History 1953 Carrera Panamericana Photos (200!) by Ralph Morse in Life Mag. Archive

While looking for photos of the SS United States for a graphic design project, happened upon the work of magazine photographer Ralph Morse in the Life magazine photo archive.

He did an amazing job covering the fourth Mexican Road Race for Life with 200 photos in this archive.

Check it out... http://images.google.com/images?sa=4&imgc=&imgsz=&q=Auto+Race+-+Mexico+source:life

 

WOW, Froghawk...very interesting bunch o pix here,no doubt...since i love the carrera this is great material to store...looks like that mr. Morse worked mostly on for the Lincoln team,considering the amount of images shown...great stuff ,thanks por postin the link and a bump for all LCP fans....

 

Wicked cool! i can't wait to get home and have a look at these. Here's a pic of a like Lincoln at the Nat'l Auto Museum (Harrah's) in Reno:



Thanks, Ron

 

I forgot to add that i have a 54 Lincoln same as the red above wich im planning to make a tribute of the original carrera panamerica cars....love em!!

 

Very interesting. That is a neat race to follow. Love the pix.

 

Thanks/Gracias for posting those pics of one of the most amazing race series in motorsports history. I have an old Floyd Clymer book on the Carrera that I've owned for years which has always been a fun read. Back in my misspent youth in SoCal I knew a lot of guys who'd actually raced in the events and loved to hear their stories.

 

The Clymer book is great!!!! I LOVE this race, the folks who raced this were crazy.

 

Great pictures, John. I'm an old guy who just joined HAMB, and I was around in those years. In fact, I stopped by Stroppe & Smith here in Long Beach in '52 or '53 to talk to Clay Smith about some engine problems I had with a V8 60 that Stroppe had built for an MGTC that was raced for a couple of years and known as 2Jr. When I visited the shop, the Lincolns were loaded on a transporter and getting ready to head south. I had a good chance to stick my head through a window and look at the interior, which had been fitted with some handholds, and stuff like that. I was highly impressed with how sanitary everything was on the Lincolns.

I had a collection of 1/43 Mexican cars that I donated to the Petersen Museum several years ago, and I have a fairly decent collection of autographs, photos, memorabilia and etc., etc., that the Petersen says it would like to have, but I'm having some difficulty finding somebody to appraise it for IRS purposes.

I'm going to post a request for help in that regard in a few days when I have more time to put a note together on all this.

Again, thanks for the reference to the Life photos, most of which I had never seen before now.

 

lf you come across anything with regard to this Porsche 356, car # 200 in the race, please let me know. It would be greatly appreciated.
We are looking for more photos and information to help with its restoration.

 

This car was a local car owned and driven by C.D. Evans. He was the owner of the local dirt track named Evans Oval, and he was also the owner of Car Parts Machine Shop which is still in business:

 

Taj--The driver of the Porsche was Jacqueline Evans, an actress. A partial biography of her is at www.answers.com/topic/jacqueline-evans. The lady painted on the hood is Evita Peron. I can dig out more on Evans and the car if you need it. Do you own the original car or are you building a replica?? Speaking just off the top of my head, I think she drove in at least two races, and seems to have been thought moderately competent. Best I recall at this moment, she did not have a co-piloto in the Porsche, but I'm not positive of that. If you need further, contact me at [email protected].
Ralph L. Seifer, Long Beach, California

 

During the Carrera's short lifetime 26 people were killed, 9 in 1953 alone, giving it the dubious distinction of having the highest mortality rate per race in the history of motor sport. Thanks for the link, great images.

 

Taj,just reminding here that im in the process (it might take some time ) to scarf thru a famous mexican family of pro photographers of those times and 1 member of this family owns literally tons of pics of the 50/54 Panam race...

Cant wait to look thru all this hystorical material...my goal will be trying to scan all the stuff (if they owner allow) and then i can show it around here

Obviously this Porsche will be easily recognized and i'll pass all the infos /pics i can get to you in case...fingers crossed to get the mission accomplished...too bad im really far away from DF currently ,where this old fella lives currently...i think is 93 right now!

 

froghawk ... great stuff ... I don't know how I missed this thread the first time around! ... thanks a ton for sharing!

All of these Ralph Morse photographs are excellent ... but I'm really diggin' this image:



... it's well thought-out ... nicely composed ... and it tells a story!

 

We are restoring the original car, chassis # 10681. This 1951 Porsche was originally owned by Walter Glockler, who contibuted to the creation of the 550 Spyder.
It left the Porsche factory in Radium Green with a red vinyl interior and a 44 horsepower motor.
It was raced extensively in Europe prior to going to Mexico sometime in 1952 or early 1953.
Lopez, the only female driver in the race, had the car repainted in Mexican colors; white, red and green along with the face of Eva Peron.
We don't have a lot more information about the car other than that supplied to us by Porsche until it resurfaced in the late eighties when it was vintage raced in Mexico.
It made its way to the Taj Ma Garaj in 2005 after a ridiculously long time stuck in Mexico due to customs.
Any and all information is welcome.

 

Taj--I just did some quick searching through Daryl Murphy's excellent book, which is occasionally available on eBay, and I came up with the following that may be of some help to you. In the 1953 race, she was entered as Jacqueline Evans de Lopez, and drove a 356 which carried entry No. 200.
At the moment I don't have any more information on 200, but there was also in the 1953 race a 356 entered by Joaquin del Castillo, Uruguay, and carrying No. 199.
In the 1954 race, Evans's car wore No. 100, and Murphy's book says this was a Gmund 356 that had been entered by del Castillo in the '53 race, so Evans apparently drove two different coupes in those years. The picture you provide here is also contained in Murphy's book in the chapter on the 1954 race, i.e., the ex-del Castillo car.
As for Glockler, my understanding is that he was a highly qualified bodybuilder, and many of the cars raced here in California in the early '50s were said to be wearing Glockler bodies. Again, my memory is a trifle weak, but I am of the impression that the body on James Dean's 550 was a Glockler, but again, I'm not 100% positive.
I'll continue to see what I can find on the Evans Porsche, and please keep us posted on your restoration of this car. Personally, I regard the Evans car(s) as very important vehicles because they were so frequently photographed because of the Peron portrait on the hood, and they appear often in the Mexican literature.

 

Guys,being on right side of the pond (Mexico) i can probably scarf around some old local mexican magazines...im always lookin on old librarys,flea markets to find Panam race material of any sorts...

im on the road now but when back i'll take a look in my books to see if i can get more infos of miss Jaqueline Evans Porsche...

im a sucker for the hystorical Panam race ,and i try to find anything related around here... hope i can help somehow Sled

 

rseifer & sled,
Thanks to you both. Your pictorial documentation and information to correctly restore # 10681 will be used in conjunction with what we have assembled.
I strongly concur with rseifer with regard to the historical significance of this 356.
Hopefully sled's contacts will also be able to help shed some light on this little jewel's history.
I'll keep you posted.

 

Taj,somethin unusual and really surprizing just happened here tonight in Mexico city...i dont know how to explain this but im only a neutral messenger here so bare with me...is a bit early cause i could get only quick infos from an authorized/knowledgeable source....

in another thread regarding the Panamericana race i just posted that i met an old friend o mine,a car collector...and he introduced me a pal of him,age 72 and very much involved on the LPC cars and original races...also he knows many of the original LPC cars and he just said (without me mentioning that you have the N.10681 Porsche at all) that a collector in Mexico City OWNS the Jaqueline Evans car....car has been fully restored in the last 15 or more years....imagine my surprise now that you're stating that YOU own the original car....

First of all,i have NO interest at all to doubt your words or even the mexican guy story too....we need more details here and is what i will try to figger out soon according to the guy avaibility ...now,you put me in a mission,i did'nt wanted to....but that's very interesting to know...

I think probably is the case that our fellow member Rseifer is mentioning..that miss Evans drove 2 different Porsches in 2 different years,it might be the case....

So,i will be meeting my contact guy tomorrow or friday and he said the owner of the Porsche is quite a formal guy but with a little work i can be introduced to him and see the Porsche in the flesh...also to perform his top notch restoration he scarfed for almost 20 years any archive in Mexico to get the proper information...i mean,this guy is wealthy and a deep lover of the LPC,so he did his job with maximum respect and detailed infos...

Note to mention that this Porsche in question has been at Le Mans,Mille Miglia,targa Florio and so on..has an outstanding racing pedigree...

The adventure begins here,again im absolutely neutral and just referring what i just heard locally...more to come obviously....Sled

 

Wow! The plot thickens.

 

Taj,after careful reading on the very useful Rseifer infos my deduction is that you have 1 of the 2 jaqueline Evans Porsches....the other one is here fully restored in DF....

My next step will be trying to get an apoinment according to my time to check out the local Evans car....the owner took an immense amount of time and infos to do it right,he had the means,skills and patience to do that....he travelled all over Mexico for many years to hystorical car archives to dig out precious infos about HIS car...but at this point im sure he has TONS of precious infos on YOUR car too....2 closed racing years,same driver...i would do the same if i was trying to restore such car.....

So,i feel if i met the local Porsche owner he'll show me a good amount of infos of your car too...i almost bet on this!
And i think he will be surprised to know that you have the other Porsche....

Trying to go deeper here as time and personal schedule allows...

before i forgot...sorry to hijack the thread Froghawk,did'nt wanted to,beautiful pics here,enjoyed them a lot....sled

 

Sled--Get pictures, take pictures of the car and the owner, please. PICTURES. PICTURES. PICTURES. Muchas gracias.

 

rseifer....well,that's the minimum that i will do,pics of anything...but as far my contact guy said the car owner has an immense amount of LCP infos,paperwork,history,historical pics and whatever else related to miss Evans car...by logic i assume that he's clearly aware of BOTH Evans Porsches being so close raced...

As we speak im leaving DF in few hours and all this mission has been postponed to the next time here..not because i wanted to but my contact had personal family issues and could'nt follow our main plan ...but it's only delayed,so i will stick on this mission as far i'll be back here..im comin often in DF anyway,so not a big deal....

So,stand by for the moment fellas....not much but that's the best i could do...

stay tuned..

 

Just some quick news here....just spoke with my contact guy today Henry in DF about gettin an apoinment made with the owner of the other Jaqueline Evans Porsche soon...ya know,it has to be a formal introduction,invite both to breakfast and such and slowly being introduced to see not only miss Evans fully restored Porsche but hopefully much more stuff regarding the original Panam race..this guy's archive is immense ,i've been told...fingers crossed that he will share it with me!

Also been reading the Floyd Clymer book covering the first Panam race,1950...and Jaqueline Evans de Lopez was already in the game racing a Chrysler 47 coupe,number 17....described as the glamour girl back then...She finished 45th overall.

 

Tajmagaraj...yesterday night i was at the hotel Camino Real in DF (Mexico City) for the official presentation of the LCP 2010....i went there with my pal Enrique wich is the person that im workin togheter to be introduced to the owner of the other Jaqueline Evans Porsche...
Enrique is a real gentleman and since i told him about your other Evans porsche he got intrigued on putting togheter the 2 Porsche owners...im trying my very best down here and i really hope that the mexican Porsche owner will be an open minded person..infos so far are quite of a very reserved guy,so i've got quite contrasting feelings at the moment...but for the sake of the history i will be pushin to try to connect both of you guys ...this local collector has restored his Porsche collecting precious infos for many many years...i really hope he will be willing to lend a hand to you here...i cant promise it ,but for sure i will go the extra mile to put you guys togheter and well..hope that you can get your precious infos to restore your beauty as it deserves to be done...still in DF and still pushin to see the Porsche and the guy myself these days...if it happens i gladly let you know obviously...fingers crossed for you Taj....Sled

 

rseifer.I'm just joined HAMB, so called my attention your collection of 1/43 mexican cars, I'm modeller of 1/43 Carrera Panamericana Models, Do you keep some photos of your cars? any info you could share specially color photos of those cars, will be deeply appreciated.

 

hello, I am a nephew of Jacqueline Evans de Lopez and I was hoping you still have the car or it's current owner?

thanks,

Peter

 

OK, what the hell is this?

 

Wasn't that an effort from Cadillac?


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