actually yes, there are stories like that out there. 26 years ago i brought
a very delapidated rusty bugeye home. upon first inspection my father said"
looks like an old D.C. region car". i figured it was just too much
castrol"R" fumes from days gone by and wrote that statement off. the guy
who sold it ti me said it had been raced, i figured it was just hype! i
wanted a good autocross car and could care less what people thought about my
funny little car. untill around 11 years ago things happened and a
photograph of the 1962 SCCA national convention participants lined up on
pennsylvania ave. in washington D.C. came into my posession. the front two
cars were an e type jag belonging to ace rosner and a white bugeye (with a
tell tale hand fabricated roll bar showing through the windows of the car
withthe top up) belonging to david and susan roethel. after much research,
stripping of 11 paint jobs and david himself identifing the rollbar's unique
shape, did i find out i ownes a pedigreed vintage race car. the regression
of paint during the stripping of the old finish revealed 3 years of
refinishing the car in fresh white for each season it was raced from new.
this was just confirmation in it's identity. but , now after 26 years of
ownership that car is "the car" and no matter what i do to it, it will
always be david and susan's car. randy canfield co-drove it once in an
enduro....probably it's claim to fame?
also another car that is even more interesting is a 63 saab 96 sedan that
surfaced in the north central united states with a hershey hill climb dash
plaque attached from the event in hershey pennsylvania. after much research
on the owners part, it turns out to be ericcarlson's 1963 winning rally car
from the R.A.C. rally. it had a few specific modifications that ledthe
owner to personally contacting eric. eric presented the owner of the car
his rally number plate after eric examined his old chariot's restoration.
i now own a car that was being raced at marlboro when i was there as a child
with my father during his racing career as a driver. and my father's last
race car also. these cars are considered also-ran cars. nothing exciting
like someone famous drove them or they won famous races and hold records
somewhere. i now own a third car that is a 1960 saab 93f sedan that has
been obviously raced from it's highly modified state. but it's history
eludes me, it has little to offer in traces of it's past.
nothing i own came to me in any form of good condition. but i am preserving
the past. in my collections of memorabilia , my modest collection of small
cars and in my paying attention to my father's stories from those days we
all seem to be seeking at various tracks across the country.
chuck.
----- Original Message -----
From: <N197TR4@cs.com>
To: <fot@autox.team.net>; <vintage-race@autox.team.net>
Sent: Thursday, December 28, 2000 12:46 AM
Subject: Memorabilia
> The following e-mail was found on a Triumph List...Someone out there might
be
> interested in the dash plaques this guy found in his restoration proect.
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
>
> ----------------------------------------
>
> Date: Wed, 27 Dec 2000 09:20:47 -0600 (CST)
> From: Gary Nafziger
> Subject: interesting stuff found in tr-3
>
> I am currently de-building!! a tr-3........stuck inside the glove box
> door.......never seen by me because there was no glove box compartment
> behind it......so no need to use it.......i found half a dozen plaques....
>
> these are self sticking metal things....
>
> two plaques from can-am races at road america
> two plaques "first friday niter" from the santa monica sports car
> club with no dates......one has a desert scene and the other just type.
> These are only 1 and a half inches long by an inch wide.
> one "flirt" twighlight tour january 1969
> one "Lubyrinth 1" 4-18-69 USC Alpha Phi Omega, red border with
> crossed checkered flags.
> one "spirit of 69" DORC April 26, 1969. showing feet....two
> pointed up with two pointed down between!!
> one "canyon capers" showing a car driving along a cliff beside the
> ocean almost falling in!! lower right hand corner very very small letters
> pc scc
> two "krud syndicate" one with silver and the other with blue
> background. 4 persons caricature standing facing look like
> mobsters......(one peeing)!! standing in line up........
>
> anyway....i thot these were interesting......I plan on mounting/framing
them
> .......these are small....the largest is maybe three inches long and one
> inch wide.
>
> I thought these might bring back memories to anyone who had lived in
> california and been involved in the sports cars scene in the 60's or 70's.
> does the santa monica sports car club still exist? and what was the
> lubyrinth? canyon capers? krud syndicate,first friday niter and spirit of
> 69?? do we really want to know??LOL
>
> anyhow interesting........am wondering what else I will find in this old
> car!! Does anyone else have a story of treasures found in old cars??
> Gary, Frances Nafziger
> Box 25
> Wellman, Iowa
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