Hey guys, a friend just imported to New Zealand a 27 track T roadster, it was built by "Larry's race shop" in Indianapolis. I'm trying to find any info or any history or pictures of this car that proves it was built more than 20yrs ago, it was sold at Barret Jackson in 2010 and then recently to my friend this year from the bring a trailer site. Does anyone know of Larry's race shop? It has a 215 Buick V8, very well built car. Thanks
Looks like a Speedway Motors kit to me. Maybe you can find out when they were offered? But they might still be making them.
I have pictures of that car from the indy goodguys show in 1994 so it has been around a while, by far the best I have seen done with the speedway kit car.
If there is a serial # somewhere on the car, maybe Speedway has a record of selling it? 800.979.0122, 7am-10pm, everyday. 1-402-323-3200 internationally. I suspect the timezone is Central Time USA
Speedway didn't put any serial numbers on their fibergl*** cars that I know of. I'm currently finishing a kit that was first sold in 1995 and the shipping info shows no serial numbers and the body had no numbers. That is a nice Track T!!
The "kit" cars did not come with any numbers. It was up to the builder to get the numbers from the state in which they lived. Larry's speed shop was probably just the guy that built it. It may or may not have been a real business, or it may have been someone hoping to open a business and this was his first effort, or he may have built a few of them. If you had a accurate time frame, you may be able to locate the shop name on a phone directory for Indianapolis businesses. Without a time frame it could be a long process.
Thanks for the reply's, yes totally agree that it's a speedway track t kit, has the 1/4 elliptical rear springs and the funny tubular front spring perch mount. There is a short vin number attached to the body but it's not 17 digits and no vin decoder online recognize it. I have seen a few other Speedway kits done with all sorts of engine combos, even Richard Rawlings had one on Gas Monkey Garage that had a pinto motor in it. Did they all have this integral roll cage?
Don't know anything about the car but I can give you some Indiana information. ***ling an ***embled car in Indiana can take a couple of paths, if you have an ID number but no proof of ownership you apply to the courts for a ***le. I don't need to get into the specifics but in this instance you'll end up with a ***le that matches your ID number. Being a Model A guy, I've done this and ended up with a correct Model A vin. What's interesting to me is your ID number starts with a "T" like my Model A vin starts with an "A". This makes me think someone wanted to mimic a Model T vin number. A second ***ling path in Indiana is to apply for a manufactored vehicle indentification number, MVIN. I have not done this in decades so the law may have changed, but when I applied every ID numbered issued started with the letters MVIN. I wonder if you could do a Carfax like ***le search to find who applied for the original ***le. Another possiblity is if Larry's Speed Shop did retail business in the state of Indiana there should be a state issued retail merchant license issued. That would have an individuals name attached to the license application. Also, after a couple of googling attempts I came up with an article about an English gentleman with this car and a helicopter. The interesting bit in this article mentions the car coming out of Speedway Indiana. Just south of the Indy 500 track, in Speedway, is a small stretch of road called Gasoline Alley. Many race teams, Indy Nascar, Short track, Drag race, are, or have been located there over the years. Plus many suppliers for said teams reside along Gasoline Alley. Some of the rented spaces are as little as two bays. I have known of many talented young man to break off of a larger organization and try to make a go of it in one of the smaller buildings. As I believe has been mentioned before, Larrys Speed Shop could have been a short lived talented young man's dream. ras
I like the ***le idea. Maybe you can get ***le history from The Bureau of Motor Vehicles and get to the first owner?
Something kind of interesting.....maybe a coincidence, maybe a tribute, maybe nothing??. Larry Rice, racing legend: 650 USAC races, 2 time Indy 500 starter, 1978 co-rookie of the year, AAA/USAC National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame and more. Larry lived (and p***ed away 2009) in Brownsburg, Indiana. The OP car was built by Larry's Race Shop, Speedway, Indiana.....8 miles from Brownsburg. The OP car: Larry's #1 car:
I will look for the pics, I know that it was '94 because that was the only time that I went to the event.
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