Tuesday, March 28, 2017

Remember Dave Cordy?

Dave was an active member of the Victorian club in the 70s and 80s. He originally had a Mark 7 that was relatively distinctive with its NASA ducts in the tops of the guards, installed to direct air into the cabin to make life inside the car almost bearable. After an accident, this car was sold to make way for another Mark 7 and was recently identified as the red one advertised for sale by Barry Campbell in Queensland, now minus its NASA ducts.
Anyway, be that as it may, it is the second Mark 7 that we want to talk about. You can take the man out of the Bolwell but you can't take the Bolwell out of the man and Dave is keen to track down this car which he hasn't seen or heard of since it was sold in the 80s. We've had some false starts but he's keen to "chase down every rabbit down every burrow" and if found and the car can't be bought then at least he can be reacquainted with it.
This car had a number of distinctive features apart from the hard to notice work done to deal with the asymmetric nature of the original bodies. These features include the flared wheel arches, the filled in side gills (vents) and the removal of the rear number plate surround.
The car had a Holden HR block allegedly bored to 192, XU1 head, twin 2" SUs, a Datsun 4 speed, HR disc brake front end with revised (i.e. by hammer, hacksaw & drill!) geometry, and unusually, HT Holden steering box (not rack and pinion) and MGA pedal box and master cylinder. Location of the rear axle was by triangulated upper trailing arms and conventional lower ones with with adjustable coil over units. According to Dave it went like a sharp stick and handled remarkably well which , he claims, was a fluke. You're being modest, Dave.
He sold the car in 1982 to a guy called Grant Hill who later sold it to John Suhr. Neither of these guys joined the club as far as we know. John was in the movie industry and moved to the Gold Coast some time in the 1980s where he was subsequently killed in a motorcycle accident. Nothing is known of the car since John's purchase.
Just for interest's sake here's a couple of early photos of the car at the old Lakeland hill climb .
Any clues would be appreciated.

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