To all interested:
I just spoke with Tom Griffiths who owns the former John Morton, Porsche
Powered Lotus 23.
Morton bought car in 1964 from Ecurie Shirely in LA with a Lotus Twin cam,
then ran in 64 with that motor. Then in '65 he put a Porsche 904 roller
crank engine with a HD5 Hewland. He ran it in that configuration until
approximately 1970. The car then went to Texas. It was owned for a while by
Jim Downey (Mazda racer) and he sold it to Tom Griffiths in the late 70's.
The engine was gone, and the gearbox was sad. Tom traded the gearbox to Don
Orosco for some Lotus 11 tires. When at Ecurie, Morton could have bought Jim
Clark's Lotus 23, but John opted for the new Lotus instead..
Tom says that this car was built by Morton as a copy of a car originally
raced by George Follmer. The orginal is gone, but a replica of that car is
rumored to be under construction.
The frame tubes had to be modified to fit the Porsche and is a way of
identifying the car.
Tom has restored it to Twin Cam specs and races it with CSRG and HMSA.
Regards,
Myles H. Kitchen
1965 Lotus Cortina Mk1 #128
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