We were searching for some 13" Lotus "Wobbly" wheels for our 1962 Lotus 7 for a while until our friend Todd G. mentioned he had a few left over from a Lotus 23B that was sold years ago.
We've swapped wheels back and forth over the years, but this trio absolutely take the cake. Such a beautiful design, soon-to-be throttling around the nation's Dairyland. Now for that fourth one... Johnny Rutherford started 7th and finished 5th aboard Gerhardt Racing's 1972 All American Racers Eagle #7209 at the November 4, 1972 Best Western 150 at Phoenix International Raceway.
Rutherford's #16 Thermo King entry finished five laps adrift from race winner Bobby Unser, driving the AAR factory Eagle, #7203. Jerry Grant, seen driving AAR's second entry, #7205, finished 11 laps down in eighth place. The Phoenix race would be Rutherford's final event with the Gerhardt outfit. He had joined the team the week after Indianapolis for Milwaukee, where he was but a passenger aboard Gerhardt's older in-house Gerhardt chassis when it careened into the wall, destroying the car and severely burning Rutherford. Rutherford managed a fine 2nd place finish at Pocono aboard #7209 that summer, but in many ways, it was a season to forget for the Fresno-based team, as they lost Jim Malloy and Eagle #7206 in Malloy's fatal crash in the month of May at Indianapolis. #7209 itself was also destroyed at Indy with rookie Eddie Miller in 1976. Miller was fortunate and lived to see another day. The few remains of the Eagle live in my desk, awaiting a proper framing for the KMPR walls. 53 years after the fact, we finally know quite a bit regarding the original demise of our mysterious, unpainted 1968 All American Racers Eagle MkIV.
E-mails that start out 'is this your car' tend to have that affect. Many thanks to Allen Brown and Steve Zautke for their efforts. Visit the 'Garage' section of the KMPR site for more information. The shape of things to come.
Mike's Elden is almost there. A ways to go, but you'd never know what this thing has been through. PJ has really massaged this one into a diamond. (And yes, the alignment is spot-on, my camera just got a bit fish-eyed.) Mid century glass dishes are impossibly cool. Even more so when they feature a track from here in Wisconsin that was on the grounds of the Wilmot Mountain ski hill and used from 1953-1967.
Massive props to @scott_young_enterprises for the quality axle tristars (what we call them at least) we needed for the Elden project.
Lotus Seven #SB1290 and Elden Mk10B #140-1 / AM73-49 nearing completion. Despite their similar nature, they share little more than wheel size, rocker covers and a few miscellaneous Spitfire gems.
711M Kent and Hewland Mk8 to be installed in the Elden imminently. Then things get going. Meanwhile, the Seven is having its rear assembly looked at by the man who literally wrote the how-to of Seven rear assemblies, who just-so-happens is a scant 90 minute drive. All good things. |
Archives
September 2023
|