The highlight of the April 2017 issue of Vintage Metal is a story published by permission of Vintage Motorsport that looks at a decision that must be made by every owner of a classic or historic vehicle – should it be preserved, conserved or restored? I must thank publisher Mike Silverman for his help and the unique opportunity to reformat the story down to the A5 size of Vintage Metal.

The magazine also contained news from the various parts of the VSCC, with photographs of Simon Fry’s Austin Seven Special, Bruce Jones’ Cortina powered special and of the Dad’s Army boys at work.

There is also a description of the Bufori, an Australian exotic car, and

a review of Damon Hill’s autobiography, Watching the Wheels.

Here is the March 2017 issue of Vintage Metal. A large lump of the magazine is taken up with the 8-page liftout of the VSCC of WA Standing Regulations for 2017, but the remainder of the magazine was colourful and full of club news.

The February general meeting of the club saw the presentation of a number of trophies to members who didn’t make it to the presentation dinner in December and there is a photo-gallery of most of the winners. There is also a series of photographs from the presentation by Bob Ilich of his Brabham BT30, which he has restored to a very high standard.

On the cover and on page 12 is a beautiful photograph of Steve Boyle’s Lancia, which he was to have presented to the members at the March meeting, except that the meeting date clashed with his trip to the Phillip Island Classic. Unfortunately, Steve realised that the dates clashed after the magazine was printed and despatched. Len Kidd, who arranges the guest speakers, hopes to have Steve and his Lancias at the May meeting.

Also featured in the magazine is news from the club generally, Dad’s Army and the J, K, L and Square Riggers group. There is also news of the completion of construction of the WA Motor Museum’s new extension.

Book reviews are CAMS – The Official History and, from the

library, Colin Chapman: Wayward Genius by Mike Lawrence. Two excellent books, the first providing a detailed insight into the history of our governing body, the second being Mike’s usual warts and all story that explodes a few myths and tells Chapman’s story as it really was.

The February 2017 issue of Vintage Metal featured Bob Ilich’s beautifully restored Brabham BT30 on the cover to promote the February general meeting of the VSCC of WA, where Bob was the guest speaker.

Inside the magazine was a photo gallery of the 2016 Vintage Stampede at Barbagallo Raceway, with great shots from

photographers Graeme Howie and Shane Cassidy. Mark Duder reported on his expedition to South Australia to run his Alpine

A110 in Classic Adelaide, with mixed success.

Book reviews were both new books: The World’s Fastest E-type Jaguar

by Phil Shephard, which has been donated by the author to the VSCC library, and Stirling Moss – The Definitive Biography Volume 1 1929-55 by Philip Porter.

The feature article was kindly provided by Octane magazine and author Andrew English, entitled Everything You Were Afraid to Know About Historic Motor Sport But Wanted to Ask. It looks at the state of historic motor sport and where it might be going and provides a fascinating analysis of this ever growing and ever more expensive branch of the sport.

Each year the December issue features the minutes of the Annual General Meeting and the provisional calendar for th enext year. This issue is no exception, but it also contains the results of the Goomalling Flyer sprint meeting with a gallery of excellent photographs of the competing cars supplied by Callum Sims Photography (phone 0421 215 224 or email; callumsimsphotography@outlook.com

As promised in the November issue, there is an article from Mark Jones describing his visits to the Beaulieu Autojumble and the Goodwood Revival Race Meeting. Mark looked at the two events from a different perspective and his photographs from Goodwood present the event in an interesting way.

Making space for the 2017 calendar and Competition Calendar plus the extended minutes for the normal general meeting and the AGM squeezed out the regular book review, but it will be back in the February issue. However, Mark Jones’s review from the library featured One Good Run: The Legend of Burt Munro by Tim Hanna, a great read and a book that is available for loan to VSCC members from the club library.

I am really pleased with this issue of Vintage Metal. It has great articles with excellent photographs, making my job much easier.

Overseas correspondent David Moir, otherwise known as the Club Secretary, provided stories and photographs from the Spa 6 Hours Race Meeting and the Goodwood Revival Race Meeting. With the assistance of entry lists sourced from the web, I was able to caption the photographs and it all turned out very well.

Competition Secretary Paul Bartlett provided a description of the Coalfields 500 meeting at Collie. Photographs came from Graeme Howie and Tim Allott

with caption information from the CAMS web site.

Unfortunately there was no list of participants for the cocktail party, so most of the photographs were uncaptioned. Cars that featured were MG K3, Hispano Suiza and Bentley.

Also featured were the upcoming Christmas function for Dad’s Army, the Celebration of the Motorcar sceduled for November 27 and a review of Mark Whitelock’s book, Lotus 18 – Colin Chapman’s U-turn.

The October 2016 issue of Vintage Metal slotted neatly in between events in the VSCC calendar, which meant that it shrunk to 24 pages from the 32 of the previous issues.

A promotional story about the upcoming Goomalling Vintage Car Sprint provided an opportunity to showcase historic photographs from the days of true round the houses racing along with a selection of photographs from the most recent event at Goomalling in 2013.

Along with the regular features of the magazine, there was a reprint of the RAC Road Patrol report on the then new Mazda MX-5 from the February/March issue of 1990. The story was written by Editor Bob Campbell, who was then editor of Road Patrol. It is fascinating to read of how the little Mazda was received more than 26 years ago.

Frequent congtributor Bill Buys supplied the story of a Costin-Nathan GT that was auctioned at Chateau Impney, Warwickshire a few months ago. This remarkable lightweight coupé has a monocoque tub largely built from plywood, taking advantage of plywood’s high strength to weight ratio.

Book reviews were interesting, with Brian Redman’s Daring Drivers, Deadly Tracks, the author’s memoir of a dangerous decade, 1965-1975, and Flat-Out Racing  by D Randy Riggs taking up the From the Library spot.

Please click on the titles and illustrations to see the iMagazine of this issue or to pinpoint the story you wish to read.

The September 2016 issue of Vintage Metal reports on the activities of Dad’s Army, the group of older members who maintain the club rooms and are creating the Caversham Car, a 1950s style sports car special. Dad’s Army has been busy with a Christmas in July function at Rosco McGlashan’s workshop in Mullaloo where he is building Aussie Invader 5R, his Land Speed Record contender with which he intends to set the record at over 1000 mph (1609 km/h).

Other Dad’s Army activities

include improving the security of the club rooms after recent break-ins and continuing the build of the Caversham Car. The car is a 1950s fibreglass body shell mounted on an Austin A40 Devon chassis similar to a special raced at Caversham airfield circuit about 60 years ago.

There is a review of Red Dust Racers, a new book launched on August

21 that is subtitled ‘The Centenary History of Lake Perkolilli and the Emergence of Motorsport in Western Australia – 2014’. This massive tome is a fascinating tale of how a dry lake hundreds of kilometres inland from Perth, the state capital, was all set to become the Brooklands of Australia. Click on the link at the book title above or the illustration of the front cover to see the review. The book is available from author/publisher Graeme Cocks through his web site at www.motoringpast.com.au.

Back in 2014 there was a story in Vintage Metal by Bill Buys about a

South African Riley special built and raced by Bill Jennings. This inspired VSCC member Michael Falconer to chase up more information about Bill Jennings and his special as Michael had seen the car race in his young days in South Africa. He is a great friend of the current owner of the Riley special, Bruce Glasby of Bulawayo, and was able to supply photographs of the car as it is. Bruce still races the car in historic events in Zimbabwe and Michael actually raced the car before he came to Western Australia in 1983.

Michael was able to let me have a copy of an article written by Pat O’Brien for the South African Classic Car magazine some years ago. I contacted Pat and obtained his permission to use the story in Vintage Metal. Click on the illustration of the special to see the article.

Bill Buys also supplied a story for this issue of Vintage Metal about a science teacher from Long Island New York who has driven his 1966 Volvo P1800S over 5,000,000 kilometres, which has earned him a place in the Guinness Book of Records. Click on the illustration to see this article.

Club Librarian Mark Jones reviewed Behind the Scenes of Motor

Racing by Ken Gregory in his From the Library column. It is a remarkable book giving an insight into the world of 1950s motor racing and the career of the young Stirling Moss, whose manager Gregory was. A great read! Click on the picture to see the review.

The front cover picture sets the pace for this issue of Vintage Metal with a Falcon GTHO replica on full opposite lock in the Classic Outback Trial (story on page 20). The Falcon is a tough old bird and finished sixth out of 39 starters.

Following on from the minutes of the July club meeting, Dad’s Army news and news from the Competition Committee, there is an article (based on one I did for pitpass.com back in 2004) about the link between the Indianapolis 500 and European Grand Prix racing.

The usual book reviews discuss The MG Companion by Kenneth Ullyett from the VSCC library and Formula 1 The Knowledge by David Hayhoe. There is also a review of the new release from Australia’s motor sport governing body, the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport, CAMS – The Official History, provided by contributor and VSCC member Bill Buys. The CAMS history is available from the CAMS book shop at camsshop.shopdesq.com for $99 including postage.

The July 2016 issue of Vintage Metal is the best yet in terms of layout and the use of photographs.

Using photographs supplied by Graeme Howie of Sport Pixx Sport Photography (www.sportpixx.com.au) and stories supplied by two of the organising team, the Albany Classic report is the best since I took over the editorship of the magazine.

The other feature is the story of Targa Tasmania as told by two VSCC members who competed with photographs supplied by the Targa Tasmania organisers. Mark Duder completed the course in his beautiful Alpine

A110 while Paul Bartlett finished his rally with his Mark 1 Escort parked against a large tree.

Book reviews in this issue are of two contrasting books. From the Library is My Twenty Years of

Racing by Juan Manuel Fangio, published in 1961. In a first for Vintage Metal, this review extnds over two pages with a selection of photographs from the book and a comprehensive description by librarian Mark Jones. The second book is Legends of the 48-215 by Joel Wakely, proprietor of the BP Boomerang Service Station that prepared one of the fastest early model Holdens to have raced in Australian touring car races of the early 1960s.

One book tells the story of the man who was arguably the greatest Grand Prix driver and the other tells of how a humble family sedan evolved into an effective racing car, but both are fascinating stories.

The June issue of Vintage Metal is now with VSCC members and it includes the promised story of the Lindsay Monk MGA plus the story of a Dodge Speedster that ran in Targa Tasmania and Dick Vermeulen, the amazing Septuagenarian who built it and several other 1930s based specials.

There are Notes from Northam

from a visiting Victorian who enjoyed his chance to compete through the streets and a brief report from Mark Duder on his sojourn in Tasmania with a full story to come from Mark and from Paul Bartlett in the July

issue.

Book reviews are of the Graham Hill Scrapbook 1929-1966 and, from the VSCC library, Wheels: A Passion for Collecting Cars by Stuart Leuthner. Both books are recommended for all enthusiasts.

The Editor’s Notes have been re-titled Editor’s Ramblings, which is a better description of the content and all of the regular features are there as expected.