15 replies to this topic

[mono-posto]

Hi everyone.

I was just flipping through a model suppliers catalog when I came across an interesting looking car.
It's identified as 'Cadillac Cunningham Tank - Le Mans 1950'

Does anyone know more about this car?

Well here's a pic (of the model):


Kind of ugly, but I'd never seen a car like this, let alone in Le Mans! Any info?

[This message has been edited by mono-posto (edited 04-08-2000).]

[Ray Bell]

One of a series of Briggs Cunningham's efforts to have an American car win at Le Mans... Caddy ohv V8 was the norm, but did he later go to Chrysler?

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Life and love are mixed with pain...

[buddyt]

Yes you have seen Le Monstre' as the French called it. In 1951 when Cunningham came back to Le Mans he came with the chrysler hemi V8. Bugatti also race a tank shaped car once.

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"Speed cost money, how fast do you want to go?"

[Mike Argetsinger]

The car now resides in the Collier Collection in Naples, Florida. Le Monstre was one of two Cadillacs that Briggs Cunningham entered at LeMans that year. It was a special streamlined body on what was essentially a stock chassis. The other had a stock body and, driven by Miles and Sam Collier, finished 9th. Le Monstre finished 10th and would have done better except a great deal of time was lost getting it out of the sand. I just can't recall at the moment who drove it although I imagine that Briggs himself was one of the drivers. If you want to know I could look it up. I actually rode in the car that year when it was at Watkins Glen. It didn't race but was the pace car for the preliminary Seneca Cup race. As I write this I am looking at a photo on the wall of my father at the wheel of LeMonstre with my grandfather in the passenger seat and my brother seated in between. This was taken moments before they set out on the pace lap. This car differed greatly from the great Cunningham race cars that followed in the early 50's and that had a distinguished record in both this country and at LeMans. The big difference (other than the fact that the Cunninghams had Chrysler power as has been noted) was that the Cunninghams had a purposeful built racing chassis. They were real race cars from the ground up. I am fascinated to know that there is a model available of this car. I would love to know where to find it.

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Tazio

[Ray Bell]

I'm torn between welcoming our new member and saying something like "look what the wind blew in!"
This forum goes form good to better, the only problem being that it's becoming hard to keep up with it and still sleep!
Miles and Sam getting a mention is terrific - and to be reassured like this of the quality of the people reading this stuff gives me the confidence to start a thread on Horst Kwech...
As for Cunningham, did you know he once swapped a blown up engine for a 1919 Indianapolis Ballot for a fully restored 1905 Cotton Desgouttes?

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Life and love are mixed with pain...

[Don Capps]

Mike,

I did a double take when I saw your last name! Wow! Golly, did THAT name ever set off some memories!

Welcome to the Forum!!!

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Yr fthfl & hmbl srvnt,

Don Capps

Semper Gumbi: If this was easy, we’d have the solution already…

[Ray Bell]

Don - we've reached the stage that there's no need to filter out the dead wood. At least for the majority that form the frame of this forum...

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Life and love are mixed with pain...

[desmo]

I felt this thread could use a pic of the real car. This one may be a trifle flattering, though. While digging up this pic I read that the motor was fed through 5 2bbl carbs! I'd never heard of such a set-up before.

[Ray Bell]

We see here how flattering the 'Le Monstre' title really was! Thanks desmo, nice to see you surviving still...

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Life and love are mixed with pain...

[mono-posto]

Thanks everyone. I knew I could count on this forum!

Mike, The model is produced by the French firm Provence Moulage and is in kit form at scale 1/43.

If your intrested you could try www.grandprixmodels.co.uk I am not yet a dealer for PM or I would offer to get it for you. Maybe in the future.

As this is the first I had seen of this car, I couldn't say if other miniatures had been produced but my guess is that this is the only one.

[Eric McLoughlin]

The actual car was at the 1999 Goodwood Festival of Speed, driven by Doug Nye. It features on the official video together with some archive footage from Le Mans, including it executing a three point turn after spinning off. Nye said on the video that the car still wears its original paint work (note I said "paint work", not colour scheme). It apparently has hardly been touched over the past 50 years. I'd like to know how they managed to squeeze it into the cargo hold of a 747!

[karlcars]

This amazing car was a rebodied stock 1950 Cadillac chassis, the idea being to have this as a companion car to the standard Cadillac that Briggs also entered that year. The body was built with the help of Republic Aviation on Long Island and the aerodynamicist (yes, there was one!) was John Oliveau, a wonderful gentleman who later became the first head of ACCUS-FIA in the States. The 5-carb manifold was, I think, the work of Frank Burrell of Cadillac. It had one 2-barrel carb over each pair of inlet ports and the fifth carb at the center of the manifold with a progressive linkage. The car was damaged on the drive to Le Mans, needing repairs which cut down the time available to prepare it for the race. At least it finished, along with the semi-stock Caddy!

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Karl Ludvigsen

[fbarrett]

A few years ago the Colliers kindly brought Le Monstre on the Colorado Grand. Seeing and hearing it running down the road was amazingly better than admiring it at rest in their museum. Anyway, one day Miles pulled the car onto the lawn at a lunch stop in Lake City, Colorado, which is just about at the end of the earth. As he did so, a local old-timer ran up to him and said, "I know where there's another car just like that, in a museum in Florida!" Ever the gentleman, Miles just smiled and agreed.

Frank

[David M. Woodhouse]

The car now resides in the Collier Collection in Naples, Florida. Le Monstre was one of two Cadillacs that Briggs Cunningham entered at LeMans that year. It was a special streamlined body on what was essentially a stock chassis. The other had a stock body and, driven by Miles and Sam Collier, finished 9th. Le Monstre finished 10th and would have done better except a great deal of time was lost getting it out of the sand. I just can't recall at the moment who drove it although I imagine that Briggs himself was one of the drivers. If you want to know I could look it up. I actually rode in the car that year when it was at Watkins Glen. It didn't race but was the pace car for the preliminary Seneca Cup race. As I write this I am looking at a photo on the wall of my father at the wheel of LeMonstre with my grandfather in the passenger seat and my brother seated in between. This was taken moments before they set out on the pace lap. This car differed greatly from the great Cunningham race cars that followed in the early 50's and that had a distinguished record in both this country and at LeMans. The big difference (other than the fact that the Cunninghams had Chrysler power as has been noted) was that the Cunninghams had a purposeful built racing chassis. They were real race cars from the ground up. I am fascinated to know that there is a model available of this car. I would love to know where to find it.

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Tazio

It was indeed Briggs Cunningham, with Phil Walters co-driving in Le Monstre at LeMans in 1950. I believe the finishing position was 11th overall, with the Collier driven Cadillac coupe 10th. I also was lucky enough to ride in the car during its time in Costa Mesa.

Woody

[David M. Woodhouse]

This amazing car was a rebodied stock 1950 Cadillac chassis, the idea being to have this as a companion car to the standard Cadillac that Briggs also entered that year. The body was built with the help of Republic Aviation on Long Island and the aerodynamicist (yes, there was one!) was John Oliveau, a wonderful gentleman who later became the first head of ACCUS-FIA in the States. The 5-carb manifold was, I think, the work of Frank Burrell of Cadillac. It had one 2-barrel carb over each pair of inlet ports and the fifth carb at the center of the manifold with a progressive linkage. The car was damaged on the drive to Le Mans, needing repairs which cut down the time available to prepare it for the race. At least it finished, along with the semi-stock Caddy!

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Karl Ludvigsen

Was it not the folks at Grumman's Bethpage, Long Island works that did the body on Le Monstre?

Woody

[arttidesco]

Was it not the folks at Grumman's Bethpage, Long Island works that did the body on Le Monstre?

Woody

I don't know where he worked exactly but Harold Weinman appears to be the man who lead the design for the body work of 'Le Monstre'.



Meantime courtesy of John Aible a pic his replica 'Petit Pataud'