Early Photo of HMC 800
HMC 800 or "Gunge" as the more "life experienced" members know the car as, has been around since the Club was first formed in '66 (including Dad (John Fowler). Both are now considered relics of the club). When Dad first bought the Sprite on the 31st of October '66 from a B.W. Mulligan of Brighton for $800, Dad believed he was the fourth owner. It was still in it's original color of pale Aintree Green and was fitted with a J & S fastback hard top, and still running the powerful (powerful!?) 948cc engine, which had been mildly tuned. At this stage, Dad used it for commuting from the Mallee, where he worked, to Melbourne, for car club events on weekends. And this is when the first big modification came; replacing the wheels and tyres with 165/13 Pirellis on 5" rims, which made it handle better and more comfortable to drive for long distances. This travelling down from the Mallee continued till the end of 1967.
In 1968 through to the end of 1970, Dad was at Dookie Agricultural College, in central Victoria, so the Sprite continued to be used to travel to Melbourne and club events at weekends.
In 1969 a "minor" frontal accident caused the second round of mods, so while the bonnet was being repaired, Dad resprayed it in Orange and bought a Mk 3 1098cc engine, bored out to 1224cc and fitted with a Wade 140 cam (read: very lumpy). 1 ½ in S.U's were also fitted with extractors. Brakes were upgraded with Farina drums and hard linings (excellent stopping power), upgraded dampers, and Simca Aronde front stabilizer bar. After all that, Dad started to do club speed events.
In 1970 Dad and "Gunge" attended the first national Sprite club challenge with the NSW & ACT clubs. (Vic. won). A great start to the many years of challenges to follow.
In '70 a chance came up to buy a wrecked Mk 1 Sprite (hit in the front and rear), owned since '65 by Howard Anderson of Sunbury, which had been registered as HMG 388. Dad bought it and over the next few years the car was straightened, but not rebuilt until '78.
In '71 Dad decided to compete in the new group "D" production sports car series. He designed a full width roll over bar for his Sprite, that would fit all Spridgets (except Mk 1's, since there was already one made to suit), and proceeded to make them available to club members over the following years. Dad had cut the rear deck out behind the seats like a 2A to accommodate these roll bar rear braces. These early races were fantastic with very big grids with approximately a dozen Sprites in the mix. However by the next season, the number of Sprites had dropped dramatically due to the big money being invested in the faster cars like MGB's etc. One amusing moment was at Philip Island where Dad rounded the turn onto the straight already going almost flat out and saying "shit, what now?" only to be passed half way down by a Lotus Elan going a good 20 mph faster! Very disconcerting!
Unfortunately the engine proved unreliable, always blowing head gaskets until Dad had special gaskets made to suite. The Marque Sports Car Association was formed in this year, and so another avenue of competition opened up for "Gunge", with all the speed events it provided.
In '72 "Gunge" was back at Wagga for the National Challenge (NSW won). Dad then fitted Mk 3 disk brakes and race-tyres which were Dunlop Green Spots mounted on 5 inch rims with A40 centers that Dad had made up. In August '72, these centers failed when one pulled out of the rim at the esses at Calder; the wheel flew off and bounced through a crowed of photographers on the hill in the middle of the track - they parted like the Red Sea!
Also in '72 Dad bought a BN1 Healey 100/4 from his cousin in Canberra which he owned until 1990. It was a great car from the stories he tells, and it also saw competition at many Sprite club events until it was retired for a big rebuild in about '79.
The next Sprite wheel centres used, were Morris Major 14 inch ones turned down to suite the six inch rims with Morris Major wheel nuts. Some Second hand slicks were bought and fitted. These proved very strong and reliable. About this time a modified Le Mans type fibreglass bonnet (a "shark front" he called it) was fitted for some events, as well as a white fibreglass hard top. Eventually the guards were slightly flared to cover the wheels. (But they were a bit rough!)
At one busy Sandown meeting the engine blew another head gasket after the first race, but a number of the Sprite competitors helped with a rapid gasket change before the next race, which was very soon after the first race. There was always great Sprite club camaraderie at these events - as is still present today.
In '73 it was back to Wagga for the next Sprite Club Challenge, which was still a motorkhana and very social event! (Vic won).
After two years of open group "D" racing the costs finally caused Dad to stop and just concentrate on club (MSCA) events which were flourishing. Dad kept the Log-Book going until '76 since he was doing the occasional open hillclimb.
A while later, when the engine finally called in the undertaker (It holed a piston), A 1275cc engine was sourced and modified with a 240 Wade cam, Balanced distributor, Balanced internals, Lightened flywheel, still with 1½ in. S.U's, on a long intake manifold & custom extractors. The cam lasted a couple of years, but was eventually replaced with a Motor Improvements 66LT cam, which had a higher lift and much more potent mid- range. At the same time larger Holden cam followers were fitted, and a heavier duty Hillman Hunter clutch was machined to fit.
One night, after coming back from a club meeting in Camberwell, Dad was pulling up to some traffic lights, with his foot gently on the brake, when the whole front wheel and stub axle fell off! That's when a Cortina Disk brake conversion was swapped for the Mk 3 disks. They were far superior and are still on the "Gunge" some 25 odd years later!
Around '74 the guards were re-sculptured in steel into a smoother shape, blending into the body and re-sprayed in a bright Porsche Safety Orange colour. The reason for this "improvement" was because of a nasty accident on the way to Lakeland.
These new guards allowed 8" split rims and old racing slicks to be fitted under them. A rear Panhard rod was fitted, and a ZF type LSD was also found and fitted. Shortly after this refurbishment, Dad competed in the 6-Hour Relay Race at Calder, in the Sprite club team in '74, and in which they finished second overall. Also in this year, the first Bordertown Motorkhana challenge took place with the S.A.club, and which Vic, won. The Interstate Sprite club challenge moved to Hay to make it easier for the enthusiastic S.A. club to attend, and Dad and the much traveled Sprite were again at both of these great events.
In '75 the Bordertown and Hay Challenges were again held, and at which "Gunge" attended, and Dad & the car won his first Sprite Championship - what a "buzz" it was, he said.
Gunge went to Hay and Bordertown again in '76, and Dad and his sister Sue were regular competitors in the Sprite during the year. At Lakeland hillclimb Dad encouraged Sue to drive flat-out through the Carrousel, but she hit some water on the exit of the corner, spun, and hit the inside embankment and damaging the RH front guard.(It should be noted that Dad had always wanted to go flat out through there but had never been game himself!). Dad repaired it - which included lots of bog - and that's where it appears the name came from, - "Gunge".
In '77, "Gunge" and Dad were there for Donald Healey's visit to Australia - a memorable occasion. When Dad asked Donald what his favorite Healey model was, he replied "The Bugeye Sprite". The "Big Healey" owners were not as impressed as AHSDC members were!
In '77 the National Challenge had a major change in format - which continues in a similar form today. This saw the addition of a Speed event to the weekends Easter program, when it was moved to what Dad says was a magic tight Hume Weir circuit near Albury. Vic won, but S.A. won at Bordertown.
These same venues and results for the challenges occurred in '78, but the Sprite competed without a bonnet at Hume Weir due to bonnet "problems" (I wonder why?). But by later in '78 a new fibreglass bonnet, sourced from Tricky Dicky from S.A., was modified with smooth rounded fibreglass flares was added to further grace the car. These flares are also still on the car today. A Close ratio gearbox was found and fitted as well. This "box" came from HAY 295 which was the successful and historic ex Tony Alexander race Sprite, which ran a fully rose - jointed rear end. It had passed through several hands, and was in a sad shape when dad bought it, and he then rebuilt it as a more reliable road/comp Sprite and sold it on again. However we believe it is now still sitting in a garage and has not seen daylight for many years.
Around this time, following discussions with KG Engineering who were still in their original Huntingdale premises, they mentioned that they knew of a "Mowog" style cast iron crossflow head sitting under some-ones' bench. So Dad purchased it, and then set about the task of manufacturing a set of extractors to suit the Sprite. An extra Weber had to be found, but more importantly a special camshaft had to be sourced, as the crossflow cam has a different valve opening sequence. An advertisement in Auto Action brought one to light in Sydney, which was duly purchased. This cam was a "648" profile, but surprisingly when fitted, the 8 ports made the performance quite progressive like a mild cam - but with more punch and useable revs. Because of the Webers covering the distributor access, a Lucas electronic ignition system was fitted to eliminate servicing. At 1380cc, with 11 to 1 compression, the engine was very smooth, and revved easily.
The Interstate Challenge moved to Winton in '79 and a Driver Training component was added, which has continued up to the present. The move was brought about because Hume Weir was no longer available since being bought by Bob Jane. However Winton proved equally as enjoyable for dad and the now faster Gunge. Winton continues to be one of the chosen venue for this event even today.
Around '78 the other Mk 1 (ex HMG 388) was finally put back on the road, with a mild 1275 motor and gear box together with Mk. 3 wire wheels and disk brakes. It also sported a very rough steel bonnet, and was registered as "IUJ 678". This car also competed in many AHSDC events, often with sister Sue driving. In '79 dad fitted an alloy Celica 5 speed gearbox for which he designed and made up an adapter plate etc. to suit. This made the car a beautiful tourer as well as being "sporty" with lovely ratios. This car had extensive bodywork carried out in '82, which greatly reshaped the car, with a beautiful two-pak white paint job, and was fully retrimmed. At one event, around this time, this Mk 1 and "Gunge" were side by side, with their bonnets up, when Tony Bennetto realised that the car numbers were sequential! Dad had never known! In '83 this car was re-registered as "AN 005", and was regrettably sold in about '86, but is still in the club to this day.
In '83 "Gunge" was resprayed bright red and fully retrimmed. Dad heard about an alloy Crossflow head for sale, (from an ex-racing Super-Mini), and since they were supposed to be better for higher compression and better gas flow, he purchased it. This time the compression was 13 to 1, with the extractors being shortened on the Dyno. which increased power by almost 50%. What a sweet, punchy, high revving engine it was (so Dad claims!) - with 8000 rpm regularly used, and occasionally an extra 1000 rpm seen! In this year Dad and "Gunge" won their second Sprite club championship. Competition continued until about '86 when the "Gunge" was laid up while other things (including a Healey rebuild) were done.
When I pressured Dad to get it going again in '95 when I was about 12, the engine had to be rebored since moisture had entered from under a slowly leaking valve seat. It went out to the max. bore size with a lot of other mods. that had to be done to accommodate it. As well, a big "stroker" crank was fitted, since dad did not want to rev this big bore engine as high as the previous one (in retrospect Dad says this was not the best choice). The compression was lowered to allow the use straight Super petrol, and to make it even smoother for road use. The engine had incredible amounts of torque, but far lower "comfortable" revs.
So for the next six years this engine was used for various club events including, hillclimbs & sprints, motorkhana's, club runs etc. In fact the torque was so great, that at Morwell Hillclimb in '98, when the clutch was let out on the start line, that the cluster gear in the gearbox was split open - Ka-Bang!
But, only just recently has the engine said "new bearings, rings and gaskets please", - so at the time of writing this (March - April 2001) "Gunge" is laid up for an engine rebuild. The engine has lasted very well. This time though, it'll be going back to the "old" formula (1380cc) with some nineties technology thrown in, if I can convince Dad it's a good idea! A new paint job would be good to, as the paint is fading a bit, and the dreaded tin worm are getting at it in spots.
Well that's about it. (Few!) Needless to say, "Gunge" will keep going (If I have anything to do with it!), and development will continue as well. It was very fast in it's hay-day and I would love to see it back there again. The unfortunate thing is that with a farm, Dad's busy work, A '65 Jaguar S-Type in the garage (his now daily car (bloody hell!)) and another Mk 3 Sprite, "Gunge" gets less and less time these days. But never fear it will be out again one day - hopefully on the racetrack! (With me driving?) And if you see Dad at a club event or meeting, say "hi" to him. Dad has forgotten more about Sprites than many people may ever know. He has a wealth of knowledge about Spridgets that is absolutely invaluable.
I hope this has been an interesting (and not to boring) story about a very special "Bugeye" and it's owner. Like most things from memory, the dates may be a bit out - since it is over 35 years, but it gives a good guide. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Keep on punting (your Sprite)
Lachlan (Can I Please drive "Gunge" Dad?) Fowler.