MOTORING HISTORY B.M*
DIPSTICK ROGER PERKS
From a Morris Minor, to Minis, a Holden FX, Austin Healy, MGAs, Rovers, Cortinas, Mercedes.
*Before Marriage
1951 MORRIS MINOR LOW LIGHT SOFT TOP
My first car, it's fastest speed was 60mph down any mine shaft; as a second year apprentice Fitter/welder/turner it needed all of my trade skills to keep running. It gave me the feeling of a Fred Flintstone car. One day, showing off the tremendous power of the side valve 920cc motor, I tore the rear front spring hanger from the floor. When I looked further into this, I noticed a fair amount of the floor was rusted away - over the holes had been placed Masonite - this took some fixing. I also pulled out the motor and gave it an overhaul, cord rings and all. Later that year I sold it to a wrecker and used my Dad’s old car, a Standard 10, it went a bit quicker - 70mph.
1961 MINI 850
This was very good low mileage car - a light grey with two red racing stripes over the center from front to back. I modified the engine with head work, Twin 1 ¼” SU’s and full works extractor. Performance was crap down low however above 3000 revs it was great, this car was the delight of the Newcastle Police nearly every time I went to Town they stopped me to complain about the noise or something. One night on my way home from a bus trip (a Tec outing to Sydney) I was pulled over by the police who checked everything they could think of on the car. There was nothing wrong but when I stopped, I left the motor running as the battery was not good. They made me shut it down, when it wouldn't start, I asked them if they would give me a push. They just laughed and got back into their car and watched me push start it down the road.
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This car went all over NSW to the car racing in Sydney and Bathurst, it was great. Once at Bathurst doing donuts at the top of the mountain, I cracked the alloy sump/gearbox - out came all the oil. After a lot of enquiries we got a welder in Bathurst to weld it up but we couldn’t drive home so they fixed a ridged tow bar from a shackle welded onto the Mini subframe to a mate that had a rear tow bar on his MGA (very unusual). He was an apprentice from work so my ride home was steering the Mini 1.80m back from bright taillights for 150m to Newcastle not much fun.
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In 1965 we moved to Perth WA from Toronto, near Newcastle NSW.
1961 AUSTIN HEALY SPRITE 'BUG EYE'
This was another project car however a brilliant handling unit. Rebuilt the gearbox, steering and brakes (what brakes?). I had a problem keeping it clean - one day out racing a Zephyr in the wet to Yanchep I slid off the road, back wheel stuck in sand and over we went. The car rolled over so slowly - I was strapped in however my girlfriend at the time Marilyn (now my wife) spilt the chicken and salad all over the inside of the car. Two guys from the Zephyr came running over and assisted us out of the car and we rolled it back on to the wheels. I got a screwdriver and file to prop the windscreen and hold the hood frame together. We pulled the hood back on and we were about to get going when our friends caught up and asked if we were ok. We were, and continued to our picknick at Yanchep, from that day on the car was known as the Chook car. Marilyn’s parents never knew about this accident until we returned to WA after our stint in Victoria some 4-5 years later.
1951 HOLDEN FX RACE CAR
My first race car (raced at Caversham WA 1967) - by this time I was a member of the WA Sporting CC. This car was so quick and a bit expensive for me to run (sports car class), had a grey motor prepared by Charlie West mechanic, 4 speed gearbox, finned drum brakes and too many mods to mention. It ran on 110 Racing fuel, a brilliant car - top speed at the end of Cavy straight was 125mph. I sold it back to its original owner McCartney for the same amount that I purchased it for, he had been pestering me for a while as I needed to borrow his trailer to transport it to events and knew I was having problems getting it to the track so we discussed a deal and it changed hands back to its original owner.
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Not sure if the photo is the same car as had no photos. Number sounds familiar - lost my cams logbook so have no reference☹
1960 MGA 1600 MK
I regret not keeping this car, it was so good I can’t say any more, I still had the desire to race so looked for another car to buy, a Mk1 Mini Cooper S came up for sale at Winterbottom’s in Perth so we did a deal.
INTERESTING CARS OWNED A.M*
*After Marriage
1965 MINI COOPER MK1
Traded the A in on this 3-year-old car which I raced at Caversham, then we moved to Melbourne for 2 years. Looking for more racing options, we competed at Sandown, Winton Race Tracks and Templestowe Hillclimb. This car was our daily driver. The body and engine were upgraded to S specification and capacity increased to 1275. When sold the engine developed 118 bhp; 1310cc capacity Peter Manton Motors engine and a real flyer. Top speed along Sandown front straight of 130MPH in a Mini, at that speed it feels like your breaking the sound barrier whilst dragging your bum on the ground. Eventually we decided to look for another slightly bigger sporting car, as it was very difficult to drive on the road so we traded it in on Cortina GT 1600 Mk2. I really wanted a XR GT - they had just been released by Ford in one colour only GT GOLD but couldn’t afford it then. However if I had sold the Cooper privately, as I found out later, we may have been able to as one of the car club guys Garry was prepared to pay $1300 a lot in 69. Oh well, they all say that after the fact. The GT Falcon was $2100 I think, not much when they are $185k now.
1968 CORTINA MK2 1600 GT
Raced at Templestowe Hillclimb Victoria, then we came back to WA and it was our family hack, drove it to Sydney and back to see my parents in 71. Work was starting to dominate my life and I was transferred to Sydney for 2 years where the GT had more modifications. Marilyn drove it till 1986 then I completely resprayed the car and rebuilt the engine, suspension and gearbox and our son drove it for 2 more years.
1963 ROVER P5 SALOON MK11 6CYL AUTO
The most comfortable car I have driven. As good as any RR, it could cruse all day at 110km. Big front bench seat, great disc brakes, Power steering, window spats and brilliant radio. I was offered a good price for it so sold it, needed work on the auto and rust repairs at that time and was too difficult for me to fix.
1975 ROVER P6-3500S MANUAL
These cars were developed in the UK for Police work and hopeful sales to the US. They were imported into WA in small numbers (there are a few fake ones here), cruising in the country you could comfortably sit on 130-140km top speed was about 205km. It had great brakes “Discs” all round and handling through its De Dion rear end was outstanding, and great power steering. When I bought it had gearbox problems, front input bearing failure and excessive shift play - I removed the box and fitted a Toyo front nonstandard bearing (this bearing is a Rover special and was not available), layshaft bearings and rear bearing as well as all the Synchro’s, seals and replaced all the gearchange crap plastic bearings with bronze bushing, sweetest shift ever.
1968 MGB MK11 ROADSTER
Australian assembled, owned since 1989 entered lots of MGCCWA competition events until I had some gearbox problems, since then has been under restoration. I have stopped and started this resto several time through the years however now it is full steam ahead 75% of parts purchased, body welding 90% finished, body prep for painting early next year, providing no more problems and god willing.
2003 MERCEDES BENZ E320-W211 ELEGANCE
Our current cruising car. Got it for a very good price, have replaced engine and gearbox mountings, front LH control arm and ball joints and some interior resto. Without doubt the best car I have driven. A friend of mine has a 2007 MB AMG E63 and our car is better to drive. The ride is slightly harsh at lower speeds however it gets better over 100km. A lovely Grand Tourer - top speed 240km or so MB say.