With a deadline of getting her finished for the 1964 Allard Owners Club Eelmoor Plain Meeting, I man- aged to get the Steyr running in a part completed rebuild state with 15” diameter front wire wheels and an ugly bonnet which sported a large air intake. A new nose had been made and a standard Allard grille had been narrowed to represent the original. While the effect was in keeping with the original it did not have the same lines.
A starting technique was evolved, pressurise the fuel tank, remove all spark plugs and spin the engine over to ensure that there was not excessive fuel in any of the combustion chambers, close fuel tap and replace plugs. The platinum pointed plugs coped well with the slightly rich methanol mixture. Once running and warm the engine appeared to run satisfactorily, how it would perform was another thing! Bearing in mind the rather fragile connecting rods, plus the bolt on crankshaft counter balance weights, I decided 3,500 rpm would be her maximum. The object of my rebuild was to run her without having a major blow up. In the longer term some new connecting rods would be needed, possibly American forgings which could be obtained in an un-machined state.
The Events where I ran the Steyr Hill Climb Car:
- Eelmoor Plain
- Two years running at the Valence Hill Climb – Sevenoaks
- Kent Drag Festival – Blackbushe
