April – May 2013

DON PHILP | DAVE CHARLTON | KEVIN TEBBUTT R46.95 incl VAT • April/May 2013 • Issue 02 27-LITRES, 12-CYLINDERS AND 1550Nm OF FLAMETHROWING METAL BMC Ant Volvo P1800S Pontiac Strato Chief Mercedes-Benz W114 FOR BOOKINGS 0861 11 9000 proteahotels.com IF PETROL RUNS IN YOUR VEINS, THIS IS A SIREN CALL TO THE OPEN ROAD... FOR MORE GREAT MOTORING SPECIALS VISIT proteahotels.com/motoring GARDEN ROUTE CLASSIC CAR MOTOR SHOW PIETERMARITZBURG CARS IN THE PARK KNYSNA | 4 MAY 2013 ALEXANDRA PARK, PIETERMARITZBURG | 19 MAY 2013 KNYSNA SPEED FESTIVAL Protea Hotel Hilton is a Tudor-style KNYSNA | 10-19 MAY 2013 architectural showpiece, ideally located SIMOLA HILL CLIMB 12 km from the Pietermaritzburg city KNYSNA | 17-18 MAY 2013 center and on the doorstep of the Midlands Meander – a must drive. R399.50* per person sharing per night Includes secure parking and 100MB complimentary Wi-Fi per day. TOP GEAR FESTIVAL MOSES MABHIDA STADIUM, DURBAN | 15-16 JUNE 2013 The Protea Hotel Edward is a historical landmark, known as the ‘Grand Dame’, Knysna is home to some of South Africa’s most celebrated situated on Durban’s famous Golden motoring festivals in May. Renowned as the perfect holiday Mile and in very close proximately to the destination, Protea Hotel Knysna Quays is set on the Knysna Quays Moses Mabhida Stadium where the Top Waterfront with the lagoon at your doorstep. Gear Festival will take place. * * R449.50 R625.00 per person sharing per night per person sharing per night Includes breakfast, secure parking and Includes breakfast and 100MB 200MB complimentary Wi-Fi per day. complimentary Wi-Fi per day. *Terms and conditions apply. PHDS 26974/13 CONTENTS April/May 2013 CLASSIC PERSONALITIES PASSION PERSONIFIED 04 Talking to Don Philp 78 2013 Passion for Speed Festivals HIGH OCTANE GEARBOX 08 Coucher goes sideways on ice 90 Classiﬁ ed adverts NEWS & EVENTS LETTERS 12 The latest from the classic world 92 Reader correspondence WELCOME ON BOARD BOOK REVIEWS 20 Bristol 403 driven 96 The latest motor books PEDIGREED PERFORMER 24 The tale of Cooper Bristol CB-3-52 WOOLLEY MAMMOTH 28 ‘Lucy’ the 27-litre Rolls Royce CANADA SPRY 34 Pontiac Strato Chief ANT-I-CLIMAX 40 BMC’s 4x4 Ant ONE HIT WONDER 48 A saintly Volvo P1800S 28 HONDA’S SPORTING HERITAGE 52 S800, S2000 and on to the NSX 08 34 A PAINFUL ACQUISITION WITH A 56 HAPPY ENDING Life with a W114 Mercedes-Benz SUPER COOL 62 Suzuki GT750 LIVING FLAT OUT 66 Double 500cc Champ Kevin Tebbutt 48 SO LONG CHARLIE 70 Saying farewell to Dave Charlton LONG TIME PASSING 74 2013 Welkom 6-Hour www.cpca.co.za | April/May 2013 | 1 EDITOR’S POINT OF VIEW Publisher Fred Phillips [email protected] Editor Stuart Grant [email protected] Sub-Editor Thora Paver Art Director Ronel van Heerden www.nineninetynine.co.za Contributors Greg Mills, Robert Coucher, Mike Monk, outh African motorsport historic cars like the fast flowing old- Wendy Monk, Dave Hastie, Gavin Foster, Oliver Hirtenfelder, Christopher Van, Karen facilities are an endangered school circuit. van der Merwe, Bob Hopkin. species. Not a week goes Classic competitors like Zwartkops by without stories about and Kyalami too. Have a look at our Business Manager Derek Hulse the fine line Kyalami is Zwartkops and Kyalami Passion for [email protected] walking. Every second week there Speed festival gallery on page 78. 082 451 3899 S is mention of how sad Lichtenberg Multiply the number of pictures by 20 Marketing/Subscriptions & Accounts is with its track lying dormant, and or 30 and you’ll get a mental image as to Allison Phillips somebody whispered that Syringa how many competitors took part. Then [email protected] Spa MX track was on thin ice too. add in the largest crowd you’ll see at a Northern Regions Marketing Thankfully this month there was local race meeting and you get the idea. Dave Hastie some good news from East London, Welkom, another track with a topsy- [email protected] 083 418 0372 and the historic fraternity have put in turvy past and future, also came to the some decent support. party with the first real South African Subscriptions, Advertising & Editorial The famed track is putting in endurance race in two decades this [email protected] Stuart: 082 921 4583 a massive effort to secure long February. Fred Phillips competed and Fred: 082 772 1909 term tenure and show sustainable reports on page 74. Fax: 021 790 5183 development. The Eastern Cape MEC We are not all racing though, with PO Box 26961 has shown an interest, as have a few Mike Monk getting behind the wheel Hout Bay potential investors and Mercedes-Benz of a Pontiac Strato Chief and Bristol 403. 7872 South Africa has promised to assist. In Gavin Foster talks Suzuki GT750, Bob order to sweeten the deals numerous Hopkin Honda S2000 and there are tales upgrades like safety items, electrical, of Mercedes-Benz W114 ownership, fencing, painting and maintenance BMC’s attempt to make a small 4x4 and were required, which deplete cash the queen of insanity - ‘Lucy’ a 27-litre reserves quickly. An estimate of R60 tank engine monster with personality 000 was determined and the word on page 28. Greg Mills talks to legendary spread via social media and emails. driver Don Philp, we say goodbye to The publishers makes every effort to ensure this magazine’s Within a few days cash started rolling the great Dave Charlton, and Robert contents are correct. All material published in Classic and Performance Car Africa is copyright and unauthorised in from both private individuals and Coucher drives sideways in the snow. reproduction is forbidden. The opinion of contributors, as published, are not necessarily the opinions held by the clubs. The target was met. So upgrades Hope you enjoy, and feel free to drop publishers or editors of Classic and Performance Car Africa. The publishers and editors make no representations, nor do can be completed and deals brokered. me an email or letter sharing any of your they give any warranties, guarantees or assurances, for any It looks likely that we will continue classic motoring exploits. goods or services advertised herein. to compete on the historic track. And Stuart www.cpca.co.za | April/May 2013 | 3 CLASSIC PERSONALITIES THE DON A rare shot. Don Philp in the Quadro during the 1961 Rand Grand Prix. (Image: Andrew Embleton) Don, in his Singer Special, avoids the haybales Philp seated in the ‘Mighty Atom’ prior to the start of the 1955 during the 1948 Van Riebeeck Trophy. False Bay 100 at Gunners Circle in Epping, Cape Town. (Image: Rob Young Collection) Donald Philp stands tall. At over 6’2”, he is a giant of his generation. In his 90th year, he has outlasted most of his World War Two contemporaries. And not making his job any easier was racing through one of the most dangerous Grand Prix eras in the process, with his bright red ‘Mighty Atom’ and Cooper-Climax becoming fast ﬁ xtures on the SA scene. By Greg Mills & Robert Young, who spoke to Don over a ‘late’ Xmas lunch at Pringle Bay rom very humble origins, he Victoria, after which he moved to business, comprising “a small office, and his father built up one Rhodesian Motor Service “driving showroom, a yard for repairing cars of the largest private motor Thorneycroft trucks”. After his father and a sledgehammer mechanic, for dealerships countrywide, fell ill, his mother, Joan, packed the £100”. To fund the purchase Wallace which is still going strong, children into the train back to the Cape borrowed the money from his father, Flike him, today. And in all of this, he in 1935. After pounding the streets, his though still “I had no cars to sell, with has retained a humility and generosity father, now recovered, finally managed petrol pumps on the pavement, fed by to serve as an example to all. to get a job with Holmes Motors selling 44-gallon drums brought from the BP Born in Green Point on 25 November cars, being transferred to Stellenbosch station in Maitland by ox-waggon”. 1923, Don’s schooling and early the following year. Don left school in 1942, and “realising upbringing was, by his own admission, And so was born an association that I needed some trade to secure discombobulated. By Standard Five with the town and its motor-trade that my future”, joined De Beers where he his mother and the four children continues today. qualified as a Health Inspector. Then, in had followed his father, Wallace, Soon after, Holmes decided to close an era when selflessness and sacrifice who had a job “in the shunting yard” its operation in the university town, were not the uncommon qualities of with Rhodesian Railways, up to Fort however, and offered Wallace the today, Don volunteered for military 4 | April/May 2013 | www.cpca.co.za Don’s Cooper-Climax leads Bill Jennings’ Porsche powered mount at Fisantekraal, 1960. (Image: Koos Swanepoel) The ‘Mighty Atom’ without its Cooper-Climax at the 1960 The Dick Gibson Cooper-Climax The ‘Mighty Atom’ during the 1954 East London SAGP. that became the Quadro. East London Handicap. Maserati 4CL grille. (Image: Denis Mills) (Image: Peter Little) (Image: Denis Mills) (Image: Rob Young Collection) service “to help my country”. As a point By the time Wallace retired in Don had by then befriended the Paarl- of history, 400 000 South Africans 1954 the business had grown to a based Hoffie and his brother Dave and signed up in the Second World War, the Stellenbosch sub-dealership for Ford, other race-enthusiasts, Ren Malan in highest per capita turnout of any all- going under the name ‘Selford’, with nearby Wellington along with Paarl’s volunteer force, of whom 12 000 paid spanking new premises.

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