John Hickford's Lancia Special

While known as the 'Lancia Austin Special' at the time John ran it at the 1958 Geelong Speed Trials, the vehicle actually started life as the 'Perkins Special', named for its creator, Eddie Perkins. While he may be better known to some as the father of Touring Car ace and six-time Bathurst 1000 winner, Larry Perkins, Eddie was a keen and successful motorsport competitor in his own right. A win in the 1956 Mobilgas Trial in a Volkswagen was arguably his most famous motorsport victory, but like many of his era, Eddie competed in circuit, endurance, sprint, hillclimb and other events with equal skill and enthusiasm.

Before those achievements, back in 1950, Perkins unveiled a special built around Lancia engine, transmission and suspension parts on a bespoke chassis. This continued a tradition of locally-built Lancia Lambda-based specials that went back to the 1930s, but the point of difference with Perkins' creation was that it featured a rear-mounted engine. This was still something of a novelty at the time, with Auto Union the only notable marque to utilise the rear engine layout. It was from those pre-War racers that Perkins drew inspiration for his own creation.

John was introduced to Perkins through Ron Chandler, the Lancia dealer and wrecker, who built a Lancia-based special of his own in the early 1950s. As a teenager, John worked at Chandler's Hawthorn dealership on the weekends, so he knew in advance through Perkins' regular visits of what he was building. John's first look at the 'Perkins Special' came in 1951, when Eddie brought the racer down to Melbourne from his home at Cowangie in Victoria's Mallee. In an impromptu test run in what was then Melbourne's semi-rural outer suburb of Templestowe, John remembers a piece of the car's custom aluminium bodywork parting company with the car and wrapping itself around Eddie's head!

Shortly after, in a hillclimb event at Rob Roy, the Perkins Special recorded an impressive time of 28.89 seconds, which was only one one hundredth off the record of 28.88 set by Tony Gaze in an Alta factory racer. Impressive runs at Mt. Tarrengower, Fishermen's Bend, and other circuits, as well as the Collingrove hillclimb and Sellicks Beach circuit race in SA followed, before Perkins' his attention turned to the Around Australia rallies and other events, including the genesis of Formula Vee racing in this country. As such, the Lancia was surplus to requirements, so the friendship established between he and John saw Perkins offer the much-travelled car to the young Hickford.

Upon purchasing the Perkins Special, John's first job involved replacing the back end. After Perkins last run in the car at Rob Roy, the rear suspension collapsed just after crossing the finish line. Rather than replace the heavy transverse leaf spring, John took inspiration from Colin Chapman's principle of "adding lightness" and fitted a pair of coilover shock absorbers to the swing axle rear. While it was certainly lighter, John said the flipside was somewhat erratic handling delivered by the overly light and soft suspension.

During John's ownership, the Perkins Special was known as the 'Lancia Special', and later, the 'Lancia Austin Special' after the original Lancia V4 engine was replaced with an Austin inline four cylinder. John had looked at a Holden straight six when the Lancia engine cracked a head, but the chassis limited his options. As it turned out, the Healey 100S-spec engine was the only real choice, and delivered a moderate improvement in performance over the Lancia V4. In this configuration, John set a class record at Hepburn Springs, and competed at Rob Roy, Mt. Tarrengower, Albert Park, Templestowe, Fishermen's Bend, Phillip Island and other hillclimb courses and circuits across Victoria, including, of course, the Geelong Speed Trials.

In 1958, the one-and-only year that he competed in the Speed Trials, John finished second in the 2501cc-and-over class to an Allard J2 entered by Tom Hawkes and driven by Adrian Gundlach. That car is the same one now owned by Graham Smith, that was also the subject of a previous JUST CARS Geelong Revival feature article. In '58, the Speed Trials field boasted driving talent of the likes of Bruce Walton, Lou Molina, Peter Manton, Tom Hawkes, Austin Miller, Ray Gibbs, Speed Trials creator Murray Rainey, and that year's fastest time of the day winner, the legendary Lex Davison.

Later that year, John sold his Lancia Austin Special to Kevin Mills and Ross Chillianis, who campaigned the car at subsequent Speed Trails, as well as other hillclimb and circuit events for the next couple of years. John, however, took a break from motorsport for a while. How long's a while? In John's case, it was more forty five years! Yes, that's right, after his 1958 Speed trials run, John didn't turn a wheel on the Geelong waterfront course, indeed any competitive motorsport course until the last Geelong Speed Trials event of 2003. That year, John ran his standard specification 1925 Lancia Lambda '4th Series' tourer to third in class behind George Hetrel's 1928 Bugatti 35C and David Jones' 1930 Alfa Romeo 1750. That 1925 Lambda, purchased along with a 1924 3rd Series tourer some years earlier, also served as John's club car for a number of years, and was a regular sight at the Australian Lancia Register's biannual rallies in Castlemaine, Victoria, as well as events organised by the Geelong-based Western District Historic Vehicle Club.

Several years after the 2003 Speed Trials, John reignited his enthusiasm for competition and decided, as a septuagenarian, to build a faithful replica of the original Eddie Perkins Lancia Special for his own enjoyment. With his roadgoing Lancias and a stock of parts already in the garage, including a complete 'sliding pillar' front end, John had the mechanical side of things covered. The chassis, however, would have to be a ground-up effort. Using nothing more than old photos and his own memory, John built the steel tube frame chassis, doing all the cutting and welding himself. Similarly, John did all the linkages, fuel and brake lines, and other parts of the running gear himself, with assistance from Speed Trials stalwart, Gary Grant, who provided the finishing touches.

Learning from past mistakes, John fitted a transverse leaf spring rear suspension this time, as per the Perkins original, while a quirky touch on the re-born Lancia Special is the fuel tank made from a genuine 1950s jerrycan! After some issues around the engine purchased specifically for this vehicle, John cannibalised his 1925 tourer for its engine and radiator to give the new Lancia Special its first competitive run at Rob Roy in August, 2011 - 53 years after his last run there! Since then, some fine-tuning has followed, along with runs at Mt. Tarrengower and this year's Historic Winton, where the car drew a LOT of attention.

With the JUST CARS Geelong Revival 2012 just around the corner, John is looking a likely starter for the event, and is working on getting that Lancia V4 engine ready, along with a few other developments, so his new Special can emulate the feats of the original back in 1958, or maybe even go better!

In helping bring this project to fruition, John would like to extend a special thanks to Gary Grant, who provided the dash panel and full set of Jaeger and Smith instruments. Gary also fitted up the steering column and hand-turned the removable retaining nut for the steering wheel. John also wanted to acknowledge Gary and the many volunteers and sponsors he pulled together to successfully run the Geelong Speed Trials for its last 25 years, as well as his work in producing the definitive volume on the early years of the event, 'The History of the Geelong Speed Trials 1956 -1985'.