11 replies to this topic

[SGM]

There doesn't seem to be a lot of information available on Ted Whiteford nor the car(s) he built. In my experience his name sometimes gets confused with Doug Whiteford which doesn't help. From what I understand he was once in a business partnership with Harry Firth and later undertook car restorations but I have no further information on him personally. He built at least one racing car, for Tasmanian Lex Sternberg during 1958, which was powered by a Phil Irving prepared Vincent V twin. Sternberg had the car converted to FWB climax in 1960 after only 12 months with the troublesome Vincent. The Whiteford-Irving/Climax  appears to be a nicely built car based on the Coopers of the day and I have attached some links to photos of the car;

 

https://www.facebook...5947557/?type=3

 

https://www.facebook...7655240/?type=3

 

Sternberg purchased a T51 Cooper from Bib Stillwell in late 1961 and it is possible that the Whiteford-Climax was used as a part trade on the deal and returned to Victoria, but I can't confirm that. The trail of this car then goes cold other than a reference to "Ted Whiteford's 1500cc open wheeler" being looked after by Ray Gibbs c1964. There is however a Whiteford Special currently resident in Queensland which is claimed to be built by Ted Whiteford in 1961 and is possibly a Lotus 21 copy, see link below;

 

https://planeimages....31206/i-dC7JF5z

 

 I have had no luck in contacting the current owners to find out more about this car, perhaps someone could help with this? Are there two Ted Whiteford built open wheelers or is this the same car updated from its earlier specifications with new bodywork? The timeline would certainly fit.

 

If anyone has further information on Ted Whiteford and his racing cars I would love to hear it.

 

 

[cooper997]

SGM, Ted Whiteford's Ford V8 special was featured in the Australian Specials series in Australian Motor Sports Dec 1951. The Firth and Whiteford operation ran out of a Gardenvale address, some 1950 AMS have adverts. If you don't have these magazines, leave a note here and I'll try to add them asap.

 

Stephen

[SGM]

Hi Stephen, I didn't know about the Ford V8 Special, I would love to see the AMS reports, thanks!

[cooper997]

SGM, Here's three pages relating to the AMS feature. Hopefully they are clear enough, if not let me know via pm and I'll email to you, Note - that this is from the small A5 era of AMS.

 

 

 

 

 

Stephen

 

 

 

[SGM]

Thanks for posting the article Stephen, much appreciated. It's a fine looking racing car and Ted Whiteford was obviously a skilled tradesman. It would be no mean feat to build a body like that. There was a couple of things I picked up from the article. First, Ted pronounced his last name Whitford which is interesting because some reports of the Queensland car have it spelt this way. A simple spelling mistake or do people remember the way Ted pronounced his surname and are simply spelling the name of the car as it is pronounced? Secondly, perhaps the youth of today aren't as bad as we think if the author thought that small boys might drop handfuls of gravel through the holes in the bonnet!

 

I wonder how the Sternberg/Whiteford connection was made given the former was in Tasmania and the latter in Victoria?  Did Ted attend Longford during 1957/8 and they bumped into each other in the pits? Whiteford must have had some sort of reputation as a car builder or preparer in the period 1951 to 1958 for Sternberg to approach or be directed to him? 

 

I believe the Whiteford Special in Queensland is (was?) owned by Chad and Kristeen Wheeler but I have had no luck in finding a contact for them.

Edited by SGM, 18 March 2020 - 22:24.

[cooper997]

The AMS article references 2 Rob Roy meetings the Ford V8 special ran. I can confirm it's listed in the November 1951 Rob Roy #26 Australian Hillclimb Championship meeting. The meeting where a future F1 World Champion won in a Speedway car. Rob Roy #25 was in May 1951, but I don't have access to a programme for it.

The #26 programme has...

Event 11 Over 3000cc Racing Cars (3 Climbs) p27

6 Whiteford, E C Ford Spec 4300cc

 

In the Harry Firth 'Ford and I' special edition published by Chevron/Australian Muscle Car in 2013, there is mention of the brief venture between him and Ted Whitford (as spelt in it) the Gardenvale setup opposite the Tom Piper food factory. They worked on their vehicles and mentions how "But all this came to an end as Ted didn't work, and I sold him the business for a token sum and went back to Glen Iris to work out of the shed..."  Harry being his own man, I dare say opinions may vary on that.

 

As for the Sternberg Whiteford Climax I have reference for it in several races within the 1961 Longford programmes. One example...

Sat, Event 4 “Craven A” Racing Car Scratch Race 8 laps 1.45pm p31

15 L Sternberg L Sternberg Whiteford Climax 1496 Tas

 

This is a subject Rob Saward probably has covered in his Tasmanian motor racing / Longford research. But ever since Rob's stroke, TNF has not been able to benefit from his input and knowledge.

 

Stephen

[cooper997]

The April 1950 AMS advert

 

 

Stephen

[Dale Harvey]

I seem to remember the car that the Wheelers had was called the Whitford Special not Whiteford. I last saw it at Lakeside in the hands of another lady. Her name is Alison Frech and her husband Fred Frech was running a Formula Ford.

Dale.

[SGM]

I wonder if the Firth/Whiteford business venture was the first in Australia to specialise in tuning and building of racing cars? It is certainly early days. I imagine Harry would have been an "interesting" bloke to work with, most likely it would be his way or the highway! It sounds like Ted continued the business and if that is the case I can now understand why Sternberg got him to build a car. I don't imagine there would be too many other businesses around at the time advertising to build racing cars? Rob Saward's input would have been great, hopefully he may still be following TNF.

 

Thanks for your input Dale, you have confirmed what I wrote previously regarding the pronunciation of Ted Whiteford's name. I will attempt to contact the new owners for more details, cheers.

[cooper997]

SGM, if a list was created there would a a few that pre-date the Firth and Whiteford operation in Melbourne, let alone the rest of Australia, It's perhaps a case of Harry becoming the most prolific when Ford, then Holden came knocking in the 60s. The Reg Nutt/Jack Day operation in Whiteman St South Melbourne and A F Hollins (Barrett Brothers and Alan Ashton) in High St Armadale are 2 earlier examples, HF had a stint at A F Hollins himself.

 

It might be worth having a look through https://loosefillings.com/back-issues/ to see if anything about the Sternberg Whiteford-Vincent cames up,

 

Stephen

[Ray Bell]

And in Sydney...

 

Rex Marshall would come into that group.

[john medley]

John Snow and Jack Saywell set up Monza Motors in Sydney pre WW2, initially with ex Whitney Straight/ Richard Seaman spannerman "Jock" Finlayson in charge, on Seaman's recommendation indeed-- until Finlayson  tripped and fell. Rex Marshall then took over.

People like Hope Bartlett had done it much earlier, one of his spanners being Harry Odewhan. Don Harkness of Harkness and Hillier at Five Dock did much the same in the twenties, and Peter White after racing in the USA did similarly in one of Sydney's inner suburbs.

Brian Lear may be able to tell details of the 1915 push-over-the- line -at-Indianapolis by Ralph De Palma and his Australian spannerman, Rupert Jeffkins later in Australia.

And there is probably Australia's first Grand Prix driver (1907  GP de l'ACF), Gregor Laxen, later a garage owner in Young.