246 replies to this topic

[unclefestal34s]

ABSOLUTELY brilliant pictures thanks very much sharing..will do some much for keeping this particular cars history..

[hungus76]

ABSOLUTELY brilliant pictures thanks very much sharing..will do some much for keeping this particular cars history..

So true.

All I need now is the CAMS Logbook or if that fails, a CAMS Certificate of Description will suffice. Once either of those things happens then it will be time for a faithful Group C restoration!

[xu2308]

Awesome pics from back in the day, very cool

[hungus76]

Deane,

Do you recall what the dimensions of both the Hotwires and the Mawers were?

Did you run a mix of 15's and 14's and what were the widths?

Thanks in advance for your reply

[hungus76]

Hi Adrian,
The Mawers were 14x8 front & 15x9 rear. We only used those for wets once the Hotwires came along. The Hotwires were 15x8 front & 15x9 rear.
I still have 1 photo of the car at Bathurst in 1977, where it finished in 17th place to send you. Hopefully this weekend I can scan it & send. Just to finish at Bathurst is a great achievment.

Deane.

Thanks for the info Deane,

I love the Mawers and Hotwires look fantastic on Torana's too, it will be difficult to decide which of those to revert to when the time comes.

Will be great to see the picture from Bathurst '77, can't wait to check it out. I printed out all the other pictures you posted and have started to put together a scrapbook of sorts of the cars history.

Yes, it certainly is an achievement to finish Bathurst, I still find it hard to comprehend that a car in my garage competed in the Great Race!

[hungus76]

Thanks very much Deane, that's awesome. Very cool indeed.

Does anyone else have any pictures of the car from back in the day? The quality of them doesn't matter I'd just love to see more.

[xu2308]

oldracephotos.com
try them, they have a lot of photos from the race era's

Edited by xu2308, 13 May 2012 - 01:23 PM.

[retired308]

adrian there is a few sets of 14inch mawers for sale have you seen them at all??
the article on scotty taylor in amc a while back, is that the same car in some of the pics it had in it?.

[hungus76]

oldracephotos.com
try them, they have a lot of photos from the race era's

Adrian,

Try oldracephotos.com, page 13, photo 4946 N blanch 75, & page 21, photo 5755 N L34 77. You may have these already. I will keep looking.

Yeah already seen those pics, I've scoured that site and didn't find all that many unfortunately. The ones I did find I posted a couple of pages back in this thread.

[hungus76]

Does the car have any of the race equipment, (brakes, sway bars etc) still intact ? I would presume it does not, as it has been a road car for many years. It had a aluminium foot rest to act as a brace for the left foot on the side of the transmission tunnel. I also made aluminium pieces for the driving seat which were fitted between the seat and squab. They acted as side support for the driver to keep him in place during hard cornering. I used all existing mountings so as not to contravene the rules. There would not be any evidence of them if they have been removed. It made the seat back no longer ajustable.

You may have noticed that the original front panel is still on the car when at Bathurst in 1977. Your photos show the car with a LX panel.

Deane.

Unfortunately Deane, the aluminium foot rest and the side supports for the seat are no longer in the car.

As for the brakes and sway bars I couldn't really say one way or the other as its been a good while since I've looked under the car and truth be told I wouldn't really know what I was looking at any way! I wouldn't know how a race sway bar differed to a standard version.

Someone much more knowledgeable than myself would need to check it out to say for sure.

I did hear a rumour some years back that one of the owners prior to myself removed the bonnet pins and Bond roll cage from the car, so it sounds as though they stayed on the car long after it's racing duties were completed so who knows what parts are still underneath!

[hungus76]

adrian there is a few sets of 14inch mawers for sale have you seen them at all??
the article on scotty taylor in amc a while back, is that the same car in some of the pics it had in it?.

Ah ok, I haven't seen a set of 14 inch Mawers for sale in Tassie for years!

I have a set 13 x 9.25's at home that came off an XU-1 but obviously they won't fit.

Do you know which issue number of Australian Muscle Cars that was in? I haven't purchased an issue for over 12 months.

[retired308]

adrian , looking at it now issue 44 aug 09.

pm sent on mawers.

[hungus76]

adrian , looking at it now issue 44 aug 09.

pm sent on mawers.

Thanks for the the heads up on both the magazine issue # and the pm regarding the Mawers!

Unfortunately both sets of Mawers are to suit early Holdens / Toranas so they ain't gonna fit onto a HQ stud pattern L34.

A shame but I'll keep my eye open for them on Gumtree from now on!

Edited by hungus76, 14 May 2012 - 06:32 PM.

[retired308]

of course , getting old mate.

[hungus76]

Hey Wayne, Is there any update regarding the search for the CAMS log book? Is Scotty back in Australia yet?

[hungus76]

Dont live in tassie ,when he was their you refused to contact me so i could pass on details ,do not know when i will see him again .when you do get the opportunity again chase it up. Will ask mate who knows him when he is back, but no good if you ignore me when i try to help you regards Wayne

Sorry Wayne I have no idea what you are talking about? I am unaware of you attempting to contact me since the last time we spoke on the phone.

Are you sure you rang the correct number? I wouldn't deliberately ignore you or anyone else that was attempting to assist me.

[V-SLR5000-P]

Adrian looks like your car in Blanchard livery in DVD Classic Touring Car Races Vol 4 1976 Sandown 400.

[hungus76]

Adrian looks like your car in Blanchard livery in DVD Classic Touring Car Races Vol 4 1976 Sandown 400.

Thanks for the heads up!

Will try and track down a cheap copy and check it out ASAP. It would be awesome to hear and see the ol' girl in action.

[V-SLR5000-P]

These shots are taken off the DVD Sandown 400 1976

[hungus76]

Thanks for uploading the screen caps! It's always great to see new shots of the ol' girl in action.

I still hadn't gotten around to purchasing the DVD so these were a first time viewing for me.


While browsing around on Google today looking for info, I found a newspaper story from The Age on Sept 15, 1975 about the Sandown 250 and it said the following:

" Graeme Blanchard's Torana lost its left back wheel as it entered the left hand Dandenong Rd corner coming to rest safely - but the wheel hit photographer Peter Bull of The Australian and he was taken with cuts and bruises to Dandenong Hospital. He was later allowed to leave. "

Glad to hear he wasn't seriously injured but an interesting piece of information to stumble across.

I assume Graeme was racing my car at the time?


http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1300&dat=19750915&id=OuBUAAAAIBAJ&sjid=P5IDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4342,3402323

Edited by hungus76, 09 January 2013 - 08:39 PM.