MY FEEDLY

For Sale: A Chevrolet Corvette Greenwood IMSA GT Raced By Lyn St. James

This 1969 Chevrolet Corvette Greenwood IMSA GT was originally built to compete in B-Production SCCA competition by John Carusso and Emory Donaldson. It was later converted to IMSA specification which is how it remains today, with a 750 hp 468 cubic inch big block V8 under the hood from B&B Performance Racing Engines in Alcoa, Tennessee.

As far as racing cars go this Corvette had a much longer competition life than most, a competition life that carries on to this day. It was built in the 1970s by Autodyne Racing for racing driver John Carusso, one of this first race outings was at the National Championship (BP) at Road Atlanta in 1976 where he was leading until the final lap, he spun the car in sight of the checkered flag, finally finishing in third place.

It was not long after this that the car was converted to IMSA specification which is how it has spent the vast majority of its life. It’s hard not to stare at the car’s extreme Greenwood-built fiberglass body, it was developed to create as much downforce as possible for competition on high-speed circuits.

Chevrolet Corvette Greenwood IMSA GT Specifications

The original C3 Corvette body is already famous for its curves, so when developing this new motorsport version the team at Greenwood essentially took the original design and added 20 lbs of horse steroids. Or so I assume.

The new body significantly widens the wheel arches front and back, the original pop-up headlights are removed in favor of low-slung fixed lights cloaked with perspex covers, a spoiler was added to the rear, and the hood now benefits from one of the largest scoops we’ve seen in recent memory – to get that big block to fit underneath.

The original chassis, suspension and brakes were all highly modified as you would expect. The chassis is an upgraded Greenwood unit and the suspension now consists of tubular, heim-jointed unequal length and gusseted control arms, with adjustable JRI coil-overs up front. In the rear you’ll find 5-link rear Greenwood/Guldstrand suspension with adjustable JRI coil-overs.

Above Image: The Greenwood body was developed to make the car wider and improve its aerodynamic performance.

The car now has vented competition brake rotors front and back with Outlaw competition calipers and it’s riding on BBS three-piece wheels. Under the hood is where most of the money has been spent, as is usually the case.

The 454 steel block has been bored and stroked to 468 cubic inches, it’s been fitted with Brodix competition aluminum heads that have been ported and polished, and inside you’ll find a forged crankshaft, forged pistons, H-beam connecting rods, and a 14:1 compression ratio.

In its current racing trim the engine is capable of 750 hp and 620 lb ft of torque according to its documentation – more than enough power to make it a weapon in any vintage race its next owner might wish to enter it into.

The Drivers And Racing History

Over the course of this Corvette’s life it’s been piloted by a number of significant drivers including John Carusso, Phil Currin, Harry Dinwiddie, and perhaps most famous of all, Lyn St. James.

Lyn St. James would become one of the most notable female American racing drivers in history, with a class win at the 1979 24 Hours of Nürburgring, another class win at the 12 Hours of Sebring in 1990, she qualified for the Indianapolis 500, won the Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year award, and took two class victories at the 24 Hours of Daytona.

The Corvette you see here was raced at many of the greatest events in North America including the aforementioned National Championship (BP) at Road Atlanta. The car would later compete in the 24 Hours of Daytona, 12 Hours of Sebring, 6 Hours of Watkins Glen, Road America 500, Paul Revere 250, and a slew of others.

The car is now due to cross the auction block in late June with a price guide of $100,000 to $125,000 USD. If you’d like to read more about it or register to bid you can click here to visit the listing.

The post For Sale: A Chevrolet Corvette Greenwood IMSA GT Raced By Lyn St. James appeared first on Silodrome.

from Silodrome https://silodrome.com/chevrolet-corvette-imsa-gt/
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The Unusual Land Rover Lightweight Series 3

The Land Rover Lightweight 1/2 Ton, also known as the Airportable, was a special version of the Series 2A and subsequently the Series 3 Land Rover that was modified by the factory for military deployment by air.

A Quick History Of The Land Rover Lightweight

The unusual looks of the Lightweight were dictated by the military requirements that led to its creation: it needed to have quickly removable body panels and it needed to be as lightweight as possible for air transport. The vehicle also needed a narrowed track width to fit on a shipping pallet so that they could fit two side-by-side in the Argosy transport aircraft.

Engineers at Land Rover began the project back in the mid-1960s using a standard civilian Series 2A as their starting point. Much of the original body was removed, the chassis and axles were narrowed by 4 inches, and any parts deemed superfluous were left out to keep weight down.

The upper weight limit for the new Lightweight was 2,500 lbs (1,134 kgs), as this was the maximum payload of the Westland Wessex helicopter which was in widespread use by the British MoD at the time. When Land Rover had finished building the new modified version it tipped the scales at 2,650 lbs (1,202 kgs), exactly 150 lbs too heavy.

These numbers are perhaps a little misleading though, as the Series 2A Lightweight could have over 150 lbs worth of body panels and parts quickly removed for air transport, which would the be sent separately to the destination.

Above Image: All of the major body panels on the Lightweight, or Airportable, are quickly removable for air transport.

Land Rover began quantity production of the Lightweight in 1968 with each of the three branches of the British armed forces receiving them, though the Army was by far the largest recipient.

Interestingly, by the time the Lightweight was put into service the British military had newer helicopters with higher carrying capabilities, and even then the vehicles were rarely deployed by helicopter.

The ability of the Lightweight to be loaded onto palettes and rolled two abreast into the cargo bay of the Argosy transport aircraft proved its pièce de résistance, and the vehicles were frequently transported this way.

A number of special versions of the Lightweight were developed over the course of its 1968 to 1984 production run including the Royal Marine Deep Wading Lightweight that could be driven off of landing craft into the ocean and up onto a beach thanks to its snorkel and special water-proofing.

Other interesting versions included the armored VPK Lightweight, it was also offered as an emergency ambulance, an anti-tank vehicle, and the more powerful “Big Lightweight” or “Bonnettea” a 3/4 ton prototype designed for pulling power-driven trailers, though sadly it never reached production.

Above Image: The Lightweight has a reduced track width of 4″ to ensure they can fit on a pallet, which means they can be loaded side-by-side into the fuselage of military transport aircraft.

Between 1968 and 1984 Land Rover built 37,897 Lightweights, including both petrol and diesel engined models, and the last one retired from service appeared for sale back in 2009.

Today the surviving Lightweights are in civilian hands where they make exceedingly popular collector vehicles due to their unique looks, unusual history, and their narrowed track width that makes them ideal for certain kinds of off-roading.

The 1977 Land Rover Lightweight Series 3 Shown Here

The vehicle you see here is a 1977 Series 3 example of the Lightweight that was originally delivered to the Dutch military. Most of the Lightweights were built as petrol models, and this is one of the less common 2.5 liter diesel examples.

The listing explains that it remains in its original service specification and in good order for its age, and it’s been imported to the UK with a NOVA clearance certificate on file. It still has its original engine, gearbox, and axles in place, it has the military-specific 24-volt electrical system, and a British Motor Industry Heritage Trust certificate comes with the vehicle to showcase its originality.

If you’d like to read more about this unusual Airportable or bid on it you can click here to visit the listing on Collecting Cars. It’s being auctioned live at the time of writing with the bidding sitting at £2,100 ($2,920 USD) with four days remaining.

Images courtesy of Collecting Cars

The post The Unusual Land Rover Lightweight Series 3 appeared first on Silodrome.

from Silodrome https://silodrome.com/land-rover-lightweight-series-3/
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For Sale: The Ford Shelby Cobra Concept Car From 2004

The Ford Shelby Cobra Concept was introduced at the 2004 Detroit North American International Auto Show where it attracted huge crowds of people who wanted to see something they thought would never happen – Carroll Shelby and Ford reuniting to build an all-new Shelby Cobra.

Back in the 1960s former racing driver and 1959 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Carroll Shelby had imported AC Ace cars from England then fitted Ford V8s, in so doing he created a lightweight, powerful, and nimble sports car that could beat just about anything else on the road.

These original Shelby Cobras became a legend in their own lifetime and they launched Shelby from being a racing driver who had been forced to retire due to a heart condition, to being one of the most famous performance tuner in the world.

By the early 2000s Shelby was in his 80s, having outlived even the most optimistic predictions of his doctors, and a plan was formed between senior executives at Ford and Shelby himself to build an all-new Cobra they internally nicknamed “Daisy.”

This new car would be 100% production ready, it wouldn’t just be a rolling chassis with a pretty body designed to impress car show attendees – it really needed to perform. The key team that worked on developing the car was Carroll Shelby of course, with Chris Theodore, Ford Vice President of Product Development, and J Mays, Group Vice President of Product Design.

“It turned out just beautiful, didn’t it? I’m very happy with the car. At 81 years old, how lucky can you get to be part of a continuation of something that happened 40 years ago? It’s going to be a real ass kicker!” – Carroll Shelby

Above Video: The Ford Shelby Cobra Concept was featured on Jay Leno’s Garage in 2020.

The Ford Shelby Cobra Concept was a blank slate design that used the Shelby Cobra 427 as its inspiration, with its flared wheel arches, purposeful stance, and prodigious power output. The mid-engined Ford GT had been shown to the public two years earlier in 2002 and put into production in 2004 – the Cobra Concept would make use of a number of GT parts which vastly simplified its planned production.

One unusual decision that was made during the development process was to forgo the use of a V8 engine completely. The new Cobra would be fitted with an experimental all-alloy Ford V10 engine with a swept capacity of 6.4 liters, it’s capable of 605 hp and it has double overhead cams per bank, 40 valves, and a dry-sump.

Alloy was used extensively in the construction of the car, it has an all-aluminum space frame chassis designed by Ford’s Advanced Product Creation team, with Ford GT extrusions and castings, and a bespoke billet aluminum front structure.

The front and rear suspension was borrowed from the GT also, though it was tuned specifically for the Cobra. Unlike the originals this new Cobra was fitted with a transaxle, giving it almost perfect 50/50 weight distribution and more interior room.

“There are so many things left in the world that I want to do … and building a new Cobra is number one.” – Carroll Shelby

Above Image: The styling of the car was influenced by the Shelby Cobra 427, the larger and more powerful car that was released after the initial run of 260 and 289 cubic inch cars.

When it was unveiled the Ford Shelby Cobra Concept brought the house down, it was awarded Best in Show by “Autoweek” magazine, and Ford was inundated by enquiries from people who wanted to buy one.

The plan all along had been to put the car into production, thought sadly this would never come to pass, in large part due to the Great Recession. As it stands today this car is the only one in the world and impressively it’s also 100% street legal and drivable.

Ford sold the car at a charity auction in 2017, with proceeds going towards the restoration of the Fair Lane mansion, the home of Henry and Clara Ford. The man who bought it was none other than Chris Theodore, the former Ford VP of Product Development who had worked on developing the car all those years ago with Shelby.

When Ford sold the car they had it decommissioned so it would no longer be drivable, however this was never going to stop a man with the resources of Chris Theodore from getting it back on the road. Chris sent the car to Technosports of Livonia, Michigan who had assembled the car originally and they replaced the required parts. The car is now running and road worthy.

Chris is going to be offering the car for sale in Monterey with Mecum in August, there’s no price guide listed yet however if you’d like to read more or register to bid you can click here to visit the listing.