Really Special!

[Ray Bell]

Is there ever any discussion here about racing Specials?

No, I don't mean the Harvey Wallbanger Specials or the Dean Van Lines Specials of Indy fame, but cars put together by enthusiasts so they could race... very popular in Australia, New Zealand and a few other countries until racing became so specialised around the end of the fifties...

In America, too, there was a period in road racing (as distinct from track racing) where cars were cobbled together to run at places like Mt Washington etc.

My love is, of course, for the cars that challenged the factory ones in Australia. The cars built with energy and bits left over, or with parts bought especially because they had the promise of giving the desired performance.

Here's one (David will know it...), as it was completed in Longreach in 1933. A 1911 Regal Underslung chassis, shortened about 9" and its front axle, everything else being from a 1920s Austin 20, with a special alloy body made by builder Herb Avery.

He built it originally because he wanted to blow off his brother's 30/98, and he made a fortune winning bets with strangers about how fast it could get from town to town on the rough outback roads of those days... quite a character.

But after WW2, it was sold to Rex Law in Brisbane, and this car, with some later mods (including front brakes!) was to finish fifth in an Australian Grand Prix, and held an outright lap record when its chassis was forty years old!

[Ray Bell]

Yeah, I know, it's hard to believe, but by that time it had a Cadillac SV V8 (5.3 litres...) and a 1930 Chrysler front axle... and a three speed Dodge gearbox.

What about this one?

Built with panache, using some pedigree parts - and powered by an Oldsmobile engine that had been bought new as a spare for a cab and never used... it was meant to look like the ERA that the owner, Jim Gullan, was so impressed by when it came here in 1938.

The chassis is from a 1926 Ballot touring car.

[Ray Bell]

Not all of them were so nice, of course, and there were some not so fast, too... mind you, with some persuasion...

There was an All-Historic meeting at Amaroo a few years ago when an old gent named John Butler saw something in the newspaper about it... he caught buses and trains and then a cab out to Amaroo, walked into the scrutineering shed (just inside the pit gate) and asked if anyone had any knowledge of what might have happened to the car he built in 1946.

He'd earlier built a car using Ford T bits and with a Laurel 'pentroof' 4-valve head, this being road transport and having seen some practice laps at Maroubra Speedway in about 1934... but now he was a doctor and could afford a war surplus Jeep engine, and had an old Amilcar Chassis and some Citroen brakes.

Of course, in those days it was easy to get some aircraft panels, and, well, it all sort of came together for him...

The scrutineers directed him to Graeme Snape, well-known Historic racer, who had his head under a bonnet... rising to meet the old gent as he was introduced, he asked: "What was your name again?" "Butler, John Butler..."

Butler was gazing down at the Willys engine installation in Snape's car at the time, and suddenly it dawned on both of them:

They had both just completed their quest! John Butler was reunited with his car, Graeme Snape found the man who built it... and soon after it was concluded that the Amilcar-Willys would revert to its original name, the Wimilcar.

Here Butler takes off at a sprint at Mt Druitt, probably about 1950...

[Ray Bell]

Now, John Butler also wielded a camera around the place, and he sent me some pics when I put his story in our National Historic Newsletter... he's in his mid-eighties, and so helpful!

One of them is this shot of a Special that has some pedigreed foundations... a Bugatti Type 39 chassis, into which the traditional Ford V8 has been fitted, and later a pre-selector gearbox... and Ford grille and new bodywork.

This is as raced by Jack Murray at Bathurst in 1949, and it's not only the car that catches the eye... get a load of the period!

The rustic stick & hessian control tower, the garb of those walking around, there's a camera hanging on one bloke's belt, and did you ever see a kid dressed like that?

I wonder where that woman's hurrying, possibly she's one of the caterers, and there's the van from the PA system providers, all the way from Strathfield in Sydney.

Apart from the brick under the Day Special's (it was owned by Jack day, cobbled by Reg Nutt, I believe) wheel to stop it rolling away, one point of real interest is the tow vehicle hooked up to the single axle trailer on which is the Tubman K3... a Jeep with its hood up!

By the way, Mal Biddlecome, the present owner of the car (or has he sold it now?) tells me the brick was essential... otherwise you'd have to park in gear (it has no handbrake), and it would take off at 50mph if you started it!

Please, enjoy, and look for the detail:

[Ray Bell]

Western Australia saw a lot of cars just stripped to the chassis, and it happened at Silverton (near Broken Hill) at their one-off race meeting in the early fifties.

But with a Jag Mk VII? You're kidding!

Not at all. The chassis was needing some attention at the same time as the meeting came up, according to the owner, who drove it hard over the rough roads out that way and realised it was getting knocked about.

So it sat on the grid at Silverton naked... that's an Alfa with a V8 motor in the background, by the way, I think it's the one that set the lap record from Wangaratta to Melbourne with Ted Gray at the wheel and the level crossing guards along the way 'lubricated' to help ensure they had no delays...

Good thing he sent me a colour pic, isn't it?

[Ray Bell]

Now I guess you want to know about the ones that were innovative... don't you?

Well, let me see here... I don't have any pics of the Clisby hillclimb car built with a backbone chassis that carried the drive from a Douglas twin engine and which had the suspension hanging from each corner... and weighed in at around 250lbs...

But from that arose the famous Eldred Norman Eclipse Zephyr, a car bristling with innovation... and power!

With a supercharged Ford Zephyr 2.5 engine, it had a Holden crossmember shortened and bolted to the front of the block, a tube from the back of the block then completed the chassis to the Tempo Matador transaxle.

Yes, that was the chassis! Along with a few bits of tube to hold on bodywork, and the seat and pedals of course. A huge fuel tank was on the left, the driver on the right, with his feet up among the plug leads of the Zephyr 6.

It's archilles heel was brakes, merely 9" drums, but it ran with Coopers in the late fifties and into 1960 with Keith Rilstone driving.. in the early laps at least.

Norman at its debut at Port Wakefield, 1955 (Chapman eat your heart out!):

[Ray Bell]

While on the subject of Norman and Specials (and you can understand that the Zephyr was loud, even if you can't see the six stub exhausts in this view..), we shouldn't forget to note the Double 8... built on a Dodge Weapons Carrier chassis.

Two Ford V8 engines coupled with a double-row chain (a sprocket at the front of one engine the rear of the other, the chain simply had one row on each...), it was a heavy beast, even when the truck wheels had extra holes drilled in them.

The biggest engined car to ever run in the AGP (8.4 litres or so), also probably the heaviest by a margin (though Davison's Mercedes SSK wasn't a lightweight, I wouldn't think), it was also noisy, having twelve stub exhausts.

Norman's daughter recalls hearing it rise and fall in the rev range as daddy took it for a drive in the Adelaide Hills, the sound echoing down the valley to their home as his 16-mile lap was completed...

The brakes had water cooling, with a stoplight switch activating an electric pupm to pour water onto the drums... to the detriment of the vision of those following!

Here it is at Woodside, followed by Davison's TC Special:

[Ray Bell]

When the Australian GP was scheduled to go to Western Australia for the first time, Barry Ranford set about building a car just for that race.

Using a lot of 1.5" square steel tube and some 1946 Ford suspension bits, he put together a car powered by a little Plymouth 6 with twin carbies and a 4-speed Vauxhall gearbox. The body was simple, as can be seen, and it was a very effective car.

Later it had a Ford V8 engine fitted, and was raced by Maurie Maurice and George Wakelin before being scrapped about 1958. This is Wakelin, I think at Northam.

[XAutoRacer]

My dad was involved in several "special" projects in Canada....in 1956 or so he helped design the "Climax Special" which ran against Loti, Elvas, etc....I saw it run a couple of years ago at the Monterey Historic races here in California....I visited Bill Sadler's shop several times during the development of the Mark V mid-engined sports racing car....my dad also designed and helped build the Comstock EXP sports racer....

[Ray Bell]

Comstock Racing... financed by an oil drilling company or something in Canada, right?

What was this car like?

[XAutoRacer]

Vehicle was front/mid engined originally Chev V/8 powered. Driver and "passenger" sat beside the motor. Borg Warner 4-speed attached directly to Halibrand quick change. Rear suspension was fully independant with Lincoln driveshaft roller splines to permit variable geometry. It was one of the first sports cars to use "full floating" rear hubs, similar to late model stock car rear axles. The hubs required special Halibrand rear wheels with a large pilot hole. Four wheel solid rotor disk brakes, inboard at the rear. If anyone is interested, post snail mail address and I'll send articles....

[mickj]

have you got a photo of this car???
mickj

[XAutoRacer]

I have photographs, and a few magazine articles. One of the articles was written by my dad for Canada Track and Traffic Magazine....John Cannon drove the EXP to its only major victory....a race in the rain where it beat all of the Loti and McLarens....

[mickj]

thanks.have replied to private email.I saw a Dailu racer at Road America this year that I believe John Cannon started his racing career with.
mickj

[XAutoRacer]

Bill Sadler built a lot of great race cars...the Mark I was based on a Jowett Jupiter thet he made into a sports car, then added a Chevy motor...he built and raced the first Mark II while he was an apprentice at the Lister factory in England... the Nisonger KLG Sadler Mark III specials were based on the original Mark II but didn't have a rear transaxle. (pretty clever for a Canadian) I believe the Dailu was a rebodied version of a Mark III that was raced by Dave Greenblatt from Quebec...As I remember the Mark IV was a rear engined one speed formula libre car that raced once or twice at Watkins Glen, driven by Canadian great Peter Ryan....The Mark V was the first Comstock sponsored race car..
Mid-engined two speed small block Chevy powered rocket, fitting since Bill quit racing to work on rockets in the states....Grant Clark literally flew his off the end of the main straight at Mosport....not much knowledge about downforce in those days....I've seen one or two Mark III's for sale....expen$ive...I think all the Mark V's met the fate of the Comstock....broken up for spares....Peter Broeker's might still be hiding, somewhere...

[Ray Bell]

You can't scan the story and pics? If you can't put the pics on a website for posting here, email them to me and I will post them...

As for the Jupiter chassis, it was a popular item for Specials, there were six imported to Australia bare for just that purpose. Some, if not all, never made it...

It was, in fact, a productionised version of the 'G'Type ERA chassis (I do hope I have the right one there...) and a good foundation for the Sports Car that the Jupiter was... shame it was spoiled by that relatively fragile 1500 flat four.

[XAutoRacer]

great idea....I have an extensive library on ERA, specials, and a few articles on Bill Sadler....I am not up to speed on web site construction....let me know what you would like scanned....I probably have some Jowett Jupiter stuff, too.....I think I still have a color slide somewhere of the Dailu at Mosport when it had a pretty nasty supercharger on the engine....

[Vitesse]

Originally posted by Ray Bell
It was, in fact, a productionised version of the 'G'Type ERA chassis (I do hope I have the right one there...) and a good foundation for the Sports Car that the Jupiter was... shame it was spoiled by that relatively fragile 1500 flat four.

ERA designed the chassis for the Jupiter, but it was a separate project, carried out after they abandoned the E-type and the F-type F3 car which never got off the drawing board. The Jupiter was a 1950 design by Eberan von Eberhorst, so it predates the ERA G-type by two years ...

Only one G-type ERA was ever built, in 1952, and after its F2 career it was used as the basis of the first Bristol 450, three of which ran at Le Mans in 1954, placing 1-2-3 in class and 7-8-9 overall.

[XAutoRacer]

It's coming back to my addled brain a bit....the G-type and the Bristol shared a common design theme (probably also brought over from Germany by von Eberhorst) of a single large diameter tube backbone chassis....my dad then imported the design to Canada for the (unfortunately stillborn) AVRO Arrow sportscar...Hawker Siddley bought AVRO and took the idea back to England where it became the basis of the Lotus Elan...the Comstock EXP, then, was an extension of that same theme, using a multitubular backbone.....

[Ray Bell]

Oh if only I still had my Design and Behaviour of the Racing Car! It's in there, I know... the Bristol I seem to recall was built on the stillborn ERA chassis and the Jupiter was a close copy. Not a backbone, though, two tubes with a big kick up at the rear. It may not have been the G type, as I posted earlier.

[Vitesse]

The Georgano Encyclopaedia confirms my earlier post Ray - the 450 was based on the G-type ERA, which had a Bristol engine and was purchased by Bristol when its F2 career was over at the end of 1952. However, you're right about the tubular chassis - it also had a De Dion rear axle. There might be a connection from the unbuilt F-type, but AFAIK Eberhorst had nothing to do with the G-type - that was designed by David Hodkin.

[Ray Bell]

Oh for a 'Design and Behaviour...' Yes, Vitesse, I think you're right and I've been tripping over my thoughts with this.

[XAutoRacer]

you appear to all have it quite together....the G-type had twin large diameter tubes.....see web site below.

http://8w.forix.com/8w-999.html

Here's a nice color photo....

http://www.askide.com/ide/gpracing/cars/data/183.cfm

[Hans.ca]

Interesting subject, the Comstock EXP. I'm reading all the above and at the same time I'm looking at 3 contact sheets of photos I took of the EXP in it's final building stage.
There are photos of Fred Hays and two other people holding the model. Fred drove the car at Mosport, it did not handle to well, we realised that the whole frame was twisting. Again this was shown on a photo I took at corner 5. After that Fred and others started to cut the tube frame behind the seat off and constructed a new one much more rigid.
If you would like some of these photos, XAUTORACER, they are available in Santa Paula, just down the road from you. I'm trying to think of your fathers name, but I can't remember. A hint from you would help.

[XAutoRacer]

My dad's name was Richard Syson....I assume you (Hans.ca) are Hans Gulde...famous racing photographer...there were quite a few difficulties with the chassis....main problem was that stiffness was calculated with a stressed floor that made it almost impossible to install the transmission and Halibrand quick change....I remember suggesting bolt in triangulation....so are you now in Santa Paula???? I have some photos that were taken shortly before it was broken up for parts and a couple of magazine articles that I bet contain your photos....I wanted to at least recover the front and rear body panels since I could easily construct a replica chassis (I built the balsa scale version).....
Unfortunately my dad passed away a couple of years ago, I'm sure he would have liked to have seen you again....