[Restoguys]

That's the car! I used to work on it in a small workshop in Forest Gate near where Pete lived. I'm sure it matched a Capri Drag car although I never saw that I think I may have a magazine somewhere with it in.

[ukdrn]

That's the car! I used to work on it in a small workshop in Forest Gate near where Pete lived. I'm sure it matched a Capri Drag car although I never saw that I think I may have a magazine somewhere with it in.

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[Restoguys]

I have contacted Bill McGrath's old company today who gave me some more info about Gloink including who it was sold to. Another phone call told me that the engine was out of a Mk9 Jaguar and it had a manual gearbox. I have been promised help from all quarters, especially this forum. I feel this is an important car to preserve and we (Brentwood Classic Workshops Ltd) intend to carry out the restoration. I will be starting it as a new project on our website http://www.brentwoodmotorsport.co.uk within the next few days. The ash frame is poor so I think it will be body off and go for it, but how far do we go? It probably wasn't anywhere near perfect back in the day so I think it will be a sympathetic restoration to what we can find was it's original condition when raced. Watch this space!!!

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[ukdrn]

It will be great to follow the build, keep us updated on here and we can hopefully find out more information as we go along.

[Restoguys]

No problem, we are either going to try and get air in the rear tyres so that we can move it about today or put a couple of Mk2 Jaguar rims on it that we have. Photos to follow!

[McGrathgirl]

Hi there everbody, I'm one of Bill McGrath's daughters Debi. It was actually me that named the Gloink as a toddler when I made a casual remark to Dad about the sound the water cistern was making, "a kind of Gloink, sound" and there the car was named... We all have such fond memories of watching Mum & Dad race at Santa Pod as Mum too was a keen racer and was even crowned Fastest Lady Dragster in Britain 1969 (in Gloink) and even appeared with the car on the BBC Michael Aspel show and in various press articles. The smell of that burning oil at the trackside became synonomous with our early childhood and when we get any hint of that aroma now we are immediately transported back to Santa Pod... I know Dad would've loved to hear about the rediscovery of Gloink (sadly he died of cancer in December 2009) and to know that it was to be restored once again would be a very interesting prospect for him. We will do all that we can to help on this and as I'm going up to the family cottage on the weekend I will see what I can dig out. In the meantime it would be great to see some more pictures from any other sources and if anyone has, or knows of, any moving footage involving the car and/or Mum and Dad that would be great. Once I've gone through things at the weekend I'll post what I find on here. I know there was a great cartoon done of Dad which is framed in his study so I'll scan that too... Good luck to 'restoguys' and Geoff I'll be in touch with you as Julia my sister sent the rest of us your details. Bye for now DM

[ukdrn]

Welcome to the forum Debi, it's a pleasure to have you on here.
I hope we can come up with as much information as possible and we look forward to seeing your postings.

All the best.
Jon

[ukdrn]

Geoff from (Brentwood Classic Workshops Ltd) has kindly sent m some more photo's to share.

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[ukdrn]

From Drag Racing & Hot Rod magazine 1968

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[shabby1]

Looking at the at the latest photos I never realised Gloink had a round tube chassis-I wonder if it was built by Bill or if its origins are something like a Buckler or similar.
Wish I had a larger shed and bank account I would love to restore it.
Chris