J-CAR

Found some interesting info and photos of one of the original J-cars on the www.clubcobra.com web site. A newphew of Bill and Charlie Agapiou posted a message with photos of his uncles' Can-Am configuration J-9 (or is it J-10?), along with some chat. Check out the stacks on the Boss 429 motor! I think Jim "J-6" should swap out his 427 for one of those. :cool: To get to the message and photos: (1) click on the "Forums" button near the top of the web site home page; (2) click on "All Cobra Talk"; (3) click on "Shelby & Racing History"; (4) click on the "Shelby Crew Members" message. There are a few photos in the message traffic. More can be accessed by clicking on the camera icon adjacent to the sender's name.
 
Without seeing this site you must be refering to the Ford G7A the Can Am version of the MKIV. This eventually landed up with the 429er you mentioned. This the HonkerII and the 1967 King Cobra were all Ford Projects to use the MKIV chassis once it was outlawed from Lemans and the prototype catergory. Due to the introduction of the 3 litre limit in 1968.

Regards Allan Feldman
 
Alan is correct. J10 was the Ford G7A they raced. It crashed badly, usable parts were stripped off, the tub was junked. Years later a replica tub was used to try and build a replica MK-IV but it was never finished and last I saw it it had a few issues. Kerri Agapiou is in the process of restoring the spare G7A J9. It will be great to see her run again.
 
Here's a shot of J9 (G7A)
 

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Jim:

I want to follow up on our several conversations concerning J-10. As you know, several years ago two friends and I purchased J10, originally raced in the CanAm series as "G7A." According to a sworn statement from Kerry Agapiou obtained at the time of our purchase, J-10 had been acquired by Charlie and Kerry Agapiou from Ford Motor Company along with J-9 in February of 1969. J-10, completed by Charlie and Kerry as a CanAm spyder, was raced in a number of races in 1969-70 by drivers such as Jack Brabham, Vic Elford, Peter Revson and John Cannon with its highest finish a 2nd at Fuji in 1970.

It was subsequently crashed in practice at Riverside and was taken back to the Agapiou shop where the suspension, uprights and steering rack were removed. The damaged front part of the tub from the bulkhead forward was removed. The tub was repaired and the monocoque was reassembled. It was subsequently sold to Marty Yacoobian in 1989 as a bare rolling CanAm chassis without engine or body work.

At the time of our purchase of J-10 from Marty Yacoobian in 1996, the car had been essentially completed as a coupe in the MKIV "Sebring" configuration with the appropriate dry sum FE427 and T-44 gearbox.

An argument could be made that the car should have been restored as it ran in the CanAm series. However, by the time the car got to us, other than the chassis, there was little of the CanAm parts; body work, motor, trans., all being substantially different than as raced as a MKIV, to be had. Pragmatically, we were not prepared to go back and start over again to try rebuild G7A. Since our acquisition of the car, we have been methodically going through it and hope to have it reassembled this coming year in time for the next SAAC convention..

All of the twelve J car chassis were original designed and built with the sole aim of winning at LeMans. Had the French not legislated them out of existence following the 1967 race, the four "left over" chassis; J-9, 10, 11 and 12, would have, in all probability, been completed and raced by Ford. At this point, that is speculation to be sure. And there is certainly no question that the six MKIV coupes; J-3 which did thousands of miles of testing, J-4, which won Sebring and the four LeMans coupes J-5, J-6, J-7 and J-8 have an immortal place in international racing history. But, I would argue that perhaps J-10, with more races to its credit than any of the other J chassis, deserves a little recognition in its own right as well.

Jim Holden
 

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Hi
Having spoken to Kerri about this as well I now agree that your car contains the tub remains of J10 as you have described. More importantly J10 unlike "J11" and "J12" WAS
raced on the day by the Agapiou's and unlike "J11" and "J12"
the chassis # J10 appears on the race entrance documents of the races it entered in the 60ies. To me that is a very important difference.

Best
Jim
 
Hello,

Is there a big difference between a MKIV and Can Am chassis ( except for the roof ) ?

Because the "J" chassis were design to race with a 500/550 HP engine and not 700 HP or more like the Can Am cars.

I've heard ( without having my own opinion ) that "J" chassis were no very rigid and had a short life time in intensive race use.

Can some of the "J" men help ?

All the best !
 
37 years later and after over 25K road miles mine is still like a rock. These chassis are very strong. I talked to the two guys who destroyed J1 by piling on wieght while it was on a chassis dyno at Kar Kraft when Ford was investigating Ken Miles fatal crash in J2. Ron said it took a lot of weight and was very, very strong. Look at the hit J7 took at Le Mans when Andretti crashed at 145. The cockpit stayed in tact. (J7 has since been repaired)
 
In the Ford GT40 book by David Hodges in pages 91 thru 94 has several pictures of the J Cars in Can Am or Group 7. They were called G7-A. He said in the book that

"the car was probably too heavy to compete successfully againt the purpose-built cars in the CanAm series, and after track tests Ford quietly gave up the idea of competing in this field"

The best finish was second in Japan on a Non championship race in 1969. The G7-A were raced in 1970 but retired in each event.
 
Allan:

I am not aware that any "J" car chassis was used in the construction of either the HonkerII or the 1967 King Cobra. If you have a source for this information, I'd appreciate being refered to it.

I would note that all twelve chassis have been accounted for. Neither J-9, nor J-10 were used in either car. Nor, obviously were the first eight chassis.

Jim
 

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Sorry Jim
You are right the G7A is the only J chassised Canam car. My source (without refering to it) was Model Cars April 1968 Page 170 where there are plans of the Holman & moody HonkerII, the Shelby King Cobra and Ford's G7A J10 Chassised car. Sorry again Allan
 
Sorry if I stepped on anyones toe regarding J10. It seems rather peculiar, and totally unprofessional, for Ronnie Spain to assume the car was stolen without speaking with Agapou's about it first. Especially if he could just pickup the phone and call them to confirm the story. I know the person that put the top on the car and he felt the car was not the original. What he based that on I don't know. I also know that one of these chassis' cannot be fixed without seeing the repair. Having built one I know the honeycomb starts at the front bulkhead and continues to the engine yoke. There will be evidence. Not having seen the chassis I can not say anymore than that.
 
[ QUOTE ]
It seems rather peculiar, and totally unprofessional, for Ronnie Spain to assume the car was stolen without speaking with Agapou's about it first. Especially if he could just pickup the phone and call them to confirm the story.

[/ QUOTE ]

David Hodges' book (1984) says for J9/J10 "One of these two cars believed destroyed".

At the time Ronnie Spain wrote his book, it could have been "common knowledge" that J10 was lost. Picking up the phone and calling, isn't simple if you live in another country 6,000 miles away.
 
Phil:

I would suggest that you need to be very careful and far more circumspect about your speculative comments. You are clearly suggesting that Charlie and Kerry Agapiou have commented fraud, a crime, and if not true, is libelous and could be subject to an action for damages.

As an aside, I find it revealing that you of all folks have raised an issue concerning the provenance of someone else's vehicle...

Jim Holden
 
I believe Jim Holden meant Bill (JWhat?)
Yes? No?
As for Ronnie as we all know a lot of what gets printed is simply not correct. J5/J6 comes to mind. (The latest edition of David's book corrects this mistake)

Jim Glickenhaus
 
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