DIRTY STUFF

OF ALL the different makes and models of carburettors I have worked on – from the really crude all-brass veteran car stuff, through SUs and Rochesters, to Zeniths and Holleys – my-all time favourites would have to be the Italian Webers. Not that they are made there anymore, for I hear that they are manufactured in Spain these days.

- WILLIAM PORKER

Weber made downdraught and side draught carbs, specialising in stuff for fast road cars and exotic racing stuff like Ferraris, Lamborghinis and Maseratis, ranging from single throats to duals and even triples for the special V12 engines. They came in really small duals for the sports version of the Fiat 500, as well as the huge, double-throat 58 DCO side-draughts that were found mainly on F1 cars, although one model of Corvette featured four of these on a special aluminium cross-over manifold, which sure was impressive to look at!

A fair few years ago, I was involved in reviving a 1955 Formula One Ferrari owned by the Gilltrap Auto Museum on the Gold Coast. It had been bought when nobody wanted old race cars and had sat on display without being started for 14 years. I approached George Gilltrap to ask if we could fire up the old car to run demo laps at an Australian Grand Prix meeting at the Surfers Paradise International circuit, and I would write up the story for Wheels magazine. George said he would love to hear it going and I could work on it for as long as it took.