Courtesy of the YouTube member AACForum (Australian Autosport Community) I present to you the two parts of the Hardie’s in which an unlikely candidate earns pole position for the 1984 Bathurst 1000 race.
-Michael
Automotive History
Automotive History; S54B Badge
May 14, 2010
So, seeing as the site seems to be working again (whether it did it on it’s own or Ed fixed it, I’m not sure) I might as well post about this little sucker that I bought off trademe.co.nz the other day.
The seller had originally bought it himself under the impression it was a Cortina GT badge, luckily for me, it was nothing to do with the blue oval.
The 1st Red GT Shield that adorned the S54B Skyline GT
Choice, little bits of Skyline history are always good. it’s likely I’ll never be able to get my hands on a whole S54 so I’ll make do with the badge.
You can read a little more about when this GT badge came about on the Skyline History entries I wrote, in particular. This one: Skyline History, Part 5.
Random retro snap: Mazda Familia BFMR – WRC replica
April 27, 2010
With Rally New Zealand 2010 just around the corner, today’s random retro snap is brought to you by the letters W, R and C.
Spotted in Japan – a meticulously recreated Familia WRC replica. The livery commemorates the 1989 Swedish Rally, where the BFMR famously took 1st place in the hands of driver Ingvar Carlsson (who sadly passed away in 2009). However, oddly enough, if you look closer this particular replica actually bears the decals of second works team driver Timo Salonen…
BFMR WRC
1989 was in fact a good year for Mazda Rally Team Europe, as Carlsson also went on to win Rally New Zealand later in the season, no doubt helping to kickstart this nation’s obsession with the Familia!
I sometimes dream of building an ’80s rallycar replica of my own, but it ain’t gonna happen anytime soon…
Obscure Trademe gem: 1987 Mazda Familia Infini
March 23, 2010
At a glance, it looks like any other 3-door Familia of the era; even the listing title doesn’t really give away the fact that it’s a front-drive turbo model. I would have skipped right over it, had my caffeine-deprived brain not caught up at the last minute and realized what it actually was.
Steelies? Yawn, boring. Probably a SOHC carb model. Wait, what does that decal say down the side?
Sure enough, one closer look and the details became more obvious:
Unique patterned Recaro interior, and almost virtually stock B6T... what have we here?
Oh c’mon Speedhunters… you can do better than that.
February 15, 2010
I’m constantly surprised and disappointed by the number of inaccuracies that seem to pop up in many Speedhunters articles, especially to do with Japanese nostalgic vehicles. For example, check out this recent piece on Sumo Power’s DR30 Skyline. Can you spot the incredibly glaring error straightaway?
Loyal readers, this is a DR30 Skyline... or is it?
That’s right, it’s a HR30, not a DR30. Complete with autobox, plush button seats, and L20ET under the hood.
In the spirit of proper journalism, I wonder if they’ll issue a correction – as judging from the comments section, a lot of their readers just plain don’t know better either. Someone even mistakes it for a HR31 and pastes a trademe link to a GTS-X. Now I see why Michael got so hot under the collar that last time Speedhunters referred to the C10 chassis as the “first ever Skyline”…
Actually the most maddening part is wondering whether the owner of the above HR30 knows that it’s not actually a DR30, or if he’s been horrendously misled? I know I would be rather indignant if some chump sold me a car under false pretenses.
I can forgive Speedhunters the odd little inaccuracy such as saying all JZX100s were turbocharged (they weren’t), but sometimes things like this are too hard to ignore – especially when it’s a popular blog with a huge following worldwide. Sort it the fuck out, guys!
