I hadn't see the Norman "Double" in this state of build before!
Double Eight in road form. Yes, the wheels were undrilled at this time, while nice touches like some finishing-off, the grille and louvres on the sides are there.
...in its early life. The information I had was that the wheels were drilled when he converted it to a single-seater, though this photo seems to make that an unclear suggestion...
Unfinished. No grille in this form, at Woodside* in October, 1949, the car had raced there also at the December 27 meeting of 1948. Are the extra holes in the wheels here? The car behind it is the Davison TC Special.
...and this one certainly puts it into the 'more than questionable' category:
1950 Australian Grand Prix. The lightening holes in the wheels are certainly evident here, as also is yet another form of grille on the front, Harry Neale driving.
So why am I so interested in the holes in the wheels?
The first pics I ever looked at in detail of the Eldred Norman Double Eight (that was the family's name for the car) were when I was tasked with laying out Terry Walker's Around the Houses book in 1979. This picture really brought it graphically to me that the wheels had those extra holes in them:
Single-seater. Syd Anderson, stuck with a flat tyre in the Double Eight during a race in WA.
Glen Ewin Hillclimb 1950
![image-2024-07-26-140732427.png](https://i.postimg.cc/ZKnhzMkP/image-2024-07-26-140732427.png)