31 replies to this topic

[austmcreg]

Several of the early road/beach/hillclimb racing cars in Tasmania (circa 1949-52) which I am currently researching appear to have originated as speedcars.

One, the Geoff Crawford-owned Indian special was described in one newspaper account as being "ex Dinny Paterson", having been 'imported' into Tasmania in very early 1952. This car apparently had a lot of chromium plating on chassis and suspension parts. My initial research tells me Paterson was a Sydney-based speedcar driver pre-war and early post war. He seems to have used many different cars, but which one was purchased by Crawford? It was fitted with an 1100cc Indian Chief engine when run by Crawford, but may have had other engines in its earlier life.

The second car, known in Tasmania as the Petts Ford (1172cc Ford 10hp) first appeared in Tasmania during 1951, and has all the appearance of also being an ex speedway car, using what to me looks like a vintage Citroen radiator shell. Again I would like to identify its origins.
First photo shows Petts and Crawford cars - Jack Petts and Geoff Crawford were friends and may well have collaborated to bring two ex Sydney cars to Tasmania? The second photo shows the Petts Ford and either Valleyfield or Tunbridge airstrips.


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A third car, the Atherton Special, similar in appearance to the Crawford car, appeared in Tasmania in late 1949, also having a new Indian Chief engine fitted by Harry Atherton. Initially I thought the Atherton and Crawford cars were one and the same, but that is almost certainly not the case. I have a picture, and will post it here when I get permission to use it.

Can any of our Australian TNFers assist with an introduction to those knowledgable on early Sydney (and maybe Melbourne) speedcars?

Rob Saward

Edited by austmcreg, 01 August 2012 - 14:04.

[john medley]

Rob
This looks like a job for Brian Darby. Have you checked his great website?
I am unable to check at the moment, but
1. Dinny Patterson was killed in a speedway accident near WW2 in the USA
2. I have seen a photo of a Citroen-radiatored car( a rare occurrence, I imagine) at , perhaps, Sydney's Granville speedway in the mid- to early- 1930s
Harleys and Indians were often used as motive power in that period

[austmcreg]

Thanks John, yes I have looked at Brian's website, and read Jim Shepherd's book, but that is the extent of my searching so far. I will contact Brian. I have seen several cars that look similar to those I am interested in, but not identical. With the Petts car, I have not seen any references to an 1172 Ford engine used in a speedcar, but the body style, wheels etc appear typical of late 1930s speedcar.

This is the Atherton Indian I mentioned in the first post. Appeared in Tas in late 1949 and was fitted with a new war surplus Indian engine by Harry Atherton. Clear speedcar origins. Photo courtesy Noel Windsor.
A

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A fourth car of interest is a later Crawford Indian special, this time rear engined. This appeared in late 1952 or very early 1953 and was later (1954) raced by Alan Hale. It may have been built on chassis etc of the earlier car (ex Dinny Patterson), but I suspect not. Were there any rear engined speedcars in this period? I have not seen any in my limited searching so far. Driver in this photo is John Laverick, but there are no records of him racing the car. Photo courtesy Noel Windsor.



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Rob Saward

[Ray Bell]

Have you enquired of Geoff Smedley, Rob?

Or maybe Bruce Burr?

[john medley]

Max Grosskreutz had a rear engined midget, 1930s

[Geoff Smedley]

Max Grosskreutz had a rear engined midget, 1930s

There is a story that should be told in regard to the Atherton Special, My old friend Harry was in the Merchant Navy at the end of WW/2 and in 1946 the mission he was on was removing all the war surplus materials and items being dumped out at sea off the Queensland coast. Thousands of tons of equipment was disposed of in this manner at wars end. Harry had discovered that among the cargo on one particular trip there were dozens of crates with the Indian logo on them and of course one of these cases happened to break open allowing the contents to be revealed and of course here were a heap of brand new engines all wrapped in heavy waterproof paper about to meet their doom, Harry with the help of other crew members hid 3 in the forecastle of the ship and eventually two found their way to Tassy and of course ended up powering some of the early specials at that time. I always believed that Geoff Crawford's car wore the second engine, Alan Hale bought Geoff's car and I bought the car from Alan for the engine only and the rest of the old thing now lays beneath the driveway of my parents old home on Trevallyn. I had rebuilt the engine as a power plant for my Kenley Vincent but chose the latter instead. somewhere in history there is always fun!! The picture of the Crawford car at Valleyfield has the owner on board, John Laverick only drove his beautiful SS100 on very few occasions before it was sold to Don Elliot and its
dignity was a little tarnished during that spell while the original owner always drove in a collar and tie as all English gentlemen are expected to do.

[austmcreg]

The picture of the Crawford car at Valleyfield has the owner on board, John Laverick only drove his beautiful SS100 on very few occasions before it was sold to Don Elliot and its
dignity was a little tarnished during that spell while the original owner always drove in a collar and tie as all English gentlemen are expected to do.

Geoff, Thanks very much for this. I had identified the driver as Laverick based on facial features, but was always concerned it did not stack up because there is no record of Laverick driving this car. Sometimes it is good to be proved wrong! It looks like Geoff Crawford and John Laverick had similar facial features.

Geoff, are you able to shed any light on the origins of any of these cars? Also, was the rear engined Crawford car built from the front-engined one, or were they two different cars? Did you know Jack Petts at all?

There is a lot of overlap between the various Tasmanian cars in early days. Many times, one car became the the basis of, or supplied parts to build another.

Always nice to get this first hand.

Rob Saward

[austmcreg]

I had identified the driver as Laverick based on facial features, but was always concerned it did not stack up because there is no record of Laverick driving this car. Sometimes it is good to be proved wrong! It looks like Geoff Crawford and John Laverick had similar facial features.

This is the real John Laverick with his SS100 at Longford 1953. Unknown photographer. Collar, tie and jacket as per Geoff's observation.


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Rob Saward

[austmcreg]

the Atherton Indian . Appeared in Tas in late 1949 and was fitted with a new war surplus Indian engine by Harry Atherton. Clear speedcar origins.

Randall Langdon has just sent me this photo, taken by the late Bob Dilger, of the Atherton Indian, first time I have seen it with front cowl fitted. Judging by the tents in background, this was an 'away' meeting, probably either Tunbridge or Valleyfield.


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Rob Saward

[Geoff Smedley]

Randall Langdon has just sent me this photo, taken by the late Bob Dilger, of the Atherton Indian, first time I have seen it with front cowl fitted. Judging by the tents in background, this was an 'away' meeting, probably either Tunbridge or Valleyfield.


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Rob Saward

Two different Chassis and both came from Victoria I believe less engines or gearboxes, Harry's was the first to arrive and Crawf's came a little later and as I remember it was pretty obvious both were ex speedway. The last I recall seeing the Atherton special it was tied to the roof a Harry's parents Brisbane St. family home garage when he went back to sea again in the early 1950's. It didn't have an engine in it when I saw it last. Yes I knew Jack Petts well in the mid 50's when we raced TR2's together

[275 GTB-4]

This is the real John Laverick with his SS100 at Longford 1953. Unknown photographer. Collar, tie and jacket as per Geoff's observation.


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Rob Saward

QUOTE, after the mystery solved?: Could be Pat Laverack, father of a mate of mine in Launceston. Or it could be a brother of Pat. That family has always been into cars, in particular Jaguars. All 3 of Pat’s sons have had Jags and I think Pat had an early XJ6 (used for weddings around Launceston) for a long time. I only ever met Pat in his later years and never met any other rellies, so I am not sure. (Certainly got the Laverack teeth!)

I can find out by sending the photo to Martin – he should recognise his father or uncle. Even if it isn’t Pat, Martin has been around the Tasmanian car scene for long enough he may recognise who it might be. UNQUOTE

[Geoff Smedley]

QUOTE, after the mystery solved?: Could be Pat Laverack, father of a mate of mine in Launceston. Or it could be a brother of Pat. That family has always been into cars, in particular Jaguars. All 3 of Pat’s sons have had Jags and I think Pat had an early XJ6 (used for weddings around Launceston) for a long time. I only ever met Pat in his later years and never met any other rellies, so I am not sure. (Certainly got the Laverack teeth!)

I can find out by sending the photo to Martin – he should recognise his father or uncle. Even if it isn’t Pat, Martin has been around the Tasmanian car scene for long enough he may recognise who it might be. UNQUOTE

John Laverack arrived from England around 1953 and was partner in a company Lunnaks Pty.Ltd. made up of John and partner Harold Lunn The company came to Tasmania after winning the Hydro's contract to construct the Trevallyn tailrace and the whole work was carried out with the use of steam power, two wonderful traction engines brought from England capable of winching a huge scoop to form the canal. John had previously driven SS at Brookland Speedway prior WW2 so had owned it for a lot of years, but on completion of the contract John sold the SS and returned to England but Harold lived out his life in Launceston.

[Geoff Smedley]

Two different Chassis and both came from Victoria I believe less engines or gearboxes, Harry's was the first to arrive and Crawf's came a little later and as I remember it was pretty obvious both were ex speedway. The last I recall seeing the Atherton special it was tied to the roof a Harry's parents Brisbane St. family home garage when he went back to sea again in the early 1950's. It didn't have an engine in it when I saw it last. Yes I knew Jack Petts well in the mid 50's when we raced TR2's together

Geoff Crawford's car had a chromed chassis which had caused metal embrittlement to set in, making the chassis useless and unrepairable. Chrome parts were later disallowed on race cars as the plating changes molecular structure of the metal and encourages cracking and welding tends to speed this action.

[austmcreg]

QUOTE, after the mystery solved?: Could be Pat Laverack, father of a mate of mine in Launceston. Or it could be a brother of Pat. That family has always been into cars, in particular Jaguars. All 3 of Pat’s sons have had Jags and I think Pat had an early XJ6 (used for weddings around Launceston) for a long time. I only ever met Pat in his later years and never met any other rellies, so I am not sure. (Certainly got the Laverack teeth!)

I can find out by sending the photo to Martin – he should recognise his father or uncle. Even if it isn’t Pat, Martin has been around the Tasmanian car scene for long enough he may recognise who it might be. UNQUOTE

No, there is no mystery about the Jaguar SS100 owner, John Laverick (correct spelling). If you read previous posts you will realise that the only doubt (now cleared up by Geoff Smedley)was the identity of the driver of the Crawford Special in earlier post. John Laverick was an Englishman who migrated to Tasmania in 1952 as manager of a mining-related engineering business which had contracts in Tasmania at the time, bringing his SS100 with him. John Laverick lived at Upper Burnie, was foundation president of the NW section of the LCCT (later the NWCC) and in late 1950s moved to Sydney where he lived until he died in 1990s. Dates etc from memory as I am not at home at present.

I am aware of the Laveracks of Launceston, who are unrelated, not least because they have a different name!

Rob Saward

Edited by austmcreg, 07 August 2012 - 13:40.

[austmcreg]

Geoff Crawford's car had a chromed chassis which had caused metal embrittlement to set in, making the chassis useless and unrepairable. Chrome parts were later disallowed on race cars as the plating changes molecular structure of the metal and encourages cracking and welding tends to speed this action.

Thanks again,Geoff. This makes sense and supports the view that the second Crawford Special (the rear-engined car) used the original Indian engine from the first (front-engined) car. With your explanation of that car's fate, the ownership chain of both Crawford cars inTasmania seems to be complete

I have been in touch with Brian Darby, and he has explained that little is known of the ownership movements of the early spedcars, and is unable to offer any assistance in identifying which cars the Atherton and first crawford Specials were derived from. Brian sent me a number of photos of Dinny Patterson (my spelling in first post was incorrect) cars, but none appear to match the Crawford car.

Brian also send some photos of cars that might be the later Petts Ford, but again no matches. The Citroen radiator must eventually be the clue that solves this one, but nothing yet. If anyone has a photo of a 1930s speedcar in Australia with a Citroen radiator, I would be pleased to see it.

Rob Saward

[austmcreg]

John Laverack arrived from England around 1953 and was partner in a company Lunnaks Pty.Ltd. made up of John and partner Harold Lunn The company came to Tasmania after winning the Hydro's contract to construct the Trevallyn tailrace and the whole work was carried out with the use of steam power, two wonderful traction engines brought from England capable of winching a huge scoop to form the canal. John had previously driven SS at Brookland Speedway prior WW2 so had owned it for a lot of years, but on completion of the contract John sold the SS and returned to England but Harold lived out his life in Launceston.

I somehow missed this post from Geoff when I wrote previous one. I stand corrected regarding Hydro vs mining contract. John however did not return to England. He sold the SS100 locally. Don Elliott had the car in late 1954, though my memory says that Bill Caldwell may have owned it for a short period. Laverick left the company and started his own business at Burnie importing and selling blinds. This happened well before the contract finished, after less than 2 years living at Burnie, so there must have been a problem of some sort with the other partner of the company. He lived at Burnie until the late 1950s, and spent the rest of his life in Sydney. I have somewhere details of his Sydney addresses over the years and his death notice.

Rob Saward

[tsrwright]

5863380[/url]']
Max Grosskreutz had a rear engined midget, 1930s

Have you a pic or other info John?

[Geoff Smedley]

I somehow missed this post from Geoff when I wrote previous one. I stand corrected regarding Hydro vs mining contract. John however did not return to England. He sold the SS100 locally. Don Elliott had the car in late 1954, though my memory says that Bill Caldwell may have owned it for a short period. Laverick left the company and started his own business at Burnie importing and selling blinds. This happened well before the contract finished, after less than 2 years living at Burnie, so there must have been a problem of some sort with the other partner of the company. He lived at Burnie until the late 1950s, and spent the rest of his life in Sydney. I have somewhere details of his Sydney addresses over the years and his death notice.

Rob Saward Thanks for the update Rob, last I saw of John there had been a split in the company and John was returning to the UK and having asked him when first setting eyes on the SS that if ever he wished to sell it I would like to have the first chance to purchase. I had fairly close contact with John through the family engineering maintenance business where I was employed and I was surprised when his offer for the Jaguar came up so soon and of course it was out of my league at that time. I know John did return to England then and that was the last contact I had, I certainly had no idea that he returned to Tasmania. After Don Elliot finished with the car it did go to someone that lived in the midlands but it wasn't the car that I first laid eyes on and the last time I had contact with that car, it was owned by John Bryson and it broke a rocker while competing in Targa Tasmania in the mid 90's and I was restoring an '36 SS at that time and was able to loan a complete assembly allowing him to complete the course. Great stuff Rob!

[Brian Lear]

A picture of the Max Grosskreutz twin engine midget appears here
http://justmidgets.h...Photosdiff.html

Brian Lear

Edited by Brian Lear, 08 August 2012 - 13:11.

[austmcreg]

A picture of the Max Grosskreutz twin engine midget appears here
http://justmidgets.h...Photosdiff.html

Brian Lear

Thanks Brian,
At a quick glance there are certainly similarities between this car and the Crawford car, but plenty of differences too - it will require detailed study of photos, which I will do .

Rob Saward

[Geoff Smedley]

A picture of the Max Grosskreutz twin engine midget appears here
http://justmidgets.h...Photosdiff.html

Brian Lear

The chassis on the Grosskreutz car looks very similar, the drillings on the side rails look the same and perhaps it may have been chromed at a later date. It was simply known as the Indian Special when Hale owned it and it finally became too tired to fix and was scrapped around 1955. Just by looking at the two photo's, both chassis look to be the same but I could not say for sure

[ellrosso]

Little bit off topic but the car is mentioned here so thought I'd give these Geoff Harrisson shots of the SS100 an airing. He shot these in 1967 for Robert Wilkinson who owned the car from 1960. I did see the car in the flesh in the pits at Symmons in 1968 - beautiful nick. In the 1965 Tas Motorist magaz article it mentions that Laverick won his class at the first Longford meeting.

[Ellis French]

Don Elliot 1955



Photo from VCCA Tas files Nigel Bills Albums

Edited by Ellis French, 11 August 2012 - 23:27.

[austmcreg]

Don Elliot 1955



Photo from VCCA Tas files Nigel Bills Albums

Nice photos of the car post Laverick - thanks Ellis and Lindsay. The Elliott photo show the 55 tag on number plate so I agree with the year, likely early 55 (he bought it in late 54) as it looks very standard - the only change from Laverick days being the white paint. By Longford in March 1955 it was raced with an aero screen; having said that the background for this photo looks distinctly like the old flying mile pits area of Longford, with what looks like the back entrance gate to Mountford visible (the start/finish line was at the entrance).

Over next 18 months or so the car was progressively stripped for lightness and modified mechanically. I have been told that it was quite a job for Robert Wilkinson to bring it back.

Looking at the XK beside it, the person running one of those in 1955 at some events was Guy Farmer. Terry may be able to add.

Rob Saward

[terry mcgrath]

This was a pleasant surprise to see a picture of my old XK120 chassis number 660224.
This car originally white and was first owned by John Archer, then his brother Lyn Archer, then Guy Farmer late 1954, then Wilbur Watson of Sydney, then Ian Cummins his first jaguar.
It turned up in Western Australia in the early 1960's. I brought the car in may 1977 and restored it in time to drive to Sydney in June 1978 for a National Jaguar rally in Albury coming home via Canberra Albury melbourne etc and covered 7093 miles in 6 weeks petrol being only 15.5 cents per litre. I sold it in August 1978 to Peter Briggs who started the York Motor Museum. after some further owners it finished up back at Ian at "Ian Cummins Classic cars" in 2006!

Guy Farmer ran it now painted red at Longford in March 1955 race #30 and he also ran it at Penguin Hillclimb later in the month. I have colour photos of the car at both these events.
There presumably was a separate sprint meeting at Longford on may 14th 1955 which Farmer also ran can anyone provide further details of this event?

I would love to see more info on old jaguars in Tasmania for the books we are working on terry
Sample Pages at http://www.jtpublications.com.au/book/
Visit: www.jtpublications.com.au for full details


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Nice photos of the car post Laverick - thanks Ellis and Lindsay. The Elliott photo show the 55 tag on number plate so I agree with the year, likely early 55 (he bought it in late 54) as it looks very standard - the only change from Laverick days being the white paint. By Longford in March 1955 it was raced with an aero screen; having said that the background for this photo looks distinctly like the old flying mile pits area of Longford, with what looks like the back entrance gate to Mountford visible (the start/finish line was at the entrance).

Over next 18 months or so the car was progressively stripped for lightness and modified mechanically. I have been told that it was quite a job for Robert Wilkinson to bring it back.

Looking at the XK beside it, the person running one of those in 1955 at some events was Guy Farmer. Terry may be able to add.

Rob Saward

Edited by terry mcgrath, 12 August 2012 - 02:48.

[Geoff Smedley]

Don Elliot 1955



Photo from VCCA Tas files Nigel Bills Albums

That was the car with the scrutineers at Longford 1955, chief Longford scrutineer 'Lyle Knowles' in the foreground. The original engine was destroyed at this meeting and was replaced by a Mk.5 motor and gearbox and this would have been the last time the car was seen in its original state, Thanks Ellis and also Nigel!! Smed.

[austmcreg]

I am making progress on identification of the Geoff Crawford cars in Tasmania.

Jim Shepherd's wonderful book on Australian speedway has a photo on page 152 of Dinny Patterson in a car which Shepherd says was Patterson's first and "was originally built and raced by Melbourne's Barney Dentry". I am reasonably convinced this car is the Geoff Crawford front engined car (which was described in a 1952 Examiner newspaper report as being "ex Dinny Patterson", on Crawford's first appearance with it), later converted to rear engine. The chassis rails, rear trailing arms, front body panel and tail panel appear to be the same. The car had a very long bonnet, just right to enable moving the driver forward and putting the engine in the rear, a concept which had come into vogue with the success of the 500cc and larger Coopers in late 40s and early 50s.

Dentry was one of a group of Melbourne road racers who were in at the beginning of midget racing in Melbourne. Does anyone have knowledge (or better still a photo) of this car in Dentry's hands, probably around 1935? Any Barney Dentry experts out there?

Can anyone put me in touch with Jim Shepherd?

Rob Saward

[john medley]

Try Brian Darby
I will search today for various bits

[Ray Bell]

Jim Shepherd has done a foreword to our F5000 book, so I guess I can get contact details from Tony Loxley...

e.mail me and I'll set it up.

[john medley]

Citroen-radiatored Ford Rajo, Granville Speedway, early 1930s Barry Lake's Half A Century of Speed plate 51
Dinny Patterson died postwar, USA ( I have photos etc)
Brian Lear's Grosskreutz pic above same as mine
I have Dentry pics: again, I suspect Brian Lear's would be better. I recall but cant find easily groups of speedway cars in picture (Melbourne)....
In haste
JM

[terry mcgrath]

This was great topic that stopped although the main point was resolved

I am chasing any info on SS Jaguars or XK's in Tasmania for some books I am working on

terry

That was the car with the scrutineers at Longford 1955, chief Longford scrutineer 'Lyle Knowles' in the foreground. The original engine was destroyed at this meeting and was replaced by a Mk.5 motor and gearbox and this would have been the last time the car was seen in its original state, Thanks Ellis and also Nigel!! Smed.

 

Don Elliot 1955



Photo from VCCA Tas files Nigel Bills Albums

[Lee Nicolle]

If those cars were not Midgets they had a LOT of midget in their DNA.

The Austin 7 front axle, modified and drilled production chassis and the like. The Japs too were popular in the day,, though nowhere exclusive to speedway.

I will never understand the waste of scrapping war 'surplus' ERven if they only got 10 bob an engine for instance it was cheaper than scrapping it.

Though the US were probably worse. My brother has dived on dumps in the islands. Trucks, artillery, light tanks, jeeps, big lathes, 40 foot boats, aircraft etc etc. Plus heaps of new tyres, wheels, engine spares etc, even sheds and Nissan Huts. Some was probably not viable to take home but most was. It appears if they could not sell it to the locals it was destroyed. some of those Island communities probably would have been better off for having it. And ofcourse they suffered too for the duration of a war that had nothing to do with them. Not ordanance probably but trucks and jeeps. And equipment.