ID Required!

Keith Hardy · 11-10-04, 09:07 PM

Hi there - knowledgeable people. I would appreciate an ID for this car please. I know it's a (genuine) Daytona Coupe and this picture was taken by me at a Historic Race in, er, 1986(or maybe earlier) at Brands Hatch UK. Question is, who's got it now, where is it and what's it's history? This might be a toughie as there were I believe, 6 of them. Don't know if the racing number is significant. Have another one taken from the front of the car if anyone wants to see it. Thanks for your help.

Keith Hardy · 11-10-04, 09:10 PM

Here it is anyway... [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

Keith Hardy · 11-10-04, 09:14 PM

Thinking about it this has to be a genuine Le mans car because of the indicator lights on the roof. And did you notice (for those '40 owners head scratching about their choice of driving mirrors) there ain't none! Guess he was always out in front....

Fran Hall RCR · 11-10-04, 10:29 PM

I think it may be the John Willment team car......
Rob Beddington is bound to know more than me......

Keith Hardy · 11-11-04, 07:00 AM

Thanks for that Fran. I await further info with interest. By the way, I just came across a small note in my album that this car was advertised for sale at this Post Historic event at £70,000 or near offer. I followed this figure with a series of !!!!!. I guess I thought that was a lot of money in the mid '80's but what would it be worth now?

RobBeddington · 11-11-04, 08:39 AM

Cheers Fran... [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

Fran's right - it is the Willment Daytona Coupe, chassis number CSX-2131 raced in Europe and SA by Jack Sears, Frank Gardner and Bob Olthoff with varying success. I think it's part of the Shelby American collection now.

As far as pricing is concerned, a Daytona Coupe went for $4m a few years back. So £70k in the 1980s was a bargain, even allowing for inflation. You should have snapped it up!

Allen Grant, who raced a Daytona for Shelby, was offered a Daytona by Carroll Shelby for (I think) $7,000 in the late 1960s but turned it down because of other priorities. Now that WAS a bargain.

Cheers!

Rob

RobBeddington · 11-11-04, 08:44 AM

Just found this - here's the car at the Shelby Museum now:

Now this is a garage I wouldn't mind owning ...

Rob

Chuck · 11-11-04, 10:11 AM

Rob,
Where is the Shelby Museum?

RobBeddington · 11-11-04, 12:18 PM

Hi Chuck

It's located in Boulder, Colorado. There's a map etc on the website below. It holds some awesome cars - while writing a piece on Pete Brock's wild Ford Falcon Sedan Delivery, I heard that it was at the Shelby Collection - which I had never heard of before. The website does the collection proud.

Shelby American Collection

Cheers

Rob

David · 11-11-04, 03:36 PM

It is, or used to be, open only on weekends, maybe only saturdays, but it IS worth the trip. Luckily, I live in Dallas, TX; so, I can get there in one long days drive. And, it is worth every minute on the road!

Go if you can.

David Lowell

Keith Hardy · 11-11-04, 05:25 PM

Nice one Rob - thanks for the info. Possibly the reason that I didn't get too excited at the time was the state that it was in.(although I could have afforded it then - the divorces came later [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]) Judging by your excellent photo of the car as it is now, this coupe has undergone a major restoration. It is quite possible that when I saw the car, it was exactly as raced at Le Mans because I cannot find any reference to it racing in Post Historics since, nor was it entered on this particular day. If you study the photos carefully, you can see it's sorry condition.Is the no. 2 significant? Interestingly, the museum photo shows that it appears to have lost it's roof Le Mans indicators. For historic cars that I have been close to over the years, I find it quite fascinating to get a "then & now" perspective. Thanks again Rob...

RobBeddington · 11-11-04, 06:46 PM

Hi again Keith

It's anorak time now, but you did ask for the then and now perspective...

Digging around, I'm pretty sure you saw the car at Brands in 1983. If so, then I was there too... It certainly raced #2 that year.

Originally, in 1964, it had an attractive one piece front end, similar to the Shelby Daytona Coupes. I have photos somewhere.

In its first major body rebuild, before you saw the car, the front end was replaced by a (IMHO butt ugly) two piece, with the bonnet now hinging just below the headlights (see the shut line in your photo) and different grille apertures.

It was restored again in the late 1980s in a darker red, with painted white wheels (mmm ... nice...). That's when the roof lights and other bits were removed. In this restoration it still retained the two piece front end.

It's since been nicely restored again although no-one's bitten the bullet to rebuild the front end to its original spec. It is however in fantastic condition.

Cheers and thanks for posting your pictures.

Rob
PS If you have any pictures of the same race meeting with a blue Datsun 260Z in the background then that's probably my car [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img].