Back from the grave...

[Ray Bell]

This is the story of a car that is very famous in Australian motor racing. It started life as a plaything for well-to-do cinema proprietor Gus MacIntyre, but soon passed to driver Frank Kleinig when MacIntyre, who also funded the MacIntyre Hudson built for the trans-Africa race of 1936 (which was never held), fell ill and was advised by his doctor to dispose of his racing machines.

It had an MG chassis, from an overweight sedan MacIntyre had acquired, and a Miller 2-litre engine. It screamed around Penrith's one-mile speedway and was unbeatable on that venue.

But with the coming of Bathurst's Mount Panorama circuit in 1938, and the simultaneous opening of Albury's Wirlinga-Thurgoona circuit and the emergence of Lobethal in South Australia, it was clear that more grunt was required.

Kleinig fitted a Hudson straight eight to begin a lifelong development programme on the car. 4.1 litres hurled it along very effectively, a special gearset being made for a Mathis gearbox, brakes being upgraded, different carburetion being tried and that sort of thing. Kleinig was to become a real thorn in the side to Alf Barrett with his 2.3-litre Alfa Romeo Monza, even though Barrett is often regarded as the best driver Australia has ever seen, and was quicker than Jack Saywell in the 2.9-litre Alfa P3 with Dubonnet suspension.

Kleinig was in his element in hillclimbs, the short bursts of enormous energy required suiting both him and the car. But he ran in all kinds of events. Here he is at Lobethal in 1939, at Kayannie Corner:



And another angle at Lobethal, at speed up the main street of the town that gave the 8.65-mile circuit its name:



A colour pic taken from a frame of movie shot at Bathurst in an early post-war meeting is yet another angle:



As mentioned, Kleinig was not one to leave the car alone, and with the coming of the Lago, and a Formula 1 Ferrari, it was time to get serious about changes... a Maserati body, central seating, an offset differential housing, independent front suspension from a Peugeot 203 and the car looked like this:



It was a failure in this guise for one reason only... the battery made especially for the very lightweight car had an internal short on the way to the starting grid of its only race, the 1954 Australian Grand Prix at Southport on the Gold Coast.

But today the Maserati body has been reunited with the rest of the Maserati, so the owner of that car, having bought the car to get the body, has rebuit the Kleinig Special to something like its 1950 form.

Here it is... almost ready to go:



When Tom Roberts starts turning out at Historic meetings with it, I for one will be very happy to have a good close look...

[Ray Bell]

And I forgot all about this one!



It's in the Victorian State Library record, but it has a problem with its caption... it's claimed to be from Rob Roy Hillclimb in 1939...

But you can readily see from the pics above, in 1939 the car had smaller front brakes and larger front wheels...

So Clive Gibson, the man who worked on the car probably more than anyone else, told the guy who gave him a print of the library's html document... "Anyone can see it's got the 15" brake drums... that's from 1947, that was the only year it ran at Rob Roy with that number!"

Well, of course, it was perfectly clear to him... and it is to us now, too..

Then he told the story of how Peter Vennermark and Bill Patterson came up to Frank after he'd shattered the record at Rob Roy in 1948... the day was over, Frank was into the beer... "How did you go that fast?" they asked. "Jump in and I'll show you!" Frank responded...

There's a bit more to the story, but suffice to say that Frank reckoned it had better traction through the corner depicted above when there was two passengers aboard!

Oh, and by the way, to set that record he pulled second gear all the way over the line, about 70 yards beyond his normal change point... it went to 7000rpm... on plain bearings with splash feed and a five inch stroke!

[Ray Bell]

Today I found another picture, I think it's Rob Roy again, but with Frank rather less than completely on the track:



Hmmm... ten inch brakes and 19" wheels... must be 1939...

[Morris 1100]

Great photos Ray. My father used to tell me stories about Frank and water injection and things, he knew about him from his workshop on Parramatta rd.

[fines]

Ray, you should really write a book: "Famous Australian Single Seaters"! I'm sure I wouldn't be the only buyer...

[Ray Bell]

Like many cars of its day, Michael, it's not a single seater!

Like I related, it carried two passengers on one run up Rob Roy, and the driver is definitely offset. But the last version was, of course, with the Maserati body.

Here's a couple of its contemporaries... I don't know for sure whose they are, I think it's possible one is Les Burrows in his 8-cylinder car, but I'm not taking bets... the other may be Harry Beith... If I could post it in another place I'm sure Bazza Pond would readily identify them... seems to me to possibly be at Port Elliot (Victor Harbor) in 1936, but it may also be a hillclimb somewhere in NSW (Hartley, Robertson or Broughton Pass) or even the Wirlinga-Thurgoona circuit at Albury... just by the background, which isn't really much of a clue.

I'll be trying to catch up with Clive Gibson in the next few weeks and I'll ask him. He'll know, he was undoubtedly there... unless it was Victor Harbor...

[fines]

Sorry, that should've read "Famous Australian Specials", of course!

Not sure why Bazza never shows up here, maybe too busy?

[Ray Bell]

Yeah, he has a woman too...

I've just done a story about a Citroen Special, that was one very different motor car... front wheel drive, raced into the seventies.



So there was plenty of variety. John Blanden did a book a number of years ago...

[Ray Bell]

And a good shot of Kleinig from the famous Byron Gunther's camera... at Bathurst early postwar, coming onto the Pit Straight with the lower end of Conrod Straight discernable on the left...

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by Ray Bell
I'll be trying to catch up with Clive Gibson in the next few weeks and I'll ask him. He'll know, he was undoubtedly there... unless it was Victor Harbor...

Shame on me, I knew I had this photo with me in the car, but I couldn't work out where, and I didn't want to disturb Clive's breakfast and not be able to find it... unpacked when I got back here and it was in the scanner!

Will print out a copy and post it to him, he'll readily recognise the car...