Grand Sport #1

[Steve Shauger]

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.

[TimG]

firstgenaddict, just called the number, the Grand Sports have sold.

[firstgenaddict]

Damn! I was hoping to buy them and retire!

[olredalert]

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

[Mr70]

[ QUOTE ]
The body was done by a very talented guy in Batavia,Ill. I remember his first name was John.

[/ QUOTE ]
Was his last name Bartona?
Car & History.

[olredalert]

------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]

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]

I bet Bill drove the Cheetah there !

[olredalert]

-------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]

Bill,

Your stories and the history that you've had with all these different cars is fantastic. Keep going with the stories!