PA Hillclimb

Hello,

My name is Daniel and I work for a historic racing team in England. We acquired a certain Volvo PV544 a few years back and I am currently researching it's history. I have since found out that it was John Flannery's car and competed on the hills of Pennsylvania for much of its life. I was told that the car was raced from new in 1958 and has never been road registered. I would like to confirm this. It has stickers on the dashboard from many Hill Climb events the earliest one being from the Hershey Hill Climb 1964. I'd like to find out what it was doing before then. Since we have owned it we have raced it in the Historic Racing Drivers Club here in the UK. You can visit their website at http://www.hrdc.eu. The cars most notable performance was at the Goodwood Revival in 2008 where it came 3rd overall in the St. Mary's trophy. That is quite a special award for a Hill Climb car from Pennsylvania and adds to its very interesting history. You can see what the car is like today by visiting our website http://www.cckhistoric.com.

I would like to build a complete history of the car from purchase date to present. I am particularly interested in photos, race reports, time sheets and any period publications it might have had a mention in. Any help with this project would be hugely appreciated. Thanks very much,

Daniel H Lackey

I'm sure our Historian Ron Mann will be contacting you soon.

Larry Long

I think that John ran more than just PHA Hillclimbs. My memory is clouded but I think he ran in the Reading Road Races when they were at the Reading Airport.
Why not contact John himself? He is a very open and friendly. I don't have any current contact information but it wouldn't take much to get it for you.

Dave Y

Wait a minute! Is that the car Craig Danks sold? I'm sure he has some knowledge of the History. I can put you in touch with him easy.

What's up with the Bill Rutan signature? He's a VW guy not a Volvo nerd! That's a whole different story.

John's phone number is in the ad for the car(Volvo 142) he is selling. Look in the classified section under "For Sale : Race Cars"

Before the car went to England it was owned by Craig Danks. I saw him today and he knows the history very well. He also still has some original papers and photos. You can email him at. nicoleaaron (at) Comcast.net

Daniel and I have been in contact...and I'll be supplying all I can.

Bill Rutan was into Volvo as well. He co-drove a Volvo with Art Riley at Lime Rock's first endurance race. Rutan also ran a Volvo at Pike's Peek. Google Riley and you'll find out that he was a pretty big wheel on the state side Volvo scene.

http://www.hemmings.com/hsx/stories/200 ... nion2.html

Once again Ron, you have done an outstanding job and we a so lucky that you have taken on the monumental task of club historian. I know this a labor of love for you, but Thank You anyway for your hard work. I'm amazed at the stuff you come up with. Never knew about Bill and Volvo's.

Dave Y

Thanks a lot everybody for all of your input. Once I get the history put together I will share all that I find. The seasons over now but watch out for the Volvo next year in the HRDC and possibly another Goodwood Revival. We are hopefully going to take it testing over the winter and dial in the rear suspension a little. It has a tendency to turn around in the corner if you're not paying attention.

Goodwill is shown on our boxes here, I will be watching with more interest this year!
I was surprised to see TV coverage of some English and European events the past few years, now that we know some of the drivers makes it even more interesting. Do you know of any other cars brought over from the states?