac ‘Fronty’ and Rajo manufactured overhead valve conversions for T-Model Ford engines. They both used crossflow heads, but Frontenac Fords had the inlet ports on the left and exhaust ports on the right hand side of the car. All Rajo-Fords had the inlet on the right and exhaust on the left.
The Morris bull-nose radiator was a common fitment to locally assembled T-based racers which used Fronty or Rajo parts as they looked like the US built cars of the time at less cost.
Many Fronty and Rajo Fords were raced in Australia but few were fully imported complete cars. Heads, engine parts and other hot bits were brought in then built up with locally sourced T-Model parts to build copies of the US built cars. There are still about 35 on register in Australia.
After posting this piece the following material arrived from David Smallacombe, photo of King at Penrith, and from Andrew Webb, who has the remaining bones of the King machine; the front wheels, Rajo head, Solex carburettors, chain drive magneto and water pump, and log book.
Ted King, Rajo Ford, Penrith, date unknown (D Smallacombe)Ted King Rajo BB engine (A Webb)(A Webb)(A Webb)(P White Collection)
Ted King in his Rajo Ford at Maroubra, date unknown.
Credits…
Nathan Tasca, John Medley, Ro Ander Family, ‘Half a Century of Speed’ Barry Lake, Tony and Pedr Davis, David Smallacombe, Andrew Webb, Peter White Collection via Colin Wade
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