This car was the first Chevelle late model I ever saw. It was a '64 body on a '55 chevy chassis and was built by Florence, SC's Junior Johnson. Couple weeks after this photo, the Sam Ard/John Altman team would win the "Azaela 250" at the Leland (NC) Raceway. Ard started that race on the pole, led virtually all the 250 laps pocketing the incredible 1968 sum of $1,000.00. After the Leland victory, Ard won again at the long-defunct Twin City Raceway, Loris, SC. In that event, Ard, while leading, pitted under a red flag changed the toothless spur gears in the car's quick-change (himself), returned to the race and won!
16 Al Bailey, 11 Haskell Willingham, 5 Mike Duvall, 3 Billy Hearn, 00 Freddy Smith, 74 Jack Pennington.
The car is, I think, a 1933 Plymouth. And I also believe this is the car with which Gene won his first race.
First entered at Brooklands on the Easter Monday meeting of 1925, this tiny two seater car had a 344cc JAP motorcycle engine. The car was designed by H.M.Walters and built by the coachbuilders Jarvis of Wimbledon. The frame was made from the wood ash with ^(3)/32 inch steel flitch^([1]) plates and tubular cross-members. It had expanding rear brakes on the rear, but no front brakes. The wheels where 650x65 motorcycle tyres, which were attached by a chain-driven axle to a two-port overhead valve 74x80mm single-cylinder JAP engine via a three-speed gearbox (chain-driven from the engine).
Walters managed to break the Class J flying mile record in the car at a speed of 70.33mph, but by 1926, the original engine was replaced with a 495cc JAP engine. The car was then obtained by Mrs Gwenda Stewart, who changed the cars name to Hawkes-Stewart and refitted the original 344cc engine. Unfortunately the car was destroyed in a garage fire at Montlhéry in 1932.
Text on photograph reads: Ford GT-40 Production Sports Car. 1966-- Ford captured the World Manufacturer's Championship for production sports cars. Following the 1965 season, 50 Mark I vehicles were manufactured to qualify them for the F.I.A. production sports car category as Ford GT-40s. These cars were sold to the public, and, in the hands of private race teams, won the world championship. Ford-Powered Mirage Sports-Prototype. May 1, 1967-- The Mirage sports-prototype scored its first victory in the 1000 Kilometer Championship race at Spa, Belgium. The Mirage, manufactured by J.W. Engineering-- Ford Advanced Vehicles before its sale to John Wyer-- is a modified version of the Ford Mark I (GT-40), featuring a new aerodynamic body shell developed by Ford engineers and designers, and using experimental versions of the 289 C.I.D. Ford.