Going through the posts today I came upon the one regarding the miniature Bugatti and it brought back some memories of a car I did for my grandson Jacob. It had been purchased at a garage sale several years prior and just sat in the shop awaiting restoration. There was no manufacturer's name on it but it was originally done in the livery of Kroger's Grocery Stores.Electric powered it had two batteries in it that apparently had been wired to provide two speeds forward(slow & slightly faster).I re-wired it so that both were activated at once. The body was glass fiber reinforced plastic and was in good shape. After cleaning off all the decals I sanded and primed it and shot it with a royal blue base. I had recently re-painted the lettering and striping on the 1972 Indy 500 winner(a McLaren M-14B driven by Mark Donahue)and decided to make this one a semi-clone of it. Not dead nuts perfect but similar. The original had some striping on it so I added it and a bit more to Jake's car. A little bit about Jake: He is mildly autistic and very smart. He is an avid NASCAR and hot rod fan and his favorite TV shows are the Mecum and similar auto auctions. At 6 years old he could name every NASCAR driver by name and car number and when my son took him to a local cruise night there was rarely a car there he couldn't identify. When I presented the car to him he wasn't yet 3 years old and it took him about 10 minutes to learn how to drive the car around the neighborhood.Top speed on it was about 10 mph. Anyway we loaded the car in the back of our Pontiac G3 and headed out to Massachusetts where he lives. The look on his face when we got the car out and he realized it was his says it all. The hardest thing that day was attempting to remove him from it;even after the batteries were dead. Jacob will be ten next month and he has given his car to my great grandson and daughter for them to enjoy now.
Lucky Jake, and so nice of you to do it for him. But now you've got me wondering about the Donahue car. Is this the one that was (is?) in the Indy 500 Museum?
I don't believe it is.If you look at the name on the car you can see the M in Mark's name is different. The car I did wasn't the original car as it was destroyed in an accident and the only survivable piece was the engine. That was used in the re-creation of the car and I believe it now resides in a museum in Arizona;at least that was where I was told it was going.
At the very least, my photo is 15 years old. I haven't been back in the museum since then. I have no idea how often they change the exhibits, but I'd seen the car there probably twice before this shot was taken. I hope Jake's car stays in the family.
All I know is the car that I did was constructed from a new tub(maybe another car?)using the original engine from the 72 car. A friend of mine was contracted to do the work and he asked for my help with it. I wound up doing most of the lettering and the striping. They(Penske)provided detailed pictures and wanted the work done exactly as it was originally. This isn't the first time I've had to do this type of job. I also did a 66 Ford GT-40 that competed at LeMans. Actually it was supposed to compete and in practice the rear section wasn't secured properly and blew off at about 150 mph. When it came back to the USA it was raced a couple times and then was repainted black and numbered as Carroll Shelby's car(#2)and displayed at the Indianapolis museum for many years. In 2009 it was pulled out and restored back to it's LeMans configuration(#4)by 203 Custom Car Works in Ypsilanti MI(mechanicals were done by someone else)and I had to letter and re-stripe it. They again specified it be done exactly as it was in 1966. The way they designated the cars(which were all painted the same color)was to spray(with rattle cans)fluorescent colors on the hood and side scoops. This particular car had green sprayed on it. They were adamant that it be done with spray cans AFTER the car was finished and that the small amount of overspray that had gotten inside one door be duplicated! Anyway it finally got done and had a nice spread in a magazine and the write up failed to include who did the body and paint work which didn't set well with the shop. I didn't care;I got paid for the job.
Hi safariknut.Great job on your grandson`s car.looks like he really had a blast with it. Good luck.Have fun.Be safe. Leo
Safarinut, that's an interesting story and I thank you for taking the time to write it. The #2 GT40 is probably the one most folks are familiar with. Getting some first hand knowledge of it is really appreciated.
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