Mick Walsh From the cockpit
‘With a 327cu in V8 in an old GP chassis and clothed in a Morris Minor body, it not surprisingly proved a challenge to control’
Specials built by ingenious enthusiasts using unwanted parts and bold ideas have long attracted me, none more so than those created Down Under. The RA Vanguard (p156) typifies that resourceful spirit, but perhaps the most bizarre – and the most fondly remembered – is the fabled cocktail of Morris and Maranello built for New Zealand’s wild Allcomers saloon series that ran to 1967.
The basis of this dumpy-looking supersaloon was a redundant Grand Prix Ferrari 555 that was left in the yard of a South Auckland garage. No doubt after a few drinks one night, stock-car racers Garth Souness and Glen Jones hatched the idea of fitting a 327cu in Chevy V8 into the old chassis, offsetting the steering and clothing it with a ‘lowlight’ Minor body. Painted orange and riding on exotic Borrani wires, it not surprisingly proved a challenge to control, both twitchy into turns and super-fast on the straights.
At 140mph, the lack of aero meant that the steering went very light and Souness christened it The Monster, but the press nickname ‘Morrari’ soon stuck. Souness and Jones bravely shared the driving duties and, although it never won a race, the Morrari proved competitive. It was tidily presented in the first years, but with various modifications – including wide steel wheels, flared arches, disc brakes and extensive vents to cool the furnace-like cockpit – it looked roughand-ready by the time it was outlawed in ’67. The chassis was eventually reborn as a GP Squalo, but a Morrari replica is now being built.
Christchurch seems to be a hub of racing innovation, with a long tradition of specials. Aero engines have powered a legion of wacky machines, few more spectacular than the Stanton ‘Cropduster’. When Maurice and Charles Stanton acquired three Gipsy Major engines from a war surplus sale in 1953, they decided to build a rear-engined racer. With chain drive, a locked rear end and two speeds – “Fast, and bloody fast,” as Stanton joked – the 6.1-litre aircooled lightweight initially proved too quick for its tiny drum brakes. But the Stantons developed the hairy special, and with a streamlined, Weltex-built all-enveloping plastic body it later became a successful record-breaker and 1959 hillclimb champion. This famous machine still competes today in Kiwi historic events.
New Zealand now has a fine reputation for restoration and replicas, with many great cars heading there for rebuilds. Auto Restorations is internationally respected, while the superb
recreations of Colin Howard and Rob Tempero say it all about these automotive artisans.
Nearly 70 years after Hec Green and Jack Brewer built the Vanguard in a Christchurch garage, the South Island town witnessed the birth of another Auto Union-inspired one-off. John Crawford’s Motorsport Solutions specialises in race prep and fabrication work, and has rebuilt several historic cars – most recently the ex-denny Hulme Mclaren M23. Diverse projects fill the Ruapuna Raceway workshop, from F5000s to a jet-engined snow-melter, but nothing has matched local Phil Mauger’s mad racer based around a 28-litre V12 tank engine.
The plan to create a Silver Arrow lookalike was hatched in 2013 and, after a year of drawing plans and carving patterns, the long process of making components began. By 2017 the chassis was complete, and Crawford’s team began shaping a body. After two further years of assembly and detailing, the magnificent machine was ready to test. Due to the size of the Meteor engine, more regularly found in a Centurion, the Kiwi Union had to be 20% larger than the original C-type, with bespoke 36in twin rear wheels to cope with the monstrous 1700lb ft of torque.
Although there are no plans to race the beast, owner Mauger entered it for Rob Millen’s Leadfoot Festival on North Island. The sight of the silver sensation thundering up the tight Coromandel drive was surreal, but underlined the talent of these Kiwi enthusiasts.