MORRIS DANCE

ANOTHER time, on a quiet Tuesday night a few of us decided that Brickies would be good to go and get a few test runs in before the boys in blue turned up. So a few passes had been made and we were just standing around having a quiet chat when we heard a tough-sounding something coming in. It turned out to be a low-light Morris Minor. We could smell the Castrol R and noticed the four-stud Falcon wheels, one seat and a basic rollbar.

We reckoned it might have an MG motor; I mean how tough could this thing be? So the bloke driving jumped out and said: “I’ll race anything for $100.” We all looked at each other, all thinking: “Wanker.” Okay, we’d take his money, so some of his mates and a couple of us drove to where the painted Brickies finish line was.

It was on. We decided that KR’S HR Premier, which ran high 15s, should be quick enough to do the job, so they lined up. The Premier got buried by a car length and we were down $100!

Okay, this thing is reasonably quick, we thought. So we went double or nothing on the next run. We lined up JR’S 327 V8-powered EH. He was pretty confident he could dust the Morris. Wrong! Half a car-length was the margin, and we now owed $200!

One more chance. We went double or nothing again and rolled out a Compact Fairlane that was the runner-up at the first Mr Ford show at Castlereagh earlier in the year – those who are old enough will know the car. Now the Fairlane was a low-13second car, and the Morrie put it away by a third of a guard! We were up for $400 – a lot of money in those days.

We said: “We have the money; you can fight us for it or show us what’s under the bonnet.” This guy just laughed, popped the bonnet and we couldn’t believe it – this thing had a speedway Offy running through a gearbox! No wonder the thing just destroyed us. He got the $400 and we never saw the car again.

Now many say that story is an urban myth, but I was there – at least I think I was!

WE LINED UP JR’S 327 V8-POWERED EH; HE WAS PRETTY CONFIDENT HE COULD DUST THE MORRIS. WRONG!