When Fred met OSCA: Indy cars destined for New Zealand (Trevor Lister)

Trevor Lister considers the short competition life of two cars intended to run at Indianapolis in 1950 that ended up in New Zealand six years later. In 1956 two brothers travelled to Italy intending to purchase a car to race back home. They returned with three: two Indy cars and a 1930s 6CM.

The first part of this paper covers the modest race history of these cars in New Zealand. The second explores an identity policy that popped up while exploring the role of the engines in setting the Tipos and the individual identities of these cars. The policy did not set chassis numbers, nor even engine numbers. Rather it set out to describe the features of the engine as used on a particular car, for instance as applied to the 1938 8CTFs. The 8C part of the description tells us that these are 8 cylinder engines and the TF bit that these particular engines had fixed Cylinder Heads (Testa Fissa). Taken together we get an 8CTF car. But 8CTF is an engine description, not a car one, a conundrum to be explored in this presentation.

This episode was narrated on behalf of Trevor Lister by Revel Arroway from You're Listening to Radio Revel Podcast.

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00:00 When Fred Met Asuka: The Journey Begins 01:18 Trevor Lister's Background 02:23 Fred Zambuca's Racing Career 05:31 The 1956 New Zealand Grand Prix 09:16 The 8CTF Family and Engine Identity 16:17 Postscripts and Reflections 20:34 Closing Remarks and Credits

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Breakfix's History of Motorsportsseries is brought to you in part
by the International Motor RacingResearch Center, as well as the
Society of Automotive Historians,the Watkins Glen Area Chamber of
Commerce, and the Argettsinger family.
When Fred Met Asuka by Trevor ListerThis presentation considers the short

(00:21):
competition life of two cars intendedto run at Indianapolis in 1950 that
ended up in New Zealand six years later.
In 1956, two brothers traveledto Italy intending to purchase
a car to race back home.
They returned with three,two IndyCars and a 1930s 6CM.
The first part of this papercovers the modest racing history
of these cars in New Zealand.
The second explores an identity policythat popped up while exploring the role

(00:44):
of the engines in setting the tipos andindividual identities of these cars.
The policy did not set chassisnumbers nor even give engine numbers.
Rather, it set out to describe thefeatures of the engine as used on
a particular car, for instance,as it applied to the 1938 8CTFs.
The eight C part of the descriptiontells us that there are eight cylinder

(01:06):
engines and the TF bit that theseparticular engines had fixed cylinder
heads taken together, we get an eightCTF car, but eight CTF is an engine
description, not a car one, the conundrumto be explored in this presentation.
On leaving high school at theend of 1966, Trevor Lister was
apprenticed to an engineering companythat designed and built all types
of materials handling equipment,along with road and farm vehicles.

(01:28):
He was employed primarily in thedrawing office, along with stints on
fabrication and assembly in the workshop.
Trevor entered the University ofCanterbury on a public service
scholarship, graduating witha double degree in physics
and mechanical engineering.
On graduation, he worked in the Ministryof Transport in setting administration
of motor vehicle safety standards.
This led to a secondment to a nationalresearch and development organization

(01:50):
where he was responsible for researchon a wider range of alternative
motor vehicle fuels and also aninternational consultancy in that area.
On completion, he returned to hisfoundational automotive design
skills and motor sports hobby.
In semi retirement, Trevor took upteaching and tutoring pre apprenticeship
students in mathematics and thescience behind automotive engineering.
In full retirement, he took on therole of classic motor racing club

(02:13):
of New Zealand newsletter editor.
This presentation has beennarrated on behalf of Trevor
Lister by Revel Arroway from YourListening to Radio Revel podcast.
When Fred Met Aska, Part 1.
The Zambuca Family.
Fred was the eldest of five brothers.
Post World War II, he joined hisfather's business trading from

(02:35):
a yard beside their family home.
The yard included a large shed thatcontained war surplus army equipment,
including trucks, cars, and motorcycles.
When an itch to race came along, theshed contained the wherewithal to do
so, in the form of a stripped out DeSotothat gave up its chassis and running
gear to become a typical Kiwi special.

(02:58):
In time, it was replaced by astring of obsolescent Maseratis,
an HCM in 1953, and the two HCLTIndianapolis cars mentioned above.
These two HCLT cars are thefocus of this presentation.

(03:18):
Fred raced from 1950 to1956 with modest success.
The photos show the HCM and theDeSoto Special, caught mid spin
with its prominent waterfall grille.
Between Fred and its nextowner, the DeSoto had a working
career from 1951 to 1957.

(03:42):
Not bad for a Kiwi Special.
But by 1953, Fred was lookingfor something a little faster.
He had hoped to buy a New Zealanddomiciled Alfa Romero Tipo B,
but the car went elsewhere.
So it wasn't until the followingyear that he parted company with
the DeSoto, upgrading to a MaseratiHCM, imported from England.

(04:07):
Towards the end of 1954, Fred ran theHCM in the Australian Grand Prix, this
on a road not previously used for racing.
A period race report described the HCMas being, quote, almost uncontrollable on
the bumpy Queensland country back roads.
Staying a little longer in Australia,Fred fared better on a smoother

(04:30):
surface, setting a new Australianspeed record of 158 miles per hour,
254 kilometers per hour, in the 8CM.
Back in New Zealand, and now muchbetter acquainted with the car, Fred
qualified on the second row of the gridfor the 1955 New Zealand Grand Prix.

(04:51):
A spin into the hay bales earlyon compromised his race, but he
came home a creditable second.
7th, and the second New Zealander home,
when Fred met Oscar PartTwo, Change in the Wind.
Change was already at hand, with thelocal rear engine Coopers now showing

(05:13):
an ability to compete with the older,but more powerful pre war machines.
More Coopers were on the way,but Fred chose a different
path for his 1956 season.
Where others went small, he wentbig, going for a more powerful
version of the older breed.
The HCM went to a new owner,and Fred went to Italy.

(05:36):
He returned with three cars, and aplan to both race the cars himself,
and to hire them out to others.
A Scuderia Zambuca, if you will.
What was on offer inItaly was a pre war 6CM.
and the two eight CLTs that hadbeen built for use at Indianapolis

(05:57):
in 1950, but couldn't becompleted in time for that race.
Fred and one of his brothersfound them in a dark corner of
the OSCA works while looking forsuitable cars for their Scuderia.
Other accounts say the cars wereat the Maserati factory in Modena.
Maybe, maybe not.
The Asuka brand was a path of retreatfor the Maserati brothers following

(06:21):
the expiration of their 10 yearservice agreement with the Orsi family.
There are instances where the Maseratibrothers took on upgrades and repairs
to orphaned Maseratis, Bira's 4.
5 liter Asuka being an example,but whichever workshop they were
in Fred purchased both cars.

(06:42):
These two orphaned carshave been dubbed as 8 C L T.
They were commissioned by Francesco Rollfor an attempt at the Indy 500 in 1950.
However, the nominated driver,Farina, decided to focus on the
upcoming Formula One season instead.

(07:02):
It didn't help that the cars were serialoverheaters that couldn't be modified and
repaired in time for shipment to Indy.
Accordingly, the cars never wentbeyond their 1950 test sessions,
and still hadn't turned a wheelin anger the five years since.
So, when Fred took the carson, he was taking a big gamble.

(07:25):
Their first race outing ever was at theJanuary 1956 New Zealand Grand Prix, one
for Fred, and the second for the Scuderia.
The second car failed to qualify, withFred on the third row of the grid.
He lay 8th halfway through, at whichpoint his car demonstrated that the
problems that had prevented it runningat Indianapolis were still in play.

(07:50):
Fred trailed home 12th, withthe new owner of his older HCM
claiming 8th place position.
The overheating problem was handledby an instruction to the Scuderia
drivers to not exceed 4, 000 rpm.
How very apt.
The cars could easily run to 6500 RPM,at which point valve bounce would set in.

(08:11):
Both cars still exist, one in the UnitedStates and the other in New Zealand.
Sadly, Fred Zambuca raced the carsonly once, and then only one of them.
In May 1956, he suffered abrain hemorrhage and died.
Both cars were sold to FrankSchuter via Fred's estate.
One of them, car 3036, raced on,courtesy of Frank who acted as custodian

(08:37):
for the cars, overhauling them bothwhile squeezing in a half dozen or
so of race entries with car 3036.
The last recorded race entry for car3036 was in the 1961 New Zealand Grand
Prix, after which it found a new owner inEngland, and is now in the United States.

(08:58):
In due time, the second car, 3037,found its way into Southwards Motor
Museum, where it has rested since 1963,
when Fred met Oskar, PartIII, the 8 CTF family.
The Orsi family enabled the Maseratifamily Grand Prix race car development

(09:21):
work to continue, resulting in the1938 1939 HCTF, the eight cylinder,
fixed head engine known as the HCTF,Was first named by the Orsi family
who kept this arrangement throughouttheir manufacturer with engines

(09:41):
identified as eight CTFs in 1938.
The HC bit tells us that thesewere eight cylinder cars and the
TF bit tells us that their engineshad cylinder heads fixed Test.
The visa taken together,we get an eight CTF car.

(10:02):
Remember though, eight CTFis an engine description.
Not a car description.
First emerging in 1938, the HCTFswere well capable of taking on the
German teams in terms of speed,but were unreliable when raced.
The first of them made its racedebut in Tripoli in May 1938, and

(10:25):
from that point on, this enginefamily, and its later progeny,
can be split into three subgroups.
Uh, keep in mind that the existing FormulaOne teams had been put on notice that
from 1947 onwards, supercharged cars wouldbe restricted to no more than 1, 500 cc,

(10:45):
a stricture that essentially finishedthe eight CTF racing careers in Europe.
Little wonder, then, that a number of themended up in the Americas, or elsewhere.
The early eight CTFs,subgroup one, three off.
Two cars ran in Europe in 38, commonlyidentified as 30 30 and 30 31.

(11:10):
Note that it was standard Maseratipractice that engines set the identity
of the cars into which they were fitted.
As noted earlier, the numbers in theletters of the eight CTFs tell us
that we have cars carrying 30 31.
Eight cylinder engines withintegral cylinder heads,
testa fissa, or fixed heads.

(11:31):
So, 3030 and 3031 are, strictly speaking,engine numbers, not chassis numbers.
Also note that the C, the F, and the Tall relate to specific engine features,
not chassis or running gear features.
The first two HCTFs found theirway to Indianapolis in 1940 and

(11:57):
stayed there for many a year.
Car 3032 had managed this trick alittle earlier, but had been found on
delivery to have cracked cylinder blocks.
A replacement engine wasprovided, held to be engine 3033.
If that be true, then we may havean identity point to explore.

(12:21):
The HCLs, subgroup 2, two off.
The cars that went from Italyto Indianapolis in 1940 included
an HCL driven by Raul Rigante,on his way home to Argentina.
This car was identified asthe Transcripts provided by

(12:46):
Transcription Outsourcing, LLC.
just in time to go into wartime storage.
It later emerged in the hands ofPascual Puopolo in the post war
Temporada races from 1946 to 1952.

(13:08):
As an aside, Pascual was one of Fangio'scompanions on the Auto Club of Argentina
mission to the USA and Europe in 1949.
A similar car, identified as the3035 was entered by Scuderia Milano
for Biloresi to run at Indianapolis,with some success in 1946.

(13:30):
Returning to Italy, it laterturned up driven by either Farina
or Villoresi, or both, accountsvary, in the 1948 Temporada races.
In his 1961 autobiography, Fangio'saccount of who drove what and where
in 1948 places Villoresi in a Quote,1500 cc, four cylinder Maserati and

(13:54):
Farina in a quote, three liter four CLT.
This firsthand account places farinain the HCL and REI in a four CL.
It also puts a fly in the ointmentby quoting the T bit as part of
the description for this car.
T for tubular.

(14:15):
But again, Maserati practice wasthat engine numbers determined
the identity of the car they wereplaced in, and the chassis number
was the same as that of the engine.
All in all, there is no ground for callingeither of these cars anything other than
HCTFs, as they have all the distinguishingengine features of the earlier cars.

(14:39):
The 1950 HCLTs, subgroup 3,
Our two target carsmake up the last group.
They were built to run at Indianapolisin 1950, and intended to be driven by
Farina and Roll, these two looking to takeadvantage of a new arrangement in Formula
One by which drivers placing at Indy alsoqualified for World Championship points.

(15:05):
But, these cars became no shows whenoverheating problems were encountered
while testing the cars in Italy.
Troubles that couldn't be rectifiedin time for the cars to make the trip
to the USA, after which they weretucked away either in the Maserati
or Oscar workshops, accounts vary.
There they stayed until FredZambuca and his brother took them

(15:25):
back to New Zealand in early 1956.
They made their first ever raceappearance in the 1956 New Zealand
Grand Prix, identified as 3036 and 3037.
These two cars were the final iterationof the underlying 8CTF design.
Their engines were built from two 4CLTunits end on end, with fixed cylinder

(15:49):
heads and four valves per cylinder, thistime in a scaled up 4CL chassis with a
dose of extra wheelbase to hold it all in.
Hence, 8CLT describesthe New Zealand cars.
Here again, as they have all ofthe distinguishing engine features
of the earlier cars, There isno ground for calling these

(16:11):
cars anything other than HCTFs.
Postscripts.
Fun times following engines.
A few years ago, Trevor Lister andDonald Capps took a good hard look
at the processes used at Maseratiwhen identifying their race cars.

(16:33):
This work was directed specificallyat the 1950s Maserati 250F Grand Prix
cars, but their findings also heldgood when applied to other Tipos,
including Maserati, that is, 1928.
Put simply, the cars were identifiedaccording to the engines that went into
them, not their chassis identification.

(16:53):
Further, when a car received anew or replacement engine, the
car was re identified accordingto the number of the replacement
engine, not the original engine.
engine.
Trevor and Don's work on the250Fs is available on request.
It then occurred to them that thecar identifications quoted in the

(17:15):
available histories were as muchthe gift of the commentators as
of the factory that made them.
Below is a straightforwardexample of this, illustrating
what happened at Maserati when theidentification tags were handed out.
Postscript 1, a bit of calibration.
In 1934, Maserati began manufacture ofa new design of six cylinder race cars.

(17:39):
These were assembled on theexisting chassis of the 8CM.
If the chassis number was set inthe car ID, then these new hybrid
cars would carry identities inthe 8CM sequence, but not so.
The six cylinder engines in thesecars set the identity of these cars,
not their brand new 8CM chassis.

(18:02):
These days, we call these cars6CMs, that is, six cylinder engines.
Monopostos.
A caution.
The 6CMs referenced above hadengines quite different in
character from those of the 8CMsfrom whence they got their chassis.
That is, they had six cylindersrather than eight and a
displacement beginning at 3.

(18:24):
3 liters that eventually reached 3.
7 liters.
Despite this, they still share the enginenumbering sequence of the earlier 8CM 3.
3s.
Stretch the approximation alittle and consider that 3.
3 and 3.
7 liters are still less than 4 liters.
So, the 3.
0 bit, as the first two digits of theengine number, is not compromised.

(18:52):
Postscript 2.
This table follows the 3.
0 liter 30xx sequence ofengines from 1930s onwards,
beginning with the HCMs of 1933.
These engine numbers start at 30 05.
The 30 bit tells us that we are lookingat a 3 liter engine, and the 05 bit
denotes that this is indeed the 5thengine of that size ever made by Maserati.

(19:16):
The table below starts in 1933,and ends with the introduction
of the 300S sports cars in 1955.
This is not the end of the30XX series of engines.
In 1955, the 300S sports cars appeared inthe lists, bringing their engine stream
with them, which is not surprising,given the five year gap between the end

(19:40):
of the 8CLs and the rise of the 300S.
What is surprising is that thereis a 14 engine gap in the engine
numbering sequence between thesetwo streams of three liter engines.
That is a lot of standaloneor replacement engines.
Any help solving thismystery would be appreciated.

(20:03):
Postscript three.
These photos show José FreuleinGonzález racing an Argentine Mecánica
Nacionale car at about the same timethat Fred was finding his feet with
the DeSoto Special in New Zealand.
Half a world apart, yet the resemblancebetween the two cars is remarkable.

(20:25):
A situation that often occurs when digginginto Argentine and Kiwi race history, a
topic perhaps for next year's symposium.
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(20:48):
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(21:29):
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