Unusual Race Cars

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gordini
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Re: Unusual Race Cars

Post by gordini » Thu 10 Jul 2008, 01:55

KR,
Any pix on the Mpiti Renault. A guy once cornered me at Goldfields and maintained my car was the Mpiti. I have never seen the car, not even in pix. Then Ralph Kearns told him the Mpiti is a different car. Ralph campained an R8 with a R16 TS motor, at that stage in Clubmans
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ren8gor
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Re: Unusual Race Cars

Post by ren8gor » Thu 10 Jul 2008, 08:14

Any details on that Ralph Kearns R8 with the TS motor. Photos, specs etc?

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Killarney Racer
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Re: Unusual Race Cars

Post by Killarney Racer » Thu 10 Jul 2008, 08:50

I'll get a pic of the Mpiti. As I said it was a Terry Townsend car that really only raced in a rasce or two in the Springbok Series from what I can gather. It was quite ugly and ended up in an accident. I am not sure what happened next, but Terry totally rebuilt the car a few years back, put on a roof and as far as I know it is road legal and he still owns it.

Your car is not the Mpiti as you will see from the pic. I will get more details as well tonight.

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gordini
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Re: Unusual Race Cars

Post by gordini » Thu 10 Jul 2008, 21:53

Killarney Racer wrote:I'll get a pic of the Mpiti. As I said it was a Terry Townsend car that really only raced in a rasce or two in the Springbok Series from what I can gather. It was quite ugly and ended up in an accident. I am not sure what happened next, but Terry totally rebuilt the car a few years back, put on a roof and as far as I know it is road legal and he still owns it.

Your car is not the Mpiti as you will see from the pic. I will get more details as well tonight.
Yes, i know my car is not the Mpiti, as someone said once at Goldfields: Your car is ugly but the Mpiti is even uglier....
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Killarney Racer
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Re: Unusual Race Cars

Post by Killarney Racer » Fri 11 Jul 2008, 10:05

Some more on the Mpiti. The car was built for the 1967 9hr with financial help from Lawsons Motors and using a 1100 Gordini engine. It lasted for the first 4 hours when a clutch broke and Townsend parked at the track side. Ben Pons Porsche in avoiding another car, hit the Mpiti and virtually destroyed it.

In 2002 Townsend decided to rebuild the car using new moulds for the body etc as he thought the original had been damn ugly. He replaced the Gordini engine with a 16TS motor and R12 gearbox.
Mpiti 1967 9hr Kyalami.jpg
Mpiti 2002.jpg
Mpiti 1967 9hr. Lotus Cortina of Cloete-Kirsten and Lola T70 of Gardener-Spence.jpg
Pictures fromGreg Mills' Springbok Series book.

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gordini
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Re: Unusual Race Cars

Post by gordini » Fri 11 Jul 2008, 12:34

KR,
Sure is an ugly car, espacially the racing version of it. See the winscreen is a R8 rearwindow. The 2002 version is actually very nice. You cab see they spend time on the body.Have you got Townsend's contact detail?? I would like to view the car.
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Hi-Fi
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Re: Unusual Race Cars

Post by Hi-Fi » Fri 11 Jul 2008, 14:22

That last picture was printed back to front making the car even more ugly :)

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gordini
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Re: Unusual Race Cars

Post by gordini » Sun 13 Jul 2008, 12:19

gordini wrote:HiFi,
In one of these links you will see a pic of a Matra Djet taken from the rear end. My little car looks excactly like that. Even the taillights were the same but they got lost when the car was stolen.
here's a pic of the Matra Djet from the rear
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matra djet.jpg
matra djet.jpg (9.74 KiB) Viewed 6827 times
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gordini
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Re: Unusual Race Cars

Post by gordini » Sun 27 Jul 2008, 21:18

John Connely phone me from Aussie, as i posted on various sites and gave me the undermentioned info. I believe it might be the same car/manufacturer.

Styling is the same and model is the same. They mentioned the car ran with Renault running gear....

What does the profesionals say
Last edited by gordini on Sun 27 Jul 2008, 21:22, edited 1 time in total.
In my old age...
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Re: Unusual Race Cars

Post by gordini » Sun 27 Jul 2008, 21:20

KELLISON HISTORY

The Kellison car company was founded in the 1950s by Jim Kellison. He spent over two years of designing and testing before the first kellison was offered to the public in 1957. These orginal early kellison bodies were very flimsy so in the following year of1958 more refinements were made to the cars. Kellison added inner fender panels firewalls dashboards assembled doors and other small improvements in order to make the final product easier to build and enjoy. These early bodies where constructed using a chopper gun technique. This technique let the user work quickly while a strict quality control was inforced. One of the first cars offered by Kellison was the J-4. It is a low slung two seat sports car. Avaliable as either a sport coupe or roadster. With a roof hight of only 39" it was a awesome sight in the late 1950s. These early cars came with a Chuck Manning designed box tube frame. It employed beam axles at both ends. A later updated X frame used corvette suspention at both ends was developed by the kellison company. You could purchase a original J-4 for only $640.00.
Kellison continued his refinements and later introduced the J-5 still a two seater but with a stretched wheelbase now up to 102" offering a little more room inside. The J-5 also had dual headlights and recessed taillight openings. The doors were lengthened 5" to make entering and exiting easier and the roof was raised one inch for more headroom. The J-5 was offered to the public at a price of only $700.00
Other kellison bodies were offered depending on what type of application they where to be used on. the J-3 was designed to fit on a MG or Austin Healy even a Volkswagen or Porsche frame and engine would work. The J-3 came only as a roadster and you could purchase an assembled one for only $520.00.
The J-2 was designed to fit on a Triumph or Renault chassis. It was offered as a coupe or a roadster. The coupe was designed with two roof humps for added headroon.
Even smaller was the J-1 and is was designed to fit on an Austin-Healy Sprite or Crosley frame. It too was offered as a coupe or a roadster.
For the race minded Kellison offered a competion body that was light weight and did not come with a floor, firewall or inner fender panels. It was made to use a chevrolet engine on a small wheelbase frame like the MG or the Austin-Healy.
Kellison last redesign of the J series was the J-6 Panther. This car was designed to bolt directly onto a 1953 to 1962 corvette chassis. The roof was again raised 2 1/2 inches for more headroom. The rear window was enlarged for better visibility and for the first time a trunk lid was added.
Kellison now began to add diferent manufactures to his line up. He offered the Byers SR-100 and he purchased the rights to the Clodhopper, Sand Piper and the dagger dune buggies. The sand piper was offered as either a roadster or a pickup on either a shortened or standard wheelbase. Also offered at this time was a complete line of race car bodies. He offered a rail type body for drag racing plus a bantam and Fiat bodies for the altered class. Another foray was into can-am racing with a body he purchased form Hans Adam. During the late 1960s kellison also brought out a line of formula vee race cars. Also sold were parts for Jaguar, corvettes and hardtops for Mgs, Austin-Healys plus a complete line of fiberglass replacement parts.
Some of kellison last designs was a shark kit made to fit a VW floorpan and a GT-40 lookalike that was very well received by the public. The GT-40 was made to fit on the ever popular VW chassis but kellison offered a corvair kit to boost up the power. Later on he developeded a box style tube frame that was able to carry a mid engine chevy or ford V-8 power.
The kellison company as we know it lasted into the mid 1970s. Kellison later formed a new company called the Red Stallion. This company did business during the 1980s. His next car came as a cobra knockoff called the Stallion which is to my knowledge his last car company. If you have additional information or corrections please email them to me thanks. Again this info is to the best of my knowledge which doesnt mean alot so the above history is not gospel it is the best I could research thanks.
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In my old age...
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