Borgward Car Club of Australia

My mother bought a 900E from a car sales yard near Sydney's Central railway circa 1958. 

The NSW registration was BBE 449, it was cream with red upholstery. The car's great claim to fame was that it was Bill Buckle's press car and it featured on the cover of "Wheels" magazine in 1956/57.

 Mum worked in the PR department of BMC and knew Steve Simpson who was the Editor of "Wheels". Steve visited our home in Blaxland in the Blue Mountains on a number of occasions. You can imagine my delight as a 15-16 year old car enthusiast having the editor of one of the two leading motoring magazines in Australia staying with us. Steve said that the car was a dog in that it was always hard to start due to vapourisation. He acknowledged that the handling and braking were superb.

 The roller bearings collapsed one night while mum was driving along The Northern Road between Windsor and Kingswood. I removed the engine and stripped it (this despite having no formal automotive training). We sent the crankshaft to Buckle's at Redfern and they sent the crank to Melbourne (probably Wrights). When the crank arrived back to us it had been assembled out of phase. Nevertheless I reassembled it and managed to get it to fire. Once. And then the crank moved and threw out the timing. I stripped the motor to confirm my diagnosis but, of course, Buckles would have none of it and refused the claim. So we chucked the bits in the boot and had the "Golly" towed to Penrith where she was traded on a new Ford Anglia 105E.

 Mum should never have been persuaded to buy the car. Her brother was an aficionado of odd cars and it was he who foisted the orphan on to mum. I was very much influenced by Steve Simpson and eventually had a great deal to do with motor magazines (I was the advertising manager and a writer/photographer with Racing Car News from 1975-1980 and I also contribute to Aero Australia Magazine as a writer and photographer). I raced extensively from 1963-1975 in Australia in a succession of cars ranging from  Austin A30, A/H Sprite MKI, Mini Cooper 997, Cortina GTs (2), Nota and Standfast Formula Vee, Fiat 125 and 128 (in the Hardie Ferodo with Bob Forbes 1969/70). In 1971 my wife and I went to Canada for 12 months before moving to England where we bought a Palliser Formula Ford. I won several races in England in 1972 and contested the European FF Championships the following year. I took third outright. I worked for Bernie Ecclestone at Brabhams. Back in Australia in 1974 I raced the Palliser for two more years (with the Grace Bros. Levis Team in 1975) before retiring. In 1980 we purchased the Peter Wherrett Advanced Driving School where I had been his chief instructor for several years.

 As part of the school we operated several Formula Fords. One of these, the Mawer 004, was converted into a Hillclimb car by the addition of a Toyota 4AGZE supercharger, wings and slicks. I won the NSW State Hillclimb Championship in 1994, 5 and 6. I drove the “works” MP62 Pilbeam Vauxhall at the Australian Hillclimb Championships at Bathurst in 1996 and a later car at Shelsley Walsh, Loton Park and Prescott Hillclimbs in England in 1997.

 We sold the driving school in February 2010 and I am now operating as an executive chauffeur. I have just completed the restoration of a 1948 M.G. TC.

 My photographic website address is : www.planeimages.smugmug.com

 I would love to hear from fellow Goliath enthusiasts.