Gerry Marshall's ultimate Vauxhall Firenza
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 20 ก.ย. 2024
- Learn the full story of the "old nail" Vauxhall and its legacy for the car company from Gerry Marshall's own son. #gwoverdrive
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Great memories. Gerry Marshall was a favorite of mine.
Gerry, one of the best drivers ever ❤
Being at Brands Hatch early 70s watching the racing standing at Druids Bend and Gerry in the Thames Firenza approaching at seemingly impossible speed and going round as if glued to the road is still a moment I treasure in my memories.
Many years ago I was at Thruxton where my best friend was a Pit marshal. I was far to young to be a marshal myself but I ended up waving my hands about on the grid lining up the cars for the next race. I remember seeing Gerry Marshal in close competition with I believe Vince Woodman. ( I hope I have his name correct) As they came out of the last right hander before the finishing straight both cars would be almost completely sideways with smoke pouring from the tires. This of course was many years before drift racing was invented. I had never seen or smelt anything like it . I was in awe of these gods of the track. After the race Gerry took the trophy girl ( I hope that is the correct term) around the track for his lap of honor and I got to ride in Vince's Capri. I sat on the floor where the back seat would have normally been and held on to the roll frame. What a fantastic ride that was I don't think we went all that fast and certainly we were not sideways on at all but for a fourteen year old boy it was wonderful. and I had bragging rights for months on the back of it. Best regards FDO
Nice work Gregor. Your dad's cars and racing were legendary. Hope you're well mate.
Cheers Craig ;)
I'm good - hope all is well with you too and hopefully catch up soon.
I saw Gerry race several times at Brands Hatch ,from the Blydenstein Viva days onwards. Great times and excellent racing.
Spent a day with your Dad at John Baekarts funeral,a few years ago. We polished off a bottle of scotch,and enjoyed remeniscing about motor sport in general. My most treasured motor sport memrobelia is a signed copy of the original book only….you no the rest ,and his much treasured by me business card ( Marshall wingfield ) .subsequently we met at the Revival,and he always had a few moments for a chat.
Met your dad a few times from early days during my training at Brands (lunchtime pints in the Kentagon, then race in the pm..) to far more recently when he became a regular customer of mine for.....Cruisemaster cruise controls (Kettering)! - Drove him out to a village pub a couple of times - On one occasion it was in a scimitar GTE...he politely asked me to slow down, which of course I respected without comment. - I owned one of the development Droopsnoots AXD 646M which unfortunately got written off due to a new tyre defect - just after I had it custom sprayed by Mechspray down Rochester way :(( - 6 coats silver + several of clear (you wouldnt believe the paint pieces in the wreckage, over 3 mm thick!) - showed Gerry the few remnants I had left after selling the wreck to a Simon Saunders - who I believe started Ariel Motors?
By way of thanks for doing his Cruise fits at good prices + wining & dining, he kindly offered me a passenger ride around silverstone in a nineties Griffith on a TVR day (Gerry & I being Griff fans / owners) - due to a heart condition,,,I bottled, much to my regret....both knowng at the time that it would possibly be the last opportunity
Instead I stood in the Paddock talking to Peter Wheeler about Griff handling...to the soundtrack of Griff lurid opp lock slides through Luffield :) - Peter and I broke off conversation to listen....both sort of saying.. 'yep..Gerry!')
Always saw Gerry's race style to being similar to Colin McRae's approach - I dearly miss them both
Another involvement i had with your dad, indirectly was helping Frank Costin (and brother to Duckworth's partner in Cos worth) the legendary aerodynamacist, unload to his garage the original Ventora shell for developing into 'Big Bertha' :)
Gerry & Colin....not forgotten...just slip sliding away :)
Thanks for the memories David, Dad loved gadgets, especially cruise control!!
AXD sounds like a great car and would've been an very early Droop Snoot.
I miss the TVR days, were great fun and so many people gone now :(
Funny that you mention Frank Costin, have been working with someone recently on the Costin Amigo Dad raced, trying to get it right for FIA racing - Dad had a lot of connections in motorsport - Jimmy McRae was an ex DTV rally driver, Colin raced TVR Tuscans, met them both a few times, great guys and lovely to see Jimmy back rallying a Vauxhall Magnum.
@@GregorMarshall96 Hi Gregor, only just seen your kind reply :) - Yes, Gerry said mine was definitely one of the development cars for Old Nail - pointing out all the holes in the lower dashboard where all the test equipment was mounted....He most likely drove it during development.... :)
I miss Peter Wheeler too....both legends in their own lifetimes :)
Aww come on, could have thrown some old clips of Gerry and the old nail in there!!
I've got laods, but I think copyright stopped them unfortunately.
I used to enjoy watching your Dad on the telly, great driver.
Hope Old Nails goes to someone who puts a good pilot in her.
Thanks, Dad is sorely missed.
She's with a good person now, but working on getting her out more.
Grazie per la pubblicazione di questo video! Vettura che non conoscevo. Complimenti!
Real Ultimate: A limited edition version of the Firenza was built in South Africa known as the Chevrolet Can-Am (or the Little Chev) by South Africans using the 5-liter (302ci) V8 from the 1969 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28. In order for the car to qualify for racing, 100 had to be sold to the public, so only 100 were built.[4]
Somebody well informed. Yip great car and great days those. The can am was built in opposition to the ford capri perranna which was a menace in those days. the brain child of Basil green.Then came the can am and destroyed it. A few facts the can am was 0 to 100 in 5.64 seconds. 4 speed manual muncie box from borg warner. From the factory only white with a black bonnet. The motor was imported strait from USA in a crate and car was built at GM in Port Elizabeth. The only downfall was the front suspension never lasted long. It was a bullet and a clever piece of engineering. Car was even used in rallies where it was tops for a long time. So a well rounded vehicle.Basil van rooyen started it off and had a long fight to have the car built by GM SA After he built the first one on his own with a little help GM saw the marketing value behind it and him and his team then got the go ahead from factory. A piece of history a piece of gold. If you own one today cherish it. They were all numbers matching on the originals.
There's a lad in Letterkenny Ireland has a Magnum that is a droop snoot lookalike - she has all the right details - she is yellow and has a white interior - I do belive that she was converted from new in the early 70s and John is the one and only owner - She has the original Donegal reg and I saw him do the St. Patrick's day parade in her - Not a genuine Firenza but close enough for me !!
John bought the car on the strength of Gerrys achievements - my opinion is the family should have kept the car but an enthusiast will keep showing it and using it - maybe the family didn't have the time or resources to run the car so it would have lay dormant and nobody would see her again ! It's a difficult decision for them
Gregor - do you or anyone you know have movies from Gerry's time in the Marshplant Aston Martin? Seems very rare, but was often Gerry at his best.
What a fabulous car ! Also britsh as Benedict Cumberbatch. ;)
Great, car and sadly missed. British - me or the car ;)
i had a 2300 sport when i was 19
Cheers!
How much did it go for?
hope old nails gets a good home then raced again .
I'm definitely working on it :)
It's time Old Nail was back on track where she belongs :-)
I'm definitely working on it :)
1
Yes, just the one Old Nail.
There is no way on earth I’d of sold my dads iconic race car ….. not for any reason