The Supercar Registry - Holman Moody yesterday

The local chapter of the NCRS here in Charlotte toured the Holman Moody shop yesterday. It was like a throwback to 1965. Original molds for the GT 40's, original sand castings for various parts, original engine, body and chasis parts stacked everywhere. It was amazing. The memorabilia was fantastic too. Pictures of the original Shelby Coupes being fueled in 1965 during LeMans. Lee Holman who was showing me around after everyone left showed me this picture of him dressed in all white the Holman uniform fueling a 65 Shelby Coupe. The license plate was of course a black CA plate that had manufacturer on the side. Lee said he was the only one in the pits that did not smoke so he was designated the fuel guy. He wore a flashlight on his head so he could see down the tank in an effort not have fuel slosh out so not to risk having the car catch fire. Lee told me that in 1971 Ford would not comply to the new safety standards for new cars, and was summoned to testify before Congress on why the company would not. He told Congress it was too costly to do so. One person in Congress told Henry that perhaps if he would not spend the millions racing and shift that money to safety it would be money well spent. Henry told the Congressman that Ford was not racing anymore. After the meeting Henry had his people call the CA highway patrol and have the inbound tractor trailers headed to Riverside loaded with race cars and parts to turn around and head back to Charlotte. That was it for Holman Moody. HM had one customer back then, Ford and it was over. HM had 450 employees I believe Lee said it was a 40 million dollar a year business in 1971. So no small potatoes. Per Lee, Henry could not be the reason for pulling the plug. So he sent a bean counter to Charlotte to audit the books. The bean counter found that HM had over charged Ford by $4,000. Lee said it was over fasteners that had been given to HM and they had charged for them. The bean counter came into John Holman's office with a smirk on his face and proceeded to read John the right act for overcharging. At this point John was angry called Henry cussed him out and per Lee physically picked up the accountant and throw him out. John started selling off the GT 40's MK II's for $10K each in 1971. Lee told me one of the cars that a European guy owns, a gold one is now worth $12 million. John and Lee knew Ford would go racing again so they patiently waited for it all to start again. As the years passed between 1971 and when Ford went racing again. Ford had financial issues and ran though several executives. Finally the new COO was the bean counter from 1971, and when Ford went racing again enter Jack Roush.

Here are a few pictures of the the cars that were in the shop. The T bolt is the original that Fireball Roberts, and Ralph Earnhardt raced. The white car is just a clone race car. The Shelby is a customers car that was restored, and needed to be straightened out mechanically. The GT 40 is a customers car they just finished. Click the youtube link to hear it run.
Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e591_HZpSRM