Cooper T51 chevy

[Maurice Barker]

I know it's an old thread, but having got it from a google search I thought I'd add a bit more to the Bob Walton story.

I met Bob in 1961 when we shared a room at the YMCA (yes the YMCA - it was cheap and most of the guys were car fanatics). As Morley said, Bob was working in the Rootes Comps dept. I was working at Standard Triumph in experimental. After about a year Bob and I got fed up with the YMCA and we moved into a flat, got evicted (too noisy a party); followed by digs and then another flat.

During that time we had many vehicles. Bob's first racer was a Lotus 7; '649' cam and 'red' crank. He blew the engine and fitted a Sunbeam Rapier engine. That was quick. When he got his ex-works Tiger it was an old MK1 alpine shape; big fins and all. He re-shelled it wth a MK2 shell. I well remember the black marks on the road outside the flat where Bob used to 'take-off'. Once he had to go down to Lola (something about bits for the works Tigers) where he spotted a Holley 4 barrel carb in the waste bin. They gave it to him and we fitted it to the Tiger, not for long, it was like flushing a toilet when you pressed the throttle.

Amongst others I had an ex-works Faithorpe Electron Minor, it was pretty well clapped-out. I reckoned it was the pressure from underneath the pistons rather than on top that kept the thing going. I sold that to Mick Moores in the Triumph Comps department.

It was about this time, 1966ish, that BMC and Sir Donald Stokes were making themselves felt and the racing/rallying programme was cutback, so I left the area for another job and haven't seen Bob since. I heard he'd gone to SA so you've added a bit more Morley, thanks.