NZCC #333 Preview

INTE RNAL PROCE DURE — INTRICACIES OF E NGINE RE BUILDING

50

YEARS OF THE

FORD ESCORT

FAB FORD ESCORT

1970 MKI FORD ESCORT T W IN CAM

AMERICANA

FORD CUSTOM DELUX E CON VERTIBLE

ISSUE 333 $10.99 INCL. GST SEPTEMBER 2018 themotorhood.com

LIVING THE DREAM AUSTIN MKII RUBY

TRAFFIC-STOPPER

PONTI AC BONNEV ILLE SUPERIOR AMBULANCE

TO RTU R E D G E N I US — C E LE B R ATI N G G R A H A M ‘CA SS I US’ M C R A E

CONTENTS

333 SEPTEMBER 2018

4 THE FORD ESCORT TURNS 50 HAS IT REALLY BEEN 50 YEARS?

8 THE JEWELLER’S TOUCH 1970 FORD ESCORT MKI TWIN CAM

20 ROCK ‘N’ ROLL CONVERTIBLE 1951 FORD CUSTOM DELUXE

30 TESTING THE REALITY 1937 AUSTIN MKII RUBY

40 TRAFFIC-STOPPER

1969 PONTIAC BONNEVILLE SUPERIOR AMBULANCE

64 TORTURED GENIUS

THE LEGENDARY GRAHAM ‘CASSIUS’ MCRAE — PART ONE

72 INTERNAL PROCEDURE

WE DELVE INTO THE INTRICACIES OF ENGINE RECONDITIONING

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30 COLUMNS 46 52 58 80 92

MOTORMAN KITS AND PIECES MOTOR SPORT FLASHBACK LOCAL REPORT PRICE ON

EVENTS

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86 88

CRC SPEEDSHOW CENTRAL NORTH ISLAND SWAP MEET AND CAR SHOW

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REGULARS

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FEATURE

1970 Ford MkI Escort Twin Cam

THE JEWELL

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ER’S TOUCH IF THERE WAS EVER A CL ASSIC WITH AN

A L M O S T S U P E R N AT U R A L R E F U S A L TO G R O W O L D A N D F A D E A W AY, T H I S I S I T Words and photos: Quinton Taylor

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Andrew Neill remembers A previous owner of our featured Ford MkI Escort Twin Cam — restored by Bruce Mayo — is Oamaru automotive engineer Andrew Neill.

Andrew is well known in motor sport circles for the fabrication and repair of race cars, custom work, restoration, and engine preparation, as well as modifications to current and classic cars for both the race track and rallying.

Bruce Mayo bought his Escort Twin Cam off Paul Mortimer in Oamaru, and it has been an interesting exercise talking to Andrew and filling in the gaps in the history of this rare little car. Amazingly, the car and bits of it keep turning up in Andrew’s hands.

“I’m thinking that I would have purchased the car somewhere around 1977 to 1978 — probably 1978 to be correct,” Andrew says. The car had been a successful campaigner in his hands, and he had enjoyed every minute of its ownership. “To go right back to the beginning of the story, a neighbour had bought that car off a car dealer in Timaru. The original owner was a person by the name of Higgins, who imported it from

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Australia with around 39,000 miles [62,764km] on the clock. It then went to a car yard in Timaru — and I think that car yard might still be going. The car then turned up in the ownership of a neighbour, Peter Davis, who had bought the car off the Timaru dealer”. Andrew adds, “He was a neighbour when we were living on the farm out the back of Maheno. I grew up on a farm, but I had no interest in it at all, hated it. I was just a mechanical guy and that was my interest and all I ever was.”

When he left school, his intention was to become an automotive engineer. “That didn’t happen. Dad was an Air Force–trained engineer and told me just to carry on and use the workshop which we had on the farm. We were doing quite a lot of work out there as there were a lot of farms in the area, so we were quite busy,” he tells us.

Peter Davis bought the car a bit before 1978, and he only had it a few weeks. The car wasn’t going very well, so he took it to Andrew to have a look at it to see if he could fix it. “I took a look at it and the accelerator cable was all frayed. In those days, Ford didn’t know what a Twin Cam was, so I went to a local mower shop and bought some Bowden cable,” Andrew explains. Once the cable was connected, he took the Escort for a test run: “I couldn’t believe how good it was. I went and saw my father and told him that he needed to check this car out, but he said it was only a 1600 and it wouldn’t go very well at all, he thought.

“I gave it back to Peter about midweek, and then the following Friday night I was away when it arrived back in our yard on the end of a tow rope! Another neighbour had been with Peter, and he told me that, with the new cable fitted, Peter was able to get full revs and blew the engine. On Saturday morning, with the car sitting in our yard, I started looking at it and couldn’t see much wrong until I took a real close look, and saw what had happened. The damage was pretty comprehensive, with bent con rods — one had come out of the block — and it even bent the starter armature. I’ve still got a con rod saved from that motor, and it also broke the camshaft.”

Andrew took the engine out and phoned Peter to tell him that everything was broken. The car sat in his

TESTING THE WATER IN AUSTRALIA Our feature car is an Australian-market version.

Ford Australia was a bit hesitant to pit the Escort against Holden’s Torana and Leyland’s TC Marina and Mini Coopers, so the twin-cam version wasn’t introduced into Australia until March 1970, although Escort assembly was already in full swing. Despite some assembly quality issues, the little revver developed a strong following and soon proved its durability.

Built at Ford Australia’s Homebush plant in Sydney, the Escort used fully imported drivetrains. The Australian version also received better trim, along with additional wood trim in the interior, and there was a greater range of colours, accounting for the eye-catching factory hue of our example. Camshaft

covers were machined in Australia to counter oil leaks, and a GS pack was available.

As with many of these cars, racing and rallying affected not only the engines but also complete cars, and, according to Ford AVO Owners Club records, today there are only 330 surviving genuine Lotus Twin Cam cars worldwide out of the original 1263 Twin Cams built.

Motoring writers of the day criticized the minor assembly quality shortcomings, but generally they praised the Escort’s handling, and braking, while its performance on dirt was regularly described as being exceptional — as one commentator put it: “unbelievable”, with “control way above standard — sheer fun to drive”. themotorhood.com | New Zealand Classic Car

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FEATURE

1951 Ford Custom Deluxe Convertible

I N T H E E A R LY ’ 5 0 S , T H E R E P R O B A B LY W A S N ’ T ANYTHING MUCH MORE ROCK ’N’ ROLL THAN THIS STUNNING CONVERTIBLE Words: Terry Cobham Photos: Adam Croy

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FEATURE

1937 Austin MkII Ruby

30 New Zealand Classic Car | themotorhood.com

Living the dream A F T E R S U S TA I N I N G A M O T O R C YC L E I N J U R Y, J A C Q U I M A D E L I N D E C I D E D T H AT I T WA S T I M E TO T E S T T H E R E A L I T Y O F O W N I N G H E R O W N V I N TA G E A U S T I N Words: Jacqui Madelin Photos: Adam Croy

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