If you were to enter Mike Gillard’s home garage, you wouldn’t find much out of the ordinary. A Mk3 Zodiac, clearly well looked after, sits on axle stands in a state of partial disassembly, while a Mk3 Zephyr tucked away in the background appears to have been stripped of every removable panel and piece. Nothing too unusual for your average Kiwi petrolhead, right?
Looks can be deceiving.
It’s hard to find the best place to begin telling a story like this; there are plenty of starting points between the ’70s and now, but 1987 would be as good a year as any, at the Pukekohe Swap Meet.
“I was desperate to find a Raymond Mays head,” Mike recalls. “I found a cardboard box, cut a hole in it, and put it over the top of me; ‘Wanted: Raymond Mays cylinder head’.” It worked!
“Some guys were brilliant, but the things they’re suggesting are recreating the wheel, and I don’t wanna do that”
“I found a Mays head – but it was in Gisborne. An old boy had it under his bench, $700, but he wouldn’t sell it unless he got it crack-tested. I didn’t care, but he had to get it crack-tested. I took it down to the engine reconditioners, three other guys wanted it, and suddenly it’s $1K. I paid anyway.”
Mike continues with a little history on the Mays cylinder heads: “The original Mays heads were cast in Yorkshire in the ’60s, but they used melted down old pistons and a lot of them are soft. Back in those days, guys didn’t know how to make
