Australian Muscle Car 2020-02

This was all in the days before rotary files.
Every single wheel was hand filed to finish.
Brian had begun flexing his racing abilities in
karts but recalled a major influence as being a
good friend of his father’s. George Reed was a
motor racer of long standing, having begun his
career in 1932. He was well known as the builder
of the much respected Skate Series of cars, one
of which won the 1951 Australian Grand Prix
with side-valve Ford V8 power. That car became
known as the SoCal Special and was a very
successful vehicle for drivers Warwick Pratley
and Frank Walters.
But Reed was different from many of his
peers, and he had a strong belief that there was
‘no substitute for ccs’. “There’s no easier way to
tune a car than by blower pressure,” he is quoted
as saying. This was a drag racer just waiting to
happen.
Brian continued to maintain
the contact with Reed after Ted Keegan passed
away, and absorbed many of his mentor’s ideas.
Soon they were dabbling in race cars together,
most notably with a ‘sports car’ in 1958 that
was initially just a chassis with a driveline and
suspension but was later improved with the
addition of steel bodywork. The car was locally
successful at hillclimb events and in sprints, and
at Parkes ran the quarter mile in 15.8 seconds.
Its engine was a Customline V8 which came
from a burnt out 1934 Ford which Brian found
in a paddock near Molong. He’d retrieved the
motor after a suggestion from Reed to look for
an engine that had been out in the weather
and/or been in a fire, as the block would have
hardened up. It was, however, in pretty bad
shape: the carburettor had melted, the crank
was discoloured from the heat, the rings and
bearings had melted. But with a bit of loving care
and a lot of time the pair got it going again and
er trials with a carburettor Reed imposed his
Like some kind of mad scientist, Keegan shows off
his home-built supercharged Ford V8 powered Gnoo-
Blas quarter mile sprint dragster in 1959.
theories with the application of a small Marshall
Nordic supercharger.
Then in 1959 the Orange Light Car Club
announced plans for a standing quarter mile
sprint at the Gnoo Blas circuit in August. In mid-
July the pair was perusing a copy of American
Hot Rod magazine when the decision was
reached to build a dragster and take on this
standing quarter mile activity seriously.
There was little available time, but by working
around the clock and lots of looking at pictures
in magazines they had their car finished at
5am on race morning. The chassis was formed
from two cut up Model A frames. The front end
was a lightweight affair with a beam axle and
transverse spring and Prefect wheels drilled out
for lightness. A Morris 8/40 steering box gave it
direction and with a front track of 56 inches and
rear track of 38 inches it looked pretty good.
The rear wheels were 16-inch Ford rims,
widened to six inches and fitted with Dunlop R5
racing tyres, which cost a hefty £48 each (the
equivalent of $750 each today) and which it was
found were good for ‘only’ 40 runs. Brakes were
off a 1939 Ford.
The engine was the Ford V8 from the sports
car, with its Nordic blower battling with twin
carburettors. Over the years it all varied greatly.
The twin carbs were replaced with four dualthroat
Strombergs and a 6-71 supercharger,
providing 22 pounds of boost, just like the
Americans used, and ultimately it ran with eight
carbs and a Vertex magneto. At times the blower
sat on top of the motor and was driven by dual
chains off a front mounted pair of cogs, and at
other times it was in front, driven directly off the
crankshaft.
All the manifolding was made by Brian.
They tried using the standard Ford fuel
ump but when it proved not up to the task
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