23 October, 2014
In the lead-up to Targa South Island, running October 27 to November 2, 2014, Greg Goudie dropped by our studio with his 1969 Ford Escort RS1600 MkI that he’ll be competing in throughout the event.
During the photoshoot he shared a bit of the car’s history with us. The car was originally built by Neil Allport, with Targa in mind, as Greg explains:
The classic Escort is featured in the November 2014 issue of New Zealand Classic Car magazine, available here.
To finish first, first, you must build a winner
Can-Am royalty
Only three M20s were built, including the car that was destroyed at Road Atlanta. This car was later rebuilt. All three cars were sold at the end of the 1972 season. One of the cars would score another Can-Am victory in 1974, driven by a privateer, but the M20’s day was done. Can-Am racing faded away at the end of that season and was replaced by Formula 5000.
These days the cars are valued in the millions. It was unlikely that I would ever have seen one in the flesh if it hadn’t been that one day my editor asked me if I would mind popping over to Taranaki and having a look at a pretty McLaren M20 that somebody had built in their shed.
That is how I came to be standing by the car owned and built by truck driver Leon Macdonald.
Lunching was not allowed during Covid 19 Lockdowns so our correspondent recalled a lunch he had with legendary New Zealand racing driver Rollo Athol Levis shortly before he died on 1 October 2013 at the age of 88. Michael Clark caught up with Roly and members of his family over vegetable soup
