View Full Version : Grand Sport #1
firstgenaddict
05-16-2005, 06:14 PM
page 1
firstgenaddict
05-16-2005, 06:14 PM
Page 2
Now you are talking. One of my top 2-3 cars of all time. I remember seeing one back in the mid '70s. Awesome http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/worship.gif
firstgenaddict
05-16-2005, 06:31 PM
Wish I would have been at Ameilia Island a couple of years back... 5 Grand Sports in one place...AWESOME.
olredalert
05-16-2005, 06:35 PM
-------Funny story, We restored GS1 the first time at Classic Motors back in about 1978 or so. At that time the only guy who even showed a smattering of interest in the car at the price my boss thought it was worth wanted the car red! So it was painted Ferrari red with red leather interior, and was sent off to Wisconsin. I think we took about 15 cars and some cash in trade. NO.1 has since been restored to a much higher degree of originality than our 1st attempt, but our first attempt was absolutely beautiful. Its in that form that the car appeared in Corvette News after they saw it at Bloominton Gold that year. Cant remember who has it now but it is certainly the worlds most valuable Corvette. The 200mph speedo was missing and thru a really weird bunch of circumstances I fell into the original speedo that came on the car. It had been sitting on the mantle of one of the former owners as a rememberance of the car............Bill S
Yep, RED, that is the car. Saw it at Blommington, maybe '79, as I remember everyone was trying to unload '78 Pacecars. No market for them, as GM built too many of them and the interest rate had shot up quite a bit. A buyer's market for all Vettes that year.
On a side note, as we all came out of Red Lobster Saturday evening, a friend of ours was shocked to see his '63 split window fuelie car had been stolen from the parking lot. No insurance, and never found.
hvychev
05-16-2005, 07:43 PM
Man Bill, you sure have done a lot in this hobby! http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/worship.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beers.gif
Xplantdad
05-16-2005, 08:20 PM
[ QUOTE ]
Man Bill, you sure have done a lot in this hobby! http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/worship.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beers.gif
[/ QUOTE ]
I second that...Hey Bill, why don't you share some more of your cool stories with us? http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beers.gif
Bill, I believe that the car had just come from Richard Siever of Austin, TX in 1979. Richard was a strange fellow that owned, raced and damaged the car in the early or mid 70's. Branches were growing around the car as it sat in dilapidated condition in his front yard, local Corvette guys would come look at it and sit in it. I know a number of folks that looked at that car only knowing it was some type of factory race car. Richard got a bit strange later on and would sit in a tree with a gun guarding GS #1 and a '63 fuelie coupe. I think he sold it to the Janesville collector or the person that sold it to him. You may be able to shed some light on exactly who bought the car from Richard. I still hear stories about GS #1 on occasion. I saw the car at Bloomington in '82 and have the Hemmings add offering it and many rare cars for sale in July of '82.
firstgenaddict
05-16-2005, 09:26 PM
In a mid to late 60's Hot Rod there was an ad in the back for 2 Grand Sports at $5500 each. My dad's Hot Rod Mags are in the Basement, I'll have to look the next time I am over there.
Steve Shauger
05-16-2005, 10:31 PM
Having lived in Newtown Sq. in the 60's & 70's I had an opportunity to see the Penske team Grand Sport in action. The penske race shop was originally on the south east corner of rt3 and rt252. One evening I was on my way back from fishing with my dad and a couple of buddies and I heard the sound of a car, actually it was Penske's Grandsport race car, screaming over dam at the Springton Reservoir. My dad was not a racing fan at all and his only comment was "what and idiot driving a car like that". That was the first time, but not the last I saw that car on the street. Nine years later the chief mechanic on the project and I became very good friend. He was my automotive mentor and a great friend Bill Scott.
firstgenaddict, just called the number, the Grand Sports have sold.
firstgenaddict
05-16-2005, 11:48 PM
Damn! I was hoping to buy them and retire!
olredalert
05-17-2005, 09:01 AM
Tim,
------Thats the guy I bought the speedo from. Remember talking with him for probably two hours trying to get that speedo away from him.
------A Detroit GM gearhead employee named Tom Turnas actually bought the car from Richard with Classic Motors money. The chassis went to Detroit for Tom to restore as he had heavy access to hard parts from the past from within GM. He found a 377 stroker motor and sidedraft intake with gigantic Webers. 55s I think. You could stick your whole hand down one of the barrels. The body was done by a very talented guy in Batavia,Ill. I remember his first name was John.
------The car went to a good friend and customer named Jerome Shinkay. Hes the big collector I mentioned before, I know he still loves cars but has gotten a bit burned out over the years. Among the cars we took in trade was a 1500 mile fly yellow Ferrari Daytona Spyder that we sold him in the first place, a 100 point 1960 black Mercedes 300SL, probably 7 or 8 big block and fuelie Corvettes, 2 or 3 LS6 Chevelles ,and I remember an absolutely unbelievable 3600 original mile bright blue 69 396/375 Nova. Jerome kept the Grand Sport for a number of years and then sold it to a guy named Jim Purvis who tore the whole car apart and restored it back to its Bahamas Speed Weeks glory. I think the car has been done at least one more time in an attempt to make it even more correct..............Bill S
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The body was done by a very talented guy in Batavia,Ill. I remember his first name was John.
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Was his last name Bartona?
http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif Car & History.
olredalert
05-17-2005, 05:19 PM
------Had a brain "F" last night. The guy who did the bodywork was John Swiesthal. I still may have that mis-spelled. I think he is still around the Batavia area, but dont know what hes doing anymore........Bill S
Tenney
05-18-2005, 04:32 AM
Might that bright blue 396/375 Nova have been at auction at O'Hare Expo Center circa '77, or so? If so, that's the benchmark in my hard drive for what a 396/375 Nova should be. Think Classic Motors (pre AMG) may've had a few cars at that one - a low mile '64 GTO that I saw again a couple years later in So. Illinois and a Red Cobra "continuation", among others. Was a Cheetah there, too - not sure whose.
Belair62
05-18-2005, 04:43 AM
I bet Bill drove the Cheetah there !
olredalert
05-18-2005, 07:23 AM
-------Yup, Im pretty sure of that. We sponsored that auction so many of our cars were there. I drove our GT-40 from Hinsdale up 294 to O'Hare for that auction. Scared the poo out of me as it overheated twice. One bank of the sidedraft Webers slipped out of sinque and half the engine was running lean! It was one of the first GT-40s to run at Le-Mans the 1st year Ford and Shelby ran. We found the car in a garage in La Grange. The car broke at L-M as did the other two (I think) because of the Coletti transaxles.
-------I sure hope that Nova is still around and in the same condition, as it was absolutely the finest Nova I had and have ever seen.
-------As a sidebar, That auction was the first time I ever laid eyes on Red Alert. I wanted it then but never got it until 1990.
-------Dont believe there was a Cheetah at O'Hare, but since we were Brian Angliss's (owner of AC Motorcars back then) representative in the US there might have been a Cobra repop there. It seems to me that we werent doing the Cobras until 1979/80 time frame. Maybe it was the very first one we brought in to the US. It was a red 289 bodied street version that ended up in south Florida in a large collection of another special friend, Bob Gittelman. Bob has passed away, but he was a real car guy and an absolutely 1st class human being. I hope some of you had the pleasure of knowing him and his wonderful wife.
-------Speaking of Cobra repops, does anyone remember our display at the Chicago Autoshow that one year?
-------Its great that there are a few of you out there that were there having fun along with me. I keep repeating myself when I say "what a time" . I know this has gone off the track. Hope no one minds too much.......Bill S
-------Oh! The GTO....Was it red with black gut and black V-top? That was my driver for a couple of months!!!
Xplantdad
05-18-2005, 07:29 AM
Bill,
Your stories and the history that you've had with all these different cars is fantastic. Keep going with the stories! http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beers.gif
hvychev
05-18-2005, 09:42 AM
Bill there was a GT40 in a garage in La Grange????? http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif
Tell more stories! What were some of the rarest cars that you guys had come though your place back then? How much did you sell them for? Who were some big early collectors in this area? http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/worship.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beers.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/flag.gif
On a sad note, a bad accident on the front straight at the Road America vintage races last weekend resulted in severe damage to 1966 Shelby Mustang #2 and the near death of the driver.
The car had to be cut apart to remove the driver, the top and side door were cut off to save him.
I had been looking at the car in the pits over the weekend, what a shame.
GS #1 has been at the Brian Redman event a number of times, lost a wheel a few years ago and hit the guard rail doing a fair amount of damage.
Tenney
05-18-2005, 05:45 PM
[ QUOTE ]
-------
-------Oh! The GTO....Was it red with black gut and black V-top? That was my driver for a couple of months!!!
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That's the one. I was angling to make it my driver, but was 17 and cash-free. Cool car.
olredalert
05-18-2005, 05:47 PM
--------Am very sorry to hear that, Tim. Vintage racing is still racing and bad things happen. Ill keep the owner in my thoughts. Please keep us informed about his recovery!
--------Frank,,,,Biggest mistake I ever made in regard to passing up purchasing opportunities was that GT-40. I could have owned it for $30,000 completely restored to a pretty high standard. $30,000 back in the late 70s was just about house money though and after all.....it was a Ford........Bill S
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