Merv Hardy- motor racing pioneer

This blog is about my grandfather Merv Hardy. I hold him responsible for my life long obsession with all things to do with motor cars. My mother often spoke about how she had to apply glue to the screws on my peddle car as I was in the habit of taking them out and pulling my peddle car apart. A grandfather who was a car wrecker and builder of racing cars is clearly to blame. This blog is focused mainly on Merv's involvement in the car industry and in motor racing.

I never got to know Merv as well as I now wish was the case. I knew he was a car wrecker and that he had a big involvement with Western Springs Speedway. Through researching this blog I now have a greater appreciation of just how much more there was to his involvement as a pioneer of motor sport in this country. A man described as being the "heart and soul of car wrecking' has to have contributed a lot and built some great relationships with friends and colleagues to get that level of recognition.

To aid me in writing this blog I have consulted the research done by my cousin John Hardy, son of my mother's brother Ray Hardy. Ray features in the Merv Hardy story through his exploits as a very talented speedway midget car driver. Merv built them and Ray raced them. John has inherited a keen interest in all things connected to cars and motor racing from both Merv and his father Ray.

I have also been fortunate in the information gathered by my uncle David Hardy based on his discussions during the 1990s with his sisters Olwyn and my mother Jean . David's own recollections and his notes from these discussions helped develop a clearer picture of the family's history during the early and mid 1900s.

For the detail on the drivers, cars and the races featured in this blog I have relied heavily on the books Flat To The Boards by Douglas Wood and Dick Messenger and Historic Racing Cars of New Zealand by Graham Vercoe.

I will be posting the story of Merv Hardy in at least two parts- this is the first part. It will cover the earlier part of Merv's life and the cars he built for early dirt track and road racing. His involvement in speedway midget car racing will follow in a later blog.

Merv's Early Life

Mervyn Charles Hardy was born on 8th March 1899 at Aoroa in Northland. His father was Charles Lingham Hardy, the first born son of Charles and Alice Hardy and his mother was Jane Ann ("Annie") Hardy nee Riley.

Merv had three older sisters Hilda, Lydia and Edna and a younger brother Cyril.

Aoroa is a small settlement on the side of the Wairoa River south of Dargaville. This area thrived through large scale kauri timber felling and milling in the late 1800s through to around 1920. Millions of square feet of kauri logs and milled timber were shipped down the Wairoa River to the Kaipara Harbour.

Merv's grandparents Charles and Alice Hardy sold their land at the Horse Shoe Bush around 1899 initially moving to Helensville and subsequently to Mount Albert. Charles purchased 3 acres on Mount Albert Rd which in due course he subdivided. Charles and Alice and several of their children lived in houses built on this land.

Charles Lingham Hardy was still at Dairy Flat in 1890. He married Annie Riley on 6 January 1892 at the Wallace St, Herne Bay Auckland home of Annie's parents. It is thought that Charles and Annie moved to Dargaville shortly after they married. Charles is shown on the Electoral role as residing in Dargaville in 1896 with the occupation of bullock driver. We believe Charles and Annie's three daughters were all born in Dargaville. Hilda was born 11 December 1893, Lydia in 1895 and Edna 3 November 1896.

An interview with Edna was conducted by her son Syd on 8 May 1970. In that interview Edna mentions that her father worked at "Mitchells" Timber Mill in Dargaville. My research on timber mills in the Northern Wairoa district revealed that a mill was operated at Aoroa by Edwin Mitchelson. This is most likely the mill at which Charles worked. The output from Mitchelsons' mills at Aoroa and other parts of the north was described as "prodigious". In its heyday the Aoroa Mill apparently had the largest output in the Southern Hemisphere. In addition to his sawmills, Mitchelson owned several trading ships including the well known schooner Huia.

By 1911 the Electoral roles show that Charles and Annie had moved to Auckland and were living at 8 Cox St, Herne Bay. We think that the move to Auckland may have occurred around 1900. This is consistent with the timing of the move to Mount Albert by Charles and Alice Hardy. It is also likely that Annie wished to be closer to her mother given that her father James had died in September 1892. Her mother Charlotte was living at 1 Wallace St Herne Bay. She ran a grocery shop from that address from 1902 through to her death in 1926.

Charles occupation in Auckland was carter. This occupation is shown on many subsequent electoral rolls indicating he was a carter or carrier for many years. In the early 1900s Charles is said to have used a horse and cart for his business. His experience in managing bullock teams in the bush for his father may have been useful.

From the above it seems that although Merv Hardy was born in Dargaville he grew up in Herne Bay/Ponsonby. It is believed he went to school at Bayfield Primary in Herne Bay. He also was a member of the Ponsonby Boys Fife and Drum Band.

His parents moved house fairly regularly which suggests they were renting. The list of residences is as below:

1911

8 Cox St and 133 Crummer Rd.

1914

87 Rose Rd,

1916

27 Tennyson St

1919

22 Albany Rd and 11 Kelmarna Ave,

1923

14 Rose Rd

1928

27 Ponsonby Tce

1930

33 Castle St

1935

50 Seaview Tce.

Charles wife Annie died 27 January 1931. In 1940 he and his new wife Hannah moved to 32a Mount Albert Rd. This address was a right of way section at the back of the Hardy house at 32 Mount Albert Rd where Charles mother Alice lived for many years until her death in 1934.

In the early 1900s the ownership of bicycles was recorded on a register. Mervyn Hardy of 87 Rose Rd is recorded as owning a bicycle at age 13. He was later recorded in the motor register as owning a motor car in July 1916 at which time he was living at 27 Tennyson St Grey Lynn.

Merv Hardy and his time at Laidlaw Leeds and Farmers Trading

The above photo shows Merv proudly standing by his work truck for Laidlaw Leeds. This photo appeared in an article published by the Auckland Star on 8 August 1980. The article is headed "The driver from the past...".

Merv had responded to the publication of the photo in an "Out of the past" section of the Star to advise that he was the young man in the photo. In the subsequent interview Merv explains his work history with Laidlaw Leeds. He was age 16 when the photo was taken outside St Patrick's Cathedral in Wyndham St. The cathedral is near the location in Hobson St of what was initially the offices of Laidlaw Leeds and later became the Farmers store.

Robert Laidlaw founded Laidlaw Leeds in 1909. He adopted the American model of a mail order business supplying agricultural goods. In 1910 Laidlaw Leeds was bought by the Farmers Union. In 1916 the business was renamed Farmers and the department store model adopted.

Merv explained that at the time of the above photo he worked in the machinery department assembling cycles and ploughs and helping install milking plants at Panmure and Howick.

He also said ... " I chauffeured Mr and Mrs Laidlaw on many occasions to Government House. I was working for Laidlaw Leeds in 1918 when the Farmers Trading Co amalgamated and I was put in charge of their garage and drove the first free Farmers Bus."

The above photo shows the early version of the Farmers Free Bus. This service operated to enable customers to easily get up the hill from Queen St to the large Farmers Department Store at Hobson St.

I photographed the above at the Auckland Vintage and Veteran Car Club Rooms in Penrose. Underneath the photo ( and shown below) was the text written in Merv's own hand that is recorded on the photo. Note that it records Merv's role as foreman of the Farmer's Garage 1920 to 1933.

Merv married Lillian Wilson in 1919. The photo below was taken on their wedding day. They were married at the Pitt St Methodist Church in Ponsonby.

Merv left Farmers garage in 1933. In Olwyn's discussion with David Hardy she states that Merv had a falling out with Laidlaw over the appointment of another employee. This employee was seen by Merv as being favoured by Robert Laidlaw through his involvement with the bretheren church which Laidlaw supported.

It is not clear exactly where Merv worked in the period 1933 to 1938. My mother's recollection was that he had been at General Motors for a time prior to the family's move to Wellington in 1938.

It is during this period of 1933 to 1938 that we see Merv's first involvement in motor racing. Merv revealed in a newspaper interview in 1981 when he retired that before starting in the car wrecking business he had been a "back yard wrecker". It is possible that he was earning a living in this way whilst working on the construction of his first racing car the Bitza.

It is also known that Merv had whippets and grey hounds (racing dogs) and racing pigeons as a hobby. Merv was on the committee of the Auckland Coursing Club. Coursing Clubs ran greyhound dog races.

Merv and Lillian were living at 4 Mark Rd Mt Albert from 1926. My mother recalled how she helped walk her father's whippets during these years. My mother went to Gladstone Rd school which is a short walk from Mark Rd. Merv's aunt Alice lived just across the road at 7 Mark Rd with her husband Albert Beazley. Albert was a builder. His sons Fred and Roy were also builders and went on to found the highly successful firm of Beazley Homes.

A diligent search of Papers Past by John Hardy found a series of advertisements placed by Merv in the For Sale columns of the Auckland Star and Herald during the 1930s. In the period of 19 March 1932 to 22 June 1934 an address of 4 Mark Rd was provided and in the period 24 April to 13 November 1937 the address was 83 Ivanhoe Rd, Western Springs. The items for sale from Mark Rd included terrier and pedigree racing whippet puppies. The items for sale from Ivanhoe Rd were mainly cars or car parts. One advertisement is for a bach at Laingholm.

Above is a family photo of Merv and Lilian and their daughters from left Gwenda, Olwyn and Lilian Jean (my mum) known as Jean. I believe it was taken at Mark Rd in the late 1920s.

The Bitza, Hardy Special and Hardy Ford

Merv was involved in the construction and racing of the above three well known racing cars. In addition he built and raced a number of successful speedway midget cars. The above three cars were connected through the sharing of parts and reflected an evolution from the Bitza and Hardy Special as beach and dirt track cars to the Hardyford which was designed for asphalt track racing at Ardmore.

The Bitza

Thanks to the excellent book on the early history of motor sport in New Zealand, Flat To The Boards written by Dick Messenger and Douglas Wood, we have a record of the first appearance of the Bitza at Muriwai Beach on 17th March 1934.

Motor racing had started at Muriwai on 5 March 1921. By 1934 these events were drawing large crowds. Dirt Track racing had also become a regular event at Hennings Speedway in Mangere. In 1935 the first midget car event took place at Western Springs. Merv and his mates involved in motor racing had plenty of places to get great enjoyment from their cars.

Gerry Mathieson in the Miller at speed on Muriwai Beach

Merv's involvement in car wrecking assisted greatly in providing the parts for his cars. The construction of the Bitza is recorded in detail in Flat To The Boards. The description was supplied to Douglas Woods by Merv in correspondence between them in 1981. We have copies of these letters.

The basis of the Bitza was a Chevrolet Baby Grand of 1922 vintage. This was modified by shortening the wheelbase, lowering the frame with underslung springs and fitting a new two seater body. The engine was extensively modified with help from Merv's mate George Smith. The many modifications included the fitting of large Fordson tractor valves. There were Rugby front axle stubs and Ford A 19 inch wheels on the front and 21 inch on the rear. The contribution of parts from many different makes of car was behind the name of Bitza. It was made of bits of this and bits of that. George Smith commented that "the engine would either fly or fly to bits."

Merv's long standing friend Gerry Mathieson was also involved in the initial construction and subsequent evolution of Bitza. I will relate more about George and Gerry later. Suffice to say both were legends in their own right.

The Hardy Ford T Special

The exact origins of this car are still a bit of a mystery. A description appears in the book Historic Racing Cars of New Zealand by Graham Vercoe that suggests this car first appeared in 1952. Vercoe describes it as being based on a dirt tracker owned by Gerry Mathieson with the chassis having been donated from the Bitza. Its engine was quite special in that it was a Ford T with a Frontenac OHV from the Messenger Special. This engine is recorded in Flat To The Boards as having been acquired by Merv after the Messenger Special had crashed at Hennings Speedway and subsequently been scrapped. Douglas Woods refers in Flat To The Boards to the Hardy Special raced by Merv on 9 March 1935 at Gloucester Park "..... Hardy had modified his Bitza and it was now called the Hardy Special."

According to both Flat To The Boards and Graham Vercoe's book Merv also bought a car from Charley Segetin. Charley was the largest shareholder in Auckland's speedway company. This car called the Segetin Special was constructed from a Model A Ford chassis and engine with the back of the body cut off to create "...a stark two seat Muriwai Beach Special." According to Vercoe this car was the victim of a rogue wave when Merv was racing it at Muriwai's meeting on 21 March 1936 and it was destroyed when Merv took to the sand dunes. This seems to be an exaggerated account as it is contradicted by the account in Flat To The Boards which simply says the car was stopped by an unexpected rogue wave.

Taking into account the above then references to the "Hardy Special" could either be Bitza, a modified Bitza or the Segetin Special after its purchase by Merv. As the Segetin Special was a two seater the above pictured Ford T Special is not the Segetin unless its body was drastically rebuilt.

To add to the confusion the photo below is known to be the Hardy Special being driven by Snow Morris in the Bell- Hackett Handicap at Ardmore in 1954. Gerry had lent the car to Snow for this race. It is clearly the same car, number 52, that appears in the photo above.

Features such as the wing mirror and underbody can be seen to match.

The Hardyford

The car in the above photo is said by Graham Vercoe to be the Hardyford making its appearance at Ardmore in 1955 with Gerry Mathieson at the wheel.

According to Vercoe this is a further incarnation of what started as the Bitsa. So in summary we have the Baby Grand based Bitsa of 1934 undergoing a series of changes including being a midget, a name change to the Hardy Special around 1935 and subsequently in the late 1940s "after the war" Merv and Gerry converted it into a car suitable for racing at Ardmore. This car was named the Hardyford. Vercoe states that Gerry and Merv rebuilt the car around 1955. This rebuild included changes to the body. It is also said to have included a new motor being a Rajo 16 valve Ford T unit from a car called the Haydon Special. Arthur Haydon had raced Ford Specials from as early as 1923.

Alongside the construction of Bitza and other racing specials Merv and his mates Gerry Mathieson and George Smith were building and racing midget cars. That is another story.

Gerald Aubin Melville ("Gerry") Mathieson

Gerry and Merv were mates for a very long time. I do not know when or how they first met but it had to be connected to cars and motor racing. In his history of Western Springs Speedway Harry Chambers says that Gerry was an athlete in running hurdling and cycling events. He was an active man of slight build always known as a natty dresser. His full name was Gerald Aubin Melville Mathieson and he was born in 1902. He married Clara Olney in 1924 and they had a son Noel Francis Mathieson born in 1925. Sadly Clara died in 1940 and Noel died in 1963.

The photo above was recently sent to me by Alan Boyle who tells me it was taken by Alan's father Bill Boyle on his launch. Bill was racing at Muriwai as early as the first meeting on 5th March 1921. Alan told me that Bill and Gerry were good mates who enjoyed fishing together.

On Electoral Roles Gerry's occupation was most often listed as engineer or mechanic. An account in the NZ Herald of 28 March 1938 which describes a racing collision at Western Springs in which Gerry fractured his right shoulder described Gerry as a mechanic employed in the waterworks department of the City Council. In Flat To The Boards an account of Gerry's work on rebuilding the Miller (see below) describes Gerry "....as an excellent mechanic and an excellent machinist with all the facilities of a large Auckland city Workshop, he was able to diagnose the cause of the engine failures and remedy the defects ..." The workshop was the City Council waterworks workshop!

The Miller

The stand out story about Gerry is his involvement with the Miller. This car first became famous in the hands of Count Louis Zborowski. The Count bought the Miller after seeing several perform well in the 1923 Indianapolis 500. Miller cars were built in the early 1920s in the US by Harry Miller and had engines designed by Fred Offenhauser and Leo Goosen.

The Zborowski Miller was brought to NZ by Bill Shorter in 1926 from the estate of the Count who was killed in a race at Monza. The Miller proved to be very unreliable with a habit of throwing con-rods. Gerry eventually bought the car in pieces and apparently collected the motor in parts in benzine boxes from the Penrose workshop of the engineering cousins Keith and Keppel Cuttin. Mathieson set about completely rebuilding it over a period of 12 months and modified the engine to overcome the reliability issues.

In an appendix to Flat To The Boards Gerry describes how he wrote to Harry Miller to get the details of the motor. Harry sent him a used blue print for the motor and all the specs and said "....he had always been sorry he had ever let the car go out of America and he would deem it a favour if I pushed it over a cliff. Being a mechanic for the City Council I had everything in the machine and lathe line at my disposal."

Gerry raced the Miller from 1933 to 1936 and was never defeated in a scratch or championship race. He set a flying mile record at Muriwai in 1933 at 122.74 kph. Gerry sold the car in 1936. From around 1937 like many of his contemporaries including Merv, Gerry took to speedway midget car racing instead of beach racing.

The Miller in restored condition.

Now in the US and said to be worth around US$2m

The photo below records a special meeting between Gerry and Merv when they were both in their 80s. Merv was living on Waiheke Island. It was arranged for him to fly over on Sea Bee Air and meet with Gerry. It is apparent that they did lots of recounting old racing and car building stories over a collection of photos. My thanks to Gordon McIsaac for providing the photo.

George Cornwall Smith

George was the third member of the trio of Merv, Gerry and George who built cars and raced together for many years. He was born 6 October 1901 and had his workshop at 44 St Benedict St Newton. This was close ("over the fence") to the businesses of Reg Wharfe and Auto Parts in Newton Rd. Reg Wharfe was a very close friend of Merv and his business was managed for a number of years by Merv's son Ray. I understand that Reg would occassionaly supply Merv with cars for his wrecking business. The name Auto Parts is connected to sponsorship of a number of midget cars. There was clearly a great deal of co-operation between these car wreckers, their parts businesses and the building of racing cars.

Flat To The Boards records George's first outing as a racer at Muriwai in 1922. He drove and it is thought also prepared the ex-service car Cadillac belonging to Clem Ah Chee. George had just finished his mechanic's apprenticeship with W.S. Miller. He was to have a successful racing and car building career that lasted for 35 years. He was regarded as the "king of specials" and, according to Vercoe in his book Historic Racing Cars of New Zealand, he won every major title -except the Lady Wigram Trophy- in a car he himself manufactured. He was said to have hoarded V8 engines and all the hottest bits from the US he could lay his hands on.

George was a large guy ( over 6 foot and around 14 stone) with a large personality. He is said to have been in the habit of eating apples when racing and would often throw the cores at track marshals from his passing car.

The above photo shows George in the Seabrooke Fowlds supercharged Austin 7. This car was considered to be perhaps the best all round racing car in NZ in the period to 1939. These side-valve Austin racers were produced by Herbert Austin in the UK and Phil Seabrooke purchased this example and brought it to NZ. George successfully raced this car from 1935 through to 1937.

George assisted Merv in building the engine for his Bitza. Merv in the Bitza, Gerry in the Miller and George in the Austin 7 appeared in several events.

There are two cars built by George that achieved significant fame, namely the Gee Cee Ees and the Edelbrock Special.

The Edelbrock Special

This car first appeared at a Northern Sports Car Club Hill Climb at Ridge Rd in September 1949. It was Ford V8 powered with Edelbrock heads- hence the name. It broke the course record on its practice run at Ridge Rd. George sold the car to Frank Shuter at the end of 1950 after having won the 1950 NZ Beach Championship. Shuter kept the car for many years and raced it very successfully. He made modifications to the engine and body over the years. It has however kept the very distinctive and unique front suspension featuring leaf springs that extend forward of the chassis. The photo above shows that the car is still around albeit after many modifications to the original build.

The Gee Cee Ees

If you look closely at George's left hand in the above photo you may see an apple. Proof that the story of driving while eating an apple is true. This is a great photo of George in action in the GeeCeeEes with its mighty V8.

George built this car in around 1951 and then proceeded to race it over the following seven years acquiring numerous North and South Island race titles including taking his number of NZ Beach Championship wins to eight. In the 1951/52 season the GeeCeeEes won four New Zealand Championships namely Hill Climb, Standing Sprint, 50 and 100 Mile Beach.

The car was based on a speedway midget body he had raced as #44 which he lengthened and to which he added a variety of Ford V8s at various times. All had Ardun OHV heads. In 1955 he changed to a Chrysler Firepower 5400cc V8.

This car has recently been restored to its 1951 specs by current owner Roger Herrick. Photo below.

After retiring from motor racing in 1957 George took to power boat racing. When he died in 1969 he had left behind a very full career in motor sport that consisted of much more than just racing and building cars. He is credited with making speedway a successful sport in New Zealand in his role as promoter in the early days at Western Springs. He held many positions such as President of the Auckland Motor Cycle Club, President of the Power Boat Association, an Executive of the NZ Grand Prix Association and President of NZ Motor Racing Drivers Assoc. He also often helped as a Starter, Handicapper, Referee, Time keeper and Pit Official.

The above is only a small part of the full story of Merv Hardy's involvement in the early days of motor racing in New Zealand. The story that remains to be told is that of midget speedway racing.

The trio of Merv, Gerry and George had seen the opportunity to get involved with these fast little cars that would hang their tails out as they raced around the cinder covered oval tracks. They put their heads together, built the cars and took to the tracks. George built a car called Tom Thumb powered by a Harley Davidson motor bike engine. Merv built a midget special with a Henderson motor based on plans from America. Gerry built the Auto Parts Special with an Elto outboard motor. I personally think that the three of them will have worked on all three cars together. George was the engine specialist, Gerry had access to the required workshop at the City Council and Merv perhaps sourced all the bits and pieces. These three cars appeared at the opening of Gloucester Park in 1935 as a demonstration of midget car racing and were also on display at Western Springs in December 1935 at a Solo bike meeting.

Read more in my next blog.........