Ashley unearths an unusual and unique special in Kaikoura
Those of you who remember last year’s NZCC South Island Special will recall our story on Bob Bell’s shed. This was no ordinary shed, but one filled to the rafters with classic car memorabilia — not to mention some mighty fine classic cars, including his wife Karen’s nicely restored 1970 Morris Minor Traveller.
Kaikoura is probably the last place on earth where you’d expect to find classic cars, but there were plenty to be found, I can assure you. Readers with keen eyes will remember seeing this classic Alta-style racer parked in the corner of Bob’s shed in our feature. I have to admit that this was certainly one of my favourites during our trip to Kaikoura — with its classic lines and style, this period piece simply dripped with nostalgia. I couldn’t take my eyes off it.
An Alta! What’s an Alta, I found myself asking? Bob explained that it was important to gain some degree of understanding regarding the background surrounding its development before you could really begin to appreciate his car.
Geoffrey Taylor’s Alta
Alta (the Alta name coming from a shortened version of Alberta) was headed by Geoffrey Taylor, who had a strong automotive background, due mainly to his experience building components for motorcycles and other vehicles when he was still in his late teens. By 1928 Taylor had built his first car, using a chassis and parts from the auto parts company for which he worked. It was powered by a 1074cc engine with an aluminium block, which he fabricated and built himself from scratch, a supreme effort from someone just 24 years of age. He took the car, known then as PK4053, to the race track in London and, on its debut, it finished in the top three.
This success saw the car put into production in 1931 using Taylor’s original engine, however, the chassis was replaced with one from specialist chassis manufacturer, Rubery Owen. These early cars were open bodied, two-seaters designed purely for speed with no regard for comfort in any way, and could reach speeds of between 137 and 177kph (85 and 110mph), quite impressive for the 1930s. Not only were these cars fast, they had phenomenal acceleration, which made them an ideal choice for sprints, races and trials, and in 1934 the Alta even broke a speed record.
A year later the Alta was modified to single-seater form, increasing its competitiveness on more race tracks around the UK. In addition, two more versions of the engine were put into production, a 1496cc and a 1961cc variant. These engines included chain-driven camshafts — another important innovation — and, two years later, the 1496cc model was supercharged.
Due to the car’s lighter weight (primarily due to changes in the nose of the vehicle) the Alta race-cars were able to win a number of races, and showed tremendous promise as a front-runner for racing dominance in subsequent years.
Taylor was already hard at work on new designs and a new chassis that he thought would make the machine an even more impressive racer, however, war was imminent and Taylor’s plans were about to change significantly. The moment war was declared, Alta’s production capabilities were given over to the war effort and production of new designs was halted.
The war went on far longer than expected, and Taylor decided to finally give up the car-making business.
When Grand Prix racing resumed after WWII, the idea of independent car makers like Taylor developing their own race-cars became a thing of the past.
Taylor died in 1966, after a long illness, and without any further victories for his Alta vehicles. However, the achievements of his 1935 Alta 2.0-litre left a lasting impression on the history of motor racing and on car enthusiasts for decades to come.
In The Blood
Back to Kaikoura, Bob Bell has fond childhood memories of his father racing Midgets, with his mother’s support, and there’s little wonder that Bob grew up relishing all things associated with motor sport. He remembers family outings to Ardmore in their ’39 Chevrolet to watch motor racing, and vividly recalls on one occasion the high pitched engine noise, not too dissimilar to that of an approaching aircraft, which passed them as they were en route to the race track. Bob’s father identified the sound as being produced by a Porsche Carrera and, from that point on, Bob’s father declared that he would one day own a Porsche. Unfortunately that day never eventuated, it was a dream that was never fulfilled. However, Bob never forgot his father’s ambition and owned his own Porsche Carrera for over 25 years before selling it.
With motor racing well and truly part of Bob’s life, he began following Formula 1 and, on a more local level, attending virtually every race meeting in New Zealand and Australia except for a short period when he lived in Kenya.
Bob’s interest in classic cars and race-cars became more evident as the years ticked by, and he hoped that one day he would be able to afford something like a Bugatti or Fraser Nash. In the meantime, he also took a liking to Altas.
There was an Alta that frequently raced in Australia at Phillip Island, Adelaide and Sydney, which Bob enjoyed watching immensely. Cunningly as it may seem, Bob got to know the owner of the Alta quite well, and ended up chatting to him on many occasions. The Alta owner even joked that the only way Bob would ever own his Alta would be if Bob married his wife when he died. This soon became a standing joke between the two men.
However, Bob knew that in reality Altas were extremely rare, and he would probably never get to own a genuine example.
The Find
With this background in mind, you can imagine Bob’s reaction when he heard of an aluminium Alta-style body that was tucked away in the back of a workshop somewhere in Melbourne. After some slick detective work, Bob managed to locate the body and, as luck would have it, he ended up owning it. At this stage Bob literally had no idea what he was going to do with his new-found purchase, but he felt it was a good start for a project of some kind. He had the unfortunate notion that he would just ‘whip’ something together in a few months, and he’d be off to the race-track, easy as that. That was over 12 years ago and, sadly, this project is still unfinished.
It was Bob’s Aussie mate, Rob Rowe — in the business of restoring classic sports and race cars — who actually came up with the concept of building a Vauxhall Special, purely and simply because he knew where he could lay his hands on a whole heap of 1937 Vauxhall parts. Although it was in keeping with the period, Bob wasn’t at all impressed with the idea, suggesting in no uncertain terms that it wasn’t what he had in mind.
However, the plan went ahead under the watchful eye of Rob Rowe, and Bob’s project quickly became known as the ‘Vault’, not only because of the obvious Vauxhall/Alta name abbreviation, but Bob reckons it’s also down to the amount of money he has tied up in the car. Bob says he could have bought a couple of supercharged MG specials for the money, blown one of them up and still been racing for 10 years.
The Vault now boasts 1937 Vauxhall mechanicals and chassis, including the knee action front end, and the original cable brakes that have been retained although slightly modified. The light six-cylinder, 1781cc ohv engine has received a host of goodies including a polished and ported head, Gemini valves and springs as well as Mini Cooper pistons connected to specially made alloy conrods. The crankshaft is courtesy of Bedford and runs on MGB bearings.
The car also sports a Tropical Vauxhall Pack finned alloy sump and large volume oil pump. The Tropical Pack was fitted to only a handful of ’50s Vauxhall utes that ended up in Australia and also included a larger radiator. Bob was able to track down two of these rare utes, enabling him to keep aside some uncommon parts should they ever be required. To help speed things along, the engine received a 64mm SU carburettor complete with supercharger that has been expertly modified and tuned by Dunedin’s Jim Bennett, along with the custom exhaust system. It also received a magneto from an early ‘grey’ motor Holden.
The wire wheels are Jaguar SS100, and the matching instruments are early Jaguar and are fitted to an aluminium, machine-turned dash. There is an original 1937 Bluemels steering wheel with a ‘fatmans’ quick release from a Midget race car, and the original English number plate and GB roundel off a1937 Rover drophead coupe that Bob owned when he was 16.
Work in Progress
Bob had a set of alloy brackets fabricated for the front aero screens, and the large flip top petrol filler is off an American racer of the period.
The custom badge says it all, with a ‘V’ in the centre for Vault. A nice pair of period headlights and two sets of Austin tear droplights for indicators and park lights are at the ready should Bob decide to register the Vault as road car. He has also located a local metalworker who fabricates beautiful cycle guards should Bob ever require them for road use.
Lastly, Bob would like to finish off the engine with a Bugatti-style alloy rocker cover — clean and polished with a flat top. He has an old spring-loaded oil filler tube with oil brands engraved in it to use as well. The tube is alloy, and the top is of engraved chrome which he thinks came off a ’30s Standard, and once it’s installed Bob will remove all easy visual traces of GM Motors.
The bucket seats, with a shaped bench back, have been nicely upholstered in red leather and the exterior has been finished off in, of course, British Racing Green — or should that be Vault Green?
Yes, the car does run, and Bob has informed me that it performs quite nicely. He often uses his long twisting gravel driveway for testing purposes — and as an excuse to have some awesome fun.
We can’t wait for Bob to put the finishing touches to this handsome little racer, as we reckon it’ll be the fastest ‘Vault’ we’ve ever seen — you can bank on that!
Words: Ashley Webb Photos: Sean Craig
