C.O.L.

In early 1953 RPD "Dick" Fuller purchased the 495 cc Triton from Mike Renton when Mike imported a factory Cooper-Norton through Ken Gregory. Dick "re-vamped" the Norton-engined Triton and re-named it the C.O.L. Special.

Fuller made some changes to the Triton, among them modifying the pedals, and competed with it during 1953 and 1954.

It was a strange choice for Dick , an active motorsportsman in the Transvaal and prominent member of the Sports Car Club. He had previously competed in an array of mighty machines such as a Chevrolet Special, a 4.5 litre Invicta and a pre-war Maserati powered by a Chevrolet engine that was called the "Chevrolati".

The C.O.L. made only a few appearances mainly due to the fact that the Sports Car Club were often unable to afford to hire the Grand Central Speedway, the only suitable race track in the Transvaal at the time and this necessitated the SCC drivers having to travel hundreds of miles to other centres in order to race.

His first major event in the car was a promising outing on the streets of Alexandra Park in Pietermaritzburg during the Easter weekend Coronation 100 handicap but his race ended when a driveshaft snapped.

On 6 June 1953 at Grand Central he teamed up with Chris Fergusson (Cooper JAP 1100) and Mrs Valschecci (MG TD) in a relay event of one and a half hours. They were heavily handicapped and their team finished 7th.

The C.O.L. achieved its best result in the 1954 Settlers Day Handicap on 21 August at Grand Central race track when it finished 8th (see photo below). There was high attrition in the healthy field of 27 cars and the C.O.L. was last of the finishers.

"Fuller had his first good race in the C.O.L." said a report on the race.

It appears that Fuller retired from racing after this event.

The C.O.L. in motion and in the pits : 21 August 1954 at Grand Central - Queenshaven Settlers Handicap. Dick finished 8th that day.

Our thanks to Robert Young for the text and photos for this page.

If anyone has any more details or knows of the C.O.L.'s location, please get in touch.