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BUCKLE OWNERS STORIES
Ted Annand's Buckle
Story
93-892,
93-888
I first
saw the Buckles racing at Warwick Farm, I thought they were some
exotic overseas car but on investigation found they were made in
Sydney. One day in 1962 I was driving along Parramatta Road looking
in car yards as a teenager did, when in P&R Williams used cars I
saw a Buckle for Sale. I returned the next day and bought it. It was
painted a light brown colour and had previously been white, It was
registered BVW 501, Body No 892. I remember the tacho didn't work
and never did while I owned it. The engine was stock with an iron
head, Twin SU's, and many chrome bits. 3 speed Gear box, all very
stock standard. I was going to race it but it didn't have what
I needed so one day when I was talking to Bill Buckle at Ron
Hodgson's, looking at his E type, he told me had one with a Mays
head for sale. I arranged to trade 892 for Body No 888, CHH 784,
painted bronze, I was told they painted them Bronze as used
cars because they sold better. This one had the Mays head with
triple SU's and bonnet scoop, 3 speed box with overdrive. I raced it
at Warwick Farm and Oran Park and did some hills climbs, I did enter
it at Catalina Park once but wasn't accepted as to many entries for
the class, and I was still a 3 striper. I
remember lining up on the grid beside Ron Wardrop in his Buckle,
body 894, at Warwick Farm in 1963, I can't remember who beat
whom. Some engine work was
done on 888 by Dick Newell and Jack Allen in their workshops when
the rings were stuffed cause by an over rev when she dropped out of
overdrive one race at Warwick Farm. Bob Booth towed me to Dick
Newell's. Looks like Buckle owners stuck together.
I sold CHH 784 to a
car yard in William Street when I was about to move, that must have
been about 1964.
Sorry I don't have
more information or photos. I have attached a couple of photos of me
for your past owners photos taken last year, you choose what to use
if you want them.
Yours in
Buckles
Edward (Ted)
Annand
********************
Brian Lawler's Buckle Story
93-900,
93-899, 93-889
93-887, 93-885, 93883,
93-882
Firstly, I would like to congratulate
Bob & Robyn for the wonderful job they've done in
compiling all the information for the Buckle website,
at last we have a reliable reference source with
accurate data which will be helpful to us
all.
Having owned many Buckles over the past 50 odd years,
the following highlights only scratch the surface of the many
memories I have of Buckle ownership.
My love of
Buckles began in 1959 at Bathurst when I was keeping an eye on Robin
Orland0's S/C MG. A
Buckle happened to be next to us in the pits, it was love at first
sight for me. It not only looked good, it proceeded to leave an
Aston Martin for dead and David Finch's "D" Type Jaguar -- this
was B.B. in 1-818 at the Bathurst Easter
meeting.
In 1960 John Bissett who was an
instrument maker for Auto Lab, asked me to take him & his
newly acquired Buckle, being 1-818 under my wing. John
& I experimented with many aspects, lowering of the front shock
absorber base by 1 inch which gave the car far better geometry when
cornering, a sway bar reduced over steer and stopped "wander" with
high speed braking.
I sighted my first
Buckle 93-889 in a car yard at Brighton on my way
to work one morning, the deal was done there & then, exchanging
a Riley Pathfinder. I had lots of fun competing in this car and have
fond memories.
I then bought John
Bissett's grey & white one which I had for a
long while before selling it to Bob Booth, but of course it returned
home & I still have it to play with
today.
Next came the pretty blue Buckle
93-899 that Ray Cary prevously owned and I sold it to Kevin
Walters, who still owns it today.
Buckles are
very versatile, as I recall the time I was rejected at scrutineering
for still having the tow bar attached (the caravan was in the pits)
but all was forgiven when I explained the situation, imagine it
happening today!
I guess No. 93-887 was the most
challenging Buckle, as it had four wheel disc brakes (not boosted
when I got it) a De Dion rear end & Riley 2.5 litre gear box,
which was great for competition. I had many fond memories of this
car as it's performance was outstanding.
But of course
for sheer power, the "old yellow birdcage" Buckle was tops. I owned
her four times!
It was some thirty years later that I
had the pleasure of driving No. 93-882. Peter Williamson was the
first to run this rocket, then it went to Victoria where John Caffin
was the proud owner for many years. I had the fortune to obtain it
before John Shaw purchased it, returning it to it's
present racing glory.
These memories are indelible as I have
never found a make of motor car that gives as much pleasure, both
driving & owning. Friendships have been formed just because we
like the same type of car.
I could never
explain, when only 20 cars were made, that it wasn't uncommon to see
five or six Buckles at a club hill climb event & Bathurst would
field four, that's a very high ratio.
In closing, I
would like to thank Bill for allowing me the pleasure of "Buckle
ownership".
Brian Lawler
P.S. As a matter of
fact, I plan to take the Grey & White girl with me to Buckle
heaven!!
*********************
Bob & Robyn Williamson Story
93-893, 93-883, 93-895
Our Buckle
Story
In 1964, aged 19, I was working at Sutton
Motors on Parramatta Road, Homebush, when I saw a copper coloured
Buckle Coupe with ACT number plates driving slowly looking at all
the used cars for sale.
Three weeks later it was advertised in
the Herald paper at a car yard called "Orana Car Sales" Parramatta
Road Croydon. I was on their door step at 7.30am and waited for the
salesman Terry Crawford to open up. Now it was a pretty gold colour
and with NSW number plates. Five minutes later, we owned it and we
still own it 48 years later.
I drove it to work at BMC Zetland
every day and raced it most weekends with Sydney Tech College Car
Club, at Hill climbs, Lap Dashes and open race meetings at Warwick
Farm, Oran Park and Bathurst. It had a Raymond Mays head with 3 SU
carbies , 3 speed gearbox and lot of go for a 19 year old kid
.
1n 1966, Robyn and I were married and took off in the Buckle
for our honeymoon to Bathurst races and to the Snowy
Mountains.
It was a beautiful gold colour, not a colour for a 21
year old, so we painted it maroon metallic.
Late in 1966 at Oran
Park night meeting, I was involved in an accident with Wally Brown
in a sportscar called the Skoden. Both smashed badly, but
repairable. Twenty minutes prior we purchased from Brian Lawler the
yellow lightweight racing Buckle. It was going to be 93-893 last
race. As they say "It Happened". Now 1967, we race the Yellow 93-883
Buckle at Warwick Farm, Bathurst, Oran Park, Amaroo Park etc over
the next 5 years. After moving on to sedan racing I sold old yella
to Warwick Holyoake. Raced sedans for many years at most NSW tracks
including Bathurst 1000 a few times.
After retiring from racing
we own the Cinzano race team cars which we raced Alfa Romeos and
Gemini Coupe and a Twin Cam Gemini sedan with some success.
Then
came along our two lovely daughters, Bec and Rach. Now they are both married,
it's now time for us to start rebuilding our first Buckle.
In the
meantime, 1999 we bought the only Buckle 93-895 which was sold new
in Queensland. We started to restore it and then decided that while
we were rebuilding it we were not working on 93-893. So we sold
93-895 to Glenn Goldfinch.
Buckles and Mustangs have been our
life, owning 3 Buckles and over 50 Mustangs.
Now I am 67 its time
to finish 93-893 so we can drive it like we are still 21.
Over
the years we have made many good friends through the Buckle.
So
lets Buckle Up and enjoy the rest of our life
together.
Bob & Robyn
Williamson
***********************
Bruce Taylor Buckle
Story
93-883
In September
65 I leased 93-883 from Brian Lawler. The engine was in bits after a
blow up. We soon had
the car going again and back on the track with a first run at
'The Farm' in late September.
Youthful
exuberance and overdriving resulted in me losing it just after
Western crossing and hitting the fence at 'Homestead', doing
substantial damage to the chassis tubes, front crossmember and
bonnet.
We replaced
the chassis tubes from the firewall forward and built a new crossmember. At this time an
anti roll bar from an FC Holden was fitted to the front and the wheel
alignment modified to help combat
the excessive oversteer.
.
The test run was an AARC club day
in mid October and the scrutineers got us for a perspex windscreen
but allowed us to run. The car went well. The laminated screen from
my Appedix J Mk1 Zephyr
was fitted and we went to 'Towac' at Orange for a fun country
meeting.
Our first
meeting at Oran Park was on Nov.21st with 2 wins in the
sports racing class and a lap of 54.8.
On the
1st Dec.we returned to my nemesis Warwick Farm to battle
the long circuit again.
A great race
was had with Alan Grice in a 1500 clubman, the lead changing many
times with the clubman finally winning over the Buckle. I ended up getting the gold
as the clubman was excluded due to not conforming to the regs. Not the way a Buckle likes
to win a race. Lap time
1.52.5.
Mid December
saw the yellow car go South to Calder but unfortunately the gremlins
got us with a major gearbox failure during practice.. A long drive
for nil result.
Back
in Sydney the failed
Jag. Gearbox was
replaced and we also fitted 3 x 45DCOE Webers and manifolds from
the Polaris .. on loan from Jack Allen. We were entered for the
NSW Sports/Racng championship at 'Catalina Park' on Jan
31st.1966.
The main
race was a 20 lap event
with me starting
10th on the grid and getting a good start to be
8th at Craven A. The heavy metal behind were pressing hard and by the
last lap I had lost my
2 places gained
to finish where I started.
I managed a class win.
Lap time 1.6.8 .
The
International meeting at the 'Farm' in late February was next with a run in the 5
lap Div.2 Sports car race.
I was running 3rd early but was overpowered back to
5th Clubmen cars are
fast.
The next meeting was at Oran Park on March
6th. Great racing, coming in second to Ron Thorp in the
Cobra but getting the lap record for the class at 54.0 secs.
The next
weekend on March
13th we took the car to Silverdale Hill climb to do
battle. The observant scrutineers found a small crack in the
left hand upright which resulted in a quick trip to Wallacia for a
repair/weld. Undaunted we returned to the hill and on the 5th run
got just under the revered 40 second barrier with a 39.87 run. The
first hardtop car under 40 up the hill. .At last we are in the
hillclimb record
books.
Another
venue around this time was Castlereagh sprints. My younger brother
John drove and got down to 14.44 for the quarter beaten on the day
by the fast finishing Lister Jaguar.
Our last
meeting for 93-883 was at the 'Farm' AARC short circuit club day
soon after. The car was really flying and handling well We got a great lap time of
46.9 but paid the penalty of a blowup at 'Polo' in
practice.
The Webers
were returned to Jack and
93-883 returned to Brian.
The
highlights for me were developing the car, memorable races at
Catalina , 'The Farm' Oran Park., a 54.0 sec class lap record
at OP and under 40 at Silverdale.
So endeth my time with
93-883
*******************
Barry Read Buckle Story
93-890
This is just a
short response to my knowledge of the beautiful buckle coupe I owned
in 1959, a dream to drive.
In 1960 I joined
the Bill Buckle Club, soon after I entered the buckle in times
record day at Castlereagh air strip, where I was lucky enough to win
a trophy, which I still have today in the form of a silver mug, this
was won in the standing 1/4 of a mile in 18.5
seconds.
The following race was the flying 1/8 in
5.11 seconds, which I also won.
The car had 2 x 8 gallons
tanks one on either side of rear of car, and it was a flying
machine, I found it very hard to part with at the
time.
I am now 73 and
still have very fond memories of the Buckle
Coupe.
Kind
Regards.
Barry Read
********************
Barry & Lynn Jenkins Buckle Story
93-886
In late
1976 we purchased our 2.5 litre Sports Coupe from "Cobber" Morris,
Lithgow, a local Speedway driver, who intended to race the car on
the Speedway, but this was rejected by
the authorities owing to its fibreglass
body.
It was
at that time a dismal sight - minus grill, flat tyres, faded
and flaking paint and due to the doors being electrically operated
to enter the car, the windows were left open exposing the
upholstery to the wind
and rain. The body was in great
need of repair due to previously roughly carried out
modifications. The engine (2.5ltr Ford Zephyr - O.H.
Valve - 3 carbs - extractor exhaust) ran quite well, but
the gearbox was unable to
select gears.
Our
most memorable moment came after ten years of intermittent work and
many hours. We finally completed the restoration and enjoyed out
first trip to Mudgee. Since that day, many
miles and a great deal of the countryside have been travelled, with
a huge amount of interest shown by onlookers.
The
Buckle has participated in the 2006 "Speed on Tweed" at
Murwillumbah, rallies at Inverell, Armidale, Port Macquarie, Wagga
Wagga, Cootamundra, Berrima, Nowra and in October 1907,
some 2,224 miles, with
an average of 33.5 mpg, saw us journey to the "Bay to Birdwood" in
Adelaide and return home via the Great Ocean Road.
During
ownership some 30,854 miles have been enjoyed with virtually trouble
free motoring.
In
October 2009, it was our privilege to return the Buckle to its
original builder, Bill Buckle, knowing that our baby would be
appreciated and well loved.
BARRY
& LYN JENKINS.
******************
Bill and Pam
Cole Buckle Story
93-896
BKW488
was a rather sad case when we bought it. I suspect it
had been thrashed. The motor used lot of oil and was
sluggish. Few of the electrics worked. The tacho
was dead and the speedo wildly oscillated giving only a general idea
of speed. The interior was very soiled and ill fitting
and the colour was orange/red. The suspension had sagged and
bottomed out on the slightest bump. But we saw its potential
so bought it and drove it to Tamworth.
The next morning I drove to
my school on the outskirts of Tamworth. Now there had been a
hillclimb in Tamworth the day before, so the LAW was out in
force. A motor-cycle patrolman picked me out and
followed. I wondered just how accurate the speedo was as I was
in a 30 m.p.h. zone, notorious for collecting speeding fines.
I also wondered about indicators not working, brake lights?
etc. He pulled me over, propped his bike in front of the car,
took off his gloves and put them on top of the car, leaned in and
said "What motor have you got in this?"
We had the car resprayed in
Mercedes Gunmetal Grey, reset the suspension, trimmed the
interior. I rebuilt the motor. It became a very
different vehicle, very versatile and usable. We toured
extensively with it. Once we went to Cooma, then across the
Alpine Way (before bitumen and through the snow), down the Murray to
Adelaide, back through Melbourne, up the coast to Sydney and on to
Tamworth, having been to a race meeting at Catalina Park, driven
around Bathurst and Hume Weir. circuits. I then continued to
Lowood Circuit in Queensland for the last weekend of the September
holidays. We camped in the car after finding that if we
dropped the rear swab opening into the boot, took off the back rests
of thefront seats and placed them between the back and front seat
swabs, we had a reasonably comfortable bed with feet in the
boot. The luggage went into the foot wells.
I drove the car in
hillclimbs, standing quarters, gymkhana, driving displays at the
local show and attending most race meetings between 1961-64.
As the car was stock standard (except I had fitted the standard
Zephyr overdrive unit - not the Laycock unit unfortunately. Brian
Lawler had offered me a Vanguard box with overdrive but I had
already fitted the other one, and couldn't affort it anyway) so I
was not really competitive with the hot machines.
However I got a second at Inverell behind the Centaur of John French
and had many hours of fun at these events. I was able to
win the Tamworth Sporting Car Club Gymkhana Championship in 1961-2-3
so the car lived up to its heritage.
Finally our family was
growing and a sports coupe was not the ideal car. We could
cope with one baby, but a second one and their gear was testing my
wife's patience too much, so I had a difficult choice between two
great loves. Finally, the Buckle went to Ron Phillips
Sportscars to be replaced by an EJ Holden Station Wagon going from
the sublime to the ridiculous. It was the worst car I have owned
with Trimatic gearbox and NO go at all. Still it carried our growing
family.
So that is the story of our
life with BWK488 - a great car and lots of fun.
BILL
COLE.
******************
BEV BALDWIN'S BUCKLE
STORY
93-897
What do you do when at
32 your husband dies and you are left with two small boys and an old
Holden - buy a Buckle of course!
This bright yellow
body-flawed flying bundle of trouble was the catalyst for the boys
and myself to start healing and having some fun after eight years of
living with sickness and sadness.
Some highlights of my
Buckle period were as follows -
Driving to Orange with
the boys for a funeral in winter time, pitch black. Between
Lithgow and Bathurst I noticed a police car 'hiding' just off the
road. Not a problem, kept going, one car in front of me,
nothing behind. Debated whether I would bother with a hand
signal to pass him being so cold, but I did the right thing then put
my foot down. Coming into Bathurst I get pulled over.
Not for speeding, but for not indicating my intention to
overtake. The fact the Buckle didn't have blinkers, no car
behind me, pitch black and sticking my hand out got me
nowhere. I was booked. Poetic justice I guess for
speeding.
Driving back from Orange
on another occasion in daylight half way to Bathurst I noticed
sparks through a hole in the floor. I was a bit alarmed but
had to keep cool as I had two quiet anxious boys with me. We
carried on very carefully with the kids watching to tell me if the
sparks changed in any way. A service station never looked so
good, the problem soon fixed, ice cream all around - saved the
day.
A friend and I went to a
party at Brighton, me driving the Buckle. A couple of hours
later we were asked to go to another party at Lugarno. Three
more passengers piled into the back seat (very tight) and off we
went. Close to our destination the exhaust system fell
off. Not to worry, we waited until it cooled, picked it up and
somehow stuffed it and five people back into the Buckle and carried
on.
Whenever a passenger sat
in the front I said to them "when I turn right hold onto the door
handle as the door is prone to fling open." I automatically
turned the steering wheel with my right hand and reached out and
grabbed a kid with my left just in case. Never could get it to
shut properly.
That's a few that I can
admit to. We had a heap of fun but ultimately the upkeep was
too much, so a
Mini Cooper S followed,
then the Renault 8 that I tried to wipe out at Oran
Park.
Great
memories!
Bev
Baldwin
*******************
IAN CLAYTON'S BUCKLE
STORY
93-891
Hi Bob,
I became aware of the Buckles when I was a young lad of 18
and was driving a Ford Zephyr Mark 2 to work. Each day
near Granville I was overtaken by some guy in a Buckle, (I can`t
remember the colour)and I was aware that they had Zephyr engines (of
which I was intimately acquainted with) but I thought to myself that
one day I would own one of those.
I used to buy the Sydney Morning Herald on a Saturday (still
do) and look in the Classic/Vintage Cars For Sale section. In 1978 I
saw an ad for a Buckle in a dismantled state at a car sales
yard on Parramatta Road near Homebush. So I bought the car for
about $1,000 (I think) and when I brought it home on a trailer, as
usual, the wife was not impressed and said to just keep going to the
tip.
It was red in colour when I purchased it and when I removed
the paint it was white underneath.
It had a very stock Zephyr motor in it, still with the
"hockey stick" exhaust manifold and just the one Zenith carby with
the normal 3 speed box.
It had bucket seats and the suspension was also original. The
only difference on the car from stock was a scoop in the bonnet. I
did not know many people in the Buckle fraternity (at that stage the
only other car that was registered in NSW was the green one, sorry I
can`t remember the name of owner) and it didn`t have a scoop so I
removed it and also did some repairs to the bonnet. I was quite
proficient at working with fibreglass as I had made canoes and a
surfboard in the past.
So I eventually rebuilt the car to original specifications
after scouring the wrecking yards for missing bits and pieces and I
also got onto someone at the RAAF base at Richmond who put me onto a
goo to line the fuel tanks. I painted the car Sky
Blue.
After it was registered I joined the Zephyr car club and went
to various club runs and to the All Ford Days at Warwick Farm as
well as using it as almost a daily driver. I was forced to sell the
car to help finance a business venture towards the end of
1983.
It was sold to Merv Billington who repainted it yellow and
made a few modifications such as putting frames around the door
glass and I think he also fitted a bench seat.
That`s my story and good luck with the
website.
Cheers,
Ian
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