Isuzu PF60E dohc group A touring car

redzone · **Posted:** Tue Oct 19, 2010 5:50 am

Just picked this up, an original log booked group A racecar, needs resto to original specs as it has been used in Improved Production racing and is currently running a turbo'd 4ZE1..

Resto will commence once i've sold the running gear i dont need.....

Here's a pic of it when first built by John White in 1985:

Here is a pic from i think its first meeting, sandown 500 in 1985:

Here's a pic from i think 1987 @ Oran Park

another pic from surfers paradise in probably late 1985:

and, this is a pic of the car as it sits today:

I now have to sell the IPRA bits, Elky has the correct G180W DOHC motor and box etc for me, once the current setup is sold then i can get going on the restoration.. Yes it came with its original Cams logbook...

So, does anyone know anything about this car? Specifically info on how to contact John White who built the car, or David Sala who ran it in group A after him, and who went on to campaign a Sierra cosworth..

Or, are there any other surviving PF60's used in group A touring cars (not group C) or is this the only one??

1600GT · **Posted:** Tue Oct 19, 2010 10:55 pm

mate, awesome pick up!

try contacting this user: cdtpf60
profile.php?mode=viewprofile&u=2118
his name is paul. he now owns the black CDT coupe that raced at bathurst with jim faneco. he was involved with john white back in the day, and i believe did alot of work of your car back then as he knew both the ex-HDT group c and group a gemini's that john raced well (but i'll stand corrected if wrong!)

i gather u know the history of your car? i reckon it's a pretty significant car for more reasons than 1....
there were only 2 group a geminis. this one and daryl kendrick's red/yellow one. daryl's was a converted rally car, and john's started as a brand new TG sedan.
john then used all the twin cam stuff from the ex-HDT sedan to build it. this was the number 65 "AC Delco" car raced at bathurst in 1981 with phil brock and gary scott before john bought it in 1982 and raced it until the end of group c in 1984.
btw, when the twin cam group a car was done, he then put all the 'normal' gemini stuff into the ex-HDT car and sold it as a road car.... it was unheard of for years and years, until it turned up in a melbourne wrecking yard, undamaged and complete! it's now being fully resto'd and will be raced in historic group c again. i've seen the progress of the resto, and it's a beautiful job!
btw, paul was able to verify the ex-HDT car as being the real deal for the new owner when it was found, so while i know some of the history, he'll have more info, and may still have contact with john too.

let me know how you get on.
cheers.

B1500boy · **Posted:** Wed Oct 20, 2010 12:38 am

Mate, awesome find, looks to be a very rare piece of racing history.

redzone · **Posted:** Wed Oct 20, 2010 6:26 am

1600GT wrote:

mate, awesome pick up!

try contacting this user: cdtpf60
profile.php?mode=viewprofile&u=2118
his name is paul. he now owns the black CDT coupe that raced at bathurst with jim faneco. he was involved with john white back in the day, and i believe did alot of work of your car back then as he knew both the ex-HDT group c and group a gemini's that john raced well (but i'll stand corrected if wrong!)

i gather u know the history of your car? i reckon it's a pretty significant car for more reasons than 1....
there were only 2 group a geminis. this one and daryl kendrick's red/yellow one. daryl's was a converted rally car, and john's started as a brand new TG sedan.
john then used all the twin cam stuff from the ex-HDT sedan to build it. this was the number 65 "AC Delco" car raced at bathurst in 1981 with phil brock and gary scott before john bought it in 1982 and raced it until the end of group c in 1984.
btw, when the twin cam group a car was done, he then put all the 'normal' gemini stuff into the ex-HDT car and sold it as a road car.... it was unheard of for years and years, until it turned up in a melbourne wrecking yard, undamaged and complete! it's now being fully resto'd and will be raced in historic group c again. i've seen the progress of the resto, and it's a beautiful job!
btw, paul was able to verify the ex-HDT car as being the real deal for the new owner when it was found, so while i know some of the history, he'll have more info, and may still have contact with john too.

let me know how you get on.
cheers.

Cheers 1600GT

yes i know Paul, i flew down to adelaide to look at the car before handing over the cheque, and i had him on the phone to verify it was THE car when i was looking at it

Yes this car appears to be the only surviving group A spec Gemini, not sure if any were used in japan or not, i'd love to see pics if there are any floating around..... Darrell Hendricks car was written off in the forest after it's track career apparently!

zep · **Posted:** Wed Oct 27, 2010 4:14 am

Does this resto include the period wheels and sign writing? Please say yes!!

1600GT · **Posted:** Thu Oct 28, 2010 3:05 am

zep,
as it seems like redzone wants to race this car in historic group a races, the car MUST be presented in it's original style, including the paint scheme and livery, so i think it's a safe bet it will be like it was again.

this is one of the main rules that govern historic group c/a racing, as the cars raced are the REAL DEAL, not replica's, in that the cars we see racing in the catergories now are genuine group c/a cars from back in the day, and that's why they must be presented in the same way they were.
also, as a point, alot of these cars were raced over a few years, so most had paint schemes that changed from time to time, so nowadays the owner must nominate a race meeting that the car raced at during that time and present exactly as it was at that race, not as bits and pieces from various races and years. only problem with this rule is that as alot of cars changed and now they have to be presented in one style, that means alot of "cars" that raced back then now don't exist, and as stated, as replica's can't be raced with them, those cars have effective disappeared forever.... and while there are some replica's of cars around (my father owns a nice dick johnson group c falcon replica), they still aren't eligable for historic group c/a races.

cheers.

cdtpf60 · **Posted:** Thu Oct 28, 2010 7:42 am

yep thats correct my personal wish would be to put it back to how it looked when john first built it but it's up to the new owner.
i'm (very slowly

rebuilding my cdt car as it ran at bathurst 1982)
most people seem to pick the last races that the cars ran at as they have the greater freedoms possible but on the other hand some of the best paint jobs were earlier ones(the hdt zz/r and the channel 7 zz/r are one's that come to mind)
they have to as close as possible to how the ran back in the day and this makes it a difficult thing to achieve at times (still trying to find a square bore Holley adapter for a Nikki manifold :shock:

)
paul

redzone · **Posted:** Sun Oct 31, 2010 5:08 am

Yes i may disappoint you on that one Paul as i'm leaning towards running it in Sala's spec, though it all depends on how many more freedoms you were allowed in 1988 as compared to 1987.. I know they loosened up Group A a lot in the later years, especially for the small capacity cars like this, in an attempt to speed up the small bangers.. I really want to make this thing as quick as i can, i dont want to be such a mobile chicane for the quick ones like the sierra's etc, the car already looks like a target LOL

With the C of D requirements, you nominate a race meeting, and you are allowed to run all the original livery or with omissions from it, luckily for me it had the same paint scheme the whole time, it was only the sponsorship stickers that were changed.

It will be running 15X7 simmons V4's.

Looks like the motor/box/ecu combo is sold, so fun times ahead!

redzone · **Posted:** Sat Sep 17, 2011 9:32 pm

The resto has been delayed moneywise a tad, as often happens. i have been collecting parts in the mean time though, picked up some group A cams with read sheets, period correct Motec push button ecu, hard plastic bumpers, and a few more pics etc

thinking about getting the whole car dipped if i can, as the undercarriage will take some work to clean up otherwise! depends if i can get the alloy cage out of the car though. and also if there's anyone up here that does it! only other option may be to put it on a rotisserie and sandblast it underneath!

Impulsive · **Posted:** Tue Oct 04, 2011 4:39 pm

I hate you Australians....you got all the good Isuzu stuff down there. :/

Bart

Glomerus · **Posted:** Sat Oct 22, 2011 1:21 am

Impulsive wrote:

I hate you Australians....you got all the good Isuzu stuff down there. :/

Bart

Not ONLY Australians!!! :mrgreen:

Isuzu is the great find everywhere :mrgreen:

Example:

redzone · **Posted:** Sat Oct 22, 2011 7:01 pm

picked up 2X sets of simmons a while back and i'm making one proper set out of the two, first set was from a corolla AE101, 15X6.5 , i'm using the centres from these and getting the hub bored out to 57.1 for the gemini. the other set was from a gemini but the wrong offset, the corolla type centres will make them perfect

i'll be getting them refinished in simmons gold of course and polishing the outers

i should have these done and my roll-around slicks fitted in time for elky's 300th gemini party in late november :tu:

Isuzu PF60E dohc group A touring car

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