First registered on the Third of February 1955 to Mr. George
Lonnquist of 28 Murphy St. Richmond. Victoria.
I bought GGL 159 on the 18th of March 1972 for $500.00. I
was 17 years old and had it finished at 18. When the car arrived home (yes
I drove it, from memory it only broke down twice) I discovered it had an
Austin A70 block that was cracked, having been bored out to Healey piston
size and that the tacho drive was glued on to the block with an epoxy adhesive.
The clutch adjustment shaft, normally one piece, had 7 individual welded
repairs in it. The knock ons had been hammered so hard with a steel hammer
their ends were about 20 mm thick and one rear wheel spline had a section
of a beer can wedged between it and the wheel to take up the slack.
I drove this car as everyday transport for a few years
and used it for Healey Club of Victoria competition events. I was working
at Alex Reids Coopey's Garage when I traded the car for his BN1 race car.
But That's another story..........
The front guards had been bolted to the shroud without the
stainless steel strips then the whole assembly filled with up to 20 mm
of body filler. after removing the bolts I had to snap the front guards
off.
The front chassis cross member had a piece of tin brazed
over it to hide the rust and the front left chassis rail, which was torn
open had been filled with plaster of paris. The photo above of the chassis
up side down shows a steel plate that had been welded across the front
of the chassis legs to hold them apart and a piece of flat steel acting
as a gusset on the right tower.
Back in the early seventies Morris Rushton had just started
what is now Kilmartin Sheet metal and had a limited range of components,
He supplied the floors and inner and outer sills but the chassis repair
components needed I had to make myself. The inner sills were only replaced
rear of the front door pillar.
Due to the poor condition of the lower suspension mounts
I decided to remove them and mount the lower arms together with the original
style rubber mountings on a high tensile shaft that I machined and fitted
through the tower. While not according to Hoyle but it worked well and
all these years later is still the same. The chassis was also 3/8 inch
short on the left side due to one of a number of crashes the car had suffered,
so I had to cut it behind the tower and move it forward. I even found a
spanner inside the chassis! I had to fabricate a new front cross member,
left hand front chassis rail section forward of tower and one shock absorber
mount.
I hand (brush) painted the chassis after sandblasting
using "Kill Rust" enamel primer and Carnation Red enamel top coat.
Repairs to the body included replacing one rear guard, making
and welding in new rear guard dog legs and welding and repairing the rear
shroud and boot lid. The door were ok, but the front guards and shroud
were well beyond my ability to repair, so fibreglass replacements made
by Archie Mann were used. The original colour of this car was green, however
I decided to paint the panels in Monza Red Acrylic Lacquer, using a diaphragm
pump and low pressure spray gun
GGL159 gets away from the line smoking the tyres at a
Calder Park sprint meeting during the early seventies
GGL159 sporting solid six inch wide wheels and radial tyres
on its way to Morwell hillclimb. The young lady points to where the loud
bang came from just before the engine expired at 95 miles per hour
At the 2000 F1 Grand Prix in Melbourne. GGL 159 driven
by it's owner of the last 25 years,
Steve Fielder.
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