Anyone got any stories about rebuilding an old Indy car or other race car. Any pics of current or past projects? I'm particularly interested in pre-70 era Indy cars, before the widespread use of wings and aero-aids. Also vintage stock cars, F1, any kind of old race cars. If you've got any pics of an old Miller or Offy or turbine Indy car or whatever, let's see, the older the race car, the better.
Mutt, What issue of Hot Rod was ad in? Chances are that car is still around today, it would be nice to know the history on it. I've often wondered if anyone has compiled a list of INDY 500 survivors. I didn't know it at the time but I sat in the Mercedes that finished 4th in the first Indy 500 before it was shipped back to Germany for restoration. Most pre 1965 cars ran Indy many times and changed drasticly over the years. I'll be posting some photos here later today.
Yes, I would say so! Look at that price too.. that wasn't exactly cheap in '59, but just try to buy a 20-odd year old Indy car these days..
Mutt, I like you. And you asked me why I don't like people that turn cars for profit in another thread. I just don't. Same way I don't like people that pick their nose... Please tell me you don't pick your nose.
Nope, I choose my nose.... Yeah, snot funny... I just wondered why - between the people who don't like those that buy cars to resell, and those that don't like the ones that won't sell any cars, even if they're just rusting away, I'm not sure if I should talk to anyone! (I've got a roadster that I won't sell, and I'll turn a car in a minute if I can make some bucks.) Maybe I'm just too mellow.... Mutt
A 20-odd year old car would put you right around Danny Sullivans spin & win over Andretti in '85...and either of their cars would probably go for a pretty penny today...
The 6 Gilmore car is the one that Shaw drove to victory in the '37 500. His mechanic was Jigger Johnson. His average speed was 113.58 mph. Mutt
Miller-engined circle track car my family owns... And today... Full HAL DOHC-engined sprinter we just sold... Man, would love to know where the car in that ad is today.
Here's couple of A.J. Watson's roadsters...#1 is Foyt's '61 winner at Indy..on the bricks for the last time before the front straight was paved with asphalt...and Len Sutton's '62 Bryant Heating and Cooling Special...really pretty in blue...
Not sure if link thingie will work...but try here. http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/RacingHistory/
This is the Riley 4-Port I restored in 1975. YES, that was 30 years ago, lots of things have happened in those 30 years, most of them good. The car is now in a collection on the West Coast.
Quite a few of the late '50's-mid 60's Indy cars spent life as sprint cars after their Indy tenure.A friend of mine who is a well accomplished sprint racer actually ran a '62 Indy car as a sprinter until 1980.Sprint cars of today are still loosely based on the early Indy cars.A couple of brothers I know from the Moline,Illinois area have am***ed a huge collection of primarily unrestored Indy cars and a huge lot of parts from the late '40's to late 60's.They just finished restoring a Smokey Yunick built car from 1961 or 1962.Listening to them talk of the history of each car was amazing.Some of the cars had more than one driver fatality.Kind of morbid,and not so sure I would want something like that in my shop. Early open wheel builders were a very skilled bunch.Just look at what they achieved 50 years ago without some of the equipment most of us have in the shop today.They literally made everything from scratch.
There are about 150 photos and captions of early race cars, as when they were being built as current cars, and another section of some of the 38 early race cars we restored on the website www.memaerobilia.com
The Jalopy Journal
