Picture this - it's 1967 or so and a good friend works at Chaffee Ford in Hawthorne California. The service manager is Jack Balch who I knew from the army. Shelby has relocated from the Los Angeles airport to 190th street in Torrance, a few miles south of Chaffee. That's the time period. Chaffee is on the way home from school so I made it a habit to stop by and ruin my friends billable hours. then one day a real GT40 street car appeared. There it was, a sadly cosmetically neglected blue GT40 with wire wheels. Apparently the rear hatch had come off at some speed and the plastic rear window was ripped off along with many scrape marks - but to me the car was gorgeous. I had seen several at Riverside Raceway when I filmed the USRRC and CanAm series. In fact, one race car was owned by a Las Vegas dentist who towed his race car with his white street GT40 - yes, I have pictures of his tow car. it sports a euro tow ball thing attached at the end of a hook that is some how fastened to the frame of the tow car - no pics of the attachment points. And there you have it.
Now I am looking for either GT40 gatherings or club outings or someplace where I can see real or otherwise GT40's. Any help is appreciated.
Back to car stuff. In 1971, while living just north of San Francisco, California, I bought a 1969 912 Porsche and started autocrossing. With a lot of help I managed to become national class winner twice as well as regional and zone. In 1979 I moved to Southern California and started time trialing at the major race tracks - again, I was a big fish in a small pond - that is until they combined classes with 914's. Then my clock got cleaned by some very good drivers. that chapter closed in mid 1980's and today - I am a good middle of the pack time trailer with a 911 Carrera S. The car is so much better than I am but I hesitate pushing it - I want to drive home.
that's sort of it. Oh, when Terri and I were dating in the early 1980's she had never time trialed before and she used my 912. She garnered first in class the first season out. when asked how come she did so well her first year she truthfully answered - 'it wasn't my car.'
onward
Doug - looking for GT40 gatherings.
Now I am looking for either GT40 gatherings or club outings or someplace where I can see real or otherwise GT40's. Any help is appreciated.
Back to car stuff. In 1971, while living just north of San Francisco, California, I bought a 1969 912 Porsche and started autocrossing. With a lot of help I managed to become national class winner twice as well as regional and zone. In 1979 I moved to Southern California and started time trialing at the major race tracks - again, I was a big fish in a small pond - that is until they combined classes with 914's. Then my clock got cleaned by some very good drivers. that chapter closed in mid 1980's and today - I am a good middle of the pack time trailer with a 911 Carrera S. The car is so much better than I am but I hesitate pushing it - I want to drive home.
that's sort of it. Oh, when Terri and I were dating in the early 1980's she had never time trialed before and she used my 912. She garnered first in class the first season out. when asked how come she did so well her first year she truthfully answered - 'it wasn't my car.'
onward
Doug - looking for GT40 gatherings.
