81 replies to this topic

[teegeefla]

Does anyone know any details on the 1961 Chevy Impala that Dan Gurney drove in a touring car race at Silverstone in May 1961? How stock was it? What color, etc? The only photo I have ever seen of it makes it hard to tell details. Thanks.

[Ray Bell]

Mid to darkish metallic blue with a white flash down each side...

Two-door. 409 engine. Made a great tow car!

[Bjorn Kjer]

Very interesting, now did it become a tow car , and for whom?
Regards Bjørn Kjer

[Ray Bell]

Like I said, it made a great tow car...

Bruce Burr used it for a while to tow Greg Cusack's Brabham and Lotus 23 around. And I guess, at times, the 1100 Elfin too.

But he wasn't the first. The car was sold initially to Laurie O'Neil, Frank Matich's sponsor. He then passed it on to Ron Hodgson before Cusack put it under Burry. I guess Hoddo towed a Cortina around with it... or was it a Mini?

[HistoricMustang]

Kinda interesting since the 409 was originally deisgned as a truck motor. :

[Ray Bell]

Yeah, at the time, of course, it was the biggest engine in the Chevy arsenal and was their race engine, not that Chevy went racing...

I don't know what it was about the car, but the moment I saw it in the pits at Warwick Farm I simply knew it had to be the Gurney race car. A quick conversation with Hoddo confirmed that it was.

A 2-door Chevy was a very rare car in Australia. Almost unseen and unheard of.

[seldo]

Originally posted by Ray Bell
Yeah, at the time, of course, it was the biggest engine in the Chevy arsenal and was their race engine, not that Chevy went racing...

I don't know what it was about the car, but the moment I saw it in the pits at Warwick Farm I simply knew it had to be the Gurney race car. A quick conversation with Hoddo confirmed that it was.

A 2-door Chevy was a very rare car in Australia. Almost unseen and unheard of.

Yeah, I remember the car - it was about as subtle as a rat with a gold tooth...

[Ray Bell]

The other thing that made it stand out, of course, was that this model was never sold in Australia as an Impala... just as a Belair...

So it was impressively 'different' at first glance.

[Robert Bailey]

Originally posted by Ray Bell
Like I said, it made a great tow car...

Bruce Burr used it for a while to tow Greg Cusack's Brabham and Lotus 23 around. And I guess, at times, the 1100 Elfin too.

But he wasn't the first. The car was sold initially to Laurie O'Neil, Frank Matich's sponsor. He then passed it on to Ron Hodgson before Cusack put it under Burry. I guess Hoddo towed a Cortina around with it... or was it a Mini?

Did Laurie O'neil ever tow with his 1964 Bentley S3 contintial flying spur.

[Bob Riebe]

Originally posted by Ray Bell
Yeah, at the time, of course, it was the biggest engine in the Chevy arsenal and was their race engine, not that Chevy went racing...

I don't know what it was about the car, but the moment I saw it in the pits at Warwick Farm I simply knew it had to be the Gurney race car. A quick conversation with Hoddo confirmed that it was.

A 2-door Chevy was a very rare car in Australia. Almost unseen and unheard of.

At that time CHevy WAS in racing.

It was after 1963, and Chevy had built a number of lightweight , Z-11, 427 in. cu., versions of the heavily aluminum Impala, that a no racing edict came down from GM headquarters.

Chevy, Oldmobile and Pontiac NASCAR programs ended that year.

The Z-11 was race special 425 hp steet engine, with a 12.5 to 1 compression ratio, based on the W or 409 engine.

Bob

[Doug Nye]

If memory serves, colour movie of Dan driving the Impala in that memorable May 1961 Silverstone meeting is featured in 'Motorfilms Quarterly' Volume 5 (????) - all Volumes remain available via <www.motorfilms.com>.

Honest DCN

[HistoricMustang]

Rex White was at the AIRPS event last weekend.

A photograph he has supplied the organization of his 1961 Impala.

Henry

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by Bob Riebe
At that time Chevy WAS in racing.

It was after 1963, and Chevy had built a number of lightweight , Z-11, 427 in. cu., versions of the heavily aluminum Impala, that a no racing edict came down from GM headquarters.

Chevy, Oldmobile and Pontiac NASCAR programs ended that year.

The Z-11 was race special 425 hp steet engine, with a 12.5 to 1 compression ratio, based on the W or 409 engine.

Thanks, Bob...

Now the industry agreement was about 1957/58, right? All the industry agreed to be out of racing... but there was a bit of back door stuff coming from some makers, right?

I know the Gran Sport program (1962?) showed that Chevy was interested, but this car was in 1961 when (in road racing at least) Chevrolet seemed to be inactive.

[bradbury west]

Originally posted by Doug Nye
If memory serves, colour movie of Dan driving the Impala in that memorable May 1961 Silverstone meeting is featured in 'Motorfilms Quarterly' Volume 5 (????) - all Volumes remain available via <www.motorfilms.com>.

Honest DCN

Is that the race where the wheel came loose/wheel stud sheared after he frightened the Jaguars witless? Or am I thinking, or not, of another race? I seem to recall Jack Kelsey in another Impala, OTTOMH, at the same time.

Roger Lund.

[Ivigras]

Dan Gurney in the Chevrolet Impala 1961, I dont know when.




Thanks to ImageShack for Free Image Hosting

Saludos.

[Bob Riebe]

Originally posted by Ray Bell


Thanks, Bob...

Now the industry agreement was about 1957/58, right? All the industry agreed to be out of racing... but there was a bit of back door stuff coming from some makers, right?

I know the Gran Sport program (1962?) showed that Chevy was interested, but this car was in 1961 when (in road racing at least) Chevrolet seemed to be inactive.

More or less, less back door than people think. Many forget just how independant the divisions of GM used to be.
They were genuine separate makes.

The sixty one Bubble Top, was the first aero race special to come out of Chevy, the next was probably the mid-seventies RS Chevellle.
Bob

[Roger Clark]

Originally posted by bradbury west


Is that the race where the wheel came loose/wheel stud sheared after he frightened the Jaguars witless? Or am I thinking, or not, of another race? I seem to recall Jack Kelsey in another Impala, OTTOMH, at the same time.

Roger Lund.

The Impala project was financed and organised by Dan Gurney. After its success in the International Trophy meeting it was refused an entry for the July empire Trophy meeting in very dubious circumstances leaving a very angry Dan Gurney. He wrote a letter to Autosport about it, including the paragraph:

"I will, in time, get over the fact that I spent a lot of time and money in bringing the Impala to Great Britain, but I will not readily forget the suspicion that there may have been some behind-the-scenes sabotage to prevent the Chevrolet from running at Silverstone."

[Twin Window]

Originally posted by HistoricMustang

I coulddn't resist a little fiddle, Henry!

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by Roger Clark
The Impala project was financed and organised by Dan Gurney. After its success in the International Trophy meeting it was refused an entry for the July empire Trophy meeting in very dubious circumstances leaving a very angry Dan Gurney. He wrote a letter to Autosport about it, including the paragraph:

"I will, in time, get over the fact that I spent a lot of time and money in bringing the Impala to Great Britain, but I will not readily forget the suspicion that there may have been some behind-the-scenes sabotage to prevent the Chevrolet from running at Silverstone."

I think that neatly explains why I was of the understanding that he only raced it once...

And why it came to be sold to Laurie O'Neil.

[bradbury west]

I remembered that there is a good photo of the Impala in John Blunsden's Motor Racing 1961 book. dan Gurney had stormed into the lead, despite all G Hill's efforts to keep up, but had a wheel collapse at Beckett's. The next scheduled race was at the July S'stone.

The story gets better.

This time, Gurney's Chevrolet was to be joined by Lance Reventlow's Ford Galaxie, with Chuck Daigh at the wheel, but "to the bitter disappointment of nearly everyone present" neither car started.

The Impala was held up for lack of parts, and Daigh had been injured in an Intercontinental Scarab. A replacement driver was being organised when, "following a protest" the RAC received notice from the CSI that the car should be withdrawn, because it was alleged the necessary evidence for homologation had not been submitted in time. ( How do we spell conspiracy- theory?) .

Nontheless, an excellent portent of what was to come with Gentleman Jack and BML 9A in 1963, and what a superb entrant Reventlow was, funding a car like the Galaxie to race in the UK.

I recall a fabulous shot in Autosport?, of Jack Sears at Snetterton with BML at full chat head on to the camera, the caption calling him "Fireball" Jack after the US driver Roberts with that soubriquet.

Heady days.

Roger Lund.

[bradbury west]

I seem to recall Jack Kelsey in another Impala, OTTOMH, at the same time.

Roger Lund. [/B][/QUOTE]

It was Charles Kelsey IIRC. Having found my old Chix bubble gum football cards from my childhood, I see that Jack kelsey was Arsenal's Welsh Int Goalkeer, gaining his first cap in 1954. So that clears that up.

RL

[Paul Parker]

A vague memory stirs in the back of the old brain box about Gurney and the Chevy.

Wasn't a disgruntled letter sent to Autosport by Gurney (or similar) at the time complaining about the homologation fit up? I saw it once a long time ago and I'm not in reach of my archive just now but somebody better informed will know I'm sure.

[HistoricMustang]

Originally posted by Twin Window
I coulddn't resist a little fiddle, Henry!

Visited with Rex last Saturday.

A photograph up soon and what a wonderful individual. New book due in Spring 2007!

Sorry for off topic.

Henry

[Ray Bell]

Reviving this thread because it should be revived...

Talking tonight with the present owner of the Gurney Chev Impala, he asked me to see if I could get some more information and photos relating to the car.

Already, the letter mentioned above seems to be among the sort of thing he'd like to see. Also the contemporary race reports from the various British magazines. And Doug's film, perhaps?

What about records from the meeting, does anyone know if these would have been kept? Was there a registration system which might have recorded (and still retains) the engine and/or chassis number of the car?

Any help, anyone?

[klemcoll]

I see a mention in this thread about Charlie Kelsey. In 1962 Charlie and I had arranged for Chevrolet to build us a pair of special Chevy II's, these with 327 Corvette spec motors, 4-speed boxes and other goodies. Everything was what was called a "Dealer Installed Option." The Gurney situation being known, these cars were in fact fully homologated. Charlie and I raced them a few times in the UK in 1962. Chevrolet was very helpful -- out the back door so to speak -- but neither of us was very experienced and the whole project was run on a shoestring and a half out of Michael Christie's old Alexander Engineering place. Charlie beat Roy Salvadori's Jag 3.8 at Brands and he and I each won a race at Crystal Palace where our power got us in front and that was it.

I clearly remember John Coombs coming up to me in the Brands paddock, screaming that he had been up to the Chevrolet showroom in London and that they did not know anything about our cars. In those days, John could display a bit of temper now and then. My only reply as to say, "Well, John, would you like to see the homolgation papers? They're right here in my bag…" It was an amusing season, with a lot of lessons for the future.

Charlie has passed on. He was very much into handguns, quite a craftsman in that field in fact. That is also a passion with some questionable participants. A few years ago he was down on his luck and someone killed him, probably for one of his guns.

Peter Sachs

[Doug Nye]

Jaguar was extremely protective of its pre-eminent place in British production car racing and I have no doubt that 'Lofty' England would have been pulling strings like crazy 1961-62 to stave off the (inevitable) day when a Detroit V8 overwhelmed his 3.8s on UK circuits. He was exceptionally well connected, hugely respected and generally very well liked. He was also exceptionally competitive - every inch A Racer - and at around 6ft 5ins that's a lot of Racer. I have no doubt the officials of the RAC had their ears well and truly bashed...

Sir William Lyons, equally, was never averse to doing his own share of string pulling - the Midlands motor industry's finest DEFINITELY did not want any incomer that would rock their boat. But Dan's Impala and the Chevy IIs from Peter and his chum - described as 'Chuck' Kelsey here - were the writing on the wall. I have always thought it was greatly to British credit that our crowds adored the incomers, and in many cases were rooting for them. In fact it made a pleasant change to see those boring Jaguar walkovers become a thing of the past...

DCN

[David McKinney]

Originally posted by Doug Nye
In fact it made a pleasant change to see those boring Jaguar walkovers become a thing of the past...

Sacrilege!!!

[klemcoll]

To Doug's comment about the British fans, I remember that when Chuck came round to the finish with Salvadori still behind him the entire Brands main grandstand broke out in a sea of white handkerchiefs -- people still carried such things then -- in celebration of the defeat of the Jaguar.

[Ray Bell]

Thanks, Peter, I knew nothing about those Chevy IIs running there...

I remember well the situation with the V8 option in Chevy IIs. Yes, a 'dealer installed' option, you ordered the car from the dealer, the dealer placed the order with GM and in turn received a complete 6-cyl (or 4-cyl?) car and a box full of bits to change it over to a V8. Hot Rod Magazine carried a story about the option.

I imagine they were a bit light on for brakes after a couple of laps?

But that aside, what I'm chasing is information about Gurney's Impala. While, in time, I'm sure I'll be doing a story about it and its restoration (and the fact that it probably inspired the Chevy II project, which ultimately spelled the beginning of the end for the Jags), so all of this is of interest.

Of more interest to the owner is anything that relates to the entry, pictures that might specifically identify the car and so on.

[Doug Nye]

Ray - to the best of my knowledge such details as chassis serials were NOT recorded upon entry forms nor in scrutineering procedures of the period here in the UK. And if they were then the chances of the RAC or any other organising body still preserving them is next to nil judging by my past experiences of hunting for such material here. If your owner friend logs onto <www.motorfilms.com> and checks the Motorfilms Quarterly listing and contents he will find the DVD (Volume 5) which includes the movie footage of Dan's car leading the Jaguars at Silverstone.

Dave - yes, mate - intentionally sacrilegious I'm afraid. The Midlands motor industry's attitudes always got right up my nose (even including those of my friends and heroes at Jaguar). 'British is Best', 'The Empire is our Market' and 'Foreign Rubbish' blinded them to the fact much of what they were making was complete crap, and to the consequently growing imports threat, and this instinctive protectionism extended into motor sport and obscured reality.

I'm reminded of the BIOS 1945 report by a Humber engineer which concluded that the Volkswagen was a quaint confection of no future commercial value, and later Brummagem attitudes that BMW made a worthy attempt at manufacturing motorcycles but knew nothing about how to design a motor car, or that Lancia manufactured over-engineered cars which will surely brankrupt them (right on that one!) while ignoring their design's amazing capabilities. I much admire my Jaguars - even if the huge majority of them do have that great lump of cast-iron engine and only six cylinders - but I've never been wildly impressed by 'Jaguarism'...

DCN

[Ray Bell]

Thanks Doug...

He already has one bit of video, apparently an amateur movie made by someone who won some kind of award for making it.

I wonder if it's possible to make inroads into this via Chevrolet?

[Ray Bell]

Apparently not...

If it had been a Pontiac, Olds, Caddy or something else, yes... but Chevrolet were too much of a sausage machine, apparently.

Still pursuing this, but here's an interesting one for you all to contemplate. At least, those of you who know Silverdale Hillclimb, anyway.

Laurie O'Neil did a 43.96sec run up that climb in September 1962 in this car!

[seldo]

Originally posted by Ray Bell
.....Still pursuing this, but here's an interesting one for you all to contemplate. At least, those of you who know Silverdale Hillclimb, anyway.

Laurie O'Neil did a 43.96sec run up that climb in September 1962 in this car!

Pardon my ignorance Ray - I gather that's pretty quick? How about a couple of comparisons...

[Ray Bell]

Apparently it wasn't bad at all!

Nearest I have here are times at an event 13 months later. Class-winning times on a day described as having 'perfect weather':

Racing Cars:
0-500cc - B Schureck, BB Spl, 42.30
501-750cc - Dick Shoebridge, Shoshonee, 42.98
751-1000cc - R Kennedy, Austin, 42.98
1001-1500cc - Doug Kelley, Cooper Climax, 39.94
1501-2000cc - Gordon Stewart, Stewart MG, 45.40
2001-3000cc - Ralph Sach, Nota-Din, 39.60
3001 and over - Jim Larkin, Jagford, 47.20

Okay, so the racing cars are all around his time, some a lot quicker (3s at Silverdale is a lot, 4s is an awful lot!), some actually slower.

Sports Cars:
751-1000cc - Peter Finlay, Sprite, 53.32
1001-1500cc - Tom Sulman, Lotus XI, 41.91
1501-2000cc - Ken Rowe, MG TC, 47.72
2001-3000cc - R Lewis, Triumph TR3A, 45.10

Gran Turismo:
501-750cc - J Miller, Renault, 56.45
1301-1600cc, Maurie King, Austin Lancer, 52.81

Touring Cars:
501-750cc - Dr John Uren, NSU Prinz, 49.35
751-1000cc - A Dickenson, Austin A30, 49.18
1001-1300cc - P Murphy, VW, 48.18 (5 secs faster than Ray Berghouse in a VW)
1301-1600cc - John Tolhurst, Fiat, 51.46
1601-2000cc - Gordon Stewart, Morris Major Elite, 53.81 (class record)
2001-2600cc - T Edwards, Holden, 45.72

PVT:
1001-1500cc - A Macpherson, Riley, 67.50

So Laurie wouldn't have done so badly on this day at all. Faster than all the touring cars, three full seconds faster than the fastest. Faster than the GT, but that's unrepresentative. Faster than all but one Sports Car class, beaten only by a Lotus 11.

And it's clear by the Racing Car times that the hill really suited small cars... which the Chev certainly wasn't... Jim Robson reckons it was brushing the scenery on both sides as it went up the hill!

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by Doug Nye
If memory serves, colour movie of Dan driving the Impala in that memorable May 1961 Silverstone meeting is featured in 'Motorfilms Quarterly' Volume 5 (????) - all Volumes remain available via <www.motorfilms.com>.

Honest DCN

Now seen that footage, Doug...

Very good.

[Ray Bell]

Laurie O'Neil's buying spree on that trip to England didn't only net him the Chev...

He also brought back an Aston Martin DB4GTZ. Although, having written that it really doesn't make sense, does it? He bought the Chev in mid-1961, and I don't think the DB4GTZ was built until 1962... or is my memory letting me down again?

Anyway, the Chev had to be converted to RHD, which it was by mid-1962, and Laurie entered both cars in the hillclimb at Silverdale that September afternoon.

It's interesting to see what times he recorded:

Aston Martin - Practice - 45.66... 1 - DNR; 2 - 48.58; 3 - 48.71; 4 - 43.70; 5 - 43.35.

Chev Impala - Practice - 45.36... 1 - DNR; 2 - 44.77; 3 - 43.96; 4 - 46.24; 5 - 44.78.

He won the class, which presumably was the GT class as the Chev wasn't eligible for Touring Cars with only two doors. The only one faster than him was Jack Bono in his red hot Porsche, who did only a practice run (42.16) and then crashed.

It's only six weeks after this event that I saw it with the RH-218 numberplate on it. Laurie never kept cars for very long...

[d j fox]

I was at the 1962 International Trophy race and Dan's blue and white Chevy was certainly the crowd favourite—we all cheered when he came round in the lead!. I remember how stable the car looked coming around (the old) Stowe corner compared to Hill and Salvadori's wildly lurching Jags. Salvadori was black flagged as his boot lid sprung open (no doubt to Mr. England's annoyance!), so Hill took up the fight. Sadly about two laps or so from the end Dan had to pull off at Becketts as the right rear wheel had pulled over all the wheel studs.
The car was easily fixed as I well remember we drove alongside Dan on the way out of the meeting..so presumably Dan drove it to the track--I wonder where it was garaged?

We were all eagerly anticipating the re-match at the June Empire Trophy race but then the protests flew around, plus Chuck Daigh crashed the Intercontinental Scarab in practice so the Reventlow Ford couldn’t have started anyway.
Dan certainly was bitter and a very long letter was published in Autosport , but to no avail. As Dan said in a question I posed to him through Motor Sport recently “You can’t fight City Hall”.

If the American iron had actually started the race quite what would have happened is anyone’s guess. There was a tremendous cloud burst during the opening laps and Salvadori and Bruce McLaren aquaplaned their Jags off at Club, Blydenstein- Borgward, Harper -Sunbeam and Hutcheson’s Riley all crashed too.
Mike Parkes won from G.Hill in Tommy Sopwith’s Equipe Endeavour blue Jags, but such were the conditions that in an absolutely outstanding 3rd place was Herbert Linge in the BMW 700CS-all 700cc’s of it—on the same lap and only just over 1 minute behind!

Peter Sachs comment also brought back memories—I remember Kelsey debuted the Chevrolet Chevy II at the very wet International Trophy race 12th May 1962. He finished 5th behind the Jags of Hill, Parkes, Sears and Hobbs.
I saw both Chevy II’s at the Whitsun Crystal Palace meeting—Peter retired and Kelsey was disqualified—my notes say for “over sized exhausts(mufflers)”—surely not?!
September 1st 1962 National car races at Crystal Palace saw Peter Sach’s memorable win in his white Chevy II—he out dragged everyone off the line and just stayed in front by mere inches from the Ford Anglias of Peter Ashdown (Superspeed) and Chris Craft…the so called Formula One Anglias because they had 1500cc engines!
It was a gripping race –and very sporting, no bashing—of course today the Chevy would have been forced off and pushed into the bank by some hero or other.

Nonetheless—both Gurney, Kelsey and Sachs proved that the Jags were beatable—and so it proved with Ford/Holman and Moody/ John Willment and Jack Sears in 1963

David Fox

[Ray Bell]

Okay, so who's the superior sleuth?

Can the California registration of the car provide details? Looking for anything that identifies the car positively... chassis number and the like.

It was registered VHX 874. The car was built in the earliest days of 1961, months before any other 409 cars, and had an aluminium T10 gearbox as fitted to some Corvettes. The owner can date code the gearbox to 2nd January, 1961, the rear end to a similar date. We know it's the car, we just want to prove it.

Oh, and a little story I learned yesterday...

The Silverstone race wasn't the only time the Chevy lined up against a Jaguar.

Having recalled that I had once found myself talking to Bill Buckle in Hoddo's car yard in Auburn, and this would have been either when he owned the Chev or shortly afterwards, when I was talking to Bill yesterday I asked if he could remember anything that would help.

"There might be a dent in the back bumper," he said, "from where he hit the E-type."

Seems that one day he and Ron decided they wanted to find out which car was the quickest. Hoddo did a lot of wheeling and dealing in used Jags those days, having raced one for a short time, and Bill owned a red coupe that was quite new.

They lined up beside each other in the side street, just off Parramatta Road, and gunned it together. The Chev lurched sideways with wheelspin and creased the door of the Jag.

[bradbury west]

Originally posted by klemcoll
I see a mention in this thread about Charlie Kelsey. In 1962 Charlie and I had arranged for Chevrolet to build us a pair of special Chevy II's, these with 327 Corvette spec motors, 4-speed boxes and other goodies. Everything was what was called a "Dealer Installed Option." The Gurney situation being known, these cars were in fact fully homologated. Charlie and I raced them a few times in the UK in 1962. Chevrolet was very helpful -- out the back door so to speak -- but neither of us was very experienced and the whole project was run on a shoestring and a half out of Michael Christie's old Alexander Engineering place. ...
Peter Sachs

Slightly O/T perhaps, but looking through Georgano's Encyclo. of Sports Cars there is a photo of Sir Gawaine Baillie racing a Corvette in the UK in 1958. Was that the earliest we saw a Corvette racing over here and does anyone know anything more of it, spec, source, further use as a racer.? My Autosports do not cover '58
Roger Lund.

[S&M Minis]

Ray,

You may already have access to it, but the July 1961 issue of Sports Car Graphic has a three page article by Ocee Rich on the Gurney Impala. Aside from showing the registration number VHX 874, there is a licesne plate frame visible of the type provided by the dealership selling the car. Unfortunately the details get lost in the graininess of the photo. Playing with the scan, to my eye the line on the top starts with "LA" and on the bottom starts with the word "Don". Early versions of this type of car were often funneled through favored dealerships and on then to drag racers. If the dealership still exists, they may be a better bet than the California DMV. Any drag racing sleuths in the LA area? The article states that the car was viewed in Frank Arciero's construction yard in Montebello, California and that it was prepared by Bill Thomas and Bill Fowler. The car was still on it's original equipment white-sidewall tires when the article was done.

Again, you may already have access to this information. Good Luck.

[Ray Bell]

Thanks for the interest, Randy...

I think that the owner has that detail, but I'd sure like to have scans of that article! My SCGs were tossed long ago... unfortunately!

[S&M Minis]

Ray, Scans e-mailed. Let me know if they arrive okay. Can send higher resolution if needed. prjm3@msn.com

[Ray Bell]

Scans are fine, Randy... thanks for that...

I should have realised, of course, that I never had that issue anyway. My first was about July 1962. Whichever month had the Belgian GP report... man that was a beautiful photo!

[raceannouncer2003]

Originally posted by S&M Minis
Ray,

You may already have access to it, but the July 1961 issue of Sports Car Graphic has a three page article by Ocee Rich on the Gurney Impala. Aside from showing the registration number VHX 874, there is a licesne plate frame visible of the type provided by the dealership selling the car. Unfortunately the details get lost in the graininess of the photo. Playing with the scan, to my eye the line on the top starts with "LA" and on the bottom starts with the word "Don". Early versions of this type of car were often funneled through favored dealerships and on then to drag racers. If the dealership still exists, they may be a better bet than the California DMV. Any drag racing sleuths in the LA area? The article states that the car was viewed in Frank Arciero's construction yard in Montebello, California and that it was prepared by Bill Thomas and Bill Fowler. The car was still on it's original equipment white-sidewall tires when the article was done.

Again, you may already have access to this information. Good Luck.

My guess for the license plate fram, would be La Habra (top) and Don Steves (bottom). Don Steves Chevrolet was, and still is, a Chev dealer in La Habra, California:

www.donsteveschevrolet.com

They sponsored Dave MacDonald's Corvette in 1961, but looks like they are more into drag racing now.

Vince H.

[teegeefla]

It is definitely Don Steves. This dealership also sponsored a Chevy Impala in a USAC stock car race that Dan Gurney drove at Riverside on March 18, 1962. He won heat 1, was 2nd in heat 2 but was disqualified because the car was pushing the rulebook.

Here is a link with a brief mention:

http://www.cheetahra...alkenburgh.html

[S&M Minis]

Ray,

On the upper right of the Don Steves homepage (link provided by Race Announcer) is a "Dealership Info" e-mail link. I resisted the urge to send them an e-mail, they might respond better to an inquiry from the folks that actually have the car. Go for it!

It's great how "the collective" can fill in some gaps via the Wide World of Web, just the way Al Gore planned it!

[Ray Bell]

I'm fairly sure the owner has been in touch with the dealership...

I'll check when I get home.

[hardy]

I'm very Interested in the Carles Kersey/Peter Sauchs threads, having worked at Alexander Engineering as an apprentice mechanic I was obviously aware of Miche Christie, I joined Alexanders in 1963 presumably just after the chevy's were there.

Has anybody got any photos of the chevy's at Alexanders, or any pictures of Alexander engineering personnel/premises at the time.

Many thanks

[Lee Nicolle]

A little of the subject but 409s on the hills.Norm Beechey used his restored 4 door pillarless for a period at the hillclimbs, classic rallys etc. It was quite spectacular to watch at Collingrove and reasonably quick.The bench seat must have been terrible.I think that car is a 62?

[Joe Nix]

Hot Rod Magazine February 1962 p 76-77 article entitled "Stovebolt Saloon" by Dick Cancellier on the same car probably same information with the same front license plate pic. Impala in stock trim. Photos by Al Paloczy