Kirkham 289 Street Car

[64galaxie]

Just saying hello with my first post and informing every one i have a Kirkham 289 street car coming to Oz soon.Right hand drive,filed finish will be painting the car guardsman blue no stripes,tremec 5 speed,coil over shocks,trigo wheels and a dart cast iron block and heads stroked to 347 cubes solid roller cam and 4 barrel holley.

i live in east gippsland so the car should be around melb and the historic motorsport meetings when completed.
Cheers.

[Dimis]

Welcome, thanks for poping in.
Sounds like a great project!
289 Kirkham is certainly a great looking car.

[750hp]

Welcome, and a big congrats on the purchase. The 289FIA is recognised as the tough race style small block, but the understated style of the 289 street cars is really beautiful.

Which Trigo wheels are you getting? I've mainly seen the FIA wheels or spoke wheels on the street cars.

Looking forward to the pics!

[albanycobra]

wow all these Kirkhams......very green.Please plenty of pics.

[dhs.buckley]

Hey 64galaxie, i was going to take my cobra down to metung a couple of weeks ago, but the wife didnt think it was right to take 2 cars over mt hotham for our family holiday.
Love the 289 cobras , you should go with the 4 webers that would be cool!
Look foward to seeing some pics.

[64galaxie]

My cobra will be fitted with the trigo FIA wheels and the original plan was to go with the webers.
I might change to webers later on as i have a nos intake manifold for them.
If you look at the Kirkham 289 galleries the photos of a brushed unpainted car is about what mine will be like,except my car will have a filed finished body before paint.
Also intend to fit the chrome bumpers.

Thanks for the replies,by the way i live in Sale.

[d488y2]

Welcome to the forum. Awesome build you have planned. I was checking out a Kirkham yesterday they are fantastic.

[guye]

Welcome galaxie; the 289 will be a welcome variety to the shows. Also can't wait to see coming pics.

I presume you also have a certain 1964 Ford, possibly convertible, in the garage at home? Can you post a pic of that too?

[64galaxie]

Sad to say no 63 or 64 Galaxie in my shed,although their are two concours falcon GT's.First a 1967 XR GT and a XY GT one of 36 painted true blue.Both cars have been restored by Neil Thompson at grand tourer in Melbourne.
Always loved galaxies since i first saw John Raeburn driving sir Gwainne Bailey's 63 holman and moody car at the Australian touring car championship at sandown in 1965.The race was won Norm Beechey in his Mustang.
The plan after the cobra is to acquire a 63 or 64 gal two door fastback XL 500 and put a 426 SOHC engine in.
I purchased Paul Monroe cammer kit some time ago and have been slowly buying the other parts needed.It has been put on hold until Kirkham is finished.

I spoke to David Kirkham about 10 days ago and the body and chassis had just arrived from Poland.As soon as some photos are available will try and post on here.

Regards All.

[boxhead]

Welcome along, love the 289 roadster shape, timeless classic.

[Mando]

Just curious as how your able to buy a new Kirkham right hand drive car directly from the manufacturer and not through the Australian distributor in Queensland?

Regards.

[750hp]

Originally Posted by 64galaxie

Sad to say no 63 or 64 Galaxie in my shed,although their are two concours falcon GT's.First a 1967 XR GT and a XY GT one of 36 painted true blue.Both cars have been restored by Neil Thompson at grand tourer in Melbourne.
Always loved galaxies since i first saw John Raeburn driving sir Gwainne Bailey's 63 holman and moody car at the Australian touring car championship at sandown in 1965.The race was won Norm Beechey in his Mustang.
The plan after the cobra is to acquire a 63 or 64 gal two door fastback XL 500 and put a 426 SOHC engine in.
I purchased Paul Monroe cammer kit some time ago and have been slowly buying the other parts needed.It has been put on hold until Kirkham is finished.

I spoke to David Kirkham about 10 days ago and the body and chassis had just arrived from Poland.As soon as some photos are available will try and post on here.

Regards All.

Good to hear you have a Monroe kit as well - very cool! For those who haven't seen the story about this small time Aussie manufacturer: Paul Munro's 427 SOHC Cammer V8 in Unique Cars Magazine
Do you know how many kits he's made now?


Oh, you might want to increase your engine size in the old Gal by one cubic inch - don't want the Mopar Hemi guys getting excited If you want to buy one complete with an NOS H&M cammer: 1963 Ford Galaxie 427 Cammer for sale | Hemmings Motor News

[64galaxie]

I have purchased my Kirkham through the Australian distributor in Queensland.
All the members on here can draw their own conclusions as to why i am now talking directly to David Kirkham and not the afore mentioned.
After my car is here and i have possession then i will comment on my experiences.

After i reviewed my last post about the cammer 426 instead of 427, same thoughts of those mopar blokes.Actually i think the engines were 425 cubes and ford just called it 427.

This crankshaft for this engine is a 482 cube stroker.

[400TT]

64galaxie, is right, we have not provided the service that he was expecting and certainly deserved. We have tried to do a lot with very minimal resources. The Kirkham product has been very difficult for us as we have tried to price them keenly and have not had the profits from them to put towards the appropriate resources to service customers as well as we would have liked. Being a young small growing business has had it's challenges, but we are striving to do better.

It would be great for this thread to concentrate on 64galaxie's build and the wonderful cars and engines that he owns. He is very knowledgeable and a great guy to boot.

[damage]

482 cammer like your style. We'll have to compare notes. On the engine, not the AP experience. Shame your car has been ready for so long and not in your garage.

[KarlCSX2498]

Preview foto, your 289 Cobra should look something like this:

[750hp]

Karl - your 289 is a beautiful car, even better because its been in your family since the 60's. Very, very cool!

[Caldon]

Just another "Welcome" to the community. As you may already know, a fabulous site due to the information/knowledge available and the members. FWIW, I have an ERA 289 FIA Street Cobra that had 480 miles on it, and then was parked for 12 years. I bought it and "revived" it last summer and got to put about 400 miles on it before winter storage. I can't wait for this spring and summer!! Enjoy.

[Towmaster]

Originally Posted by damage

Shame your car has been ready for so long and not in your garage.

Originally Posted by 64galaxie

I spoke to David Kirkham about 10 days ago and the body and chassis had just arrived from Poland.

I'm confused. Is 10 days a long time to wait?

[damage]

Originally Posted by Towmaster

I'm confused. Is 10 days a long time to wait?

It depends we he ordered the car. From what I understood they were ready to ship to Australia from Poland in September last year.