Mystery-Eagle less mysterious

Posted 15 December 2006 - 04:52

A couple of months ago, I posted some pictures of one of our two 1972 Eagles in the process of a complete restoration. The project has advanced quite a bit more and it is now on the ground, still missing a few bits, but nearing completion.



It is painted just like the one with which Jerry Grant set the first 200mph lap on a closed circuit, at the 1972 California 500 at Ontario Motor Speedway. I was there and saw it being done. It was anticlimactic and Bobby Unser, the team's #1 driver, was not too happy about it!



The car was completely gone through from NOS and used parts, and it only needs finishing touches before being tested.



The engine is a 2.6-liter Drake-Offy with a Garrett turbo. Top speed at Indy was nearly 230mph. There, Bobby Unser set pole position with the sister car at 195mph, a full 18mph FASTER than the previous year's pole speed by the works McLaren of Peter Revson.



I have been working on that project for nearly 20 years, so it feels great to see it almost done at last...



Look at that plumbing! The turbo feeds the Hilborn full-time fuel injection. Throttle lag is about 3 seconds, meaning acrobatic and accurate driving decisions are needed to keep off the wall.



This lever between the driver's legs is the rear anti-sway bar adjustment, through hydraulic lines. I believe that this was the first racing car to benefit from this now-common feature, allowing to adjust the handling as the fuel is being spent.



The cockpit with its gauges and stuff to do during a 500-miler.



Some of the stuff is still missing, hopefully for not too long.



The engine looks like new but has a long racing history including a win in the California 500 and a win at Milwaukee. It was excellently maintained by AAR's engine man, John Miller, now retired to Hawaii.



The car is a long and low-slung machine that will not fit in a standard garage.



The detailing is beautiful. I remember seing Phil Remington, AAR's chief fabricator who also built the original Scarab and the Cobra Daytona coupe, fashioning these gorgeous mirrors from sheet aluminum and tubing spun in a lathe...



This is pretty much the view of the car from most other competitors cockpits from 1972 through 1975, the Eagles winning the "500" twice during those years.
So what do you think?

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Posted 15 December 2006 - 05:25

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Posted 15 December 2006 - 05:37

Beau-ti-ful! And Ray's right: from the pictures at least, it doesn't look over-restored. It looks like it would have in period.

Philippe, do you know the Nostalgia section of Trackforum? The guys there would absolutely love your prictures.

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Posted 15 December 2006 - 05:39

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Posted 15 December 2006 - 05:42

Nice toy if you can afford such a thing--------------

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Posted 15 December 2006 - 05:55

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Posted 15 December 2006 - 07:33

Outstanding, job well done

Have you managed to show the photos to Mr. Grant?

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Posted 15 December 2006 - 11:01

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Posted 15 December 2006 - 13:31

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Posted 15 December 2006 - 16:29

Superb job T54, congratulations... fantastic paint job too...

I would love to see the making off it, on a TV program (kinda Overhauling)

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Posted 15 December 2006 - 16:44

Thanks all for the compliments! The second car will be of course the sister car to this one, the white Olsonite Eagle. We hope to have that one completed by May 2007 or so.

Doug, "Haff" Haffenden was a great mechanic, great company and I have very nice memories of the whole crew. Butch Wilson is still working at AAR or their mysterious projects, while I think that Wayne Leary is hanging around Indy. Bobby Box died a few years back.

I must add that the car is fully raceable, carefully assembled by John Mueller, one of the best there is out there. He was the crew chief for one of those in the 1970's and now runs the Entrepreneur Magazine racing shop.

The question of affordability is of course important, but in this case the investment was relatively modest (I am no money bag!) due to a very kind arrangement made between Dan Gurney, the owner of Enterpreneur and myself. However over the past 20 years, lots of money was wasted with various restoration outfits that, for one reason or the other, failed to advance the project, making my life miserable.

We hope to have the car running and fully operating in time for the March "Route 66" HSR/Victory Lane event at California Speedway, where LOTS of Indy cars will be tested because of the nearing Monterey Historics featuring the old roadsters, of which I hope to drive one.

I won't be able to drive THAT Eagle because the pedals are about a mile from my feet. We probably will have much taller Alex Gurney in it for the sahkedown. The second car is specifically assembled for me so that won't be a problem.

There are not too many of these running yet, but there will be two more soon, along with the ones of Chuck Haines, Tom Scott, Jacques Dresang and a couple more. Those Eagles were THE car to have if you wanted to win an Indy car race between 1972 and 1975. They won Indy twice during that period but could have won 5 times with a shade more luck.

In the meantime, I am stuck racing slot cars until the global warming gets going again...
Regards,

T54

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Posted 15 December 2006 - 19:44

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Posted 15 December 2006 - 19:57

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Posted 15 December 2006 - 20:19

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Posted 15 December 2006 - 20:39

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Posted 15 December 2006 - 21:24

Augie,
I raced many times on that track with road-racing motorcycles. I also loved it!
I vaguely remember that indeed there was some kind of a ticket promotion for qualifying. Glad you made a few bucks!

This car will hopefully be ready for the HSR/Victory Lane showcase March 7-9, 2007 at California Speedway. The second car will take a bit longer as lots of work remain to be done.

Indeed Graham and John Collins did some work on these two cars, but it is only one of the many episodes of restoration. John and Graham are of course first-class people and could have done just as well, but AAR wanted the cars back to do the work themselves. It did not work out as they had to make several building moves, and eventually after waiting over 4 more years, I got the cars back 8 months ago in this 20-year saga.

At this time, most of the congrats must go to John Mueller who vanquished all the hurdles. I think that he is also in love with the car and does not want to let go...

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Posted 15 December 2006 - 21:59

B-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l

Love the colour...

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Posted 15 December 2006 - 22:01

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Posted 16 December 2006 - 08:57

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Posted 16 December 2006 - 09:30

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Posted 16 December 2006 - 16:41

Allen,
In April 1972, I masked and helped Ron Prevenslik to paint the original car, I have in my possession most of the original stickers, I have the original color chip and reference number, and I took the pictures under fluorescent light which of course deform the color. Besides this I had to lighten the pics on Photoshop to show the details.
Yes, it's the right color.
Remember the controversy about the Cooper Indianapolis car? Here we go again

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Posted 16 December 2006 - 16:53

Stunning job you have done there, it's a credit to you.

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Posted 16 December 2006 - 16:54

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Posted 16 December 2006 - 22:56

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Posted 17 December 2006 - 09:25

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Posted 17 December 2006 - 10:44

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Posted 17 December 2006 - 10:59

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Posted 17 December 2006 - 13:47

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Posted 17 December 2006 - 21:38

Unfortunately, my sense of humour is limited to my IQ, and living in California I am told that I have lost 2 points per year lived there, meaning that I am now over 70 points behind average, your basic village idiot by now...

Jacques, this one is 72-30, the last tub made. The Olsonite car is 72-29.

This is how it is going to look like:



I was the fellow behind one of the cameras shooting this pic of 72-03...

As far as Goodwood, I sure would love to come back there some day. What a magic place that is, even with all the commercialism of today. Communication has unfortunately not always been best with His Lordship's servants who apparently (I am told by an uppity person in the trade) believe that I am Canadian and keep losing my address...
If only the Earl knew that I am in fact kind of related to him by family ties from his great-great-great (times X) granma, Louise de Keroualles, mistress of Charles II, as one of my ancestors was apparently er, boinking her before she moved to England to spy on him by order of French king Louis XIV, the Sun King, may be I would move in grade there...!

However I must say that Charles was as kind to me as can be every time I was lucky enough to be related to the "right" car for the show. So I really have nothing to bitch about, as I was the luckiest man on earth when invited there and would come anytime at his request, by babana boat if funds did not allow.
In the meantime, I am counting the days...

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Posted 18 December 2006 - 10:11

Originally posted by T54
As far as Goodwood, I sure would love to come back there some day. What a magic place that is, even with all the commercialism of today. Communication has unfortunately not always been best with His Lordship's servants who apparently (I am told by an uppity person in the trade) believe that I am Canadian and keep losing my address...

Speaking American with a French accent - who else would do that but a Canadian

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Posted 18 December 2006 - 14:06

Originally posted by Peter Morley
Speaking American with a French accent - who else would do that but a Canadian

You've never been to Noo Orleenz?

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Posted 18 December 2006 - 19:43

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Posted 18 December 2006 - 21:24

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Posted 18 December 2006 - 22:12

to a fantastic car, and purple is really an underrated colour! Works terrific on this classic Eagle!

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Posted 18 December 2006 - 22:26

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Posted 18 December 2006 - 22:29

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Posted 18 December 2006 - 23:02

I know that little blond haired kid in that group photo next to the right rear tire.

Indeed, and I do not think that Alex was on the map quite yet...

I remember John saying that 7230 was going to go to Dan since it was the last one, but alas, I'm wrong again!

No you are not. Dan will get 72-30 (the purple car) while 72-29 (the white car) will remain with me. Thanks for the stickers, I am sure that John made good use of them. I do have authentic '72 Indy 500 tech stickers for the other car. I kept them since that year, as I obtained them at the Speedway from USAC tech, thinking that I could use them some day. Well, now is the day!

The two brand-new tubs needed polishing after 33 years of aluminum corrosion, but they look quite splendid and it will be easier to keep them up now. The same applies to the suspension bits that were cadmium plated, but cad plating goes bad too quickly. The only thing we lost are the USAC stamping on all the parts...
Those tubs were glued and riveted, and according to John, no need to do much to them other than the clean-up. They remain in perfect condition as well as the Goodyear unused fuel cells.

We will paint the second car in pearl white instead of the plain-white the original car was, because this is what I really wanted the car to be originally. Unfortunately it would not have been realistic at the time, and I had to settle for plain color.

Phil Remington was born in Santa monica, meaning that he is a true Californian... an extraordinary man who did extraordinary things, while keeping a level of modesty unequalled in the racing world. A true star in my book, and one very kind man.

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Posted 18 December 2006 - 23:05

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Posted 23 January 2007 - 17:01

I believe "Mr. Grant" turns 72 today (January 23). Here is Jerry, in dark hat and jacket, sharing a moment with ex-Porsche RSK racer Bob Yeakel, while ex-Ferrari 250TR, etc. racer George Keck (left) looks on. This was at the launch of Martin Rudow's book "Long Straights and Hairpin Turns" at Seattle in July, 2005.



Vince Howlett, Victoria, B.C., Canada

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