I own a Ferrari!!!

P71 wrote: I was looking for AMC parts and got jack nothing. One crazy old coot wanted $5,000 for a cobbled-together cross-ram (69 lid on a 70 lower, wrong carbs, no velocity stacks). He had 68 AMC models (most were worth about $35) that he wanted "$6,800 for all of them, will not separate". He was off his rocker. Another dude had a Big Bad Green 70 Javelin hood for $200. Base hood, not the Ram Air one. Pass. There was an admittedly restorable AMX as well. 68, 390, 4-Speed, Matador Red on Tan. Except the dude wanted $9500 for it! It wasn't a Go-Pack car (which means no "Twip-Grip" LSD rear, no HD suspension, no sway bar, no front discs, no stripes, no aux gauges inside), and it needed paint, bodywork, an interior, tires, suspension, you know, a whole restoration. A lot of prices were at the swap meet...

Seems to me there's a lot of that kind of thing that since Speed TV started spending so much time showing auto auctions. Scary thing is, there's probably as many idiot buyers watching that stuff as there are idiot sellers. Somebody who's not done enough research might actually pay those prices for that stuff.

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

ZOO wrote: I have a piece of a 1990 Tyrrell F1 car that crashed at Montreal. It's like a kevlar sandwich. I'd rather have the Ferrari steering wheel, though.

My best souvenir from my old Corner Worker days:

IMSA GTP. Road Atlanta, 1989. Geoff Brabham in the GTP-ZX Turbo muscles his way past Price Cobb in the Jaguar XJR9 at the exit of Turn Seven. Knocks the wheel cover off the Jag. Somebody's got to go get it out of the road (Corner Workers were allowed to do that kind of stuff back then). On that day, it was me...just lucky, I guess.

I did ask Tony Dow (Jag team manager) if he wanted it back, he scoffed at me like I was an idiot. Jag must have really been spending kilodollars in GTP during that era...

Not a steering wheel (well actually, they do have steering wheels), but a buddy has two of the Nissan GTP cars in his shop at the moment. He's restoring them for a friend.

got some stuff at home off some various Ferrari's...

Ferrari F40 Rack and Pinion Ferrari 333sp rear wheel - now a garden hose wheel Ferrari 360 tail lights Ferrari 360 Challenge hood Ferrari 430GT front bumper Ferrari 333sp Technical Guide

and some others....

I had a piece of a FERRARI F1. And it got thrown out.

racerdave600 wrote: Not a steering wheel (well actually, they do have steering wheels), but a buddy has two of the Nissan GTP cars in his shop at the moment. He's restoring them for a friend.

Is that friend named Kas Kastner or Don Devendorf? Or did Electromotive just sell them all off to vintage racing guys the moment they were obsolete?

friedgreencorrado wrote:

racerdave600 wrote: Not a steering wheel (well actually, they do have steering wheels), but a buddy has two of the Nissan GTP cars in his shop at the moment. He's restoring them for a friend.

Is that friend named Kas Kastner or Don Devendorf? Or did Electromotive just sell them all off to vintage racing guys the moment they were obsolete?

No, not either of those guys. He's a nice guy though that loves cars, and from what I understand, has more cool ones hanging about.

I don't know the exact story of how he came to own them (one is an '88, the other an early '90 chassis with the 2 valve motor), but I think at least one belonged to Nissan. He did get all of the paperwork for them too such as the blueprints for parts, parts lists, etc. It's quite extensive but should come in handy since almost 99% of the car is custom built. They look like works of art under the skin, very impressive.

friedgreencorrado wrote: IMSA GTP. Road Atlanta, 1989. Geoff Brabham in the GTP-ZX Turbo muscles his way past Price Cobb in the Jaguar XJR9 at the exit of Turn Seven. Knocks the wheel cover off the Jag. Somebody's got to go get it out of the road (Corner Workers were allowed to do that kind of stuff back then). On that day, it was me...just lucky, I guess.

Awesome.

friedgreencorrado wrote:

ZOO wrote: I have a piece of a 1990 Tyrrell F1 car that crashed at Montreal. It's like a kevlar sandwich. I'd rather have the Ferrari steering wheel, though.

I *did* ask Tony Dow (Jag team manager) if he wanted it back, he scoffed at me like I was an idiot. Jag must have really been spending kilodollars in GTP during that era...

He's an A**hole... Tried to get a job over at Tafel Racing back in their hayday, he didnt want anything of it...

Here's my piece. Rear wheel from an 80's Testarossa turned coffee table (and my dog wondering why we're not out herding a flock of sheep or something).

I love turning old car and racing stuff into furniture!

I made a coffee table out of an old BMW v-12 from an 8 series a while back. I'll snap pics later!

racerdave600 wrote: I don't know the exact story of how he came to own them (one is an '88, the other an early '90 chassis with the 2 valve motor), but I think at least one belonged to Nissan. He did get all of the paperwork for them too such as the blueprints for parts, parts lists, etc. It's quite extensive but should come in handy since almost 99% of the car is custom built. They look like works of art under the skin, very impressive.

Yeah, I'd like to see one undressed. Occasionally we'd get a glimpse into the garage at lunch, but most of the time we were out on the turns for the support series, etc. It's great to hear they're being restored! I wonder if the non-Nissan car is the one Busby ran after the 962s got old. IIRC, Nissan wanted to sell the GTP-ZX as "customer cars" (like Porsche did with the 956/962), but the program never really got off the ground. Damn shame, really..the basic chassis was the Lola T810 (again, IIRC), and Lola sure could have built 20 of em...

Matt B wrote: Here's my piece. Rear wheel from an 80's Testarossa turned coffee table (and my dog wondering why we're not out herding a flock of sheep or something).

Noice!

And Shepards are cool. I always thought Lab Retrievers were smart, until I dated a girl that had two Shepards.

DukeOfUndersteer wrote: He's an A**hole... Tried to get a job over at Tafel Racing back in their hayday, he didnt want anything of it...

Most emphatically agreed! During the years TWR raced in the GTP, we also noticed that Tony didn't quite agree with this whole "American" (from his mouth, spat like an insult! LOL!) concept of letting the public into the paddock. I'm sure it didn't help that Electromotive was beating them dang near every weekend.

friedgreencorrado wrote:

racerdave600 wrote: I don't know the exact story of how he came to own them (one is an '88, the other an early '90 chassis with the 2 valve motor), but I think at least one belonged to Nissan. He did get all of the paperwork for them too such as the blueprints for parts, parts lists, etc. It's quite extensive but should come in handy since almost 99% of the car is custom built. They look like works of art under the skin, very impressive.

Yeah, I'd like to see one undressed. Occasionally we'd get a glimpse into the garage at lunch, but most of the time we were out on the turns for the support series, etc. It's great to hear they're being restored! I wonder if the non-Nissan car is the one Busby ran after the 962s got old. IIRC, Nissan wanted to sell the GTP-ZX as "customer cars" (like Porsche did with the 956/962), but the program never really got off the ground. Damn shame, really..the basic chassis was the Lola T810 (again, IIRC), and Lola sure could have built 20 of em...

I'll see if I can get out there and take a couple of pics of the chassis'. None of the body work is on them at the moment. It would be interesting too to pull the chassis numbers and check their history. A rumor surrounding the '90 is that it is the one that Bob Akin crashed at Road Atlanta in a vintage event. Not sure if that is true though, but the repaired accident damage does suggest it had a big impact.

Among all of the blueprints are the drawings for the Group C cars and Lola cars as well. Very interesting stuff. The actual Nissan cars are changed a fair amount from the Lola's though, not much interchanges, nor do they interchange with the Group C cars. Hard to believe they were built in an old helicopter hanger in CA.

I did help him unload them from the trailer when they arrived, and it is amazing how light all the parts are. I've been around a lot of race cars, but these things are incredible.

racerdave600 wrote:

friedgreencorrado wrote:

racerdave600 wrote: I don't know the exact story of how he came to own them (one is an '88, the other an early '90 chassis with the 2 valve motor), but I think at least one belonged to Nissan. He did get all of the paperwork for them too such as the blueprints for parts, parts lists, etc. It's quite extensive but should come in handy since almost 99% of the car is custom built. They look like works of art under the skin, very impressive.

Yeah, I'd like to see one undressed. Occasionally we'd get a glimpse into the garage at lunch, but most of the time we were out on the turns for the support series, etc. It's great to hear they're being restored! I wonder if the non-Nissan car is the one Busby ran after the 962s got old. IIRC, Nissan wanted to sell the GTP-ZX as "customer cars" (like Porsche did with the 956/962), but the program never really got off the ground. Damn shame, really..the basic chassis was the Lola T810 (again, IIRC), and Lola sure could have built 20 of em...

I'll see if I can get out there and take a couple of pics of the chassis'. None of the body work is on them at the moment. It would be interesting too to pull the chassis numbers and check their history. A rumor surrounding the '90 is that it is the one that Bob Akin crashed at Road Atlanta in a vintage event. Not sure if that is true though, but the repaired accident damage does suggest it had a big impact. Among all of the blueprints are the drawings for the Group C cars and Lola cars as well. Very interesting stuff. The actual Nissan cars are changed a fair amount from the Lola's though, not much interchanges, nor do they interchange with the Group C cars. Hard to believe they were built in an old helicopter hanger in CA. I did help him unload them from the trailer when they arrived, and it is amazing how light all the parts are. I've been around a lot of race cars, but these things are incredible.

IIRC, Bob (RIP) was going through the esses between 4 and 5 at Thursday practice for the 2002 Mitty when there was a little hit with another car. Ended up putting him into the concrete, and over the wall into the trees. For an ex-professional in a GTP car (even at a vintage race), that's a triple-digit hit. At the time, there was a lot of discussion about the level of medical presence on the "test days", but I don't recall whatever became of it. I never heard whether or not Bob was wearing some sort of HANS, either.

Apologies for the downer..othewise, it's interesting to hear about the differences between the Electromotive cars and the Lola base. Some pix of some blueprints would be seriously cool!

I consider myself very lucky to have been a participant (even in my itsy-bitsy way) in those days. Funny thing is, we spent all that time cursing the fact that we were too young to have flagged the Can-Am. It wasn't until years later that we realized we'd been part of a series every bit as fantastic. I still love GTP/Gp.C like few things on earth.

Right now it's just a rumor that it is Bob's car, a chassis number check is definitely in order. It has however been extensively repaired, and the restoration process is picking where that one left off. The '88 car is completely intact but needs everything gone through. If i remember correctly, it had some type of braking issue.

Interestingly, Eric got to drive it a few years back at a test day at Road America. His times during the test would have put him on the 2nd row of the CART race that year. Those things are seriously fast! I feel honored just to have sat in it, even if it didn't have the bodywork mounted.

i remember watching those race on TV and once in person, they were truly special cars. Of course I was a Jaguar fan at the time!

It was watching Gp. C on TV that got me interested is motorsports, good times.

racerdave600 wrote: Right now it's just a rumor that it is Bob's car, a chassis number check is definitely in order. It has however been extensively repaired, and the restoration process is picking where that one left off. The '88 car is completely intact but needs everything gone through. If i remember correctly, it had some type of braking issue. Interestingly, Eric got to drive it a few years back at a test day at Road America. His times during the test would have put him on the 2nd row of the CART race that year. Those things are seriously fast! I feel honored just to have sat in it, even if it didn't have the bodywork mounted.

Back in the day, they were actually faster than the (real) Indycars at the couple of places both raced (Road America & Mid Ohio, IIRC). I'm really happy that people love these cars enough to bring them out to vintage races. I'm sure it takes two or three mechanics to keep one healthy for the weekend. What was that line from the Redman 962/Miata article in the magazine? `Everyone with a 962 needs a guy named Franz'? Something like that

racerdave600 wrote: i remember watching those race on TV and once in person, they were truly special cars. Of course I was a Jaguar fan at the time!

Oh, me too. Yeah, I'll tell the grandkids that I got to see Geoff Brabham in the Nissan. No, I won't tell them I was cursing him at the time..