The strange career of Australian Arnold Glass

......I knew him whilst he was racing in Formula Ford with 'Double B Racing' and also in a Formula 3 car of Rick Whyman......

Sad to hear of Arnold's death. I knew him whilst he was racing in Formula Ford with 'Double B Racing' and also in a Formula 3 car of Rick Whyman. He then went on to race the Maclaren in Formula Libre. On his first race at Silverstone he arrived at the last minute after picking his 'Princess' up from the airport from Austrailia. He arrived in a Ferrari 550.! The next meeting he arrived in a Maseratti.! In other meetings he would arrive in different cars.
He was a great guy to talk to and has someone else said, he didn't boast about his wealth but was fascinating listening to him. He did the powerboating in America. He had a Brown Learjet based at Nice whilst he lived in Fontville Monaco, He had the Gnat which he flew and boats in both the Monaco harbour and Corsica?. On my honymoon whilst in France we went to visit him and his princess in Monaco.He made us both really welcome. He was the typical race driver of the 60's. A great pleasure to have known him..

No apology necessary, Derek
The Cooper-Maser was campaigned by Atkins in 1959 and Gilby in 1960
But it was a T45, not a T51

And to answer your main point, as I suggested in the other thread, he was not in the class of his contemporaries such as Davison, Mildren, Patterson or Stillwell. Having said that, there were one or two flashes of brilliance, and his star might have shone brighter if he'd followed the crowd and raced less individualistic cars. But I don't think so.

I think the 'Trinkets' nickname started before his racing career, but don't recall ever hearing its origin

The Cooper Chassis was a type 45 and was the spare Chassis for the Cooper works team for 1958 (thiner wall tubing). It was then updated to all the specs of a of a type 51 suspention before leaving the Cooper factory and going to Atkins (still with no motor) who had the maserati engine fitted. This makes the car a one off hybrid. It can be fitted with either top wishbones or top dogbones in the rear suspention and it can run with or without the forward struts on the rear suspention. It still has both setups with the car. A very intersting machine! 

He had a Brown Learjet based at Nice whilst he lived in Fontville Monaco, He had the Gnat which he flew and boats in both the Monaco harbour and Corsica?

A Folland Gnat? in Luftwaffe Livery? Please confirm/explain!

[EDIT: belay the last....was confusing a FIAT G.91 with a Gnat]

Edited by 275 GTB-4, 19 March 2014 - 00:53.

Interesting topic.

I remember being impressed by the BRM at Bathurst. Witnessing [and hearing] the BRM, as Arnold Glass hurtled down The Esses will stay with me. Did it have a single disc brake at the rear of the transmission?

Paul Samuels once told me the nick-name 'Trinkets' was to do with the gold chains etc. that he wore.

His offshore boat racing career is a great read.

Glad I wasn't imagining that disc brake at the rear. The sound of the BRM approaching Skyline was worth the drive to Bathurst.

"So I wonder where it came from, and then what happened to it?"

From Allen Brown's Old Racing Cars site:

"Cooper Mk IV 'T51' [F2-18-59] (Bib Stillwell): Delivered to Norman Hamilton (Australia) in July according to the Cooper Register."...driven by Bib Stillwell in 1960 and Lex Davison in 1961.

In 2006, Peter Harburg of Brisbane drove F2-18-59 at Monterey.  There are lots of photos on the internet.

Vince H.

Edited by raceannouncer2003, 27 March 2017 - 06:16.

Edited by DanTra2858, 27 March 2017 - 06:33.

Terry, I noticed in Marc Schagen's book that Arnold's Lotus 27 went to New Zealand...

As a car dealer, it's quite likely he took a NZ-based Cooper as a trade-in. He then raced it a couple of times and probably sent it back to New Zealand to avoid duties.

In David McKinney's notes the Cooper Glass drove in New Zealand in 1965 was "the car driven by John Youl in the 1964 series."

Arnold's Cooper was a T55 Lowline, not a T51 as quoted above, have another look at the pic

Edited by Ray Bell, 29 March 2017 - 10:48.

So it seems Arnold had tired of the 1.5-litre Lotus 27...The Youl T55 was a very much upgraded machine by the end of John's career. Suspension was more akin to Brabham, it had the twin-magneto setup and it was a very competitive car. In the Hordern Trophy he was poorly placed on the grid, back on the sixth row with a bunch of 1.5s, he worked his way up a little and benefitted from a bunch of retirements to come in fifth, a lap behind winner Leo Geoghegan in the 1.5-litre Lotus 32.From what I can see he didn't run the car again. I tried to find the car on Allen Brown's site but couldn't work out how to find it. Where did it go next?

For what purpose?

Definitely the T55

Two different cars

The Sea Fury Arnold Glass owned also has racing history. After selling it to the US it was raced by Pan Am pilot Lloyd Hamilton between 1972-96 competing most years. It was then sold to Paul Morgan of Ilmor Engineering who perished in it at Sywell Aerodrome on May 12, 2001.

T J

The Sea Fury Arnold Glass owned also has racing history. After selling it to the US it was raced by Pan Am pilot Lloyd Hamilton between 1972-96 competing most years. It was then sold to Paul Morgan of Ilmor Engineering who perished in it at Sywell Aerodrome on May 12, 2001.

 

T J

He also had a P51 Mustang and a couple of Mig 21s

Actually he had two Australian built CAC Mustangs. A68-198 was probably just stored as it never got registered in Australia. A68-5 VH-BVM "Johnny Zero" which was later sold to Ron Flockhart and abandoned in Athens on his first record attempt. Of course Flockhart then died when his next Mustang went in at Dandenong Ranges in 1962. More racing connections there then.

T J

Another Mustang P51, 50s Jaguar race driver who lost his life in one at Bendigo ,was my godfather Don Busch .

Arnold Glass is well remembered in offshore powerboat racing ,where was successful both here and in the US.

Remind me to never, ever, fly in an ex-Arnold Glass 'plane!

There was a lot of Mustangs stored at Bankstown airport. Even more Packard Merlins.

Most of you will remember Ray Whitbread,the Car Auction guy,and i think he had a Dealership or 2 in Family members names.

 http://www.pprune.or...aralinga-2.html

Hey Lola5000.

Busch's Mustang is another one which I'd like to hear more about. You don't know of any photos of this short- lived 51 do you? Even the internet is short on info on this particular Mustang.

As for Glass he also raced a Mustang owned by Fawcett Aviation/ Illawarra Flying School in 1973. See link here:

https://jimsaerophot.../09mustang-time

More on Ray Whitbread's VH-IVI can be found here:

https://jimsaerophot.../26/more-vh-ivi

T J

Edited by TJJohansen, 26 May 2017 - 07:15.

Hi TJ lots of stories about Don,but no photos ,some the stories are true others fiction.

From a car point ,always had 2 new Rolls Royces in the 60s ,always with 9 to 1 pistons and ported heads .Was always known to wizz the speedos as in those days RR/B gave new tyres at warranty during the set mileage .

His plate was VIC #17

was renovating his home Cloyne for years ,it was a shell for many years upstairs.

was Melbourne's original playboy

owned new a alloy XK120 ,that was stolen and only reappeared a few years ago.

when he died was far from a millionaire heavily in debt, from memory his net estate was about 120k

was older then 51 ,my mum always said he was about late 50s when he died.

did a wonderful chassis .body off resto of a RR v12 Phantom 111.

As a child I saw the P51 at Berwick airport ,I know there was a spare motor and my father always said Don poured a small fortune into the plane

not a big man but very strong ,always worked out ..a mans man.

Edited by Lola5000, 26 May 2017 - 08:29.

Getting OT but a bit more on the Glass & Whitbread Mustangs,i remember reading at the time that eye witness's said Whitbread was trying to get out of the Plane when it crashed and it was assumed he detached the canopy himself,it was only later that it was said the canopy detached itself and hit him.

Edited by Ian G, 27 May 2017 - 00:25.

Hi TJ lots of stories about Don,but no photos ,some the stories are true others fiction.
 
From a car point ,always had 2 new Rolls Royces in the 60s ,always with 9 to 1 pistons and ported heads .Was always known to wizz the speedos as in those days RR/B gave new tyres at warranty during the set mileage .
 
His plate was VIC #17
 
was renovating his home Cloyne for years ,it was a shell for many years upstairs.
 
was Melbourne's original playboy
 
owned new a alloy XK120 ,that was stolen and only reappeared a few years ago.
 
when he died was far from a millionaire heavily in debt, from memory his net estate was about 120k
 
was older then 51 ,my mum always said he was about late 50s when he died.
 
did a wonderful chassis .body off resto of a RR v12 Phantom 111.
 
As a child I saw the P51 at Berwick airport ,I know there was a spare motor and my father always said Don poured a small fortune into the plane
 
not a big man but very strong ,always worked out ..a mans man.

given Don Busch jaguar connection in that he owned alloy XK120 660034 and later replica model 660214 I pulled the full crash report on the Don Busch crash in the Mustang and almost certainly would have copied it.

My father worked on the Australian Mustangs although fitted with RR merlin Motors and was at Maralinga for the atomic bomb testing done with them.

I have all the articles on them being removed from there one flown out.

Alloy XK120 660034 was extracted from Qld by myself and a friend who owns it a couple of years back and is under restoration here in Perth

Sample Pages at   http://www.jtpublications.com.au/book/

Visit:   www.jtpublications.com.au  for full details

And I owned 660214 for a little while, it is now in the USA

Originally posted by Lola5000
His offshore boat racing career is a great read.

I was given this photo today...



The nephew of one of the owners, Val and Paul Carr, explained to me that they knew Arnold and thus his business name, Capitol Motors, is on the boat.

This is the very race in which the two of them were killed. Running around a ship they didn't realise they were heading straight for a huge wave, which they met at high speed, the boat going into a spin because one of the engines was losing power.

Arnold bought the boat after the tragedy and raced it himself for a year or so before moving on to another boat.

Yes Glass bought the boat pulled her down rebuilt the big block Chevs which ran mechanical injection and raced her ,she was moved on and he raced "American Eagle" a 36 foot Cigarette hull .This boat ( one of two called Cigarette) raced on owned by Norm Jenks without much luck ,she ended up in Queensland ,I tracked down the owner ,who also owned a New Zealand Hydroplane boat with a V12 Allison in it ,sadly he had stripped "The Cig" of her running gear and dumped the hull in the early 2000s .Pity as I would have bought her ran her on normal fuel and belted up down the bay in her .In the period these racers burnt 50 gallons on Avgas per hour ..each motor.

Chevs or Chryslers?

I was told Chrysler..

nope Chev 454's stroked out to 482ci 475 bhp engines built by Carl Kiekhaefer with mechanical injection ,latter boats ran 500ci Chevs.

Carl Kiekhaefer was the master when it came to these engines in offshore powerboat racing.

nope Chev 454's stroked out to 482ci 475 bhp engines built by Carl Kiekhaefer with mechanical injection ,latter boats ran 500ci Chevs.

 

Carl Kiekhaefer was the master when it came to these engines in offshore powerboat racing.

I had heard the name before but i thought he was running some sort of Tuning Shop,i didn't realise he was Mercury and it was such a huge operation,60,000 Chev. blocks a year at one stage.

http://www.racintoda.../archives/11279

I had heard the name before but i thought he was running some sort of Tuning Shop,i didn't realise he was Mercury and it was such a huge operation,60,000 Chev. blocks a year at one stage.

 

http://www.racintoda.../archives/11279

Ian G,he was the man in the great years of Offshore powerboat   racing .

Google "Dry Martini race boat " there will be several videos of her engine warming up the injection stacks make a Can Am big block Chev small and the sound.

Yeah,watched a couple of the video's,also didn't realise that some had twin engines.

http://www.historicr.../drymartini.htm

Getting back on track with the only Glass story i know,i met him once,he set up 'Capitol Motors Northside' at Artarmon,Sydney, around 1966/67. They set up the Datsun Car Club as well at the same time with the meetings held in the Showroom there. He must have been still hands on with Capitol at the time as he was in the Showroom one night when we held a Car Club meeting,he stayed and had a chat with us all.It turned out later he had found a buyer  for the going Business and it was soon renamed Kenthurst Motors and a few Months later the new owners didn't want the Car Club meeting held there,strange decision as we were all driving Datsuns.

Edited by Ian G, 05 June 2017 - 04:18.

He also traded the T26 Lago Talbot the '49 French grand Prix winning car in the early 60s

He is pictured briefly , and mentioned by name, in the McLaren film. I'm thinking  'Zelig ' here ....