43 replies to this topic

[Terry Walker]

The saga of the Harry/Harold Smith Ford special in TNF resulted in Harry (Narrogin) Smith's nephew Peter Harrold contacting me. He had a bundle of Harry's clippings and old photos and assorted memorabilia, and asked me to help him sort and scan. He also told me he has a trunk full of Harry's stuff he has yet to investigate. Peter runs a Datsun 260Z in sprints, and we met at Barbagallo Raceway, and I have spent some time digging through what he gave me there.

So I'll start with a couple of items. Harry the bomber pilot, 1944.



Harry was the driving force behind the Narrogin Car Club in the 50s, and organised the legendary Narrogin 1400-Mile reliability trials, which headed east from the wheatbelt town as far out into the desert as Balladonia, and through endless sand tracks and limestone tracks to Israelite Bay on the south coast and back again to Narrogin. He recruited the Ham Radio Association to provide long-range short-wave radio communications, and the event attracted such noted Australian trials champions as Ed Perkins (father of Larry Perkins of F1 and V8 Tourers fame.) The trials ran from 55 to 58 at least, possibly later.

Edited by Terry Walker, 01 August 2011 - 04:59.

[Terry Walker]

These two photos show (top) Harry (arm on the roof of the Holden) and his mates, with the survey car for what I think was the 1955 event; the bottom a stretch of better quality road out Israelite Bay way, although the caption on the back reads Madura Pass, which it definitely isn't.





And this shot, probably from the 1958 event, shows a much more typical stretch of bottomless sand, and a '56 Customline (Australian built) wrestling with it. I will post more pictures and scans of news items from now on as I get into them.

Edited by Terry Walker, 01 August 2011 - 05:08.

[Terry Walker]

Harry competed in the fabulous Redex and Mobilgas Around-Australia trials of the mid-1950s, up to 12,000 miles of outback roads, dust, corrugations, and floods. Here's one of his clippings. And you can see he has the spotlights mounted INSIDE the front boot, where the spare wheel used to be.

Edited by Terry Walker, 01 August 2011 - 05:33.

[Terry Walker]

Harry was an early VW dealer in WA, and this is his establishment in the country town of Narrogin.

[David McKinney]

Was a '56 Australian Customline the same as everyone else's '55 Customline?

[Terry Walker]

Dunno. Is it a 55? They all look the same to me, specially from the front. No caption, so it was a shot in the dark. A Cusso, anyway. There are several rumbling around Perth looking very smart.

Edited by Terry Walker, 01 August 2011 - 07:40.

[Ray Bell]

Originally posed by David McKinney
Was a '56 Australian Customline the same as everyone else's '55 Customline?

No, David, it wasn't...

The pic above would be referred to by virtually everyone as a '55 model.

Terry, the front differed in that the parking lights were flat and the grille curved up over top of them, the grille was markedly different. And along the side where the '55 had a straight chrome strip, the '56 had one sweep along and then down, ending just past a junction where there was a sort of a triangular chrome panel and a fresh strip carried through to the rear.

[Terry Walker]

Harry, former bomber pilot, always loved aviation. When he retired from the garage business, his last job was a travel agent for Zimpels.

In the first pic, he stands with the pilot of a De Havilland Rapide - the pilot is possibly Jimmy Woods, a legendary figure in WA aviation. You can see a little propeller under the fuselage, pressumably for a generator.

EDIT: Whoops, not a Rapide! Maybe someone can sport it. I think with the inverted engine it's probably related to the Tiger Moth.



The second pic is in his tourist agent days, with Horrie Miller of Macrobertson Miller Airlines. Horrie is remembered as another great West Aussie aviation pioneer, and the main road into the International Airport in Perth is Horrie Miller Drive. The aircraft is a DC3. That's Harry and Horrie at left.

Edited by Terry Walker, 05 August 2011 - 03:14.

[giffo]

Terry
Would this Smith you speak of be the grandfather of Perry Smith who has a memorial event named after him at the Narrogin Speedway?
I remember there were two Smith brothers who raced production sedans in Narrogin back in the early 80's. Perry & ?
We used to go to their place often when I was racing junior sedans when I was a 13/14yo.

Edited by giffo, 05 August 2011 - 02:46.

[Terry Walker]

Harry had no kids, but he had two brothers. The Smiths were big in Narrogin, and they are possibly newphews/grand nephews. But then, given that Smith is the most common English surname, could easily be no relation at all.

Among the papers in the collection is a prospectus/publicity magazine for the 1958 Mobilgas Around Australia reliability trail. There were factory team entries from Japan and Czechslovakia, as well as a huge collection of adventurers from Australia.

Here are some bits from it.

The front page:



Some familiar Western Australian names, including John Cummins, "Cummo", one of the entrants for the epic 1951 Australian Grand Prix at Narrogin, who lived in WA for a number of years in the 1950s and is still a motor sport identity.



The route - not a precise map. East of Norseman all the way to Port Augusta was dirt; almost all the north of Australia, from Gerladton across the top and down to the Queensland coast, was also dirt, and encompassed a few "horror stretches" of bulldust and potholes and rocky outcrops.



De Havilland Rapide again - ubiquitous in the 1950s. Pilot Nancy Ellis is another Australian aviation legend.






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[giffo]

That De Havilland Rapide is a scary looking bit of kit. Don't know if I'd want to go up in that one.

[Repco22]

Harry had no kids, but he had two brothers. The Smiths were big in Narrogin, and they are possibly newphews/grand nephews. But then, given that Smith is the most common English surname, could easily be no relation at all.

Terry, Harry had four brothers; Norm, Doug, Les and Keith and two sisters. I don't think the guy pictured looking at the map with Harry looks like Jimmy Woods. Too young for one thing. Jimmy was born in 1893!

[Terry Walker]

Harry and the Peugeot Connection.

The caption on the back of this autographed pic reads "First under 1500, 1952 RedEx Trial" That's Harry in the white shirt and dark slacks beside the dark Peugeot 203. The autographs on the right side under the paler car are indecipherable even on the original signed print.



Harry in a Peugot 203, location unknown, no caption on back. Clearly not the same Pug as the previous pic - that's Harry at the wheel. NSW licence plate suggests another RedEx Trial.



Harry in a Peugeot van. Caption on back says succinctly "Narrogin Observer 42 ems". Unfortunately the Observer is not digital and on line for me to find out what it's all about.



A team of three 203s, with what look like NSW plates, RedEx Trial, year unknown, no caption. Drawing Pin holes in corners show it was on someone's noticeboard for a long while - presumably Harry's.

Edited by Terry Walker, 06 August 2011 - 05:59.

[Terry Walker]

I've identified the pic of the Pug with the checkered flag. It is 1953, and it's Ken Tubman, part obscured by car ariel, the unofficial winner, arriving at Sydney finish (Ken Marshall co-driver). Found a similar pic in the Sydney Morning Herald.

The autographed picture shows Jack Jeffery and Neil Smith (winners u/1500 1952) and Keith and Ronald Moss (2nd u/1500 1952). From Peugeot advertisement, SMH, 1952, with a similar but not the same photo) Not Harry after all. I can assume that the third pic, with 3 cars, was another Peugeot publicity pic.

Edited by Terry Walker, 06 August 2011 - 06:39.

[john medley]

Just beat me to it!

[Repco22]

Just beat me to it!

And me!

[eldougo]

You will give Ray Bell heart palpitations with pics like those Terry.

[Terry Walker]

I have been given a packet of photos from Harry's gear.

These shots are from the 1955 RedEx Trial. I can't identify the driver - I think Harry was the navigator this time, but the two probably swapped sides freely. They didn't finish, I do know that, but the results I have seen show only finishers and I can't find an entry list.

Shot 1 shows getting ready, shot 2 in Victoria, and shot 3 after a "tank-slapper" on a very slippery road that ended up radiator-first in the mud bank. On the original it is clear that Harry - in beret - has been digging the mud out of the grille with his hands.

[HalP152]

I have been given a packet of photos from Harry's gear.

These shots are from the 1955 RedEx Trial. I can't identify the driver - I think Harry was the navigator this time, but the two probably swapped sides freely. They didn't finish, I do know that, but the results I have seen show only finishers and I can't find an entry list.

Shot 1 shows getting ready, shot 2 in Victoria, and shot 3 after a "tank-slapper" on a very slippery road that ended up radiator-first in the mud bank. On the original it is clear that Harry - in beret - has been digging the mud out of the grille with his hands.

Driver of the Austin Atlantic in the 1955 REDeX Trial was Aubrey Melrose and the Navigator was George Wakelin,
Hal Moloney
Trials Historian

[Terry Walker]

The pics aren't very good, but the beret should have tipped me off - Aub Melrose tended to wear a beret. Unfortunately, without an entry list, I was stuck for ID and took a punt.

Thanks for that!

[Wilyman]

The pics aren't very good, but the beret should have tipped me off - Aub Melrose tended to wear a beret. Unfortunately, without an entry list, I was stuck for ID and took a punt.

Thanks for that!

Terry,
Not surprised the "berry" threw you. Nearly everyone involved in motorsport back then wore them. Why only your god knows?
I suppose it lent the drivers etc a . "Devil may care. Push on. Going over the top look". In their minds anyway.

[Repco22]

The pics aren't very good, but the beret should have tipped me off - Aub Melrose tended to wear a beret. Unfortunately, without an entry list, I was stuck for ID and took a punt.

Thanks for that!

Terry, don't worry about the beret. Harry wore one too. I don't know what's going on here but that certainly looks like Harry, not Aub, to me. Maybe there were three in the car.

[ken devine]

Aub Melrose Austin A90 Atlantic.







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[RTH]

Goodness me a 10,000 mile event inside Australia!!

In Britain in the halcyon days of the real RAC round Britain rally each November something like 350 crews did 2000 miles in 4 1/2 days.

http://www.youtube.c...46E8182CAEAE8BB


All of which makes the feeble Rally GB or Wales Rally it has been re-christened now in the same slot which is just daylight running largely between Cardiff and Swansea on pre-graded gravel seem even more disappointing, something we all really used to look forward to.

Edited by RTH, 05 September 2011 - 13:29.

[Ray Bell]

Oh, all's not as it might seem...

They didn't start running those long events until the early fifties, and then there was pretty much just one each year, then they ran out of steam by the end of the fifties.

But 1964, 1970 and 1979 saw them run again, with later iterations coming back in numbers. Some were only 6,500 miles.

Wasn't the distance in Australia on the London-Sydney Marathons around 4,000 miles?

[RTH]

I imagine 50 years ago much of that route would have been over unsealed roads ?

How many starters and finishers typically ? It must have been a terrible car breaker surely ? I imagine people were very much on their own without spares vans etc ?

[Ray Bell]

Support vehicles were almost unknown...

The roads were largely unsealed and there were infamous 'horror stretches' where one might take hours to cover just a few miles. The competitors often helped each other.

You need to read A Boot Full of Right Arms, for while its main story is about the London-Munich event, you get a real taste for what happened out here from Evan Green's recollections therein. There's an old Jack Brabham book, too, that talks about Jack coming into a creek crossing and ripping the front end (and sump) out of his car on a rock uprooted by Tom Sulman's Humber running ahead of him.

The story details what he went through to fix the car out in the never-never and how he simply rejoined the event. One of the saving graces was that it was allowable to skip controls to rejoin, thus a good many competitors were counted as 'finishers' despite not completing the whole course. Of course, there were severe points losses for each control missed.

[Terry Walker]

Journeys With Gelegnite Jack was a fun book too. Evan Green could really write.

[David McKinney]

Agree with the last bit
I even read one of novels once. It was OK too

[Ray Bell]

The totally engrossing way the story of the London-Munich event was written led me to also read one of his novels...

Until I read that book I had little regard for Evan, he seemed to be pompous and make a lot of mistakes (or take a lot of shortcuts) in his television commentary. But I was aware of his prowess as a rally driver.

[Terry Walker]

I never met him, but I saw him on a rally on the coast north of Sydney - Southern Cross maybe? - c. 1974-5, powering down a dirt road, downhill, in the Leyland P76, giving it the Scandinavian flick and take it around a right-angle corner like he was punting a Cooper S.

[RTH]

Do any films of events such as this exist and where might one get copies.
Believe it or not the only film of the London to Sydney was made by an Australian crew for Castrol Australia and we only got to see it here last year for the first time by buying a copy from a bookseller in Perth, it was never even put on sale in England.

So here in Britain at least filmwise we are very poorly informed about all motorsport in Australia right down the years( other than Bathurst and GPs over the last 30 years), something it would be rather nice to rectify if anyone has some suggestions.

[Ray Bell]

With regard to racing, there's nothing as informative as Chevron's The Official 50-Race History of the Australian Grand Prix...

Rallies are a bit more difficult... or 'Trials' as they were called prior to the sixties. There are movies and newsreels around of those fifties RedEx and Mobil events, I recall seeing one not too long ago somewhere.

But one also should not neglect to mention the huge event that was put on to fit in with the centenary celebrations in South Australia in 1936.

A 'Trial' with a number of starting points to have the cars converge on Adelaide, with a number of the cars then intended to compete in the South Australian Centenary Grand Prix over no less than 240 miles of a 7.8-mile circuit of (partially) dusty roads between Victor Harbor and Port Elliot.

Only one race held prior to this in Australia had been longer, the 300-miler at Phillip Island (not a Grand Prix) in 1934, while only one AGP eclipsed this distance, the 1956 race at Albert Park won by Stirling Moss.

In all, the two events marked a real milestone in Australian motor sport that's probably not recognised widely today. Apart from the sheer magnitude of the organisation of the road sections between all the other capital cities and Adelaide, this was the first time a serious road race was held in that state and it showed that the people of the Sporting Car Club of South Australia were a very capable bunch. In John Medley's oft-repeated words, "...the South Australians do it well!"

The pity of it all, of course, is that today this event is shrouded in the cloud of re-written history. All of this happened in 1936, but only the race is broadly remembered, and it's listed as being the 1937 Australian Grand Prix despite it not having been conducted as an Australian Grand Prix and it having been run on Boxing Day, 1936!

I think I should one day go to a library and have a look at the Adelaide newspapers from the time the cars were converging on the City of Churches and get a feel for what was going on those days...

[ken devine]

I saw a short film of the 1953 Redex trial 3 months ago, it was interesting and is owned by an elderly collector. I imagine John
Napier Winch may have some in his archives.

[David Shaw]

I think I should one day go to a library and have a look at the Adelaide newspapers from the time the cars were converging on the City of Churches and get a feel for what was going on those days...

It's alright Ray, stay in your chair.
http://trove.nla.gov.....onthInYear:12

[Ray Bell]

Thanks, David... interesting...

However, I would like to see something about the rallyists coming to Adelaide.

[David Shaw]

How about this link then Ray:

http://trove.nla.gov...l...|titleid:44

[Ray Bell]

This one's good, David, thank you...

Though it's continued on another page and I guess I really have to find out how to find that page now!

[David Shaw]

Ray, if you look above the word DECEMBER at the top of the paper, you can choose which page of that paper to look at. Change it to 24, and have a look in column 6.

[Ray Bell]

Thanks again, David...

There must be a bundle of information out there that we really should have known about years ago!

[David Shaw]

I will sometimes trawl through Trove for hours on end picking up snippets of information on races before the mid-50s

[john medley]

Until about 7 years ago another student of Australian motor sporting history and I together each Wednesday visited either State Library Sydney or its smaller counterpart in Newcastle searching microfiche files for stuff now thrown up by Trove National Library of Australia at the press of a button or two. Even those efforts were easier than when I was 16/17, and did the research and recording by hand.

Given that background and history, I am one of those that really appreciates your work, David Shaw. You are a constant surprise and for me you have filled many a gap formerly obscured by my earlier and more primitive methods

[David Shaw]

Until about 7 years ago another student of Australian motor sporting history and I together each Wednesday visited either State Library Sydney or its smaller counterpart in Newcastle searching microfiche files for stuff now thrown up by Trove National Library of Australia at the press of a button or two. Even those efforts were easier than when I was 16/17, and did the research and recording by hand.

Given that background and history, I am one of those that really appreciates your work, David Shaw. You are a constant surprise and for me you have filled many a gap formerly obscured by my earlier and more primitive methods

Very flattering John, but it is really only technology, help from friends like Scott McKay who emails me frequently with minor details on the Gold Star races, and being able to get hold of some magazines back when I started that has done it. I didn't have to do it the hard way as you have for most of mine, trawling through microfiche and papers, although I have done some of that and know how time consuming it is.

I find doing the research very satisfying, and after doing the research for the 2.5 litre Gold Star website, expanded it back through the Formula Libre years as well, before deciding to work backwards from there to when it first started in Australia although I haven't put that data up anywhere as it is lots of bits and pieces.

PS. And a big thank you for the most comprehensive Bathurst book that you produced, the amount of detail helped me flesh out other data that was sketchy. As well as the fabulous photographs.

Edited by David Shaw, 11 September 2011 - 10:24.

[275 GTB-4]

Goodness me a 10,000 mile event inside Australia!!

In Britain in the halcyon days of the real RAC round Britain rally each November something like 350 crews did 2000 miles in 4 1/2 days.

http://www.youtube.c...46E8182CAEAE8BB


All of which makes the feeble Rally GB or Wales Rally it has been re-christened now in the same slot which is just daylight running largely between Cardiff and Swansea on pre-graded gravel seem even more disappointing, something we all really used to look forward to.

Get yourself a copy of Crossroads Alice RTH...

http://miniexperienc...toise-hare.html

The journey was part of world-wide test of a new Castrol oil. Proving the oil in extreme conditions, the crew experienced snow atop Mt Kosciuszko, and relentless heat in the Central Australian deserts. Driving through flooding rains, dust storms, desert sands and broken rivers, they covered a total of more than 12,000 miles (20,000km).

It is a big country