Rusty Bowtie
General Category => General Discussion - Intros => Topic started by: TFoch on November 16, 2019, 08:19:13 PM
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Went to see Ford versus Ferrari with my wife tonight. Awesome movie even if you're not a car guy. They did a great job telling the story and even though it's a long movie it keeps you interested throughout. A must see!
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Figured it would be, just last night was watching the "Autobiography" series on TV. It was the Case of the Hidden Race Cars edition and they went through the history of the Prototype Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe - car the movie is based on.
It's at the Simeone Museum in Philadelphia right now.
https://www.cnn.com/style/article/shelby-daytona-cobra-coupe/index.html
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that was a great read, thoroughly enjoyed it. Looking forward to seeing the movie.
Sat in an original Shelby cobra roadster when judging an indoor car show in 70's. Got into it with difficulty, getting out was another story. Rolled out the door onto the floor. Am too tall 6' 3". Seating was set up for a guy 5'--6".
mike ..............HAIRBALL
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Hey guys this all brings back memories. Back in 1980s thru the 90s I was working for a GM dealership called Wes Cadillac/Olds in Waterbury CT as the service/body shop/parts director. The owners son Billy Strakosch decided he wanted to branch off a side business that dealt with exotic cars. At its height we had all sorts collector and high end cars of about every make you could name. At one time we had 4 AC Cobra's at the same time. One of the most memorable cars was a GT40 MKI that we had in 1989. It so happened that the Serengeti Vintage Cup races were held September 9th and 10th, 1989, at Watkins Glen and because our business was pretty well know in the exotic car circuit at the time we were invited to bring a few of our cars the event . We couldn't pass up the offer to rub elbows with some of the biggest names in the business so Billy arranged to have two trailer loads of our cars transported to Watkins Glenn for the weekend. The weekends main focus was the GT40 and they were in attendance from all over the country along with many of the well known drivers. Throughout the weekend the cars were allowed to cruise around the track at various times and I was able to pilot the our GT40 to and from the staging area. One of the last events of the weekend was to have all of the GT40s running on the track at the same time for what was supposed to be a few parade laps. Turns out that everyone was having so much fun that they stayed out for what must have been a half an hour and the speeds were getting pretty high. At one point Billy pulled into pit road and told me to get in. We got back on the track and were well behind the rest or the cars so Billy jumped on it(he was an SCCA licensed driver and raced our Porsche 911 RSR at Lime Rock Park in Connecticut on numerous occasions) and coming down the front straight the speedo was clocking around 150. Needless to say we caught the pack and also caught hell when we got back into the pits but it was worth it. Here are a few pictures from that event and also some of the cars that we had in stock at the time. Sure was an exciting time back in those days. Below is also is a link to a disruption of the Watkins Glenn event that shows all of the GT40s that were in attendance. Our car was number 9 driver/owner William Strakosch.
http://www.s-techent.com/Shelby_Web_Pages//Galleries/GT40_Reunion/GT40_Entry_%20List.htm (http://www.s-techent.com/Shelby_Web_Pages//Galleries/GT40_Reunion/GT40_Entry_%20List.htm)
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A few more....
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Wow Moose...I see a lot of $$$$$$$
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Wow Moose...I see a lot of $$$$$$$
The money that came in and went out was enough to boggle the mind and I'm glad it wasn't mine. Here's a picture of the 1974 Porsche RSR 3.0 that we raced almost every weekend at Lime Rock. The economy started to weaken and Billy could see the handwriting on the wall so over the course of time we sold everything at a good profit and just kept the Porsche RSR. Billy said it was going to be his retirement. The latest one that I heard of sold for 1.2 million. I don't Billy needs it but sounds like a pretty good retirement to me.
Here's a couple of pictures or the Porsche from back in the day. The second one is at Lime Rock on a test day after we did some suspension work and installed a couple of new Weber downdraft carbs to the tune of $800.00 each. Billy in the racing suite[/size] is telling us how thing felt with the new mods so we could get things dialed in for race day. I'm the guy in the blue cap.
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Very cool pictures and memories :D
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Good stuff here. I'm looking forward to seeing the movie. This was going on about the time I got out of high school and we were wowed by this Ford. A friend back then had an AC Cobra for a short time, until he lost his license. What a ride!
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This car shows up at the Cruise Downtown in Manchester every Labor Day weekend.
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This car shows up at the Cruise Downtown in Manchester every Labor Day weekend.
Tom is that a replica?
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those are WEBER IDA carbs on the motor, more race than street oriented.
mike...................HAIRBALL
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those are WEBER IDA carbs on the motor, more race than street oriented.
mike...................HAIRBALL
Mike...Which motor are you referring to????
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Great pictures and great memories, Moose. Thanks!
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This car shows up at the Cruise Downtown in Manchester every Labor Day weekend.
Tom is that a replica?
Moose I was told it is real not a replica. That show is the only time I see it out.
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Moose I was told it is real not a replica. That show is the only time I see it out.
Wow if that's the real number 6 it has one heck of a history. Number 6 was at the same event at Watkins Glenn as we were there on the weekend I talked about below. It was the JWA/Gulf oil team car that won LeMans 1st place 1968- 1969 driven by Brian Redman
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After looking at the pictures a little closer the car is left hand drive so maybe it is a replica. I believe they were all right hand drive.
Here's a picture of the engine compartment.
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Nice pics and story Moose!
About 15 years ago my Uncle got a call from his son aking if he would like to work on a 24hr Daytona pit crew (grunt position). Cuz was offered it by his friend on the team but he was too busy. All he had to do was show up 2 days before at their Fla shop, sign wavier and briefing. All passes, uniform/saftey gear supplied. He came home tired and disappointed, he said he had never worked so hard and didn't have a chance to watch any of the race! lol ;D