30 Oct Rear-view Mirror: V8 Willment Ford Galaxie
Wendy and Mike Monk’s regular look back at old motoring and motor sport items…
As the motoring world heads towards hybrids and electric powered vehicles, let’s not forget the days when “there ain’t no substitoot fer cubic inches” and such magnificent thundering giants like the 7,0-litre V8 Willment Ford Galaxie that was raced back in the 1960s and ’70s.
The first pic of Car 19 was taken at the 7th Rand Daily Mail 9-Hour race at Kyalami on 31 October 1964 (almost 60 years ago!) when Frank Gardner and Paul Hawkins were forced to retire with a blown head gasket. But what the heck, the mechanics fixed the car and it went back out to race, which was illegal but the crowd didn’t care…
The black-and-white pic was taken at Kyalami on 6 March 1965 during the 12-lap SA Saloon Car Championship race in which Bobby Olthoff drove the car to first place.
In later years, a replica of the car was made for Bobby to race, which proved just as successful.
Long live the Big Bangers!
(NB: No copyright infringement is intended with any of the images used to illustrate these articles.)
