I see more Amilcar C6 in it than Bugatti. Heres a Amilcar C6 for sale on PWC right now. The lines are there even though the B&W photo shows the headrest these cars were also modified from original. More than likely in the 1950s these old race cars have also been crudely modified for regular road use and eventually in the 1980s/90s went through their first real restoration. Quiet a few for sale on PWC under the group "specials "
Does anybody know the function of the forked lever hanging off the front spring hanger of the front axle? It looks kinda like an anti-roll (sway bar) attachment point but I do not see an anti roll bar.
That is an'18 Cadillac chassis for sure. Is that the same chassis? https://www.classic.com/veh/1918-cadillac-type-57-v8-pe9QVwp/ I wonder if those fork thingies actually belong there, they kind of look like friction shock absorber arms, maybe they've been bolted there not to be lost? Or it's just the way someone did install shock absorbers on it.
'Bugatti/Dodge sports car driven by L.D. Robinson of S.A. at Nuriootpa, 1950' - State Library of South Australia
How about these two GP cars over at PWC, Bugatti and Supercharged Alfa Romeo. Also a vintage grey truck under the junk.
At least they are not sitting in my yard like the '62 Porsche Super 90 coupe. Not a special but cool.
'Maybach Special sports car' at Nuriootpa, South Australia, 1950 (I have posted other pics of this car previously) - State Library of South Australia
'Curran Special sports car' owned by D.E. Curran of Victoria at Nuriootpa, South Australia, 1950 - State Library of South Australia (the excellent Oz website primotipo says this car was Ford powered)
The Maybach Special again ... 'Maybach with Charlie Dean and Jack Joyce' probably at the Rob Roy Hillclimb near Melbourne - State Library of Victoria
Doug Whiteford's Ford/Mercury powered 'Black Bess'. First three pics (State Library of South Australia) show the car at Woodside, SA, October 1949; fourth pic (State Library of Victoria) shows it at the Rob Roy Hillclimb just outside Melbourne.
I don't see characteristic Bugatti reversed quarter-elliptic rear springs either. The conventionally-mounted quarter-elliptics look just like those on the Amilcar.
Unidentified car at Rob Roy Hillclimb; supercharged MG power? State Library of Victoria (pretty sure I haven't posted this before)
'W. H. Luxton driving a Jaguar 2.5 litre at the 16th Rob Roy Hillclimb' - 1948; cropped version of photo by George Thomas (1928-2013) State Library of Victoria
Harry Firth and Norm Beechey at Templestowe Hillclimb with their Humpy Holdens. Both drivers icons of Aussie racing. The cars too.
Following the lead provided by J Hansen's photo post, I looked up 'Harry Firth' on Mark Bisset's 'primotipo' website: [Firth's] MG Special, chassis ‘TC4723’ commenced construction in 1951, the chassis was much modified and lightened. The engine was also heavily adapted for the demands of racing, exactly how is not disclosed in my reference sources, but included fitment of a Wade supercharger running at 22 pounds of boost which mounted in front of the radiator. If any of you have details of the full specification, ever evolving as it was, drop me a note, I will pop the details into the article. The bodywork was ‘functional’ rather than attractive as many of the ‘single-seater’ MG specials in Australia at the time were. Its bluff nature mitigated against top speed but perhaps the cars primary purposes were hillclimbs and trials rather than top speed on Conrod Straight, Bathurst and the like. The MG was successful on the circuits, sprints and hillclimbs only slipping down the order as more modern Coventry Climax engined cars started to appear in the second half of the fifties.
The Jalopy Journal
