The Carrera Panamericana was a 1,990 mile border-to-border race event held on open, pubic roads in Mexico similar to the MilleÂ*Miglia and the Targa Florio over in Italy. The original event was raced yearly from 1950 to 1954, and was considered by ma... <BR><BR>To read the rest of this blog entry from The Jalopy Journal, click here.
I'd rename it "Luftwaffe Vacation".The only thing it is missing is a busty blonde and a shadowy murder.But I love those Gullwings!
I really loved the 54 race when ford motor company fielded a major team to show off their new Over head valve V-8 and was beaten by an independent driving a 6 cylinder Ford. Never saw any ford ads on the race
My Dad actually raced this event. He was telling me how crazy it was running through these small Mexican towns and there would always be someone that would slip onto the course while the race was going on and try to race the cars in the event or there whould be sheep or cattle in the road. Very dangerous course. He and his team member ended up going off the road on a curve and crashed. They were ahead of everybody by about an hour!
What originally got my interest was the idea of big American luxury cars as road racers, anyone who's driven a big stock 50's sedan could tell you that won't work but race they did, Lincoln used the larger displacement truck y-block and Chrysler used 2x4's some of the Chryslers had disc brakes from a limo
Love the whole idea and lure surrounding that race. It's amazing to see real cars on real terrain tear it up. Dangerous just like Baja.
The Hot Rod Garage now know a little something about all this too. Never heard Jason more excited than after his "experience". This months, maybe last months HOT ROD has a short feature on Hayden's Cadillac that Jason and crew put together and kept together during the race.
I like to go to the checkpoints to see all the international drivers and their machines, a lot bring their cars from Europe, US and Canada just to race in this event.
HAMBer Ron Kellogg has accumulated a great deal of movie footage & photographs from the original ('50-'54) Carrera Panamericana races ... and worked with filmmaker Stephen Mitchell to produce a documentary film about the famous Mexican road races: Here's a preview of the documentary:
... and be sure to checkout foolthrottle's Carrera Panamericana thread for some pics, video & info about the 2011 La Carrera Panamericana Rally (held October 21-27).
Those races and drivers have always fascinated me more than a little. Imagine driving hell bent for election in a car with no roll bar, safety harness or other gear we view as normal racing equipment now on those roads. Back in the mid 60's I went to trade school with a guy who was related somehow to Ray Crawford and we got to see a few movies of the race.
Ralph Morse pic posted by HEMI32 on the '53 Carrera Panamericana Photo thread. Although taken the year after, it really gives a feel for the nature of the event.
there is a section in Smokey Yunick's autobiography about his experiance in this race and it is very entertaining. I did read it but I did listen to the audio book
Many of the current Carrara racers have been coming to Colorado over the past four years to run the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in the Vintage Auto Division. Great group of racers from all over the world. The current record holder for the Modified vintage class is Doug Mockett running a highly modified 1954 Oldsmobile Super 88. He has won his class several times at the modern Carrera race as well. What if Ansel Adams was a racing fan? by Mike Rogers 303, on Flickr
Yes ... After being disqualified in 1952 (for allowing a mechanic to touch his Mercedes 300SL on the next-to-the-last day of the race), John Fitch drove one of the four Carl Kiekhaefer Chrysler New Yorker Specials entered in the 1953 Carrera Panamericana ... Bud Boile was his co-pilot ... they did not finish (over time limit).
I found a website http://www.interfund.biz/carrerapan/index.htmlwhere it appears you can still buy the DVD and poster. Looks suspect and there's no phone number to check. Does anyone know if the full length film is available? Tks.
The Jalopy Journal
