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#51 Jerry Entin

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Posted 01 May 2011 - 20:38

Posted Image
Lee Lilley driving the ex Cunningham Corvette # 72 at Nassau in 1960

Jim:
Because of the fact that in all four 1960 races in which Gist [Kissimmee, Master Field, Nassau prelim] and Lilley [Nassau feature] participated with the Le Mans Corvette, it had identical features to the ones when raced by Cunningham in the 24 Hours::

- all white, including the curved side inset
- No hood emblem
- no chrome or other trim around and within the curved side inset
- no front bumpers
- filled-in section between nose and front wheels where the bumpers used to be
- no grill inserts [the "teeth"]
- Halibrand knock-off wheels
- fog lights in the cavity under the headlights

None of these features show up on the Corvette in the photo. It appears to be a stock configuration Corvette and a 1959 Model at that. It would seem unlikely that a full race version would be put back to a stock looking Corvette.

Edited by Jerry Entin, 01 May 2011 - 21:30.


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#52 Bjorn Kjer

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Posted 19 May 2011 - 05:41

http://blogs.insidel...ocumentary.html

Bjørn

#53 Loren Lundberg

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Posted 20 May 2011 - 22:23

My best guess Jerry is the car in Florida was the Gist/Lilley ? Cunningham #1 car. We have photos of all the Cunningham cars at the post-race inspection, and damaged yes, but all were repairable. The #1 car was not driven or raced at Sebring, but was driven by Cunningham and Kimberly at LeMans, and the last time this car was identified in the US was in 1972 in Florida. Rumors today say it may be in Texas.

Now I have a photo of Don Gist drag racing a 60 Corvette at the Half Moon Bay Dragstrip in Northern California. The car has its hardtop in place lined up on the starting line, and the car has no painted marks on it. The shrubs behind the photo looks like Half Moon Bay as I remember it when I attended those races in 1967. It is a black and white photo, and very difficult to see any "LeMans details", even the rollbar.

I also have additional 3 photos of that car with Don in a NHRA T-shirt, top is off the car, hood open, roll bar exposed and the fuel injection unit showing in the engine compartment. On the front driver fender it says "Owned and Driven by DON GIST MOTORS". On the door is painted 283/290HP and D/SP for the drag racing class. On the rear fender is painted 1125 DIXIE ,followed by probably the town, the letters of which can not be read due to poor photo pixel quality. The road where these photos were taken is a rural two lane road with white rock on tar paving, no center lane typical of Florida roads of the 60's.

I only know of Lilley being involved with the CAMORADI #4 car with Jeffords, Gamble, and Wuesthoff listed as a drivers at Sebring. However Gamble and Lilley drove the car at Lemans, as Jeffords ran the Birdcage. This # 4 car is in Phoenix, AZ. and is featured in the 'QUEST' movie. The #4 CAMORADI car got the short stick in the final result ratings 30 days AFTER the race. In a letter to me January 6, 2008 from Fred Gamble, (living in Hawaii today) he said "The FIA said the car did not complete the INDEX OF PERFORMANCE miles as required".

Well in real miles, the # 3 Cunningham class winner went 2348 miles, the Aston Martin DBR1 went 2347 miles, and Fred and Lee covered 2306 miles which was only 42 miles back of 8th place # 3 Cunningham. The car had a long delay pit stop due to a fuel injection pump cable that was wound backwards in manfacturing and unraveled. It took way too a long stop to discover the problem. Zora Duntov was finally asked Why??? and he said apologically, "factory mistake on a bad batch." They lost 6 laps, and maybe 50 miles, but once we got back underway, the car performed better than the Cunningham cars

There was a # 3 CAMORADI Corvette at 1960 SEBRING driven by Jeffords and Wuesthoff listed, but actually driven by Gamble and Lucky Casner. Lucky over reved the engine and bent a valve. We nursed the car for a while, but it finally was a DNF. A lean fuel injection sytem cause by a whelch plug leak on the fuel meter caused the valve and overheat problem. The car unfortunately burned to the ground the day AFTER 1960 Sebring race due to a massive fuel injection leak that a tech did not know about when moving the car in the pits.

We discoved all the LeMans Corvette vin and chassis numbers in 1989. The three Cunningham vin numbers we originally got from Zora Duntov in 1982 after the # 2 car was discovered in a Irwindale, California junk yard. The # 4 CAMORADI numbers came from LeMans FIA records. That is how we discovered and confirmed the history of the #2 and # 3 Cunningham cars, and found the # 4 CAMORADI car in Sweden in 1994. The missing #1 Cunningham car is out there hiding, and one day soon, it will be found


Well, if you are going to use the Le Mans #s for identification, Cars 1 and 3 (Le Mans #) are the two Cunningham cars that ran at Sebring, both DNF'd.




#54 Loren Lundberg

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Posted 20 May 2011 - 22:33

Posted Image
Lee Lilley driving the ex Cunningham Corvette # 72 at Nassau in 1960

Jim:
Because of the fact that in all four 1960 races in which Gist [Kissimmee, Master Field, Nassau prelim] and Lilley [Nassau feature] participated with the Le Mans Corvette, it had identical features to the ones when raced by Cunningham in the 24 Hours::

- all white, including the curved side inset
- No hood emblem
- no chrome or other trim around and within the curved side inset
- no front bumpers
- filled-in section between nose and front wheels where the bumpers used to be
- no grill inserts [the "teeth"]
- Halibrand knock-off wheels
- fog lights in the cavity under the headlights

None of these features show up on the Corvette in the photo. It appears to be a stock configuration Corvette and a 1959 Model at

that. It would seem unlikely that a full race version would be put back to a stock looking Corvette.


Jerry, much of what was on the car in France was removed, starting with the motor and fuel injection. The legend is that all 3 cars were sold to Bill Frick - I suppose the ultimate question is whether MoMo removed and retained some of the gear or Frick stepped up to make it a "family cruiser"; in any case the car pictured was Cunningham #3.
It's interesting to note - in this era of "matching #s" - that part of the legend was that only one of the 3 cars managed to get it's original motor back - the other two were switched.


#55 Loren Lundberg

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Posted 22 May 2011 - 00:18

Loren Lundberg needs to answer this question. He owns the #4 car.


Sorry Jim, the #4 car burned to a cinder.


#56 Tomas Karlsson

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Posted 28 August 2012 - 15:03

There were a Corvette at the Swedish GP in 1956. In the supporting race for GT cars Erik Lundgren was entered in a Corvette against a group of Mercedes 300SL (with Seidel, and Bonnier). But the brakes gave up after just two laps in practice, so he was a DNS.

There is one strange thing about the Camoradi Corvette that Casner raced at Karlskoga in 1960. There it had #5. But the car that was destroyed in the road-accident after the race had race number 4 on it's side...? Did they take two cars to Sweden, or why would they change numbers?

#57 Tom Glowacki

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Posted 28 August 2012 - 17:09

There were a Corvette at the Swedish GP in 1956. In the supporting race for GT cars Erik Lundgren was entered in a Corvette against a group of Mercedes 300SL (with Seidel, and Bonnier). But the brakes gave up after just two laps in practice, so he was a DNS.

There is one strange thing about the Camoradi Corvette that Casner raced at Karlskoga in 1960. There it had #5. But the car that was destroyed in the road-accident after the race had race number 4 on it's side...? Did they take two cars to Sweden, or why would they change numbers?



The final, "missing" Cunningham Le Mans Corvette has re-appeared:

http://www.autoblog....tte-discovered/

Iconic Race Car to be Unveiled at Corvettes at Carlisle

Whereabouts Unknown for more than 50 Years - See Automotive History on Display

Thursday, August 02, 2012

When Chip Miller co-founded Carlisle Events in 1974 and launched Corvettes at Carlisle in 1982, his heart and mind overflowed with his love of family, love of work and love of the Corvette. In a 2011 film by Michael Brown called "The Quest," Miller's pursuit of an historic racing Corvette from the 1960 Le Mans 24 Hour Endurance Race was well chronicled. Also told within Miller's story was that of a trio of cars commissioned to race by American entrepreneur and sportsman Briggs Cunningham. Miller found his historic racer, the #3 Cunningham car, and it now resides in Carlisle, Pennsylvania as part of the Miller family's private collection. The #2 car, after multiple owners and a drop off the radar for nearly 20 years, is part of a collection owned by Bruce Meyer in California. The #1 car, which also raced at Le Mans at 1960, was, within two years of the race, lost...until now!

Lance Miller, Corvettes at Carlisle, Kevin Mackay, Corvette Repair Inc. and Larry Berman of BriggsCunningham.com are excited to announce that the #1 Cunningham Corvette has been found and will be available to be seen for the first time in over 50 years as part of the 2012 Corvettes at Carlisle event. The car will first be unveiled to a limited audience Thursday night, August 23 at 7 p.m. just off grounds and will then be on stage all weekend long where enthusiasts and event attendees can revel in this piece of automotive history.

Discovered in the St. Petersburg area of Florida, the #1 Cunningham Corvette was the last of the three Cunningham cars to be located. How the car was found, however, is a unique story. Though the search was on for many years, the trail always turned cold. Finally, in June of 2012 the heat was on as the car owner actually researched its VIN number online, which led him to the BriggsCunningham.com website. At that point, site representative Larry Berman called and then emailed Miller, a friend of his and owner of the 1960 #3 Cunningham Corvette, to inform him of the lead. From there, conversations took place with the owner of the #1 car and many of the details from that call fit aspects that had been researched prior. Through multiple phone calls, many questions and even a site visit by the car's current owner, buyer and seller became friendly and within a month, the sale was complete.

Since Sunday July 22, 2012 when the initial payment request was made until now, the car has traveled from Florida to the northeast where it will reside for the foreseeable future. Not only will it be on display at Carlisle in "as found" condition later this month, it will also go through a vigorous restoration process, which may take upwards of two years. Throughout restoration, it's expected that the car will annually return to Carlisle so that enthusiasts can track its progress. Further, Miller hopes that he can work with Loren Lundberg, owner of #4 Camoradi Corvette and Bruce Meyer, owner of the #2 Corvette as well as the new owner of the #1 racer for a reunion of the three Cunningham cars. If that feat were to be accomplished, it would be the first time since approximately 1960 that all four racing Corvettes were together in the same place at the same time.

Finally, as part of the grand unveiling, Miller and Mackay will share the full story of how the car was found, who owns it and what all went into the acquisition of it. These details and more will be told in grand fashion Friday, August 24, 2012 on stage during Corvettes at Carlisle.

Edited by Tom Glowacki, 28 August 2012 - 17:11.


#58 Loren Lundberg

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Posted 07 January 2013 - 16:23

There were a Corvette at the Swedish GP in 1956. In the supporting race for GT cars Erik Lundgren was entered in a Corvette against a group of Mercedes 300SL (with Seidel, and Bonnier). But the brakes gave up after just two laps in practice, so he was a DNS.

There is one strange thing about the Camoradi Corvette that Casner raced at Karlskoga in 1960. There it had #5. But the car that was destroyed in the road-accident after the race had race number 4 on it's side...? Did they take two cars to Sweden, or why would they change numbers?


The #4 was painted on for Le Mans - a temporary "5" was used in Karlskoga. Sorry for not picking up on the question sooner.
Regards,
LL


#59 HistoricMustang

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Posted 08 January 2013 - 20:37


For those that may not have visited the site lately there are some nice photographs and information here:

http://www.davemacdo...0corvetteSD.htm

Henry :wave: