Works car found

[drakeley998]

I really need to read through this thread at some point but I was speaking to a guy recently who knew Graham McConnell, who built the 33 ejb replica we now see at shows. Apparently Graham had a body shell of a mini used by Paddy Hopkirk when he rallied and has built an immaculate recreation using all genuine, original parts and is now in a car cocoon for 20 odd years til his grandson comes of age to drive a car. I wonder if anyone can verify this or if another undiscovered works car will emerge in 20years odd...

[pad4]

Any guesses what works car this is

[JohnA]

I think you should post your article and photo of the "Works" trailer on the current Works cars tread on the MCR forum

[pad4]

nah its a good thread on works cars , hope there not going to be any replica's or rip offs shown on it.

pad4

[spoon.450]

I think you should post your article and photo of the "Works" trailer on the current Works cars tread on the MCR forum

A good thread, started by Robert Young. I'm hoping to see some interesting pictures there.

[Pete]

Talking of other works cars, there's pics of LBL 666D on Facebook , just restored. Does look great, where's that one been, I didn't know it existed?

Interesting letter from Bill Price in this month's Cooper World, stating that the GRX 309D Sebring racer (which was a new built car) was an official export in 1967. Does make you wonder how the £100K rally car (now in Switzerland?) got that reg number for it but then DVLA wouldn't have a record of that export.

[spoon.450]

Talking of other works cars, there's pics of LBL 666D on Facebook , just restored. Does look great, where's that one been, I didn't know it existed?

How genuine is it though Pete ? Is there any photographic history ? Perhaps it hasn't existed for long !
Sorry, but you do get a bit cynical.

[fridgeman]

If Pauls car was a "discarded" shell it would have been chopped in half and or had all the ID and striped of everything. ! NOT HAPPENED.

[fridgeman]

discarded shells

[fridgeman]

there rally escorts but you get the drift.

[spoon.450]

Hope to be having an update soon as we have recently been communicating with the American owner of the Works GRX 309D Sebring car.

[Flygirl]

Great news on the recent communication Dave. Looking forward to following the updates!

[SMOKE GREY]

Just re watched the Mini Cooper 50 DVD today and see that what appears to be the original 309D, ie , no arches , overriders and cornerbars etc on Paul Easters cine film on an Acropolis reece

[LMM76C]

Just re watched the Mini Cooper 50 DVD today and see that what appears to be the original 309D, ie , no arches , overriders and cornerbars etc on Paul Easters cine film on an Acropolis reece

Excellent!
"Knew" it had to have become a recce car because of the time to reappearance with same plate. 66 Acropolis was May (late-ish? - I haven't checked actual dates). Almost certainly would have featured on one other event as a recce car.
More or less confirms the 66 Polish 309 was a new car - not much survived Acropolis, either competing or recce, in a fit state to be used as a first line car on another major event.

I don't have the DVD. Who was using the car? (presumably not Makinen if Easter was filming it).

[spoon.450]

Cannot find my DVD ! Can you see if it has twin windscreen washers ?
Was hoping my ( expensive ! ) Christmas present to myself " BMC Competitions department secrets " may have some relevant info. but found nothing as yet. Interesting book though !

[billycooper]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UE9QjhrZ-2Q

i've only got a small screen to watch on today, i don't think its on here, but other good clips !

[Pete]

It's been a few years since I watched it and never thought of looking at the Paul Easter footage, good spot Steve!

I managed to get some stills this morning and though the footage is ALOT clearer than these appear you can't see the washer jets clearly on my crap telly and through my equally crap DVD player. Looks like Paul's Flowers car though and yes the conditions are rough.







Getting lost....





Rough roads...



This road was still under construction , for the rally to come through..





The car overheating and producing s decent 'geezer'.....



Liddon (?) refills the rad...



Exhaust propped up on a rock in order to tie it back up..



Liddon in the shades..



and again...



Easter says that he and Liddon were joined by Hopkirk and the other drivers once they'd done the recce.

Had a quick comparison to the Flowers pics , can't see any differences! I wonder if it did anything else in between the two events? It'd be worth contacting Easter to ask exactly when he did this recce for the Acropolis? The rally itself was in May '66 so two or three months gap? Hopkirk came 3rd on the Acropolis so Paul's car was instrumental in that result when you look the work they put in beforehand.

[spoon.450]

Brilliant !!

[LMM76C]

I think Easter and Liddon often did the initial recce together (including any navigation notes to add to the road book if there was one) as well as initial/provisional pace notes (I've seen somewhere that Liddon's own notes were a kind of "default setting" that others in the team could use in emergency). Easter of course was no mean driver in his own right. The initial recce, some time such as a month before the event (6-7 weeks for Monte with Xmas in between) would often be in a standard car for smoother events (eg. Monte). For something like the Acropolis, a fully prepared car would be needed. The actual crews would then team up in separate recce cars to check pace notes etc.

I think I can make out twin washers in one photo and the unusually offset studs for the headlight protectors in another.

(I found nothing else of direct use for this investigation that has not already been discovered/posted in "BMC Competition Dept Secrets", the Paddy Hopkirk and Pat Moss biographies, Stuart Turner's autobiography, or the Browning and Price books.)

DJB92B is recorded as being a recce car for the 66 Acropolis (and then as a press car for Wilson McComb on the event, being robbed of its rear arm bracket for Makinen/Easter during the rally). At least one other recce car must have been there, possibly two others if 309 had had a hard time. GRX195D had a similar period "missing" to 309D before re-appearing. The only other events before the Acropolis were the Tulip (April) and Austrian Alpine (earlier in May). The Tulip was smooth but I imagine would have needed a full Gp2 recce/practice car for the Gp2 entry. The Austrian Alpine was very close to the Acropolis so seems unlikely to have employed any of the same set of recce cars, although it might have been feasible to take some straight from Austria to Greece. In fact Ford were notorious at this time for being so short of recce cars they expected crews to take them direct from one rally to another across Europe.

[LMM76C]

Re: Hopkirk finishing 3rd.
He won "on the road" of course but was penalised and dropped to 3rd after the controversy of "servicing within a control area" when Brian Moylan set up service a foot too far in.
Depending on who you believe, Ford team manager Henry Taylor had congratulated Hopkirk at the finish in the knowledge that he (Taylor) had just put in a protest that would potentially exclude Hopkirk, leave alone penalise him. This resulted in Hopkirk, enraged at Taylor's two faced conduct when he found out, (with Stuart Turner in tow - and only half-heartedly attempting to "restrain" him) bursting into Taylor's room at the Glyfada Beach and dragging him out of bed by the collar of his pyjamas.
1966 was not UK rally teams at their peak against the world. There was some seriously bad blood between BMC and Ford for some time.