34 replies to this topic

[Dkipling1]

This Australian stock car looks like a 1940 Ford sedan, EXCEPT that it has an extended trunk, unlike the swoopy Ford lines.
http://www.oldstox.c...eld skoda 1.jpg

The word "SCODA" on its door suggests a misspelled Skoda, but the closest 1940's Skoda Tudor has suicide doors at the front.
I would be grateful for any suggestions.

[Dkipling1]

This Australian stock car looks like a 1940 Ford sedan, EXCEPT that it has an extended trunk, unlike the swoopy Ford lines.
http://www.oldstox.c...eld skoda 1.jpg

The word "SCODA" on its door suggests a misspelled Skoda, but the closest 1940's Skoda Tudor has suicide doors at the front.
I would be grateful for any suggestions.

S.C.O.D.A. stood for the Stock Car Owners and Drivers Association.

Dodge and Cadillac both did 4-doors with trunks like that, but their 'middle' side windows were not sloped like the ones on this stock car. Help?

[wagons46]

How about a 1939 Buick?

[Talon9999]

Could one presume that was Frank Ifield playing the guitar. Maybe he would remember

[David McKinney]

I don't recognise the boot (trunk) configuration. An Australian-bodied GM production car, courtesy Messrs Holdens, perhaps?

[CarlRabbidge]

1938 Nash

[john medley]

"I remember you" was the song

[GMACKIE]

Could well be Frank Ifield - he was a 'Hillbilly' [not 'country' back then] singer before he made the 'big time'. He used a sort of yodel in many of his songs.

[Catalina Park]

Frank Ifield's website says...

In Australia, at the age of 17, I was fascinated by the 'Bash & Crash Game' of Stock Cars. Spurred on by my friend Col Dennis, a trucker from Wollongong, I found myself behind the wheel of his well-tuned fortified mean machine. It was an 8 cylinder Cadillac and built like a fortress (Later, I was 'relegated' to a Scoda, as pictured). The roar of the crowd and the smell of racing fuel filled me with an excitement that followed me to England. However, after I had reached fame as a singing star, this hobby was curtailed because of the impossibility of getting insurance.

It includes another photo of the same car...

http://www.frankifie...mages/scoda.jpg

[Ray Bell]

I'm pretty sure Graham Clayton would have a good idea about this...

It looks pretty Windsor to me. Cadillac? Or La Salle?

Definitely not 1940s. We had virtually no 1940 model cars here as we got an early start to the war. I also think the scriptwriter quoted by Michael has gone beyond his brief in referring to being 'relegated to a Scoda'. There was never, I would suggest, a Skoda used at the speedways in Sydney or Wollongong in the fifties or sixties. Too small, too light, not enough power alongside the plentiful pre-war Fords, Buicks, Terraplanes and so on.

[Lee Nicolle]

Does anyone recognise the rather distinctive wheels? That may well be the clue. They are NOT Ford V8 or 30s Chev

[Duncan Fox]

Does anyone recognise the rather distinctive wheels? That may well be the clue. They are NOT Ford V8 or 30s Chev

They are Buick wheels .

I think the car is a series 80 Roadmaster 4dr sedan.1936 thru 38? Olds and Pontiac had the same bodywork. Its a GM Fisher product for sure . Cadillac didnt have the 2 piece rear window and their bodies were made by Fleetwood IIRC

Edited by Duncan Fox, 05 July 2011 - 08:52.

[Ray Bell]

However, as David McKinney mentioned, there might well have been a Holden body influence here in Australia...

I don't know if Cadillac and La Salle would have been fitted with locally made bodies, but it is feasible, especially for the La Salle.

[Bloggsworth]

He taught me to yodel...

[Bloggsworth]

As Frank Ifield was born in '37, either it's a different Frank Ifield or the picture was taken sometime after 1950. He was born near Coventry, emigrated when he was 13, came back when he was 26. He recorded his first record at the age of 13 in 1950.

[Bloggsworth]

With that scaffolding on the front the car looks perfectly equipped for a ram-raid...

[Lee Nicolle]

As Frank Ifield was born in '37, either it's a different Frank Ifield or the picture was taken sometime after 1950. He was born near Coventry, emigrated when he was 13, came back when he was 26. He recorded his first record at the age of 13 in 1950.

The pic would have been in the late 50s early 60s. It says on the car Frank Ifield recording and TV star and that was the period of those heavy stockcars.

[Catalina Park]

Why would it be a different Frank Ifield? The car is sign written "Frank Ifield TV and Recording Star" plus Frank Ifield the singer says it is him on his own website.

[wagons46]

As Australia didn't get TV until 1956 the photo had to be late 50's.

Regarding the car, although Frank calls it a Cadillac, it is hard to match a split rear window and a high rear door hinge and sloping rear door window with a Cadillac, yet easier on a Buick 8/40 Holden bodied sedan,which were plentiful in those days.

[Dkipling1]

I'm pretty sure Graham Clayton would have a good idea about this...

It looks pretty Windsor to me. Cadillac? Or La Salle?

Definitely not 1940s. We had virtually no 1940 model cars here as we got an early start to the war. I also think the scriptwriter quoted by Michael has gone beyond his brief in referring to being 'relegated to a Scoda'. There was never, I would suggest, a Skoda used at the speedways in Sydney or Wollongong in the fifties or sixties. Too small, too light, not enough power alongside the plentiful pre-war Fords, Buicks, Terraplanes and so on.

Right: SCODA was the Stock Car Owners and Drivers Association --- Frank would have know that himself; shrewd to suspect a "script writer"!

[Dkipling1]

Why would it be a different Frank Ifield? The car is sign written "Frank Ifield TV and Recording Star" plus Frank Ifield the singer says it is him on his own website.

If I squint, yes, that's a young Ifield looking mature. BTW, I'm wonder if the photo was taken in a work yard and not at a track? Maybe that lump under the tarp is an engine block?
Many thanks for your prompt and helpful replies ---- I shall concentrate on the cars suggested.

[Dkipling1]

How about a 1939 Buick?

If Buick and Cadillac were both in GM in those days, it could be either --- 1938 Buicks and Cadillacs look almost identical, and Ifield's website mentions a Cadillac at some point.

[john medley]

In the late 50s, F Ifield's family lived in the Castle Hill-to-Epping area of Sydney, his younger brother attending Epping Boys High School at that time

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by Dkipling1
If Buick and Cadillac were both in GM in those days, it could be either --- 1938 Buicks and Cadillacs look almost identical, and Ifield's website mentions a Cadillac at some point.

They were since about 1911...

And it might be better if you don't use funny fonts and sizes before you work out how to do it properly. Just as an aside.

TBH, I think the boot on that car is 'longer' than a Buick had.

[Ray Bell]

wagons46 knows his stuff... he sent me a pic, here's the link:

http://www.buickclub...beb9f2f11f0fe4b

[Catalina Park]

According to Jim Shepherd in his History of Australian Speedway book SCODA ran a celebrity race at Windsor with Sydney TV and radio stars in borrowed cars with drivers like Gary O'Callaghan, Brian Henderson, Graham Webb, Col Joye, Lucky Starr, Joe Martin (sports car racer and TV comedian), Ralph Sach (a ring in for radio station 2GB) etc. and Jim Shepherd (who was working as the sports announcer on 2UE)

I wonder if this was the meeting that Frank drove the SCODA marked car in?

[Ray Bell]

They did that at Westmead too...

I remember seeing (circa 1961-2) Col Joye, Lucky Starr, Gary O'Callaghan and others there, I especially recall that Tom Stranger's tremendously strong '34 (or '33?) Ford coupe had one of the visitors in it.

But I think Frank Ifield's 'career' in the speedway was broader than just guest drives. One of the sites I looked at yesterday in response to this mentioned four or five different speedways.

*edit* Whoops, just found that when I click on that link it just goes to the start of the gallery. You need to set the year for 1938 and then put 2 per page, then the second car is the one that shows what we're looking at.

Edited by Ray Bell, 06 July 2011 - 07:22.

[Duncan Fox]

However, as David McKinney mentioned, there might well have been a Holden body influence here in Australia...

I don't know if Cadillac and La Salle would have been fitted with locally made bodies, but it is feasible, especially for the La Salle.

Ray and David

You guys were right when you said there was an Aussie influence .From the Buick club site last night I read about Holdens engineers attempts to stamp their own individuality on the product. The results (the 2 piece back window and extended trunk) show a very British influence . So they were Holden bodies, not Fisher and I presume its a 39 model.
I had always understood they were the US body assembled locally but it seems this was not until after the war

[wagons46]

Hence.......see post #3.

[Lee Nicolle]

Ray and David

You guys were right when you said there was an Aussie influence .From the Buick club site last night I read about Holdens engineers attempts to stamp their own individuality on the product. The results (the 2 piece back window and extended trunk) show a very British influence . So they were Holden bodies, not Fisher and I presume its a 39 model.
I had always understood they were the US body assembled locally but it seems this was not until after the war

Most American cars in the 30s had Australian bodies that were often quite different to the US ones. Frontal sheet metal was generally the same but then adapted to more 'generic' Holden, TJ Richards etc bodies

[Ray Bell]

And some were identical, of course...

The 'sloper' was an Australian oddity:

http://www.gregwapli...opers/index.htm

But other 'oddities' existed. For instance, there were 25hp Vauxhalls built with Willys bodies, while I'm sure the '39 25hp Vauxhall was all Chevrolet body with a Vauxhall (fluted) nose. What were they like in England?

[Duncan Fox]

Hence.......see post #3.

eh .......not quite it would seem.


I have recieved a reply to some questions I asked of the Buick site webmaster John Gerdtz, who very kindly took the time to answer me.

"Sadly there is insufficient detail in either photo to make a positive identification. What I can tell you is that the body appears to be the Holden built shared body of 1937/38. These bodies were fitted by GMH to LaSalle, Buick 8/40 & 8/60, Oldsmobile, Pontiac and Vauxhall 25's. Given that this is a stock car the body could have been fitted to any number of modified chassis as the same basic Holden body was also used on other locally assembled non GM marques.
The wheels on your subject car are positively not Buick from the body period, however they are quite a good match to those fitted to the Vauxhall that used this Holden body."

I cant believe so many cars used the same bodywork! You Aussies appear to have invented badge engineering along with mix n match.

This might also help to explain Franks "Cadillac" recollection

So Ray gets 7/10 David 5/10 Me 0/10 wagons46 eh....0/10

[Ray Bell]

I don't think it's a Vauxhall at all...

The Vauxhall, I am sure, used the Willys body until about '37, not sure when it changed, but when it did it changed to the Chevrolet body.

What stud patterns did the relevant cars have?

And here's a '37 Vauxhall pic that might or might not help...

[Lee Nicolle]

Being a stockcar it could have had numerous changes. Utilising what is advailble and up to the job.
I suspect most bigger assembler markets such as Oz would have used local bodys on imported chassis.
For the most part the chassis, suspension, driveline etc would have been original, Vauxhall, Buick, Caddy, Chev etc with the local body adapted to suit the chassis. Using the distictive original front sheetmetal, grille, bumper, bonnet etc.
To add to the confusion remember most US model cars were imported from Canada which had different model runs to the US. Plus some of these cars[from Oz] were exported to smaller markets either as CKD or fully assembled in different to Oz specifications.
Lets face it Holden built Ford bodies in the 20s, as did several other body builders, and they would have all had differences. And this is still a consideration even today with different specs for different markets. Only Australia exports performance cars and components to the US these days!!

[Catalina Park]

I cant believe so many cars used the same bodywork! You Aussies appear to have invented badge engineering along with mix n match.

When they had over 70 different types of bodies to produce in a year as Holden was doing they are going to have to take some shortcuts to keep up with the supply.