T70 barn find ?

[SpyderMike]

I was at Elkhart Lake for BRIC and was talking to a family friend who is a regulary at the track for many many years. The one story he told me was of his father driving into the paddock with Dan Gurney in their family car in what he thought was 1966 after stuffing a Lola .... same car??

Mike

[Johan]

Mike, my car only raced 6 known times with Gurney, the last being the Stardust Grand Prix(Can AM round 6).The car stuffed at RA was probably either in 1967 or the #36 car that he drove after the #30 car. I have the #30 car, which is not listed as having raced at RA.
Did you see the big group 6 wreck ?

[SpyderMike]

Thanks for the info Johan. This friend is in his 50s now, and seeing Dan Gurney (his idol when he was a kid) in his family car made quite an impression to this day.

I saw the aftermath of the crash - not when it occurred. I spent most time at one side of turn 5 or the other. I was at the track near the pits only when my in-law was running his car(s) in Group 9. Nothing like standing next to the straight away when the V12 Ferrari engine went by at some 14k rpms....my ears are still bleeding.

There were at least 4 or 5 T70s at BRIC this week I think, I have pics of a couple...

Regards,
Mike

[Johan]

Mike, did he have to put a bubble in the (family) car ?

[SpyderMike]

Ha! That's a good one

[Johan]

I couldn't stand it any longer and have started putting the car back together, even if just to see what is missing.

[Johan]

Engine is still out but at least I can roll it around now.

[Johan]

rear suspension detail...

[Mark Clapp]

Johan, what GT40 is in the background of picture 1?

[Johan]

Fran Kress'old spyder modeled after his #1054 so he had something to race. I'm in the process of fitting a new set of AP brakes to it, and then it is time to rebuild the ZF and put a fresh motor in it. Lots of projects, so little time.
http://www.clubcobra.com/photopost/showp...t=1&cat=500

[Johan]

Here is a better picture of the GT

[Johan]

OK, so it is a worse picture.arrrgh

[jerryweichers]

Johan , It was nice talking with you this A.M. as requested here is ''the rest of the storey '' on your T70 chassis # SL71/34. First let me state that your ''barn find'' is the real deal. Your car was owned in the late 1970's by the Bartz brothers . I believe if my memory serves me their names were Charlie and Bob . They made a big spash in 1984 with an article in ''Road and Track'' about a Lola T165 built for the street. They claimed in the article that Lola was supplieing new tubs for their project. Unfortunatly the truth was they had commisioned John Collins of Santa Ana , Calif. to copy a Lola T165 Chassis (SL165/25) and build up street cars on the lola replica chassis. John Collins is a great guy ,a team fabricator for Shelby American on the GT40 program. He was simply the fabricator of the cars . Someone in a post on this thread referred to the RandT article as a spyder chassis that had been couped. That is only partially correct as the chassis used to build the yellow car in RandT never was in the Lola factory. Now to your cars connection to this storey..... Your car was delivered via John Mecom/ US Lola distributor to Dan Gurney . I do not know the interim owners between Gurney and the Bartz bros. but I do know they ended up with the car in the 70's . Why did they convert it to a coupe? During the late 70's and early 80's there was in LA a group of legendry adrenalin junkies known as the ''Banzai Runners'' It was a very exclusive club , to join you had to achieve 200 mph on an LA freeway!!!!!They had a measured course and they would go out and run their cars at 3:00 A.M.. About the only cars that could qualify were T70 coupes and GT40's . Since Lola T70's were worthless to race they became the preferred platform to build up a 200 mph ''Banzai Runner''Such notible figures as ''Dan Haggerty'' of ''Grizzly Adams'' secured Lola chassis to convert to a ''Bonzai Runner''.The magazine ''Californian'' even did a storey on these guys . In one article a Calif Highway Patrolman was interviewed about the Bonzai Runners . When asked what he would do when blown past by a 200 mph car his answer was ''nothing we don't even have a fixed wing plane that could follow them.''
Any way back to your car.... the Bartz bros. sold your car onto Bobby Thomson I believe from New Orleans. I think your car is pictured in the book ''Vintage & Historic Racing Cars by Alex Gabbard on page 189.
Why the double hump dash? ... Your body is not a Maurader body , It is actually a body that was produced off one of my cars in which a mold was taken. The mold was produced in conjuction with Danny McGlauflin
owner of the X james Garner ''American International Racing IE AIR ''in conjuction with a company in the San Fransico bay area which (and don't quote me on this!!!!) was called Safire. The double hump dash was formed so that the car could be built up in left hand drive.
Why do I know yours is the Gurney car?.... A. I owned SL75/122 which was Gurney's T70 Mk 3B CanAM. My car was restored at John Collins shop . While down at John's shop to view the progress on my car(in 1984) I saw the original body work(spyder) for your/ Gurney car and John told me that that was the original body work for the car Bobbie Thomson ended up with! Somewhere in my archives I have pictures to verify. So Johan sleep well tonight ......your car is the real deal and congratz on the score,jerry

[jerryweichers]

Johan, Please excuse my error in my previous post concerning the maker of the coupe body fitted to your Lola... the manufacturer of the body was Scorpio, owned by Barry Goldstein of Santa Clara , Calif.Further he took a spash mold off my T70 73/131 xJames Garner AIR Racing when Tim Lovette was in possesion of the car . sorry for the mistake. jerry

[Richard O'Clery]

Johan, how is the rebuild going? I'm very keen to see your recent progress.

My father gave me a Tamiya 1:12 T-70 MkIII kit when I was 12 (mid-seventies, I must admit). I fell in love with it the moment I saw the artist impression front 3/4 picture on the box. 30 years later it is still my favourite car of all time.

Even though I'm working on something else at the moment I would love to build a replica one day. There are a couple of really good Mk3B replicas out there, but no-one seems to be doing a MkIII. I know the 3B was better aerodynamically, but, as with the 1997 long-tail McLaren F1 road car, I think the visual purity of the original was lost.

Jerry, was yours in "The Racing Scene"?

[Mike Dozier]

Richard

Mac Mclendon offers MK IIIs...but they are more "duplicates" ($$$$) than replicas.

MikeD

[Johan]

Jerry, thanks for the interesting info.
It helps put things back together.
Richard, I'm sort of plugging away at putting what I have back together. I have some other projects that keep me busy,
but I'm anxious to burn gas in the car some day.

[Joe T]

I cant begin to describe how good that car looks, have you got any idea what it should weigh?

Cheers

[Johan]

Thanks Joe ! I just had threee beers and sat there watching it like a TV set, so I have to agree with you. I think it is going to end up weighing around 2000 lbs. and the best news is that it gets heavier every time I put another part on it...

[Richard O'Clery]

Johan, thanks for the update. It is wonderful to see an original being worked on (I enjoyed Jim's 3B rebuild too). I look forward to seeing your progress as time permits.

I can very much relate to de-focussing and watching a beautiful car project like a TV set after a few beers (bourbon in my case). It releases the conscious to see how far you've come rather than how far you have to go, and lets the subconsious get on with forward-planning (usually letting me know what it's come up with at about 3am!).

Mike, does Mac Mclendon have a website for the MkIIIs?. Google points me to the golfer, not the car. How is your RCR build going?

Joe, who did your bodyshell?

Thanks guys