Fran Kress Spyder pics

[Paul Thompson 'Hooligan']

Hi all,

I have received the following email from John

"Hi,
Can you post pictures of my spyder ? I do not know how to do it. This is the
spyder that Fran Kress built, and I bought it a few years ago. I vintage race
it in the US along with 2 Lola Can am cars. Also i attach picture of X1 from
which my car was styled.
Thanks,
John Woerheide
Atlanta , Ga. USA"

So here they are - I'll leave John to pass any additional info / details:

Pic 1

Pic 2

Pic 3

Pic 4

I have assumed copyright for the above pictures is held by John, if anyone has issue with that - let me know and I'll remove them.

regards

Paul T

 

[Guest]

In the pic with the two cars sniffing each others noses, it looks to me that the spyder is a bit taller than the normal enclosed car. Can anyone confirm this or not?

Malcolm

 

[Bill Musarra]

It may just be a perspective angle. The wheels and tires however apear a bit larger to me.
Bill

 

Paul,

It's a small world after all. The roof on my GT40 cd (on Ebay) videos is from John Woerheide's "Fran kress" car. It was black (unpainted and unfinished) when I saw it at Fran's garage years ago.

This would be correct unless there was another that Fran chopped the roof off of.

Thanks for the photos. I like the Spyder look.

Have fun!

John

 

[Ian K]

The window does look different. I believe
the original spyder's windows had to be
reshaped for structural integrity.

It also appears that John's car has the
Gulf flares.

Ian

 

Ian,

Fran Kress purchased the last seven Spyder windscreens years ago. That's one of those original windshields on there.

Have fun!

John

 

[Johan]

That spyder has a coupe roll cage in it, as the longitudinal bars follow the roof openings of a coupe. note that the lateral bars are just below the windshield top, thus dispelling rumors that the spyder windshield is taller than the coupe windshield.It is just a different shape.

 

[Rick Muck- Mark IV]

Fran gave my partners wife a ride in the Spyder at SAAC in 1999 at MIS. She damn near wet her pants and he wasn't going fast....

The original Spyders had a "tunnelled" rear window and did not have the scoops on the door/deck side but rather a combination scoop even with the side window so they formed "flying buttresses" on the deck.

I like the Spyder look, a little known version of the '40.

Rick

 

[Rick Muck- Mark IV]

BTW,

Is that JetRanger in the pictures John's also?

Damn good transport, on the ground and in the air!

Rick

 

I understand that the helo is a friend of John's who flew to the track. John has an impressive collection of vehicles. cb

 

My post above said "It's a small world..." but now the world got even smaller.

John Woerheide emailed me to let me know that he was the one at the '94 GT40 reunion that carried my Lemans winning rear clip (of # 1046) from Fran Kress' trailer over to George Stauffer. John Woerheide was standing there when Ronnie Spain verified that it was indeed the original tail section of 1046!

Isn't that neat!!

Have fun!

John

 

[Jim]

They let replica's vintage race? That is a good thing.

 

[Johan]

They let SOME replicas vintage race. The spyder in question used to belong to Fran Kress, the owner of gt40p 1054, who chose to race the spyder rather than 1054. Both cars are painted identical and outfitted similarly ( IE the rear deck scoops). There are not that many spyders around anyway, so it is something different to look at at least.
HSR's(Historic Sportscar Racing,ltd.) official policy is no replicas, but they do tend to allow them especially if the driver has several other cars (original) that are also entered on a regular basis, such as is this case.
SVRA (Sportscar Vintage Racing Association,ltd.)officially allows certain replicas, along the same lines as HSR
,such as a Ferrari 330 2+2 rebodied as a GTO, or an e-type, rebodied as a D type. The cars must be constructed axactly as the originals, so no fiberglass Cobras for instance, Or V8 Ferrari P4's.
This is my understanding of it all, and I may, as always, be wrong.

 

Take a close look at the head light covers on the car with helicopter. Looks like a front clip off of an ERA to me. By the way, it is a real cool 40 and was a lot easier to get in and out of than my CAV. Joseph

 

[Mark Clapp]

I heard that the spyder car is an ERA replica.

 

I was told that there were enough original parts in it to make it eligible to be raced. Joseph

 

[Jim Holden]

The only "original parts" in Fran's ERAGT spyder, were Fran's er parts.

Jim

 

[Johan]

Hi,
I am the current owner of the spyder so maybe I can clear this up a bit. The facts are that the car has always been raced and was put together for that purpose. Fran did not want to run his coupe (1054)so he built this car to race. It has a LOT of ERA in it, but if it was an "Off the shelf" ERA GT it would not be eligable to vintage race. Fran came up with the idea of putting some original pieces on the car so that it could race. There are just enough to race it, and nobody has ever complained.Fran has built some fairly nice cars and is a great guy. Regarding this car,
If someone asks me about it, in the pits for instance, I say it is a replica built by Fran Kress to race, with just enough original parts to allow it to be entered. Historic Sportscar Racing,Ltd used this car for their "Walter Mitty Festival" television commercial. They know what it is and they like it just fine.They have used it as a camera car also. I hope you understand that my goal is ,and has always been, to race the car, and it has won a couple of times to boot! It has logbooks from a few clubs and is listed as having "Vintage race history only" which is another way of saying replica. The car is fantastic for racing by the way
as it is comfortably cool,fits taller drivers, and offers a
nice view. I hope this clears this up, and appreciate that you all wish me the best as I continue to race the car .

 

[Pete McCluskey.]

Johan, this is a fairly old chestnut that raises its head from time to time,but IMHO not many cars that have raced for
a long time are "original". Most have replaced engines, body panels, suspension and even tubs. If your car is "original" enough to race under the rules of the governing body then good luck to you. Once again just my opinion.