Category Archives: Blog Stories

The Fighter: The Daytona Cobra Coupe’s Last Race

Carroll Shelby’s two Daytona Cobra Coupes’ impressive showing in their first season in the US and Europe in 1964 finally convinced some cool-eyed skeptics within Ford management that the ex-Texas chicken farmer and his small team of Southern California racers might actually have the “right stuff” to compete on an international level. They awarded Shelby their nascent Ford GT40 program for 1965. Ford’s master plan was to have Shelby cancel his Cobra program at the end of ’64 so the Texan’s experienced crew could focus entirely on their GT40 program.

Ray Geddes, a financial and operations manager at Ford, however, realized that while Ford’s still-problematic GT40 program was still being sorted out, Shelby’s Daytona Cobras could continue to lead Ford’s charge against Ferrari in the GT category. All Ford had to do was find a team other than Shelby’s to run them. Alan Mann Racing in the UK was the natural choice. Mann’s privateer successes with Ford rally cars in Britain had led to Ford contracting him to run a combined Ford team for the 1964 season. As a result of Mann’s success, he was contracted by Ford to run Shelby’s Daytona Coupes in Europe in ‘65. Their impressive goal would be to secure the FIA’s World GT Championship against Jaguar, Ferrari and Aston Martin, while Shelby’s California team focused their attention on sorting out Ford’s GT40 program in the Prototype category.

Shelby team mechanic Charlie Agapiou, an ex-pat Brit who had been working on the Daytonas during the ’64 season was the perfect choice to be the crew chief for Mann’s British Cobra team in Europe. Shelby team-driver Bob Bondurant approached Carroll and asked if he could drive for Mann’s Cobra team. Bondurant felt his future career lay in having a successful race season in Europe and he’d won Le Mans in ’64 in Daytona Coupe CSX 2299 with co-driver Dan Gurney. Carroll gave the okay and Bondurant flew into Heathrow to be picked up and report for team duty. It didn’t go as Bondo’ had envisioned. Bob got off his flight in Heathrow to find Mann had come to the airport personally to meet him. Bondurant introduced himself at which time Mann handed him a return ticket for a flight back to the ‘States! He explained he already had his own ace drivers, British stars, Sir John Whitmore and Jack Sears, and thus he didn’t need Bob. Thinking quickly, Bob explained he’d been personally approved by Shelby and extolled the virtues of Mann having a third driver. Mann finally reluctantly relented, making it clear Bob was never to place above his English countrymen. Bob agreed, but later shared that at the moment a fire had been lit within him and he made it a personal goal to make sure he won as often as he could.

This background leads us to the story of Daytona Cobra Coupe CSX 2601, seen here at the last race of the '65 season in August of ‘65 at Enna, Sicily, driven by Bondurant. The damage shows the ferocity of the fight between Bondo’ and his Mann teammate, Jack Sears, who was driving Daytona CSX 2299.

Bondo had already secured the FIA World GT Championship in CSX 2601 a month earlier at the Reims 12 Hour in France. With the championship secured and going into the last race of the season in Italy, team manager Mann once again ordered Bondo' to run second, probably thinking this time he would acquiesce. Bob agreed if, they were really going to race against the Ferraris. Bondo’ knew the Daytonas were faster than the three Ferrari LM prototypes and felt he could win overall. Mann however, only cared about the GT win points and told Sears to cruise. Knowing it was the last race ever for the Daytonas, Bondurant decided to, once again, ignore team orders and go for the overall win, which would mean challenging Sears as well. At first Bondurant followed team orders allowing Sears to lead, but this was letting the Ferraris get too far ahead!  Bondurant went for the lead, but his English teammate kept dropping a wheel off the track to keep the American at bay, heaving stones and debris at the American. It was a vicious fight, but Bondo’ finally fought his way by and went after the Ferraris.

Bondo passed all three Ferraris and would have won overall, but a "SLOW... TIRES" sign from the Goodyear rep’ on pit row forced him to back off. Was it an order from Mann or Goodyear? Bondo reluctantly let Nino Vacarella, in the fastest LM, by but still took the GT win. After the checker Bondo' checked his tires… they were down to the cord! The rest of the Coupe wasn’t in great shape either as Bondo had refused to back away from Sears’ attempts to thwart his attack.

After the race, the five Daytona Coupes in Europe were gathered back at Mann’s race shop to be returned to Shelby’s in the U.S. They were in the UK under bond and had to be exported out of the country by a certain date or pay a hefty tax. Shelby refused to pay the cost of having them shipped back, now being focused on the Ford GT program. After many pleading Telexes to Shelby’s office explaining the situation, with no response, Mann finally explained that if they weren’t shipped out of the country in time, the tax authorities would dump them into the North Sea. Still no response.

Alan Mann ultimately couldn’t stand the thought that these American champions would be destroyed and lost to history. He paid to have them shipped back to Shelby’s out of his own pocket. By doing so the man whose British patriotism was so strong that he’d ordered Bondurant to let his British drivers win, saved for history what is arguably America’s Greatest Race Car.

BRE Archives

Why this Photo of the BRE Hino Samurai Brings Back Memories of One of My Favorite Race Stories. Peter Brock

The BRE and Aerovault crews gathered in the showroom to wish me happy birthday a couple of weeks ago. The showroom has what Gayle calls the “Peter Brock History Walls”. She’s taken images from when I had my first car in 1952 (an MG TC) thru my time at GM (late ‘50s), my history with Shelby (’61-’65), my BRE team (’66-’72) and my hang gliding company starting in ‘73, Ultralight Products (UP) and mounted them on the walls with dates and descriptions. A person can spend some serious time in that room.

While “shooting the breeze” with the guys while b-day cake was being cut, I was asked what my favorite image is in the room. Wow, how do you answer that? However, I quickly gravitated to this photo from 1967 at the Japanese Grand Prix at Fuji Speedway. The photo was taken when the BRE Hino Samurai I designed was going through tech for the race. In the photo, a tech official is telling me he isn’t going to sign-off on the car. On the other side of the car, my honorary team manager, Toshiro Mifune (pronounced Mifoony) is preparing to protest. Mifune was the most recognizable face in Japan having acted in some 150 movies. He played Mr. Honda in Grand Prix and was most well known as being a fierce (and sometimes crazy) Samurai warrior in Akira Kurosawa’s Samurai movies, especially my favorite, The Seven Samurai. His fierce on-screen performances were in stark contrast to his quiet and gentle nature off the screen. He loved cars and he was happy to accept my offer to be our honorary team manager for the race (I learned early on at Le Mans in France that it’s helpful to have a national “local” on the team). It certainly didn’t hurt that I had named this GT car of my design, the Samurai.

I had a strong relationship with Hino going back to 1964 when a U.S. actor, Bob Dunham, acting in Japan playing an American in their films, approached me about prepping a small Hino sedan race car for him that he could race in the states whenever he was back visiting. The car had good success and soon I had negotiated with Hino to let me run two Hino Contessas, one for Bob and one for myself to race and to also design and build a GT car for them that would run at Le Mans, the BRE Hino Samurai. Early in ’67 as I was designing and building the Samurai, a gentleman from Toyota walked into my BRE shop in southern California. He said he was there to see what I was working on for Hino. I told him that was confidential and asked him to leave. He said he’d be back. I immediately called my main contact at Hino and told him what happened. My contact said Toyota was making a bid to buy part of Hino. Toyota would benefit from Hino’s truck building expertise and Toyota would build their cars. He said very likely Toyota would become my new bosses so I should show the Toyota person whatever he wanted.

The next day the Toyota person came back and I let him in. He saw us building the Samurai and asked me what it was. I told him it was a GT car that would race at Le Mans in June and before that, the Japanese Grand Prix at Fuji Speedway (Toyota owned Fuji Speedway). He didn’t say anything but I could tell he was pretty surprised. He came back the following week and told me Toyota didn’t need a GT race car and that I should stop the project. I explained I was under contract with Hino to finish the car and I had too much time and expenses invested to stop before being paid. To make a long story short, he ultimately asked me what amount of money I needed to stop the project. I contacted Hino again to make sure this was okay and they recommended I proceed with the offer. I told the guy what I would accept. He ultimately came back and said they’d pay it. Not really sure what was going to happen I continued to work on the car until payment was received and I knew the deal was real. He would occasionally stop by the shop to look around but he never brought the money. A week or two before the race he stopped visiting altogether.

With no payment I finished the car and loaded it onto a plane for Japan. The Samurai was a press sensation. What I did not know at the time, and only learned months after the race, was that Toyota had given the guy’s boss the money to pay me. Every week when the guy came by the shop, he saw the bare chassis in the center of the shop floor, the bonnet against one wall, front body work along another, etc. He didn’t understand how race cars are modular and told his boss he thought there was no chance the car would be finished. If the car wasn’t going to be finished there was no reason to give me the money so his boss pocketed the money for himself, told his bosses I had been paid, the car wouldn’t be at Fuji and told his guy not to bother coming by the shop again.

Toyota execs seeing myself and the glorious Samurai arrive in Tokyo were furious! They thought I had double crossed them. I not only learned later what happened with the money but I also found out that the reason Toyota didn’t want the car to become a reality is that they knew Hino’s stock price would go up if people saw Hino unveil this amazing GT race car at the Grand Prix. A higher stock price would mean Toyota would have to pay more to purchase part of the company. I was costing Toyota millions. They had blood in their eyes and I had no idea what was happening.

Toyota, owning Fuji Speedway, told the track officials they couldn’t pass the Samurai through tech. At each station a tech would come up with some reason the car wouldn’t pass, a tail light here, a seat belt arrangement there. Whatever they came up with we quickly fixed and the car would proceed to the next station. Toyota was seething. They went to the last station and told the tech official that under no circumstances was the car to pass tech.

That’s where we were when this photo was taken. Mifune being the star he was and the sensational looking Samurai coming in from the states (its name didn’t hurt either), there were tv camera crews and reporters following us the entire route. In the photo you can see people holding up recorders, microphones, etc off to the side. The tech, not having anything to point to that was wrong on the car, just proclaimed the car didn’t pass. When we asked why he said he didn’t have to tell us, it just doesn’t pass. Mifune challenged the official saying he must give us a reason. As you probably know, “saving face” is an important concept in the Japanese culture. To lose face is to lose respect or suffer embarrassment. The official turned to Mifune and mockingly asked him; “Who are you?” There couldn’t have been a worse insult for the most famous face in all of Japan. As cameras and recorders rolled, the gentleman Mifune put his hands on his hips (the moment seen in the photo), tensed up to where the veins on his neck were popping and his face turned purple, and turned into a Samurai warrior before our very eyes! The guttural onslaught Mifune unleashed upon the official was something I had never seen, nor seen since. The official practically melted into the pavement and the car was passed!

During practice I discovered the belly pan on the Samurai was scraping on the track’s surface from all of its downforce. It wasn’t something we were going to be able to fix and the car couldn’t run like this. Continuing to get pressure from Toyota not to run the car, without them knowing there was a problem with the car, I worked out an agreement that we would only do some slow parade laps and I would never run the Hino Samurai again. In return Toyota would allow me to design and build a GT car for them, the Toyota JP6. And that my friends, is another story (-:

If you would like to see more of the BRE Hino Samurai you can view our photo archives here and artwork here, which you can also puchase if you'd like your own!

Cobra Killers

Someone told me you were in the 1964 movie The Killers. Can you tell us more?

Back in the ‘60s things were pretty fluid in the racing world and a person could be involved in several different projects, unlike today where you mostly have to be dedicated solely to the team you’re with. Even while working at Shelby’s I raced my own cars, including a small 1000cc Hino sedan and a 1300cc Hino Contessa, both right hand drive. Fast cars attracted a lot of stars back then and they would just stop by local shops, whether it was Max Balchowsky’s Hollywood Motors where I first worked when I returned to California from GM in Detroit in 1959 or at Shelby’s.

at right: Peter Brock racing Hino Contessa at
Mission Bell 100, support race to Riverside Grand Prix
Hino Contessa

Whenever Hollywood needed race consultants and drivers it was pretty easy for them to tap local talent.  I was a consultant and stunt driver in the movie The Killers that came out in 1964 of which I remember mainly Angie Dickinson (she’s pretty easy to remember) and Ronald Reagan (his last film role). A Cobra roadster played a pivotal role in the movie. Years ago someone told my wife, Gayle, that if you slow the movie down to frame by frame, in one frame you can see a moment’s glimpse of my derriere as I jump over a fence. They offered to show her at which time she said she was already familiar with that view, but thanks anyway (-: I was also a driver in The Love Bug but most of my scenes were cut. To do these films I needed to join the Screen Actors Guild (SAG). SAG decided my name was too close to another actor, Peter Brooks, so they made me come up with something different. I chose Hall Brock, Hall being my mother’s maiden name. Hall Brock still receives royalty checks (small as they may be) whenever these movies play!

Killers Movie Cobra
Actors Angie Dickinson and John Cassavetes in Cobra Roadster during filming of The Killers. Note Peter Brock's Falcon sedan delivery at far left, white with blue stripes.

I was also involved in a little known short film (which did not require my SAG card) called “1:42.08”.  I was introduced to a USC Film student in ‘66. His first love was cars and he had planned to become a professional race car driver until that dream ended when he had a serious accident shortly after his High School graduation in 1962, so he enrolled at USC. In film school in ‘66 he was given his first Director’s assignment to direct a short film. Still interested in cars, he wrote a script for this film called “1:42.08 to Qualify” (title later changed to “1:42.08”). The story line is that a driver is practicing on a track with his race car to try to make a lap time of 1:42.08. No words are spoken, just a guy pushing his car (and his driving ability) to the limit trying to make the time. You can find it on the internet. This kid knew Allen Grant from Shelby American and asked for a recommendation for a driver that could also provide a car for his film project. Grant recommended me due to my experience in the movie industry and I had access to a Lotus 23 that could be used.

I borrowed the Lotus and a few days were spent filming at the Willow Springs race track in California. James Garner was there at the same time, taking laps in a Formula car for an upcoming film he would be starring in called “Grand Prix”. The most memorable part of this experience were the evenings where we hung out at dinner and this kid would share his vision for a series of sci-fi movies he wanted to make. It sounded kind of like Buck Rogers with strange creatures and better weapons. Very strange and we just kind of nodded and patronized this enthusiastic kid. In ‘63 the guys at Shelby American called the Daytona Coupe I was designing and building (before it went on track and proved itself) “Brock’s Folly”.  It would be fair to say that as we heard this kid sharing his vision we thought of this as “George’s Folly”.  The Daytona Coupe went on to win the FIA GT World Championship in ‘65. This kid, George Lucas, brought his “Buck Rogers” vision to life with the release in ’77 of his first Star Wars movie. I love it when people realize their dreams and vision even, or maybe especially, if others consider it a folly at first!

top right:  George Lucas (center) inspects position of camera man and camera in basket on camera car. Driver, Peter Brock, in Lotus at right.

 

center right:  Peter Brock filmed at-speed while
director George Lucas looks on at right.

 

bottom right:  James Garner pulls up in Formula car (on left) he's practicing in for the movie Grand Prix. Camera man and George Lucas center.
Peter Brock in Lotus at right.
George Lucas 1:42.08
George Lucas 1:42.08
George Lucas 1:42.08
DeTomaso P72 US unveiling

You just got back from Monterey Car Week. I’ve never been and seem to be paralyzed to attend because of all the activities that go on that week. What did you do while there and what would you recommend for a first-time attendee like me?

First, I’d get a hotel room reserved no later than March. You can always cancel days you decide not to attend but finding a room much later than that could be a problem.  Next, accept that you can’t go to everything. You may look at a schedule and the map and think it’s doable but add an hour to any estimated travel time for the heavier than normal traffic and the time it takes to park.

Next, I would recommend basing your decisions on what to do on cost and of course the activity. Events now occur as soon as the weekend before the Pebble Beach Concours, which started Monterey Car Week in the first place.  Hotel room prices are jacked up no less than 4-fold that week so determining your hotel budget is a good way to decide how soon you want to start your week of car activities. There is plenty to see in just the two days of the weekend of the Pebble Concours or you can start the weekend before at the Pre-Historics at the Laguna Seca track and gorge on car activities all week long.

Peter and DarioFor a first time visit I’d skip the hyper expensive activities.  The Quail Motorsports Gathering on Friday is like a huge lawn party with great cars, great food, great people (I seem to be doing a world tour with Dario Franchitti as we just saw each other at Goodwood last month and now the Quail in Monterey), drinks and gelato(!) all included in the price of admission. But what a price, and you can’t actually just outright purchase a ticket, you have to enter a lottery to “win” the opportunity to purchase a ticket going for approximately $1000 these days.  Probably the next most expensive activity is why the week exists in the first place, the Pebble Beach Concours. This year tickets went from $375-$450 based on when you bought them. If the Pebble Concours is on your bucket list than you of course have to go. The price doesn’t deter attendance so pack a good dose of patience to sit in traffic, wait for shuttles from the parking lot and so on. Luckily most other events recognize this is the main event of the week so everything but track activity at Laguna is over by Sunday and there are no other event conflicts with the Concours.

Monday – Tuesday

There are a lot of great car activities free of charge.  The Automobilia show Monday and Tuesday is always a treat to walk through. We’ve found some hard to find items there, like the leather helmet and goggles Gayle wanted to wear when driving her Beck 550 Spyder. It was made in France, just like the originals.

Tuesday the Concours on the Avenue in Carmel-by-the-sea is a great way to start the week with 18 blocks of the downtown area roped off, showcasing a variety of cars. Walk around and enjoy the cars and take a break for a fine lunch at any of the many upscale restaurants the cars will be parked in front of (be sure to save extra $s for the great meals available in the Monterey area).

Wednesday

Monterey Jet CenterWe attend good friend, Gordon McCall’s, Motorworks Revival on Wednesday night at the Monterey Jet Center.  Jets, fine automobiles and great people watching it’s how we normally start our Monterey Week. There are several attendee packages available in the three digit price range. This year, amongst other amazing vehicles and jets (of which you can go inside and tour (and dream) was Camilo Pardo and his beautiful Ford GT, which he had me sign, as seen here.

Thursday thru Saturday

Peter Brock at Bonhams AuctionThere are numerous car auctions occurring during the week such as Mecum, Sotheby’s, Bonhams and Russo and Steele. Many, if not all, require a paid admittance. It’s not a bad way though to see a lot of fine cars as well as their estimated values at a less expensive price of admission than some of the car shows. Look at the cars, take a seat and enjoy the bidding. It’s a fine way to spend some time. It’s not unusual for me to give some background on a car at an auction, as seen here.

All throughout the week, including Sunday

Laguna Seca is humming like a hive with track practice, qualifying and racing on Saturday and Sunday. Reasonably priced, a lot of action and attendees in jeans, it’s where I try to spend most of my time during Monterey Car Week.

Saturday

Concours de lemons A highlight for us this year was the Concours d’Lemons, another free event, this one held in a park near the Embassy Suites in Seaside. Held on the Saturday of Monterey Car Week, it features the deplorables of the automotive world. Gayle and I haven’t laughed that hard in ages. What a hoot! My favorite was a rusted out Karmen Ghia with tarp straps holding down the hood, duct tape over a headlight, a patina that can’t be described and too many other features to mention. Gayle and I were interviewed about the event, showcasing a Sci-Fi B-Movie Packard for a TV show in France called “Turbo”.  We had a great time and highly recommend this Saturday morning event.

concours de lemons

We then went from Lemons to the Concorso Italiano. This is a long standing event that has evolved to include many marques. Special cars are brought up to the announcer’s stand where the crowd is educated on that particular auto’s specialness. Seen here is the DeTomaso P72 with Matt Stone interviewing me about the car on stage. It’s a nice event.

concorso italiano

 

 

 

Throughout the week are various special events and unveilings, such as the U.S. unveiling of the De Tomaso P72 on Thursday at the Pebble Beach Lodge. I have been honored to have De Tomaso include me, and the P70 I designed in 1964, at the worldwide unveiling at Goodwood and the US unveiling. I was especially thrilled when the fine folks at DeTomaso presented me with this lifetime of design achievement award. It looks really good in my awards case at the BRE shop! Sunday is of course the Pebble Beach Concours.

Peter Brock with DeTomaso Team
DeTomaso P72 US unveiling
DeTomaso Award for P72

Throughout the week enjoy the riches of restaurants in this Monterey, Carmel, Pacific Grove area. Do some research and make reservations a few weeks in advance.

Save your money to enjoy Monterey Car Week (hotel costs alone are impressive). Don’t be overly ambitious and be resolved that you’re going to arrive at some activities later than what you wanted due to factors out of your control like traffic and parking.

I saw that your recent book on the Shelby DeTomaso P70 Sports Racer won the Gold Award by the Automotive Heritage Association. Congratulations! Now that you’ve seen the new DeTomaso P72 at Goodwood, what do you think of it? Some reviews say it’s an homage to your P70 but I’m not sure I see a resemblance.

First, thanks for acknowledging the book award. Time passes so quickly we haven’t had a chance to even post the news on our own social media pages. The award is a real honor, especially considering the competition it was up against and that it’s a reasonably priced soft cover book. I never thought it would be a contender but thankfully the judges focused on the content and quality.

The book covers my years of design at Shelby's. Several cars are covered in detail such as the Nethercutt Mirage, Lang Cooper and of course the Shelby - DeTomaso P70. My time designing the P70 in Modena, Italy was some of the most educational and enjoyable of my life.

To celebrate the Gold award and the excitement around the DeTomaso P72 being at Monterey next week we’re offering a special on the book. This applies ONLY from the time of this posting through Friday August 30th 5pm Pacific Time. 15% off brings the price of this “awarding winning!” book to only $29.71.  Get yours now!

Jown Wong and Peter Brock with DeTomaso P72Now on to the DeTomaso P72. When I saw the car at Goodwood I was really impressed. I evidently wasn’t the only one as the DeTomaso people just informed me that ALL 72 cars they plan to build have been sold! Pretty incredible if true. What interests me about this success… oh wait, let me address the comments about the P72 not having any resemblance to my P70.

I don’t think Jowyn Wong, the P72’s designer, ever had any intention of following my lines exactly. The P72 is simply an homage to the mid ‘60s era in GT form.  Yes, there are a couple of subtle details but this is Jowyn’s creation completely and I think it’s pretty wonderful. It’s a return to the soft sensual forms of those cars that were built in Modena back then. There were really some fine, sharp-edged designs being created in that era by Giugiarao, like his fabulous Mangusta, but those were created as forms that could use the crisp-edge tooling P72 Posteravailable for production cars like Tjaarda’ s Pantera.  Cars being hand-built in Modena were, by necessity, much softer as each was essentially a hand hammered form.

Others have commented that the P72 looks similar to Ferraris’ P3 and P4. Possibly… if so that’s a real compliment but I feel that Wong had his own ideas of what a “retro looking” GT DeTomaso should look like. Government regulations continually change, so cars have to change to keep up. In addition, new technologies (e.g. lights and lower profile tires with larger diameter wheels) allow for different shapes to be created. I think the comparison images of the P70 and the P72 in inverse seen to the right  (which will be offered as a limited edition poster at Monterey next week) show some inspirational “resemblance”.  Pretty cool…a real honor for a design that’s now more than 50 years old!

Now back to what I find amazing about the success of the P72.  It’s acceptance and success is all based on the car’s visual appearance; its aesthetic DESIGN. The car’s power plant and chassis details haven’t even been released . The P72 concept shown at Goodwood was based on the same organization’s Apollo car, which is more of a racing GT.  The P72 is a real GT designed for the street.

The P72 will be shown at Monterey next week for the first time in the U.S. We’ll be there at a press event at Pebble on Thursday and with the car at the Concours Italiano on Saturday. Friday we’ll be at the Bonhams auction at the Quail when the original DeTomaso P70 will be auctioned (approximately 11:30am). It’s going to be a very DeTomaso week for us at Monterey. Very exciting!  We hope to see you there.