68 replies to this topic

[Joe Fan]

Does anyone know what became of Bob Wallace? I assume he has passed away. He was a mechanic at Camoradi and also worked with Lamborghini. I believe he was from New Zealand.

[dmj]

He was interviewed for Thoroughbred and classic car magazine some 2 years ago, IIRC. I can find that article, it was an issue with a red 350 GT on cover. I believe he moved to USA and there he does some restoration business. And yes, he was from NZ.

[Joe Fan]

Wow! Good to hear that he is still living. So many from that era have left us.

[mattybinyon]

Bob the principal engineer and test driver for the greatest vehicle ever produced (Lamborghini Miura) was (and may still be) restoring selling, etc.... in Phoenix, AZ. Here's a yellow page listing for Bob Wallace cars in Phoenix.

http://yp.yahoo.com/...ar:regT:1:fbT:0

I chased a Miura P400 home one day in my youth because I recognized the taillights in the distance. I drove dangerously enough to catch him up as he turned into his neighborhood. He was suprised and delighted that a nineteen year old kid could recognize his P400 as well as the Ferrari 365GTC 4, early 76 fiberglass bodied 308GTB and 53 MG TD he had in his garage. The Miura actually had to sit in the drive under a cover. I got to sit in the driver seat and feel all 12 popping less than foot from my head before I helped him throw a cover over it. Intoxicating stuff.

edit:
Sorry the url didn't auto link. For some reason, atlas is inserting the smiley because of the character sequence. The company is call Bob Wallace Cars, Inc. in Phoenix, Arizona USA.

[Joe Fan]

Originally posted by mattybinyon
Bob the principal engineer and test driver for the greatest vehicle ever produced (Lamborghini Miura) was (and may still be) restoring selling, etc.... in Phoenix, AZ. Here's a yellow page listing for Bob Wallace cars in Phoenix.

http://yp.yahoo.com/...ar:regT:1:fbT:0

I chased a Miura P400 home one day in my youth because I recognized the taillights in the distance. I drove dangerously enough to catch him up as he turned into his neighborhood. He was suprised and delighted that a nineteen year old kid could recognize his P400 as well as the Ferrari 365GTC 4, early 76 fiberglass bodied 308GTB and 53 MG TD he had in his garage. The Miura actually had to sit in the drive under a cover. I got to sit in the driver seat and feel all 12 popping less than foot from my head before I helped him throw a cover over it. Intoxicating stuff.

edit:
Sorry the url didn't auto link. For some reason, atlas is inserting the smiley because of the character sequence. The company is call Bob Wallace Cars, Inc. in Phoenix, Arizona USA.

Thanks! I just got down talking to him on the phone.

[Ray Bell]

Your phone bill's looking good these days, Joe?

Hope you got what you wanted... but those Kiwis can be devious!;)

[mattybinyon]

Originally posted by Joe Fan


Thanks! I just got down talking to him on the phone.

Glad I could help.

Great page on Masten!! In the career highlights I noticed (had forgotten) that he won in the 250LM in 1965. Wasn't that the last street legal / production car to win the overall at LeMans? If so, that's noteworthy. Also, a couple of the picture links (the 908 and T33) off of clarben.com are now dead links.

[Joe Fan]

Originally posted by mattybinyon


Glad I could help.

Great page on Masten!! In the career highlights I noticed (had forgotten) that he won in the 250LM in 1965. Wasn't that the last street legal / production car to win the overall at LeMans? If so, that's noteworthy. Also, a couple of the picture links (the 908 and T33) off of clarben.com are now dead links.

I believe you are right about the 1965 Le Mans win. Thanks for the heads up for the dead links on my site.

[mera308gtb]

For years my Dad's office was on Magnolia street, just across from Bob Wallace cars. As a kid I loved going by my dad's place because I was always sure to see Ferraris and Lamborghinis. In the mid-80s Bob ran a 308 (I think) in southwestern SCCA races.

I spoke to Mr. Wallace on a couple occasions (great accent BTW) and he is a nice man. To my knowledge Bob still operates in Phoenix. I'll have to swing by on my next visit home.

MLC

[Patrick Fletcher]

Just realised that Bob Wallace was Johnny Mansel's mechanic in 1962 with Centro-Sud Cooper Maserati see the 8W thread.
He went [1962?] to Italy with Scuderia Centro-Sud, worked for Maserati and off to Lamborghini - you know the rest.

[MKIVJ6]

Bob is very much in bussiness. He and Alberto Pedretti rebuilt the motor in my 330 P3/4.

[repcobrabham]

greetings chaps could anyone help me in my hunt for bob wallace?

i'm trying to line up a phone interview with him and i have the number for his shop in phoenix (602 275 2543) but i call between 2.30-5 his time and get the answering machine. i left a couple of messages tues morning my time but later remembered it was veteran's day over there, so didn't sweat it. but i called again today (thurs morn in aus, wed arvo in the US) and still got the machine.

has the number changed? has he retired, or worse? or is he simply taking a break? any help greatly appreciated.

[cstlhn]

Originally posted by MKIVJ6
Bob is very much in bussiness. He and Alberto Pedretti rebuilt the motor in my 330 P3/4.

You could not have picked two better mechanics to do it!



Mr. Wallace in a Birdcage at Sebring.

David

[Paul Parker]

Would Alberto Pedretti be related to one of the Italian racers of the early 1960s who drove for Scuderia Sant Ambroeus or similar (cannot recall now where I saw it).

[Jerry Entin]

Great photo David. That car is #2472 at Sebring in 1961. It is the car that Casner and Gregory won the Ring with that year. Moss took the car at the start. The engine flooded when he tried to start it and he started dead last. Graham Hill was listed as his co-driver. They were a DNF and listed in 60th place. The cause was listed as exhaust manifold trouble for the DNF. This race was won by Phil Hill-Olivier Gendebein in a Ferrari 250 TRI/61 #0792TR. Entered by SEFAC Ferrari. They covered 210 laps in the 12hrs.

[cstlhn]

Originally posted by Paul Parker
Would Alberto Pedretti be related to one of the Italian racers of the early 1960s who drove for Scuderia Sant Ambroeus or similar (cannot recall now where I saw it).

I don't believe so. The Pedretti we are speaking of was a Ferrari factory mechanic for many years and a very good one at that. He eventually opened his own Ferrari dealership with locations in Manhattan and Spring Valley, NY.
MKIV J6 knows him much better than I do. I did get a chance to work along side him at the Monterey Historics in 1984. He had not picked up a wrench for quite some time but I could tell that he was brilliant. One of my fondest memories.

David

[Paul Parker]

Thanks for the reply csthln.

[richardspringett]

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by Paul Parker
Would Alberto Pedretti be related to one of the Italian racers of the early 1960s who drove for Scuderia Sant Ambroeus or similar (cannot recall now where I saw it).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


I guess the ex Scuderia Sant'Ambroeus driver you have in mind is Sergio 'Kim' Pedretti who drove Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprints and Sprint Zagato's winning 1959 and 60 Italian 1300 GT Championship amongst many others. Also drove Alfa TZs, Lancias and Ferraris.

Still lives on the outskirts of Bologna and competitively horse riding at 75! But don't know of any connection to Alberto Pedretti.

Richard

[Paul Parker]

Thank you for the info richardspringett it is appreciated.

[repcobrabham]

Originally posted by repcobrabham
greetings chaps could anyone help me in my hunt for bob wallace?

i'm trying to line up a phone interview with him and i have the number for his shop in phoenix (602 275 2543) but i call between 2.30-5 his time and get the answering machine. i left a couple of messages tues morning my time but later remembered it was veteran's day over there, so didn't sweat it. but i called again today (thurs morn in aus, wed arvo in the US) and still got the machine.

has the number changed? has he retired, or worse? or is he simply taking a break? any help greatly appreciated.

nobody?

[David M. Kane]

I just got off the phone with Bob Wallace and he invited me to his Ferrari Engine Shop here in Phoenix next week. So if you have specific questions please send them to:

dkane3@cox.net

I also plan on taking some photos.

BTW, he is usually in his Shop from about 6:30AM-3PM every day including Saturdays.

[Rosemayer]

1965 LeMans


www.experiencelemans.com/en-us/dept_172.html

[David M. Kane]

So far I have a transporter question from Bjorn...

[Bjorn Kjer]

Hello David , I wouldnt be too greedy , and my main "target" is the transporters, but as the "wants" are not pouring in , appearently , I would like to add : Anything on Camoradi !
Regards Bjørn Kjer

[repcobrabham]

well, i got into work early at a time (taking US - aus zones into account) that should have caught bob about 15-30 minutes before he bundied off, but still no answer. now have his number saved into my mobile and will have to try him at 3-4am my time or something...

[David M. Kane]

I have a 10am appointment with Bob tomorrow (Tuesday) at his shop. Any more questions you would like me to ask him?

[scags]

Originally posted by cstlhn


I don't believe so. The Pedretti we are speaking of was a Ferrari factory mechanic for many years and a very good one at that. He eventually opened his own Ferrari dealership with locations in Manhattan and Spring Valley, NY.
MKIV J6 knows him much better than I do. I did get a chance to work along side him at the Monterey Historics in 1984. He had not picked up a wrench for quite some time but I could tell that he was brilliant. One of my fondest memories.

David

The dealership is "Wide World of Cars " They're still there, but I believe Al retired.

[cstlhn]

Alberto sold the dealership several years back and retired to AZ. It is now owned by the New Country group. Alberto does do occassional projects with Mr. Wallace.

David

[David M. Kane]

Hopefully he'll too will be there tomorrow...

[Jerry Entin]

Dave Kane has just come from meeting Bob Wallace. Here is Bob Wallace today. He is 69 years old and from New Zealand as we know. He is a Ferrari and Lamborghini Specialist. Having worked at both Factories in the day. The car he is working on here is a Ferrari F-2, Model 212 from 1949.

Here is a Ferrari engine Bob Wallace is working on.
photos by Dave Kane

[David M. Kane]

Thanks Jerry! TheFerrari F2 car is, I believe, a 1949 Model 212.

I spent an hour and a half with Bob this morning so we could get to know each other. We plan to get together soon for lunch here in Phoenix. He and my wife both love Mexican. At that time he is going to lend me his period photos from Camoradi and Lambo so I can scan them.

Bob is 69 as Jerry just said. He left Italy in the early 1970s after he got fed up dealing with the Italian labor unions, they virtually bought everything to a halt. The situation was compounded by each political party having their own union.

You do the math!

He came to Italy with a mate after they had made friends with the Ferrari guys during the Tasman Series. At Ferrari he made .50 cents (half a dollar) US/hour. These were the days of Ginter, Hill and Gurney. Richie made $275 Dollars US/month for a 6 day work week. For this sum he was a mechanic, test driver and racer. He is very high on Dallara, he said he was a great engineer and chassis man.

He said Lucky Casner's idea for Camoradi was brilliant and was way ahead of the times. Clearly, he was a great salesman. He talked Dow Chemical and Goodyear out of $250,000 US Dollars to set-up the team, that an unheard of sum in those days. So they had all the great drivers. They got all kinds of free tires from Goodyear; but Lucky was naughty and was selling them to other teams.
Lucky apparently was a bit of a playboy and blew some of the money on Birds. Must of come from his days as a Pan-Am pilot.

He thought Fred Gamble from Goodyear was a very good man.

I asked him about driving with "Prova" plates and he said he never got a ticket in 20 years. He said he was lucky and brave as only the young can be. He lost 4 test drivers at Lambo to road testing accidents. And of course that's how we lost Mike Parkes. He said those were wild days.

He said all of the factories kept unofficial speed records, most were held by Mikes Parkes who held the "underground" record at 240kph, apparently there were some mountain tunnels between Florence and Modena? Mike Parkes also held the Autostrada record traveling a certain stretch of 100 miles in 33 minutes.

He said Camoradi was great and the cars were fast, but not always reliable. Maserati just didn't have any developmental dollars He said one year at LeMans in the Streamliner Masten Gregory passed 13 cars on the Mulsanne Straight on the same lap! Unfortunately Masten didn't have clue mechanically. If the car was set-up correctly he was a match for anyone, otherwise he was adrift...

He had some great Hans Tanner stories. Hans apparently didn't pay his hotel bill in Modena for 9 straight years, so the owner confronted Hans saying he needed to start paying. Hans apparently carrying his gun collection with him at the time which Bob had to sneak out the back door while Hans left through the front door on an "errant".

Later Bob disassembled a Gold Lugar for him so he could sneak it out of Italy. It had been a gift from President Battista of Cuba! Bob did say, however, that Hans bought a lot of rich clients to Modena, so he did help the local economy a great deal.

He said in the late 1960s you couldn't give away a GTO, now they are worth $8-12 Million US.

He said when they built the original Muira it was only he and three other mechanics who did all the work.

In reference to your question Patrick, he was already in Europe when Johnny Mansel crashed at Dunedin in 1962, so he doesn't know what happened. He did say Johnny was a good driver, but he had no money.

Bjorn, he said Camoradi didn't have a transporter. Sometimes they borrowed something from Maserati, rented something or simply put them on a plane and flew them overseas.

Now that Bob and I have establish some rapport, I will get some more stories from him.

He is in the process of restoring that Ferrari F2- 212 for a client in California who plans to race it.
The new body and new suspension were done in England, beautiful work.

[cstlhn]

Fabulous job!! Being a mechanic myself I love to read these types of stories. Thank you for sharing.

David

[Bjorn Kjer]

After having only seen CAMORADI transporters in the US with name on , and only 3 pics of the same Bianchi here in Europe without any name , I reckoned that. I will take this as a corfirmation! Thanks for a lot of telling , highly interesting. Thanks to David K. and Bob!
Regards Bjørn

[David M. Kane]

Bob also told me that one year they took a Corvette to LeMans for Camarodi. He drove the car from Modena, raced it in the 24 Hour and then drove it back to Modena...now's that's reliability!

Later he raced this car himself in Sweden. He flipped about 30 times he said, totally it and scary himself pretty good. He said it was only because of a full rollcage that he survived. The only salvagable was the engine. They left the carcass/chassis at the track.

A few years ago a Swede, from of all places Phoenix, went back to Sweden and resurrected the wreck, brought it to Phoenix and restored. Chevrolet contacted the guy because they wanted it for their museum and he said "no thank you". Until recently the guy didn't know Bob was in Phoenix too. So the guy called and introduced himself and told Bob this story...now what are the odds of the two ending up in the same spot on the other side of the world?

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by David M. Kane
.....He came to Italy with a mate after they had made friends with the Ferrari guys during the Tasman Series.....

I doubt that it was during the Tasman Cup series, as the first time Ferrari ran in that was 1968...

Pre-Tasman races are more likely, some Ferraris made it to New Zealand for those in the fifties.

[Jerry Entin]

Here is the rear suspension of the Ferrari F-2 That Bob Wallace is working on.
photo by Dave Kane

Here is the Corvette that Bob Wallace had his accident in. It was driven by Lee Lilley and Fred Gamble at LeMans in 1960. This picture is the Corvette at LeMans.
photo Lee Lilley-lent site Jay Sloane

[David McKinney]

Originally posted by David M. Kane
He came to Italy with a mate after they had made friends with the Ferrari guys during the Tasman Series

My guess is that should be 'Maserati guys' - Scuderia Buell was in NZ in January 1959 with Hans Tanner and Gerino Bertocchi (and drivers Schell and Shelby). I presume the mate he refers to was John Ohlsen?

[Bjorn Kjer]

Hello David , another good little story with the Camoradi Corvette!

[David M. Kane]

David:

I will check that out and get further clarification. As I told Jerry Entin, this guy's life is like a really good movie. The more you hear, the more you want to know.

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by Jerry Entin

Here is the rear suspension of the Ferrari F-2 That Bob Wallace is working on.
photo by Dave Kane

Very much in the 'widow maker' mould...

[cstlhn]

The same Corvette crossing the finish line at LeMans 1960.



There were 4 Corvettes there that year.

[Bjorn Kjer]

and who comes up with a fab pic not (ever?) seen before...................................................

[Jerry Entin]

Here is an engine out of a Lamborghini, Muira that Bob Wallace was working on when Dave Kane paid his visit to the shop.
photo by Dave Kane

[David M. Kane]

I talked to Bob Wallace again this morning about the Corvette and it has been restored back to its full LeMans livery and spec. Bob and Fred Gamble visited the fellow 2-3 years ago to see the car. It
is in Glendale. The guy is originally Swedish, I have several calls out in the Corvette community to see if anyone knows him. I would love to photograph the car.

I also talked to Mike Silverman from Vintage Motorsport and he told me that their article on Team Camoradi won a big award.

[David M. Kane]

The Corvette was restored in 2000 and it was raced at the Monterey Historics in 2002. The owner is Loren Lundberg and he is going to let me visit he and the Corvette next week.

[Bjorn Kjer]

Have a good trip David , I envy you ! Perhaps we will see a picture or two here ?

[David M. Kane]

If Lambo had a very small workforce when they started out in the early '60s, how many workers did Ferrari have on the line at the time? 50-60?

[David M. Kane]

I went Loren Lundberg's this morning and saw the LeMans Corvette. Shairon and spent 2 hours chatting with. What an amazing effort. When my brain cools off I'll share some of the more astounding moments.

[Jerry Entin]

Here is Loren Lundberg's Corvette in his garage as it looks today.

Dave and Shairon Kane had a great visit with Loren Lundberg and Dave will tell what he learned on this thread.

Camoradi Corvette at the scene of Bob Wallace's crash.
photos Dave Kane

[David M. Kane]

Loren showed me the actual accident report and policeman's drawing of the accident. It was a clearly a NASCAR multiple flip type of event that covered at least 1/4 of a mile or slightly more. Each roll the car was airborne for at least 20 yards. There appeared to have been at least 8 flips.

Fortunately he didn't hit a tree in this Forest Preserve in which he was driving. BTW, the whole time he was flipping he was fighting off a Maserati transmission that was sitting in the passenger seat area. No wonder when Bob told me the story it seemed so fresh in his mind.