Volume 22 Number 6 May / June 2013 Thunderbirds of Queensland Inc.

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The Thunderbirds of Queensland Inc. is a non profit organization dedicated to the restoration, preservation and enjoyment

of Thunderbird passenger vehicles built by the .

2 ClubClub CalendarCalendar

May 3rd Committee and Social Meeting Barry & Libby Ralph’s, Place from 7.30pm, bring nibbles.

19th Club Run : To the BARN and Scotty’s Garage, 1709 Flagstone Creek Road, via Grantham. Meet at Rocklea BP Truck Stop, 8.30 for 9 am. From Ipswich Road outbound take the Randolph Street Exit to Boundary Road Truck Stop.

June 7th Committee and Social Meeting. Johnny & Maria;s, from 7.30 pm, bring nibbles.

23rd Club Run : To Woodford Hotel for lunch, meet at Shell Nudge 8.30 am for 9 am, then BP Morayfield 9.30 am to pick up the Northside mob. Then a selected route including a morning tea stop.

July 5th Committee and Social Meeting. Max & Carole’s, Place from 7.30 pm, bring nibbles.

7th Club Run : Lakeside All American Day, we have a designated spot, see you there !

August 2nd Committee and Social Meeting. Bill & Lyn’s, place from 7.30 pm, bring nibbles.

September 6th Committee and Social Meeting. Mick & Dianne’s, From 7.30 pm, bring nibbles.

Cruise Nite Every Friday night ‐ Elizabeth Street Shops, Acacia Ridge. Cruise Nite Every Saturday night ‐ Cosmos Café, Browns Plains Rd Browns Plains, Opposite Grand Plaza shopping centre.

Cars Bikes and Coffee Meet 1st Sunday of the month, 8 till 12

Caboolture Rail Station Contact Bruce on 0404 898406

Note: See club roster for Committee meeting address details 3 DesignatedDesignated EventsEvents

May 3rd / 5th Garter Belts & Gasolene Nostalgia Festival. Mt Tambourine. Info @ www.garterbeltsandgasolene.com.au or ph0428 887522

5th David Hack Classic Meet, Aerotec Hanger, Toowoomba Airport Info : Brian, 0417 630774 / John, 0409 332962.

18th / 19th Mcleans Bridge at Lakeside, sports car show. Info: Derek, 0419 632117, www.mcleansbridge.com

25th Rods Rock n Roll, Pine Rivers Park. Strathpine.

June 2nd Annual Scenic Rim Swap, Mutapilly State School.

8th / 9th Cooly Rocks, Coolangatta

8th Sunshine Coast Antique Car Club 50th Anniversary at the Big Pineapple, Woombye.

8th &15th Retro Car Club Nights, Tivoli Drive Inn July 14th 6th Annual PCYC Car Show, Logan City

Gotta get me to the next event real fast ! 4 President’sPresident’s ReportReport ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2013

Hi Folks. The AGM came around quickly this year, which only means one thing. It must have been a very busy, enjoyable and successful year. We certainly achieved a lot in the last 12 months ‐ full credit to a wonderful committee and 2 sub‐committees working away behind the scenes keeping the club on a smooth track. It ‘s no mean feat the work involved: publishing a magazine; keeping meeting and club affairs in check; timely reporting; finances; insurances and Government financial reporting (high level accuracy required for auditing purposes); Web management, design, maintenance and responding to email correspondence; public relations with new and present members; also the importance of Main Roads requirements and the logistics of car dating and supporting current financial members’ letters; and finally the detail that goes in to getting unanimous agreement on merchandising. After all this then there is the putting on of events and determining club run locations. I have done community volunteering in the past, and now, leading a committee has given me yet a deeper appreciation for people who give up their time to devote to their passion and seeing firsthand the individual, behind the scenes efforts that are a part of a “collective team result”. Being a very busy year, Merron has had her hands full with our two very successful functions. Man‐ aging payments and sundry items, providing advice and co‐ordination, weekly budgeting and receipt‐ ing and managing the attendance lists for the 21st, plus mentoring me on the finer points of function management ‐ all of this does put a lot of pressure on top of the responsibility of the treasurer. We lose Merron in this role as of this AGM, and we cannot say enough how well Merron is highly regarded in the Club. We pass on a very sincere and heartfelt thankyou to Merron as she takes a well‐earned rest from holding a committee position. In the last 12 years Merron has held the role of Secretary 00, President 04, Editor 09‐10, and Treasurer 11‐12. The committee would like to welcome Dianne Dignam who we are delighted to accept into the role of Treasurer. We had a very successful AGM and have already decided on the year’s budget outcomes and 2 overnight runs to be held in Sept and Oct. I would like to pass on a big thank‐you to members on the day for getting through a huge amount of decisions ‐ I was very impressed and delighted. We also have 3 new locations for club meetings ‐ thanks to Bill and Lyn, Max and Carol, and Mike and Dianne for inviting us to your homes for the monthly meetings in the coming months.

ACHIEVEMENTS THIS YEAR:

‐ Full colour magazine on the web site. ‐ A very successful Xmas party with 65 people attending. ‐ A wonderful celebration of the 21st Anniversary with 78 people attending. ‐ Fantastic participation on the club runs ‐ it has just been wonderful to see so many new members on the runs with 42 people on our last outing to the Happy Days Diner. ‐ A great response to club emails and updates, with functions getting a 65% response by email, and another 20% verbal responses at meetings and club runs.

I would like to point out how important it is to reply even if you are unable to attend; those of you advising you are unable to attend are still participating, and have a huge input into how successful the outcome of the event goes. Your reply does matter and it does help.

Thank you to everyone for supporting the club over the last 12 months. it has been an absolute pleas‐ ure to be part of.

…...Keep those classics moving folks… Kieran (Thunderbirds Club President) 5 Editor’sEditor’s ReportReport Wow !!! What a night, the anniversary event Was fantastic, if you could not make it then don’t worry, we will have another one in 21 years time ! Seriously though, it was great to catch up with so many people at one venue, especially the Old School, Doug Bradley and Neal and Rhonda Weidenhoffer. A big sur- prise for Johnny on whom was bestowed a Life Membership on the night. But for those who couldn’t make it we hope you’ll enjoy the special Souvenir Issue sent out with this Mag! Kieran has been lobbying for the reinstate- ment of the Club Person of the Year Trophy, but little did he know that he would be it’s first recipient . In my opinion there is no other person whom has done so much for the club as KC has in the last 12 months. So !! On we Kruise through the next 21 years, even if we have to run our T’birds on potato peels, or magnetic resonance ! Keep On Kruisin Davo.

KC receiving his much earned trophy NewNew MembersMembers From yours truly

Craig Roberts - 63 Hardtop Doug McCammon - 63 MCode Landau

Tony Richards - 64 Hardtop 6

7 YATALA DRIVE IN MOVIE NIGHT All Classics and Thunderbirds of Queensland Inter Club Run

Hi Everyone, We had a great turn out of members meet- ing up with the All Classics at the Yatala Shell servo. The Yatala Drive In is one of the few 70’s venues left around Brissy that brings back memories to a lot of Brisbanites, they are slowly disappearing, and the few that remain need your support to keep them viable. There was also a good turn up of patrons on the night, showing it still gets a strong crowd. At $20 for the night you got 2 movies and at $10 per movie that is good value. The 50's style diner was doing a roar- ing trade, burgers ice creams and cokes all round. There was a live Rock and Roll Review of the 50s stage production "Billy Buckett" playing at the Crete St Theatre Beenleigh, adding into the theme of the night, and then it was sit back and watch a couple of movies. The night was warm and dry (that was a nice change) and it was great to see everyone having an awesome day, and evening out, and for some their first time at the Yatala Drive In. The Rowan girls, Eva and Charlotte where on their second run in only a week, after having enjoyed the 21st function, they have been out and about getting to know every one at the movies. Congratulations Kevin and Kim on the arrival of your wonderful twin girls. Cheers Kieran (Thunderbird Club President)

Congratulations to Steve and Miqueline Hunter for taking out the

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9 Parts and Service As requested we have compiled a list of repair or service shops who have been found to be of great help in the restoration of our Classic Cars, this is not a commercial ad nor do the “Thunderbirds of QLD Inc.” take any responsibility for workmanship or service! However if you have found a good shop that has provided what you re- quire then let us know and we shall list them for others to try out.

BHSS TBS, Capalaba: Brakes & Power Steering. RACE Exhausts, Capalaba: Exhaust Specialists. ANNVID, Capalaba: Auto Upholsterers COL ROBINSON & CO, Kedron: Power Steering Box Rebuilds FAST EDDIE’S, Tamborine: Tilt Tray Service 07 55436262 ACCESS TOWING, Parkridge: Tilt Tray Service 0418 721987 GLEN HENDERSON, Parkridge: Parts & Advice Anything Thunderbird. 07 3297 5342 EXHAUST INNOVATIONS, 5/33 Steel St Capalaba. KEITH FOR WHEELS , 11 Smallwood St Underwood, 3841 6244. Whitewalls, Wheels, and quality Alignments INNOVATIVE AUTO DEZIGN, Lapis St, Underwood,3290 2177 / 0411 311473, Specializing in compliancing of American & European Classic Cars. CHEVRON AUTO Labrador – Paul Immermann 55290422 General Auto Mechanic

10 Holman Moody was for years the official racing contractor for Ford. They prepared GT40s, A/FX Mustangs, Shelby Cobras, Falcons, and Stock Cars for NASCAR, NHRA and sports car racing teams. Holman Moody pre- pared racecars were driven by some of the best drivers in the world; men like: , , , , , , , , David Pearson, , , , , , A. J. Foyt, Bo Ljungfeldt, , , , , Augie Pabst, , , , and .

In 1956 John Holman moved from southern California to Charlotte, NC, to take over the Ford racing effort in NAS- CAR. He had been working for Bill Stroppe and the Western arm of Ford’s racing effort. Holman succeeded and sales of Ford cars rebounded, even threatening Chevy's longstanding sales lead. Soon Holman's Fords were winning the majority of NASCAR races, so General Motors president Harlow Curtis intro- duced a surprise motion at a routine meeting of the Automobile Manufacturers Association asking that the AMA stop all "factory" support of American racing and cease advertising their vehicle's top speed and horsepower. Amazingly, the motion passed.

John Holman was left with a garage full of cars belonging to Ford which no longer had any use for the company. Each of the Ford drivers were given a race car, transporter, and some spare parts.

John's son, Lee Holman, was given the job taking inventory of all of the spare parts. Holman knew racing would continue without factory support, so he and his friend, , pooled their money and bought every- thing from Ford at a bargain price. Ralph Moody was an experienced driver from Massachusetts who moved to Florida in the late 1940s and enjoyed a successful career racing modifieds. In 1956 he made the move to NAS- CAR's Grand National division where he met Holman. The new racing team of Holman-Moody won their first two Grand National races in 1957.

Holman Moody entered two 1958 Fords at the last two races on the beach at Daytona. The same two cars, one driven by Curtis Turner and the other driven by Joe Weatherly, raced to first and third in one race and second and fourth in another.

Sometime during the 1958 season, Holman Moody began to change from a racing team to a racing factory. In addition to building and racing their own cars, the shop was now building cars and selling them to other teams. By late 1958 Ford support was slowly returning to racing. This support helped the Holman Moody team in the con- struction of ten 1959 Thunderbirds. This was the first time Holman Moody was able to get bare bodies off of the assembly lines. The production line was stopped while Holman Moody got the bare chassis and parts they needed to build the race cars. All unnecessary items in the production automobile were left off.

Johnny Beauchamp's Holman Moody Thunderbird finished in a dead heat with 's at Daytona. Three days later NASCAR officials gave Petty the win. The two cars averaged 135.521 mph, which made it the fastest stock car race in history.

The 1961 season started with Holman Moody racing Thunderbirds. Joe Weatherly won the convertible race at Darlington, with Lee Holman on his pit crew. Holman Moody debuted their new Ford Starliner convertibles with the removable hardtops. The other teams didn't like the "fastback" shape of the tops, but Ford made enough of the cars to meet the production requirements, and Holman Moody cars kept on winning. At Atlanta, NASCAR officials made Holman Moody re-install the "X" frames under the Starliner. They had removed it to save weight, but as the the production car had this bracing it was replaced and the Holman Moody cars continued to win races. Holman Moody started building engines for other teams as well, with the Woods Brothers #21 team becoming one of their first engine customers.

11 In 1962 Holman Moody entered a Ford Falcon in the . Later in the year they prepared a small- block AC Cobra, driven by Augie Pabst, for entry in Nassau's Speed Week competition. The following year they entered another AC Cobra at Sebring but met with little success as the remained dominant.

During 1963 Dan Gurney won at Riverside in a Holman Moody-prepared Ford and both Fred Lorenzen and Fireball Roberts racked up 9 NASCAR wins in Holman Moody racecars. They introduced their revolutionary box steel NAS- CAR chassis in 1964, a chassis that soon became the Grand National standard. The chassis featured improve- ments such as tube shocks, square tubing frames, and rear ends with floater housings. “I really had to argue with Bill France (Sr.)”, Ralph recalls. “He’d say you couldn’t have this, you couldn’t have that..but drivers were getting hurt. Finally, in the early 60’s Bill said, “You build the car, and bring it to the track. We’ll take a look at it. “ Well, we brought it to Bristol, and ran well. We won at Hickory, and everybody wanted one.” Lorenzen and Roberts contin- ued the previous seasons success, winning another 9 races for Holman Moody.

During 1965 they built 33 Ford-powered Intermeccanica Omegas for the US importer and also completed 10 al- tered wheelbase A/FX Ford Mustang Drag racers for the NHRA's new Factory Experimental class. After Fireball Roberts horrific 1964 crash at Charlotte, Dick Hutcherson replaced him and won 9 races while Lorenzen won 3. Mario Andretti won the 1967 in a Holman Moody Ford and also drove their famed Honker II Can-Am car in two early races in that famous Canadian-American series. Fred Lorenzen won the NASCAR race at Daytona as well.

During 1968 David Pearson won his second NASCAR Championship in his Holman Moody prepared Torino with sixteen wins. The following year Holman Moody prepared Ford's first purpose-built NASCAR racer, the Torino Talledega, for Pearson, who won 11 races and his third championship.

In 1970 Holman Moody built 3 special aero Torinos in preparation for the upcoming 1970 NASCAR season. Called the "King Cobra" they were designed by Larry Shinoda to compete agains the Mopar aero warriors. Cale Yarbrough tested the car at Daytona for Ford but the project was shelved before the start of the season when NAS- CAR changed the homologation rules. Pearson returned to the previous year's Talledega racear and won only one race. Following a disagreement with Ralph Moody in 1972, the Holmans bought out all of his stock, and Moody left for another racing team. The Holmans got to retain their now-famous Holman-Moody corporate identity, but were forced to hold a "fire sale" to buy Moody's stock. All nine of their GT40s, as well as a bunch of old NASCAR and Can Am racers were liquidated. The small firm survived into the mid-1970s as a NASCAR engine shop and built all of the engines for the successful Woods Brothers #21 racing team.

John Holman suffered a fatal heart attack in 1976 and the firm ended up in receivership. Two years later, the situa- tion had improved enough so that John's son Lee Holman was able to take over management of the firm. High on the younger Holman's agenda was a return to building racecars and the struggling firm built a Mazda which com- peted at LeMans later in the year. He also continued their profitable engine building program, which continued to supply the Woods Brothers with their race-winning engines.

Holman introduced the prototype chassis of his proposed GT40 MKII, racing cars at the 1991 Shelby American Automobile Club convention in Charlotte, NC. The first of sixteen continued production GT40 MKII’s was completed in 1992 and was built using the original tooling, suppliers and components of the originals. A new building was built in 2003 at 9119 Forsyth Park Dr. in southwest Charlotte, N.C. and the two Holman firms, Holman Automotive and Holman Moody continue to share the 75,000 sq. ft. facility. Holman Moody continues to build racing engines and Holman specializes in the sales and restoration of original GT40s and other Ford-powered race cars. © 2004 Mark Theobald - Coachbuilt.com

12 Hi Folks What a fantastic day! We had just amazing weather.. What a great day to catch up with members looking at cool cars all day and enjoy a picnic. We had 16 people join us for the day, and many from other clubs drop in for a chat and a few laughs. It was non-stop coming and goings, an absolute delight, and at the same time a relaxing Sunday with many things to do, and all day to do it, even time for a stretch out and lay down it the shade of the gazebos. The Swap meet was in full swing, the dyno-tune fellows in their ear-muffs looking at all the data on the computer screens, and the drags where in full swing from midday to after lunch. It’s a great way to see the action of some great clas- sic’s, and a few classic look a likes doing their thing down the track. This is such a fantas- tic social day, and my third time a long to the Willowbank location, everyone really had a wonderful time, its well laid out, well organized, and you can take in as much or as little as you like. Best of all, a good club day out. We would love to see a few more members along next year to enjoy a great event... keep it in mind folks :-) Thanks to all for coming... See you at the next one... Kieran (Thunderbirds Club President)

Chevrolet Corvette below won best of show

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1970 Cougar Eliminator 14

Kindly submitted by Barry Ralph :)

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16 ForFor SaleSale If you have something you would like to sell, please email the details to me [email protected] or give me a call .Cost free for members who would like to sell stuff. For members who are advertising their business or for non-members, the cost to advertise is $25 per annum. Cheers, Dave.

For Sale A set of four 1963 Spinner optioned hub caps. Call Doug Bradley:3358 2415 for Info

For Sale 1963 Galaxie 500, 4 door Hardtop. Factory R/H drive, one of 4 imported new. Interior tidy, paint sad, minor rust, mechanically good , new suspention, starter motor, radiator, pertronix ign. On club rego, orig black & white plates. Drives well!!

For Sale : Ford F350 Truck, fully restored, in show condition, on club rego. $15,000. For more info call Glen : 32975342 / [email protected]

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18 WebWeb LinksLinks

International Thunderbird Club www.intl-tbirdclub.com Thunderbird Registry www.tbirdregistry.com LOVEfords www.lovefords.org Thunderbird Headquarters www.tbirdhq.com Bird Nest www.tbirdparts.com/main.htm Thunderbird Ranch www.tbirdranch.com/ Home of the Thunderbird Italien & XM400 www.tbirdsquare.com/ Mercury Concept Car Squarebirds.org www.squarebirds.org/ Automotive Mileposts Thunderbird http://automotivemileposts.com/

Jim Wulf's Tbird Garage www.tbirdgarage.com/Site_2/Welcome.html All American Auto Parts Ballarat www.allamericanautoparts.com.au/ Jim Osbourne Reproductions www.osborn-reproduction.com/ The Old Car Manual Project www.tocmp.com/ Vintage Ford Publications http://mustangtek.com/Litterature.html Auto Colour Library http://www.tcpglobal.com/autocolorlibrary/ Historic Video Archive www.historicvideoarchives.com/ Plan 59 - Museum of Mid Century www.plan59.com/ Illustration Original Auto Interiors www.originalauto.com

www.tbirdregistry.com

The Thunderbird Registry exists as a tool for us to further our appreciation for The World’s Most Wanted Car …. The car every- one would love to own! This is the World’s largest on-line data- base for Ford Thunderbirds.

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