Roadrace cars... vintage, nostalgia, historic

I had no idea anybody ever raced one. Anybody know anything about the car's history?

 

Thanks for the tip. I was at Lime Rock for that 1971 race in the rain and cheered along with everyone else when the Ghost started moving up position after position. Probably the most entertaining race I ever attended.

 

And here's the caption for that pic:

"Jerry Walsh sits atop the 100-6 Healey that he raced in the late sixties. Greenwich Village in lower Manhattan is the site of the Purple Onion club, which sponsered the car. You will never see racing in this area of the city. Jerry later married one of the dancers, which is a nice side benefit to being sponsored." http://www.healeyracing.com/index.php?image=55

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/vintage_racer/sets/72157607658643415/

 

very interesting car, Do you have any more details of the history, like who and where it raced ?

Thanks, Bruce.

 

Don't have alot of racing history on the car other than an old dash plaque I found in the glovebox from the 80's when it ran at a SCCA event in Kent, WA. It was based out of the Seattle area and had work done on it at a small garage in Ballard, WA. The owner of 25+ years got into financial trouble and the car was taken on a mechanics lien. It was then sold to an employee and ended up in Tonasket, WA under a carport w/ a tarp that was half blown off. It was evidentally a fast car with alot of cool mods. Engine setback almost 4 inches, subframe connectors, 4-wheel discs w 12 bolt rear from a '68 Camaro. Engine is a Pontiac 400 with some cool RA IV stuff. Handles amazing, like a new Corvette.

http://youtu.be/VKP1gYxOKVk

 

My thanks. Very cool car.

 

Very cool. Dig the 10" American 200S wheels shoved in there. My car has similar mods to the wheel lips, they were rolled nicely and slightly flared by gently working them out above the wheel. Thanks for sharing the pic.

 

You guys are getting a little off the subject, neither muscle cars or pony cars fit the bill.

 

"Old Yeller VII was sold as a bare rolling chassis to Don Kirby, a driver in northern New York state. He installed some sort of a body and a Chevrolet motor. The car was raced in east coast events as "Old Yeller VII". Max, at the time, claimed no knowledge of the car because it was sold only as a chassis. According to Reagan Rulau, Brock Yates and some friends later installed an Ambro plastic body that looks like a Birdcage Maserati. The car now races in that configuration."

 

"Run what ya brung"....

 

The T-Bird is one of the roadrace cars that Ford Motor Company had directed Danny Eames, through De Paolo Engineering, to have built. As I recall, Danny told me that these were not the two cars that were built for the time trials on the sands of Daytona. I can't remember if Danny told me that, in this particular photo, whether the T-Bird is driven by Chuck Daigh, or Marvin Panch (or someone else).

The Ferrari appears to be a 4.4 Litre, 141LM , first owned by Tony Parravano, then Carlisle Blackwell. I don't know who is up in this particular photo. I don't know about the Lotus, the special or the Corvette.

 

Returning to the November 1955 road races at Glendale's Grand Central Air Terminal, this is George Buchanan in his Lotus IX.

 

At Billetproof today I was going thru a vendor's stack of old waterslide decals and found a BOBCOR sticker. I should have bought it! Gary

 

Yes you should have! Keelhauling would be too severe, but 20 lashes is truly deserved.

BOCAR...

 

This is at the October 22nd and 23rd, 1955 race at Torrey Pines. The 2.7 mile course, just north of the city of San Diego, California, betwen the towns of La Jolla and Del Mar, was on an old Army facility, Camp Callan. Today, it's a golf course.

The shot is one, taken with my trusty Brownie Hawkeye, of a new MG A, driven by one of the "hot shoes" of MG's of the day, Bobby Brigham. This particular car is probably the same car that, a few years later, a good friend and mentor of mine, John Lawrence, had the dubious honor of the first driver to die as a result of a crash, on the first weekend of racing, at Riverside Raceway

 

You've got a rare piece there, even without the racing history. One of a total of 697 Trans Ams built that year. It's actually nice to see one that hasn't been restored to showroom condition, sitting in an enclosed trailer! Looks like it was originally an A/C car (judging from the vents in the upper middle of the dash), but if it was, it wasn't an original R/A IV car (which are REALLY rare!). Great job saving and preserving it!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rf91GiMTsm8
This is silent but contains some shots of the Cunningham CR-4-K Coupe.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=vcQiwLMPlH4

1951 Watkins Glen<o></o>
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1964 Alfa Romeo TZ 1600 cc, 14th at Le Mans, sold last year $1M

 

These are so beautiful in the flesh. I'm always tickled hearing the Brits call them a "T-Zed".

 

One of the Alfa TZ's in post 593 was auctioned this weekend. $895,014. I remember seeing some of them at the vintage races at Watkins Glen. I wonder if the drivers would be risking them near the armco if they knew then what they would sell for now.

 

Another Alfa, so rare that none exist, only a replica body or two.
1939-40 2500 SS 'Ala Spessa" won a 1,000 mile race in Libya, running on a mix of ethanol and palm oil, squirted by maybe the first electrical fuel injection system. They weren't being Green, they were preparing for WW2 oil shortages.

I posted this one a couple of years ago on the Aerodinamica Spider thread.

https://secure.flickr.com/photos/26595614@N07/4955639252/

https://secure.flickr.com/photos/26595614@N07/4955639254/in/photostream/

 

Again, with my Brownie Hawkeye, this was taken at a race put on by the California Sports Car Club (CSCC) at the Pomona Fair Grounds, in October 1956. This was the second race at Pomona, the current site of events such as the Winternational Drags. The car in a Ferrari 750 Monza. The owner/driver is Harrison Evans.

 

Read the history of Cunningham on The Old Motor.

http://theoldmotor.com/?s=cunningham

 

I've been reading it too. It's being done by Leigh Dorrington and is excellent.

 

Back in the day, October 1955, at Torrey Pines California. Here are a couple of faded color images. In this day, event the most exotic cars were pitted in the dirt; sometimes sparce grass. These were taken with my Brownie Hawkeye, in the foggy morning


John Edgar's 375 4.9 Ferrari, driven by Jack McAfee


And Edgar's 550 Porsche Spyder, driven by McAfee in the Under 1500 c.c. Modified race.

 

Last weekend, we ran a race of "Historic" cars at Buttonwillow Raceway (west of Bakersfield, California). In our group, the were a couple of MG specials, a pre-war MG, a couple of three-wheeled Morgans, a Model T, a Jag XK120, a Morgan Plus Four; and two Nationals, a 1916 and a 1911. The 1911 was a 7th place finisher at the first Indy 500. The owner of the Nationals, in another group at the meet, ran a McLaren CanAm car.

My car was a perenial second place runner (as is usual). The car (and driver of the weekend) was a 1931 Alfa-Romeo P-3 Gran Prix car owned and driven by Peter Giddings. The car was once driven by Tazio Nuvolari. I had the pleasure of following the car around the track for a couple of laps (until my arms and shoulders began to "give out"). The consolation was that I was able to hear the fabulous sounds of the eight cylinder supercharged engine; and drink in the exotic smells of the burning methanol/gasoline exhaust (kinky, huh?). As there are no photos out yet of the event, the below photo is one taken at Monterey's Laguna Seca, as Peter dives inside my car, going into Turn 11.

So next, it's off to Sears Point (Infineon Raceway) the first weekend of June, for the Sonoma Historic Motorsports Reunion. In our event, the pre-war cars, Peter told me that we are both to be humbled by an East Coast car and driver. The car, driven by a very capable driver is a "clone" Alfa Romeo 1935 8C.

 

Great Brownie image!!! Great meeting you at Sonoma.

 

Need more info!! Great little rig, have a very soft spot for the little SAABs!

 

I ran the exact same carbs on my SAAB 850GT powered D/SR built in '68-'69. Class champ in '73 & '74. New owner totaled it in '75.