No
brakes, no shock absorbers and precious little else. At first glance,
this is not much of a car. But it just may end up being one of the
most valued vehicles to ever spin a wheel in Australia.
And, no, it
is not a Holden, but this hot-rodded Austin 7 is inextricably linked
with one of Holden’s favourite sons, Peter Brock.
It is his
first car – a paddock-burner that he and his teenaged mates
famously turned into a speedster by chopping off the original body with
an axe at the Brock family home at Hurstbridge, on Melbourne’s
northern fringe.
Peter rebuilt the oily engine on
his bedroom floor – much
to the chagrin of older brother Neil, with whom he shared the room.
He heavily
modified the body, welding on steel frames to hold various components
such as the steering column, and even reversed the rear leaf springs
to lower it.
Peter drove it from Hurstbridge
on dirt roads a few kilometres to his grandfather Boss’s farm at Doreen – the
spiritual Brock family stamping ground where he used to spend many
of his holidays as a child.
It was there,
and on the nearby dirt roads and tracks, that the young driving prodigy
started on a course that would take him to the top of Mount Panorama
and into the hearts of millions of Australian motor sports fans.
Considering
the way the 14-year-old Peter Brock stormed around the Doreen tracks
in the brake-less buggy, it was miracle the car survived a week, let
alone almost half a century. According to Peter’s Uncle Sandy,
young Peter had only one speed – flat out. He is said to have rolled
it at least once.
But survive it has, turning up in
storage in the roof of a Moorabbin workshop in suburban Melbourne after
passing through the hands of several owners and thought to be lost.
The then owner spotted some film taken by Peter’s
father Geoff of the car being raced around the farm, and put two and
two together.
After Brock’s untimely death in a rally crash in WA last
year, the Peter Brock Foundation – a charitable organisation founded
by the nine-time Bathurst winner – decided the vehicle needed to
be restored for posterity.
Les Smith, of RDA, bought the surprisingly
complete remnants and donated them to the Foundation, which entrusted
the restoration to Brock’s
mate, Peter Denman – a professional fireman by trade but dedicated
car nut by passion and a supporter of the Peter Brock Foundation with
wife Danees.
With a $10,000 donation from Mobil
and voluntary assistance from members of the Austin 7 Club of Victoria,
Denman has brought “Brock
01” back
to life, using original parts wherever possible.
In a labour of love born
out of respect for his friend, Denman used old photos taken by brother
Neil Brock – who was a keen photographer – to
restore the old car to original condition.
He
says that while the car wasn’t
running when he started the task, it was 95 per cent complete, making
it the most original of all Brock-built cars ever found.
The chassis, engine, gearbox, rear
driveline and even the radiator cowl (which was personally saved by
Peter) are original. However, it still required significant restoration,
such as welding up the engine block that had split due to overheating
on the fan-less cooling system.
A replacement driver’s
seat and steering wheel (the original had rusted out) were among the parts
sourced by Denman, along with a fuel-can petrol tank donated by another
Brock mate, Phil Munday, and new timber for the floor boards – taken
by Denman from the stock of wood used by Peter Brock in his hobby of
furniture making.
All through the process,
Peter Brock’s younger brother Lewis and
cousin John Brock have been assisting in the project, helping to authenticate
the vehicle and advising on its original design from their childhood
memories.
It
was Lewis who got the honour of firing up the freshly fixed Brock 01
on Brock Rd – the very track where Peter used to race around
like a dervish all those years ago at the Brock farm in Doreen.
Watched by Peter’s Uncle Sandy,
restorer Peter Denman and wife Danees and long-time Brock publicity
agent Tim Pemberton, Lewis turned back the clock almost 50 years by
roaring around a corner in the old buggy as the cameras clicked, recreating
the famous photo of the touring car legend in his teenage days.
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