the Custom Car years January 1973: How Custom Car and the world looked 50 years ago Baikonur, 8 January: The USSR’s Luna 21 Moon mission blasts off from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. It lands a week later in the Le Monnier Crater after two days orbiting the lunar surface and deploys its payload, the eight-wheeled Lunokhod 2 rover, which goes on to beam more than 80,000 pictures back to Earth over the next four months. Lunokhod 2 is finally abandoned on the Moon after being rolled into a crater in what must surely remain the only ever extra-terrestrial road stack.
Paris, 23 January: The Paris Peace Accord signals the USA’s agreement to withdraw from Vietnam. Following years of sometimes acrimonious negotiations, Henry Kissinger and North Vietnam’s Le Duc Tho reach an understanding which will, in the words of President Nixon, bring ‘peace with honour in Vietnam and South-East Asia.’ All American prisoners of war will be released under the terms of the ceasefire, which is due to take place on 27 January. On the morning of the 27th, a few hours before the ceasefire takes effect, Private Mark Miller of the US Marine Corps, stationed at Bien Hoa Air Base near Saigon, becomes the first American to die as a result of enemy action since the signing of the accord. Three days later, the US Department of Defense receives a list of 555 POWs to be released; it includes the name of Private Ronald Ridgeway, who in February 1968 had been listed as killed in action. Ridgeway is finally released in March after more than five years as a POW, spending almost all of them presumed dead.
A mighty funny Avenger
MAKING ITS DEBUT THIS YEAR, this Hillman Avenger is co-owned by Jeff Morris, Kevin Burrows and Rob Spence, all of whom share the driving as they did the building. Its body is of stock length and dimensions, unlike the usually much-modified funny body, but rather than being actually stock it is in fact all glassfibre – and totally home-built to a very high standard. Oblivion’s chassis is built of 1.375” 14-gauge and 1.625” 12-gauge for the main rails and roll cage, with the usual collection of small bore stuff linking it all together. Its wheelbase is 108”, with the front axle carrying 100E spindles and home-built hubs with Pirelli-shod Avenger wheels. Coil shocks control the action of their own axles, while the steering is looked after by a Standard 10 box. The rear is Chevy with 4.11:1 gears spinning 8.90 Kellys on 8.5” American Mags, while Jag discs take
over from the chute when speeds get under the 100 mark. The engine started life in a junior fueler which disappeared from the scene after one full season of appearances. It’s a nearstock 283 Chevy with fuelly heads and Hilborn injection. A Scintilla mag fires the action through Champion plugs. Behind the engine, a Borg and Beck clutch is linked to a Chevy box using only two of the three gears. Although the car is yet to make a full power run, it has already posted a time of 11.9 (110mph).
52 CUSTOM CAR JANUARY 2023
6pp CC Years Jan 23.indd 52
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