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Old 18 Sep 2007, 00:36 (Ref:2016345)   #51
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As it's late at night I can't be bothered to look back; but from memory has anyone contacted Richard Asquith yet?
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Old 18 Sep 2007, 08:13 (Ref:2016526)   #52
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As it's late at night I can't be bothered to look back; but from memory has anyone contacted Richard Asquith yet?
Thats not a name that has come up before? Who is he?
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Old 18 Sep 2007, 08:33 (Ref:2016546)   #53
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He was the guy that ran and built the production saloon Monzas for my Dad (Gerry Marshall) in '85 and '86 and possibly '84 too.

Richard was also a very good rally car builder and always had Escort and Monza rally cars in the Marshall Asquith Racing workshop.

He might not have had anything to do with McHale car but I bet he would know a lot about it's spec and probably who did the engine on it, worth a shout.
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Old 18 Sep 2007, 11:25 (Ref:2016749)   #54
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Originally Posted by GBRM
He was the guy that ran and built the production saloon Monzas for my Dad (Gerry Marshall) in '85 and '86 and possibly '84 too.

Richard was also a very good rally car builder and always had Escort and Monza rally cars in the Marshall Asquith Racing workshop.

He might not have had anything to do with McHale car but I bet he would know a lot about it's spec and probably who did the engine on it, worth a shout.
Ahh engine spec for the McHale Monza was a Swindon Race engine - but it's no longer with the car - I've had it confirmed that it was the original engine from the car so I do have an engine number for it

The shell was prepped by Mickey Eiffe and associates and we can trace back the history of the car to when it was first registered in Ireland so it definately wasn't a UK race car shipped to Ireland in the early part of it's life

Martin Stockdale believes he bought an Ex Austin McHale Monza engine which would lead me to believe that the car may have been laid up without an engine for some period of time and hence why it dissappeared from sight for several years

I'll see what I can do to contact Richard - if only to gather information on the other Monzas that were prepared and that I have pictures of for the Autobahnstormers archive information

I did get an email today from Christy Farrell (co driver to Austin on the COI rally and the Manx) which made interesting reading - I think you can put him in the "not a fan" camp as he reckoned it handled very badly and wouldn't go round corners - his final comment was we only used it for two events and I was relieved about that!!!
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Old 25 Sep 2012, 23:31 (Ref:3141737)   #55
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Right a fair bit has happened since I last updated the thread - some progress and some new avenues of enquiry - I will update it properly but with the following timeline to be aware off

McHale Monza leave Ireland end of 1987 or very early 1988

I'm now after any info on a Monza used in Circuit racing between 1988 and early 90's

Reason is sometime in the 90's it went back to being a rally car but having sopken to the owner (who believe it or not resides in the same county as me in the UK) he purchased it after it finished being a circuit racer (complete with glass all round) - A roll at Cadwell Park apparently meant it had a nice fresh livery - the same livery as it had when it was found in a barn.

He advertised and sold the car as ex McHale, Swindon engine etc etc and he sold the car in 1998 and the last he saw of it was as it got loaded onto a trailer and headed towards Scotland.

Gut feel says it didn't do much in Scotland apart from deteriorate

Oh and just a few pictures

One from back in McHales hands (Great picture showing a Monza getting air )



Striped and ready to see just how bad the shell was



After blasting and primer (to keep the rust at bay - a little)



So some progress
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Old 26 Sep 2012, 13:39 (Ref:3141995)   #56
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That McHale photo was taken exiting the Shell hairpin at Mondello. McHale's running the circuit in reverse as that hairpin [the first after the start finish line] is taken as a right hander. It's a very typical shot of McHale... he always drove at 11 tenths !
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Old 26 Sep 2012, 16:01 (Ref:3142071)   #57
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That McHale photo was taken exiting the Shell hairpin at Mondello. McHale's running the circuit in reverse as that hairpin [the first after the start finish line] is taken as a right hander. It's a very typical shot of McHale... he always drove at 11 tenths !
And sometimes without a (very heavy) tailgate!
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Old 26 Sep 2012, 16:18 (Ref:3142075)   #58
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Bet its still lighter than the 45kgs one on my black car! We had a couple of these in the old ModProd series, one similar to the above owned by Phil Rowley and the other highly modified and owned by Andrew McKenzie the sometimes BTCC 405 privateer. I think he did the sensible thing in the end and stuck a chevy engine in it.
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Old 26 Sep 2012, 20:38 (Ref:3142213)   #59
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That McHale photo was taken exiting the Shell hairpin at Mondello. McHale's running the circuit in reverse as that hairpin [the first after the start finish line] is taken as a right hander. It's a very typical shot of McHale... he always drove at 11 tenths !
Yeah I figured it was on the 87 COI as the numbers tie up.

And yes I've seen some videos of the event and he certainly did drive at 11 tenths which in a big barge like the Monza is frankly fairly brave
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Old 26 Sep 2012, 20:51 (Ref:3142218)   #60
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Bet its still lighter than the 45kgs one on my black car! We had a couple of these in the old ModProd series, one similar to the above owned by Phil Rowley and the other highly modified and owned by Andrew McKenzie the sometimes BTCC 405 privateer. I think he did the sensible thing in the end and stuck a chevy engine in it.
A friend locally has one of the V8 cars - was blue in the modprod series, I've seen some pictures on here of it



It's a long term restoration although it's on the coming together stage as opposed to the still pulling it apart stage and he's doing a really nice job - I'd post some pictures on here but it would see us probably no longer friends so I'll just post a picture of what it looked like when he bought it.





It's since been stripped down to pretty much a bare shell, everything rebuilt or refurbished and painted inside and out, it won't be running a V8 but the previous S6 4.0 engine on throttle bodies

It'll make a nice road legal race/track car anyway I know it's not that one

I also know it's not this one



And that's where it gets hard to find any more information on any Monzas used late 80's early 90's for circuit work (other than the GM run touring cars and I know it wasn't used there becuase it's too early and it was in Ireland
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Old 26 Sep 2012, 21:16 (Ref:3142221)   #61
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Anyway I'll take the time to update to where I am right now seeing as I've neglected this thread

So the guys on a Rally Forum which has a specific section for irish rallying have been brilliant and photos that I'd never seen or thought I'd see have clarrified loads of little details that will help me with the build - I won't cross post the pictures but it really has focused me on just what I want to do restoration wise.

Biggest problem I have is is had a really hard life - the underside is near perfect but topside has a combination of rot and damage that really became clear once the shell was blasted and primed (I had the option to weigh it in if it had been really bad and cut my loses but it wasn't bad enough to make me do that)

Here's some bad bits

Roof - well a roll isn't going to do any panel any favours (same crush damage as I got when I rolled my track Monza in france earlier this year - I ran out of talent)



Lots of rot in the front end - even after I cut of the soft/distorted metal in front of the turrets



And rough floorpans where battery box and fire extinguisher systems had been fitted as well as floor terra firma impacts





This combined with the car having at least 3 rear quarters in it's life (possibly more!!!) meant that I needed some repair panels

Still I I saw all of the damage before it got a coat of primer and while it got that I made a Jig to store it on that would enable me to move it arround



Because I'm a tart I had it powder coated

Not sure how many pics I can put in a post here so I'll continue in the next post
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Old 26 Sep 2012, 21:33 (Ref:3142231)   #62
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Once primered got it home



And in the garage and introduced it to it's new best friend my portamig



Now this was never going to be a quick job sourcing panels that were good but Bigrod who actually started all this off decided that life was getting in the way of his track car project and he wasn't ever going to finish it and offered it to me - His base car for the trackday car was a non sunroof poverty spec Monza (windy windows and 4 speed box on a carbed 3.0 12V engine) Front end was pretty bad but probably repairable and Roddy had made a start a few years back.



However back was/is excellent but I'm now doing what I said I'd never do and that's cut up a Monza that could be repaired to save the McHale car.... Doesn't feel good but one is getting saved so I'll live with the guilt.



So I said yes - unfortunately BigRod isn't exactly local to me - I'm in Norfolk and he's in Scotland
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Old 27 Sep 2012, 10:16 (Ref:3142440)   #63
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So bringing this thread almost up top date.........


Norfolk to Scotland and back in a weekend....

So on a Saturday a couple of months back I enlisted the help of a mate with a van that had a towbar, hooked up the empty trailer and filled up the van



And set off on the drive up to Scotland.

Pace was sedate and we kept of the motorways so scenery was very nice at times – with roads like this ahead who needs motorways (and no we didn’t have a massive queue of cars behind us either)



Getting close to Scotland we caught up a group of small eastern block two strokes from Germany being supported by a Trabant - I think they were going on to Norway!

I’m quite partial to the smell of two strokes so I snapped a few pictures but that’s a heck of a road trip





Forth bridge - we were close to our destination



Spent the evening loading up trailer and van with a few beers and a fair bit of conversation as well as a Chinese takeaway Scottish style (Special Fried rice is a meal on its own) and then early on Sunday Morning started the drive back. (Roddy had kindly provided great accommodation with his family caravan)

This made me laugh



Of course we didn’t use it but it’s also my home town which is a bit “toilet” as a place to live goes

Trailer loaded up with a car loaded up with more stuff (we may have been a smidge over weight on the trailer and we still had to leave stuff behind)





Van had two engines in it and a lot of other spares

Took the old bridge back across the forth



Then a chance for a breakfast and fuel



Once rolling the van could maintain a reasonably happy 50 mph but we certainly knew we were towing



Getting overtaken by a house was embarrassing!!!



Some moody old sky around although we’d been lucky with the weather



The posts are so people know where the road is when it snows – Hmm we have an inch where I live and the whole world grinds to a halt!!!



Arrived home late Sunday afternoon and promptly unloaded trailer and van – was a long weekend but worth it
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Old 27 Sep 2012, 10:30 (Ref:3142447)   #64
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Yeah that's Andrew in the blue car and me in the black Camaro. Phil Rowley sold his car and that was white so it may be that one, he had it fitted with a fancy side throttle fuel injection system by Tom Laffey so if Tom is still with us he may remember the car. We had some great battles in my older Camaro.
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Old 4 Oct 2012, 10:02 (Ref:3145950)   #65
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Excellent account of the cars re-development BChild, please keep us informed with progress!!
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Old 4 Oct 2012, 10:15 (Ref:3145959)   #66
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Yeah, really enjoying this. Keep us posted!
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Old 4 Oct 2012, 22:21 (Ref:3146346)   #67
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Thanks for your positive comments guys - it's not going to be a quick project but I'll keep chipping away at the edges and update when any worthwhile milestones are reached
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Old 10 Dec 2016, 11:43 (Ref:3695121)   #68
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Any updates on progress with the rebuild?
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