of my sprintcar and came back to Sydney that way. Then it sat
here for over 10 years before I even looked at it.”
Work was done whenever Bob could spare the time, and there
was a lot of trial and error involved in getting the dimensions right
based on old photos of the car from the early 70s. In some cases
it took him years to find certain parts.
“If I’ve got to wait a couple of years to get the original gear, I’d
rather do that than compromise,” he says. “Things like fittings, you
have to compromise, you can’t get those old fittings anymore. All
this old stuff is getting harder to find.
“Doing vintage stuff is very enjoyable but very frustrating.
People don’t realise the hours that go into a vintage car, finding
bits and fabricating bits. But in the end it’s worth all the effort.”
The car was finished in January and Bob fired it up for the first
time at the 2017 Australian Sprintcar Championship at Sydney’s
Valvoline Raceway.
“That was a special day in my life,” he says. “The amount of
people that came up and congratulated me or took photos of it,
it was mindblowing. I felt very proud.”
Bob has now retired from full-time work and is settling into life
with more time to tinker. Next up on his jig are two 1960s midget
cars: the Holden-powered red #53 built and driven by Sydney’s
Ray Redding, and the blue #3 Myron Caves Offy brought to
Australia by Californian Don Meacham.
“Some days I get a bit bored and wish I was back at work!” Bob
says. “But then, some people retire and sit down to relax and next
thing they’re dead – I’m lucky I’ve got my cars.” sBELOW: Back in Bob’s
racing heyday his nickname
was ‘The Streak’, because
of his long blond locks
and also the raw speed
he generated down the
straights. One of his claims
to fame is that he won the
first ever A-Main Sprintcar
feature race at Parramatta
Speedway (currently
Valvoline Raceway) in 1977
MAIN: One of the 550
midgets made by the Kurtis
Kraft shop in Glendale,
California, the #5 Cascio Offy
was brought to Australia
by popular US driver Bob
‘Two Gun’ Tattersall in 1961,
and was later raced by Blair
Shepherd, Gus McClure
and George Tatnell. “Bob
Tattersall came to Oz for
about 13 years in a row,
and every year he brought
a different midget,” Bob
says. “Some of those cars
stayed and some went
back. Whenever he came,
the Showground would be
packed”PEOPLE DON’T REALISE
THE HOURS THAT GO INTO A
VINTAGE CAR, FINDING BITS
AND FABRICATING BITS. BUT
IN THE END IT’S WORTH ALL
THE EFFORT