14 replies to this topic

[PonysiteEd]

Just did an interview with Lee Holman and tried to find more on the early (let's call it pre-Cobra for the time being) Wilment AC Ace powered with a Ford Holman Moody 260, that he describes. Found sth. about his early Ferrari being in his posession, but not about the AC Ace. Anybody who might have a clue, which serial no. it was and where the car might be today? There is nothing on the Wilment history website.
W.K.

www.ponysite.de/lee_holman.htm

[fbarrett]

W.K.:

Tom Cotter and Al Pearce's Holman Moody book mentions CSX2009 being delivered to HM in December 1962 (then racing at Nassau and Sebring), but there's nothing about a Willment connection. It also calls the car a 289, though that would seem to be an error. The Cobra chassis number registry book might shed more light, but I currently have no access to one.

Frank

[David Birchall]

Have never heard mention of this car. Presumably it post dates Shelby's approach to the Hurlocks--if not, it would really put the cat amongst the pigeons!

[Cynic2]

The Ferrari race car which appears in the photo is a replica using components from a Ferrari 2+2. It is in no way a genuine racing Ferrari.

Knowing of Lee Holman's dislike of Carroll Shelby, it would be nice to see a second, independent confirmation of the Willment AC-Ford predating the Shelby 260 Cobra.

Cynic

[antonvrs]

Doubtful.
H-M did put a 260 in a very early Siata CS chassis in the day. Like many entrepeneurs (sp?) they seemed to be self-promoters much like Shelby. It's kind of like the old saying-"The older I get, the faster I was"
Anton

[PonysiteEd]

@Cynic - that Ferrari pictured at the bottom of my linked page has nothing to do with the rebodied chassis 001C (in Wilments posession from 1951-1975 as 010L). 001C/010L might have also not been used for putting the 260 in. (http://www.johnstark...rticles_06.html).

It might still be worth to put a torch on this trace however to eliminate doubts and indeed get some more hints of Wilments activities as a Ford dealer. Seems he was somehow in touch with John Wyer very early in the 50ies already, through this Ferrari #001C/010L.

If anybody has some more info on the Wilment Ford dealership or shop pics from the early days around 1960-1962 of Wilment projects aside from their website, I' d appreciate any hint.
Wolfgang

[HistoricMustang]

My apology, it is of course a Shelby but also a 260.

Henry

[Cynic2]

Wolfgang,

As a minor point, the Ferrari you mention is 01C/010I ("I" for "Inter", not "L"). I know that car quite well, and there is no evidence that it ever had a Ford 260 V8 engine fitted, which would have required substantial modification. It is certainly possibly that John Willment considered such a swap for this car, without ever following up on the idea.

My reference to a Ferrari was to the Ferrari "race car" pictured in the photo(s) on your web site, taken in Lee Holman's shop.


Cynic

[David Birchall]

Originally posted by HistoricMustang
My apology, it is of course a Shelby but also a 260.

Henry

Nice handbag

[HistoricMustang]

Originally posted by David Birchall

Nice handbag

We call this one ".........a bit of a breeze."

Had a contest to see who could produce the first photograph of a Cobra on Dave MacDonald Drive.

We decided this one was the winner as it shows Dave in the first winning Cobra (as mentioned, a 260) on his street. The young lady was a nice addition.

Henry

[PonysiteEd]

@Cynic2, antonvrs, fbarrett - thanks for your input.

If sb. else has followed the Wilment owned cars in 61/62, pls. send a line my way meanwhile. I will use a few more hands at the shovels to dig deeper and try to find that AC Ace registered by John Wilment. Guess I should contact the AC registrar again.

[fbarrett]

PonysiteEd:

Willment's first Cobra was apparently CSX2131, a 289 that he drove to a class win at Le Mans in 1963. He ordered a spare frame for it from AC with the same chassis number, theoretically to replace the original car's chassis if he crashed it, but in 1964 he used the spare chassis to build the Willment Coupe.

Jack Sears may know of any earlier ACs. It's worth a question. I'll check his recent bio, Gentleman Jack .

Frank

[PonysiteEd]

Thank you, let's call it a "study or research", which I remember is mentioned in the forum description as being accepted on this site. I am pretty much aware, this might be a disliked topic for some, but I think it is worth to do some research to eliminate doubts or question marks.

Although my main interest is not Cobras, I stumble once and then over some nice stories around it and this is one of it.

For the interested cybersurfers ..just some more interviews online:
www.ponysite.de/cobra_speedlane.htm
Seems, John Willment was also involved later with the Ghia Cobra that is obviously still around acc. to Trevor Legate.

[ralt12]

W.K.:

Tom Cotter and Al Pearce's Holman Moody book mentions CSX2009 being delivered to HM in December 1962 (then racing at Nassau and Sebring), but there's nothing about a Willment connection. It also calls the car a 289, though that would seem to be an error....

Frank

Well, here is CSX2009 again.
Query--anyone have a picture of what was left after the Watkins Glen crash ?
Note--a no reserve auction !
http://cgi.ebay.com/...#ht_2800wt_1134

Edited by ralt12, 13 July 2013 - 18:23.

[ERIKZ]

Well, here is CSX2009 again.
Query--anyone have a picture of what was left after the Watkins Glen crash ?
Note--a no reserve auction !
http://cgi.ebay.com/...#ht_2800wt_1134

The car in the ebay ad is actually BEX209, not CSX2009.....