Saw a very special car on Saturday

P1046 - winner of the 1966 24 hours of LeMans AKA one of the most important American race cars ever. Fresh from it's trip to France to celebrate the 50th anniversary of it's victory and then a win at Pebble Beach. What a special day. It was surrounded by some other very special machinery, including a prototype Ferrari, but I didn't want to ask to take too many photos. This car is already well documented so they had no problem with my prying.

How did I get to see this and talk to the people who restored it? My girlfriend used to work there. Her only rule for taking me there was that we had to take the Ducati. Life is hard.

Fun fact - there are some Cessna parts on this car. That's how it was built originally.

Now that I very cool.

So very jealous.

Cessna parts? Do tell!

Any idea why there's a stripe sprayed onto the coil springs? I assume it's some sort of "at a glance" spring rate indicator or something? If that's the case though, it seems odd that they wouldn't just paint the entire spring...

I'm having a tough time figuring out what I'm looking at here.

Those header primaries are HUGE!!! But then, I'm used to 4-cylinders...

jstein77 wrote: I'm having a tough time figuring out what I'm looking at here.

I believe that is the mandated at the time 'passenger' seat.

In reply to stafford1500:

That's the webbing that supports both seats. The cover, made out of parachute material, is just out of the car for this photo.

Appleseed wrote: Cessna parts? Do tell!

The oil coolers are Harrison units from Cessna. Other airplane parts include the windshield wiper and motor, which is from a Boeing 707. The cars were built in an aircraft hanger and they used what was readily available.

Thats awesome! Im only a little jealous...

That is seriously cool.

I'm a lot jealous. That's awesome, even cooler that you got to see it in that environment than if it had been at a show or museum or something.

Also, I never knew they used some airplane parts. I learned something new today!

DaveEstey wrote:

Appleseed wrote: Cessna parts? Do tell!

The oil coolers are Harrison units from Cessna. Other airplane parts include the windshield wiper and motor, which is from a Boeing 707. The cars were built in an aircraft hanger and they used what was readily available.

Now that you've pointed it out, it's easy to see...

Are the knock offs marked "left side undo" ?

STM317 wrote: Any idea why there's a stripe sprayed onto the coil springs? I assume it's some sort of "at a glance" spring rate indicator or something? If that's the case though, it seems odd that they wouldn't just paint the entire spring...

If it were my car, I'd say "I forgot to tape them when painting the car, and that's overspray that got through a seam in the bodywork".

Very cool...car is 50 years old, and all of the components of a 'modern' race car are there, at least up to the 1990s.

So on a car that is worth so much it's impossible to total, how many of those components are original? I'd almost rather see some battle scars than "fresh from the factory." Hell, it probably wasn't finished that nicely in 1967.

It is finished exactly as it left the Shelby shop. No improvements have been made. It's built to accrue wear and tear (again) just like it did originally.

Ford hired photographers to document the original build and that was the reference material for the restoration. The car had been used for vintage racing for some time, including some "improvements," which were promptly removed.