87 replies to this topic

[sagman]

nothing wrong with rubbed out paintwork !!!......leaves the doomsayers nowhere to go !! mind you the log books help as well.

least you had it . cheers laz

[davea79]

Hey REDBALLS

In the corner of that photo you have linked, is another famous race car that was returned to the road/drags. Lemans??

They were great Nationals back in those days.

When the cars were owned by genuine enthusiasts instead of well healed investors.

Hey there guys,

My old man actually owned both those cars back in the day... The Lemans red hatch was never race and had mods put into it like a 9inch rear and set up for drags.. He bought with only 1 or 2000kms on the clock in late 80's and sold it in 1997ish with around 6000kms on the clock.. it had factory alloy panels on it which was only for the Lemans cars.. Perkins race the other car which was the one to have!! Still a nice car to have in the shed though..

He had 3 cars around that time.. The Morris 4 door, Lemans 2 door & HF001 (Harry Firth) A9X Groupc Hatch which was the base on which the 2door Groupc A9X race cars were built. Now this was the car that I loved and had the pleasure of doing laps in @ Oran Park.. I near cried when he sold this car(HF001) as he didnt tell he had it on the market and I could have bought it at the time!!!


The Morris car was sold as a roller with no motor or gearbox(it sat our shed for many years after the car had sold) so what ever running gear was in it wasnt the original Group c stuff so you must have bought the Torana of the guy that bought it from my father.

A guy tracked my father down late 90's maybe early 2000 and bought the motor but not the gearbox and reunited it back with the car in a complete resto. the gearbox use to live next to my dads bed believe it or not.. didnt like leave things of that nature in the garage... classic!

Dates are rough but you guys are enjoying these old stories as am I

[Struggler]

The Morris car was sold as a roller with no motor or gearbox(it sat our shed for many years after the car had sold) so what ever running gear was in it wasnt the original Group c stuff so you must have bought the Torana of the guy that bought it from my father.

A guy tracked my father down late 90's maybe early 2000 and bought the motor but not the gearbox and reunited it back with the car in a complete resto. the gearbox use to live next to my dads bed believe it or not.. didnt like leave things of that nature in the garage...

Hi David, I haven't seen or spoken to your dad for a few years now, he did track me down once about 5 years ago when the car changed hands once again.

Yes, I got the car off the brother of the guy your dad sold it to as a roller. He put a L34 spec engine in it to sell but it was incomplete and not running. I am also the guy that came around and purchased the engine off your dad, but it would have been mid to late '90s. I had already tracked down an X ratio Super T10 and besides, your dad didn't offer the original. He also wasn't keen on parting with the full floating Salisbury he had as a spare.

When I sold the car off it had that engine in it which the new owner promptly pulled out and took to Tates for a rebuild.

Anyway I hope your dad is well, he was a great bloke to have a chat with and loved his GMH products !! Thanks for contributing.

[Toranavista]

[/quote]

Hey there guys,

My old man actually owned both those cars back in the day... The Lemans red hatch was never race and had mods put into it like a 9inch rear and set up for drags.. He bought with only 1 or 2000kms on the clock in late 80's and sold it in 1997ish with around 6000kms on the clock.. it had factory alloy panels on it which was only for the Lemans cars.. Perkins race the other car which was the one to have!! Still a nice car to have in the shed though..

[/quote]

I Had a conversation with Gary a few years ago when I was looking for storage space for my LH SLR 5000. Small world when you mention you have a Torana at times.
At least the Lemans red hatch is still in Canberra.

[davea79]

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Cant seem to post pic's...????

[REDA9X]

Are you sure it was HF001, I'm pretty sure the car your dad had was a customer car built by Harry. HF001 was road registered and has been in pices for a long time under restoration.

[davea79]

Are you sure it was HF001, I'm pretty sure the car your dad had was a customer car built by Harry. HF001 was road registered and has been in pices for a long time under restoration.

Yep positive... The chap down @ rob roy historic garage knows the story of the car well... The car is in a museum up queensland now in HDT Paint apparently?!?! It was a registered car when dad bought it back in the day.. stored in a hay shed on a property in Bathurst. tried to upload photo's but system wont let me

[A9X]

It has long been accepted that the car advertised as the Harry Firth Torana in PC's Brock museum in QLD is not Harry's Hatch.

That car has a cloud hanging over it authenticity, along with others in his museum.

Edited by A9X, 17 April 2010 - 10:38 PM.

[REDA9X]

yep, sorry that car is not HF001, it was a customer car Harry built for Don Pellot? HF001 is in Victoria. The car in QLD was painted up as Harveys car at one stage and was run in Group C in those colours until harves spotted it and was not very happy about it representing a car that it is not. It used to be in the marboro scheme but blut instead of red.

[davea79]

yep, sorry that car is not HF001, it was a customer car Harry built for Don Pellot? HF001 is in Victoria. The car in QLD was painted up as Harveys car at one stage and was run in Group C in those colours until harves spotted it and was not very happy about it representing a car that it is not. It used to be in the marboro scheme but blut instead of red.

I did hear that story!! I think it still is painted like it? I dont know why they would bother doing that?!?!?

I am 30 now so I was young in the scene back then. Ill have a chat with the old man tomorrow about it. He's up running at the state Bathurst meeting.... loves it! He'll be motor sporting till he's 95

Hi Struggler, Gary remembers you. says hello and had a bit of a laugh about the guy you bought the car off "yes yes, the guy he bought it off had no idea"

[Struggler]

Hi Struggler, Gary remembers you. says hello and had a bit of a laugh about the guy you bought the car off "yes yes, the guy he bought it off had no idea"

Thanks Dave, I would appreciate it if you could pass on my best wishes to your dad.

I still remember wandering around your carport/garage area, picking engine parts up off the floor and putting them in a box. There was a heap of memorabilia parked and lying around there. The thing that really sticks in my mind is the depth of dog hair over everything !!

What became of the black LC/J he had ?

Thanks.... Andrew

[davea79]

Hi Struggler, Gary remembers you. says hello and had a bit of a laugh about the guy you bought the car off "yes yes, the guy he bought it off had no idea"

Thanks Dave, I would appreciate it if you could pass on my best wishes to your dad.

I still remember wandering around your carport/garage area, picking engine parts up off the floor and putting them in a box. There was a heap of memorabilia parked and lying around there. The thing that really sticks in my mind is the depth of dog hair over everything !!

What became of the black LC/J he had ?

Thanks.... Andrew

Hi Andrew,

If it was the grey XU1 he sold it 7ish years ago if its the one i' thinking of.. He did have a couple in the day, actually had the Bob Morris XU1 for a few years... Great car!

Oh yes the dog hair... bloody saint bernard. its drool would fly everywhere when he would shake its head and land on the cars and leave marks in the paint. I dont recommend 1 people.

I will pass the message Andrew, especially about the hair!

Cheers Dave

[Struggler]

Hi Dave, it may have been grey (couldn't see it properly under all the dog hair !!) but I'm sure your dad said it had a 10 bolt salis diff.

Thanks again.... Andrew

[davea79]

Hi Dave, it may have been grey (couldn't see it properly under all the dog hair !!) but I'm sure your dad said it had a 10 bolt salis diff.

Thanks again.... Andrew

Yes it did, beautifully engineered car. It was a 1 owner Genuine XU1 canberra car, no dents, no rust & with one of the finest rollcage setups throughout the car we had seen in a LJ! it had a VL turbo engine in it, fantastic brakes etc etc

Gary bought it as a roller and was going to put his Phil Irving head holden motor into it.. They are both sold off now!

Loved his Torana's but into other things now.

He is giving me his file on the history of cars mentioned in this thread & hopefully photo's also..

The HF001 chat will continue once I get the file

Cheers
Dave

[davea79]

I haven't really followed this thread, but i bought a few Group C A9X bits & pieces about 5 years ago from a guy named Gary from somewhere north of Sydney or maybe even Newcastle. Anyhow, apart from exhausts and flares and springs was a Super T10 gearbox which was out of a Group C racecar - it had 4 rings around the input shaft. I was wondering what car this came out of? Any ideas?

Gary Angel was it?? he was living in forster just below Taree and was wholesaling from Sydney to QLD around that time. If so it was in the Morris car but Gary said it was originally 1 of Grice's.

[davea79]

[quote name='yellowa9xs' date='21 April 2010 - 03:48 PM' timestamp='1271908122' post='501136']
Yes, It was Gary Angel, I just didn't know if it was ok to use surnames on the site.

I thought the 4 ring version wasn't homologated so it wouldn't have been allowed to be run. I'm probably wrong but you never know what rules got bent / broken back then.




Sooooorry mate,

Gary had a problem with his 3rd gear poping out in the Harry Firth car, he actually put the Grice gearbox into Firths car to have the original reconditioned... it never went back in. I forgot that part of the puzzel as it happened in the good ol 90's!!!!! The Grice box did come out of the Morris car but went into Firths car!

You my friend have Harry's gearbox!

Gary is out of the Torana game and you bought the last bits i believe so I'm not to bothered of surnames as he is please to hear of the chit chat.

Spoke to Gary today and will have some good paper work to post up soon with history about Harry F's car in the next couple of weeks.