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I
first saw this car advertised in an Auckland newspaper and liked the
style of this model. It was a two door coupe with stacked headlights
(One above the other, similar to a Fairlane). A phone call and a trip
to Auckland saw me swapping a 1961 220 SE Mercedes sedan for it. Painted
Yellow & Black it quickly
got nick-named the “Bumble Bee”.
It ran a 221 cu in 6
cylinder motor and a C4 auto. The motor got modified slightly and went
well, but I could never keep an auto in this car. My mates reckoned
it had something to do with the way it was driven, but I don’t know what they
were talking about. Was
grass track racing it one day up Kaiaua, on the Firth of Thames, and
after I parked it, heard a hiss under the bonnet. Just as I lifted
the lid to see what was wrong, a heater hose burst and sprayed the
side of my face with scalding water. The girl I was with, found some
ice & wet
tea towels from somewhere which she kept wrapping in the towels and
giving me to apply to my face while we did a mad dash to Thames Hospital
Out-patients, where they treated me for the burns.
I
liked this car, but didn’t like the fact that I couldn’t
keep autos in it. After the demise of another auto, I had had enough
and sold it to another rodding friend, Dave Crawford, who fitted it
with a 289. He ran it for awhile then it went back up to Auckland.
I don’t really know what happened to it, but have heard two stories
about what might have happened. One was that it was wrapped around
a power-pole & totaled and the other was that it had ended up going
over to Aussie where it became a drag car.
Looking
back now (the benefit of hind-sight) I should have fitted a 289 or
302 and a 4 speed manual,myself, which would have made it a great
car.
One
interesting fact about this car was that I could put a 10 speed push-bike
in the boot and close the lid. Not many vehicles you can do that with…
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