| Herein a short note (& photos) re the other Hawaiian
Magnette. It belongs to Richard Giel in Hilo, Hawaii. It's numbers are:
KAJ43/ 7760 and engine BP15GA/ 7466, a 1955 ZA.Richard has recently taken
over his father's auto body shop and relates that his Magnette was given
to his father about 30 years ago, in satisfaction of a debt. It sat unused
and rusting for years. [Hilo receives about 130 inches of rain/year at sea
level, about 300 inches/year 6 miles upslope.] Late last year Richard
decided to gut it, fabricate a space frame, mount a small block Chevy
engine & running gear and use it for racing & show. He mentioned
this to Kelvin Dodd at Moss, who passed it on to one of the BBs where it
was noted by Wray Lemke who forwarded it on to me. So, there I was en
route to Hilo (other side of the Big Island) to meet my fellow Magneteer.
[Note beautiful snow on Mauna Kea on the way.] The Magnette was indeed in
a sorry state: Richard had severed the body from the chassis without
undoing a bolt - cut through the torsion bars, chassis rails, drive shaft,
rear shock mounts, rear springs; a most efficient butchery, to be sure. He
wanted only the body. I surveyed the rather forlorn bits of rusted stuff
left over & decided I didn't really need any of it. (My car's in
pretty good shape and a ZB, with different engine, etcŠ) Some weeks later
Richard called me to be sure, one last time before he hauled it to the
dump, that I didn't want any of it. Well, what's a fellow to do - I said,
OK, OK I'll take it; who knows, maybe someday I'll need some part of itŠ
So, back again to Hilo this weekend and load it all into the pickup. The
included photos show what all I now have; it's all so rusty, who knows
what'll even come apart. [Magnette parts shown sharing the pickup bed with
recently harvested bananas; work must go on!] [Richard's currently
fabricating a motorcycle for next month's bike build-off but says that
after that he'll be starting on the Magnette; will forward photos as he
progresses.] Interesting sidelight (and perhaps fitting for another
nostalgia "picture of the month"): leafing through the Hilo
paper one recent day Richard spotted a photo advertising the Pacific
Tsunami Museum, with HIS Magnette parked across the street from the Hilo
Theatre! He showed me the advert and I went to the Museum and asked about
the picture. Turns out it was dated 22 May 1960; the Museum folks had no
idea what car it was for the significance for them was that this was the
last picture of the waterfront Hilo Theatre - just 24 hours later it no
longer existed, swept away (along with many lives and most of downtown
Hilo) in the tsunami of 23 May 1960. [This tsunami was generated by a
>8.25 earthquake in Chile, reaching Hilo 15 hours later, with the waves
cresting to 35 feet in Hilo Bay.] So, looking at my truckload of
rusty bits, someone tell me I'm not nuts. My lady says I assuredly am (but
more resignedly of late, almost verging on acceptance). I tell her that
Wray made me do it. Aloha, Ali Bairos [PS - apologies for the poor quality of the initial pics of Richard's car - I had forgotten my good camera on that trip and had to make do with a disposable one.] |
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