David Hobbs 1969 Ford GT40 $3000

Classic Motorsports latest issue - small blurb of David Hobbs being offered to buy his Lemans GT40 car afterwards for $3000.  

Freaking hilarious - I took it to work to share with another car guy.  Cracks me up.  

I read that.  Kinda like discounting 427 Cobras after 2 years on the car lot.  

And who was that was offered their Cobra Dayton's Coupe when the car was obsolete.  

That's about $22k today. For a very obsolete race car in an era when obsolete race cars were just obsolete and not objects of veneration and investment :) I'm pretty sure that 1969 was the last year the GT40 was legal for competition use in major events due to the engine capacity - there weren't any entered at Le Mans in 1970.

So yeah, it's fun to laugh about now but you can't blame him for saying no.

Well, there was Phil Spector  (yes the "can I show you my favorite gun" guy) who bought a newly used Cobra Daytona coupe and drove it around LA for a while.  Not exactly a practical street car I can imagine.

Listening to the the latest story episode from Marshall Pruett to celebrate 1,000 episodes, his last interview was with ex racer, team owner and dealer Harley Cluxton.  He bought the Mirage racing team (what was John Wyer Automotive) in 1976.  He bought the double LeMans winning (1968 and 1969)  GT40 Chassis #1075 from Gulf oil in 1982 for $200,000 after a battle with Tony George who insisted he'd bought it not leased it from Gulf previously.  They literally had to pick it up between like midnight and 6:00am to stop Tony George losing his E36 M3.  Anyway, he had to sell various others cars including a Mk IV and a Ferrari to afford it.  Anyway, he solid it seven years later in 1989 for $14,000,000.  Imagine what that chassis is worth today were it ever to come on the market?  Has any other chassis won overall at LeMAns twice?  Possibly one of the 956/962's in the 80's, I don't know.

... Phil Spectre had a Daytona Coupe??  Like, what? 

LOL, typing the above response made me reach accross to my book shelf and pull down this book to add to the bed side pile for re-reading.  The I looked at the old red hardback cover with no fly cover and wondered what year it was printed.  Quick peek inside and I see my copy was printed in 1984.  That means the book was printed 37 years ago, only 15 years after the final win at LeMans.

Adrian_Thompson (Forum Supporter) said:

Listening to the the latest story episode from Marshall Pruett to celebrate 1,000 episodes, his last interview was with ex racer, team owner and dealer Harley Cluxton.  He bought the Mirage racing team (what was John Wyer Automotive) in 1976.  He bought the double LeMans winning (1968 and 1969)  GT40 Chassis #1075 from Gulf oil in 1982 for $200,000 after a battle with Tony George who insisted he'd bought it not leased it from Gulf previously.  They literally had to pick it up between like midnight and 6:00am to stop Tony George losing his E36 M3.  Anyway, he had to sell various others cars including a Mk IV and a Ferrari to afford it.  Anyway, he solid it seven years later in 1989 for $14,000,000.  Imagine what that chassis is worth today were it ever to come on the market?  Has any other chassis won overall at LeMAns twice?  Possibly one of the 956/962's in the 80's, I don't know.

Made me look, it's happened more often than you'd think.

Bentley Speed Six (1929/30)
Ferrari 275P (1963/64)
Ford GT40 Mk I (1968/69)
Porsche 956 (1984/85)
TWR-WSC 95 (1996/97).

pres589 (djronnebaum) said:

... Phil Spectre had a Daytona Coupe??  Like, what? 

Ohhh the story keeps getting weirder as it goes along......

It is now in an East Coast museum.......

californiamilleghia said:

Ohhh the story keeps getting weirder as it goes along......

It is now in an East Coast museum.......

That's the one that is in the Simone collection? 

Paul_VR6 (Forum Supporter) said:

californiamilleghia said:

Ohhh the story keeps getting weirder as it goes along......

It is now in an East Coast museum.......

That's the one that is in the Simone collection? 

YES

Exactly.  

I went to the simeone foundation and started looking around.

I was unimpressed with the surroundings and it looked like a dentist's office from 1974 when you first go in.

Then the first car I came to was the lemans winning gt40.  I was underwhelmed until I read that THIS car was the exact car.

Once I started reading all the nameplates and really looking at the collection, it blew my mind!

WAY better than the Peterson museum if you are a car nerd!

C ant recommend the Simeone enough.  If you get a chance, go!  Don't go for the architecture or building.  Go for the cars!

Keith Tanner said:

Made me look, it's happened more often than you'd think.

Bentley Speed Six (1929/30)
Ferrari 275P (1963/64)
Ford GT40 Mk I (1968/69)
Porsche 956 (1984/85)
TWR-WSC 95 (1996/97).

Cool, thanks for digging that up.  I don't know which chassis # the winning TWR-WSC 95 was, but the tubs for those cars were based on the old TWR Jaguar XJR 14 tub.  In fact the first WSC-95 they literally cut the top off one of the old Jags to build the car.  Yup, hacked the top off a carbon tub and patched it back together.  You can't make this E36 M3 up.  It would be even more awesome if the winning chassis had already raced there with Jag on the nose!!

californiamilleghia said:

pres589 (djronnebaum) said:

... Phil Spectre had a Daytona Coupe??  Like, what? 

Ohhh the story keeps getting weirder as it goes along......

It is now in an East Coast museum.......

Another aspect of its weirdness: that particular car appeared in an episode of the Monkees, with Davy Jones racing it in the Monkeemobile.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7_lUTB5Hf4

That car now sits in Colorado at the Shelby American Collection in Boulder. 

Phil Spectre being involved automatically means things are going to get weirder.

bmw88, there's no image there, just the "you can't get this from Google" circle & line placeholder.

In reply to wvumtnbkr :

Dr Simeone  was a real nice guy the few times I talked with him .