Contact details needed... various Norman supercharger people

[Harv]

Ladies and gents,

A few of you will know that over the last few years I have been writing technical Guides for various early-Holden related topics - Stromberg carbs, three-speed crashboxes, bypass oil filters etc. The Guides are typically 200(ish) pages long, full of lots of tech data and photos. I publish the Guides on the various early Holden forums for anyone to access for free. I got some great help from Ozroder forum members in contacting the Impala Performance Products people when I was looking at floor shifters.

My current Guide is being written a bit differently. Instead of collecting the info, finishing it up then posting a single pdf, I have been posting the info "as I go" as a thread on the various early Holden forums. For those interested, the FB/EK forum thread is here: http://www.fbekholden.com/forum/viewtop ... 25&t=18810

My work on the Norman supercharger guide is coming along well, though I am hitting a few stumbling blocks in finding information. There is precious little written info on the Normans, and not too many surviving machines to lay my hands on (notwithstanding the six that I have sitting on the bench at the moment ). Whilst some guys have been fantastic, I'm starting to run a bit thin on the ground. If anyone has contact details for the people below, I'd really appreciate it. Aim here is for a respectful discussion, being mindful of peoples time. Please bear in mind that I am Facebook illiterate.

I'd like to get into contact with Chris Batey, who runs the Lil Horny Devil front–engined dragster. From what I can see, Chris' Norman is one of the later (Mike Norman) ones. I'd like to talk to Chris about the dimensions of his Norman to assist in my writeup of how to identify the various models made. Wouldn't mind also talking to him about the multiple Holley fuel bowls that he runs on his Norman SUs.

I'd like to get into contact with Norm McCormack, who runs a front-engined dragster with a Type 110. This is one of the only two Type 110's that I know of, so am keen to get some photos where possible (all the photos I have of his FED are long-distance).

I'd similarly like to get into contact with Ken Stevenson, who also runs a Type 110 FED. I understand that there was a big writeup in the 2008 Street Machine Hot Rod Annual on Ken's machine, though so far have been unable to get my hands on a copy.

Finally, I'd love to be able to contact either Mike or Bill Norman. I understand they were at Noosaville and Murwillumbah, though hunting through the local phone books has drawn a blank. I guess I’m at a stage now where I can have a good conversation with these gentlemen without appearing to be either a raving idiot or a wannabe.

Cheers,
Harv.

[spoggie]

Norman- Peugeot, ex Bill Wigzell

Never made contact, but saw feature in an old Restored Cars magazine on this Adelaide collector. It's a question of digging it out, hopefully via index.

[Harv]

Thanks Spoggie (and apologies for my slow response... was away from a PC for a while).

I've managed to contact Batey, McCormack and both Norman brothers . I've got Ken's contact number, and need to give him a call.

In the background, I've been hunting down a few of the old speedway Normans, including the Wigzell/Rowe WonderCar. The "speedway" anecdote is coming together nicely. For anyone interested, the "landspeed" anecdote (Norman supercahrgers, Elfin race cars, the BlueBird land speed record and some cool engineering) is here:
http://www.fbekholden.com/forum/viewtop ... 0&start=60

Cheers,
Harv (deputy apprentice Norman supercharger fiddler)

[Harv]

Just a quick heads-up on my Norman supercharger work. The thread over on the FB/EK Holden forum (http://www.fbekholden.com/forum/viewtop ... 0&start=75) now has a list of the different Norman superchargers made (last page of the thread). I have also added a fairly detailed anecdote on Eldred's life in the last few days. I've avoided posting the full Eldred Norman story here as it feels a little O/T for the forum, but the link above will get you to it for those with an interest.

One thing that is bugging the crap out of me is that I can't find anything on the Type 90 Norman. This was marketed by Eldred for the Valiant slant-6 as a blower-and-manifolds package. I've tried the Valiant forums, but come up empty - no photos, old owners, nothing. If anyone knows of a slant-6 Norman owner, or has photos of one I'd love to hear from you.

Cheers,
Harv (deputy apprentice Norman supercharger fiddler).

[fredeuce]

Harv,
The Alex Rowe built , Bill Wigzell driven midget in the picture above is owned by Ian Gear in our club. Here is a link to our website. You could reach him via the contact links there.
http://www.savsa.com.au/default.htm

[Harv]

Thanks Fredeuce - appreciated.

I got hold of Ian a while back, and have had a couple of phone calls and emails with him. It helped quite a bit to sharpen up the story on both the #2 WonderCar, and the SA#20 (Colin Cormelius) midget.

The Norman-blown roundy-round cars I can't get any info on are:
a) the Ron Ward (NSW#3) Peugeot speedcar, once driven by Brian Mannion car (I can only find one photo of this one),
b) Ken Tabe’s supercharged Peugeot, which was last seen in the Northern Territory. I have nothing on this one at all.
c) Alf Kamilow’s supercharged Hillman Hunter,
d) Kevin Cook’s supercharged Ford Telstar. This vehicle was sold to Des James who drove it for one night at Speedway Park and wrote the car off.
e) Colin Kane’s supercharged Peugeot, and
f) Gary Dillon’s supercharged Volkswagon. I am not sure if this vehicle is related to the Volkswagon supercharged by Alex Rowe, nor if it is related to the Volkswagon that was supercharged by Eldred Norman around 1969 for speedway use in Brisbane (that vehicle had a habit of throwing sparkplugs into the crowd!).

Cheers,
Harv