DAN GURNEY’S REAL-FINE CHEVY 409

Posted on January 11, 2025 by MartynL

DAN GURNEY’S REAL-FINE CHEVY 409 will Pace the Dan Gurney Saloon Car Trophy Race at the upcoming Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion! Few would call American racing hero Dan Gurney subtle when he entered a slightly modified stock ‘61 Chevy Impala to race against smaller displacement cars at the British Saloon Car Championship at Silverstone 63 years ago. Now, under the rightful ownership of his son Justin Gurney, this original Impala will be driven by Justin as the pace car for the Dan G...

’67 MERCURY COUGAR

Posted on November 15, 2024November 15, 2024 by MartynL

More of a real GT than Ponycar, the ’67 MERCURY COUGAR delivered performance plus luxury, and a direct connection to Dan Gurney and Trans-Am racing. Launched in 1967 under “The Sign Of The Cat”, the slightly longer and more luxurious Mustang platform ’67 MERCURY COUGAR was a huge success. It appealed to young adults who wanted a Mustang with more interior room, luxurious appointments, and distinctive, up-level styling. Approximately six inches longer than the Mustang, with a three-inch ...

CHEVY 409: BIG-BLOCK LEGEND

Posted on October 23, 2022October 23, 2022 by MartynL

It may have started out as an updated 348-inch truck engine, but it ended up as the CHEVY 409: BIG-BLOCK LEGEND! Two years before the Supercar hype and big-engined midsize cars, full-size ’62 Chevys, powered by 409-inch versions of the 348 W-Series passenger car and truck engine, carried the Musclecar banner for Chevrolet. While the engine first surfaced in the 1961model year, it was a late arrival. Just 142 Chevys with RPO-580 360-horsepower, single-four-barrel (Carter AFB) and solid-lifter-ca...

GT3 LE MANS MUSTANG

Posted on September 16, 2022September 16, 2022 by MartynL

Ford is headed back to the Circuit de la Sarthe with an all-new GT3 LE MANS MUSTANG. The Ford Mustang, fresh off its seventh generation unveiling, will soon return to Le Mans. “Mustang is raced at all the great tracks around the world, but there is no race or track that means more to our history than Le Mans,” said Bill Ford, executive chair, at The Stampede, the debut of the all-new seventh-generation Ford Mustang. “It's where we took on Ferrari and won in the 1960s and where we returned 50...

SHOWTIME AT THE AMELIA

Posted on March 12, 2022March 12, 2022 by MartynL

Casual fan or gearhead, there was everything from Brass Era to Gurney Eagles; NASCAR’s greatest hits to Ferrari’s 75th anniversary; and almost anything in between at the 27th iteration of SHOWTIME AT THE AMELIA. Dan Scanlan brings us highlights. Under The Hagerty Group after it purchased Bill Warner’s Amelia Island Concours in June, an expanded family-themed Cars and Community Cruise-In, a Kid’s Zone, 1980s-1990s RADwood Sports Car Show, and even a Concours d’Lemons were added to the pr...

1962: MUSTANG I CONCEPT

Posted on July 4, 2020July 4, 2020 by MartynL

A radical new sports car, the 1962: MUSTANG I CONCEPT, confirmed that the only constant at Ford in the early-1960s was change! In early-June 1962, famed sports car constructors Troutman and Barnes in Culver City, CA received body molds from Ford for an experimental sports car – the Mustang l. Troutman and Barnes had been known for building stunning Indy and sports car racers, including Lance Reventlow’s Scarab. Known internally as Project W-301, Mustang I was a concept for a serious sports c...

IN DETAIL: FLY LIKE AN EAGLE!

Posted on April 28, 2020April 28, 2020 by MartynL

Both Steve Miller (Band) and Dan Gurney had chart-topping Eagles, but IN DETAIL: FLY LIKE AN EAGLE! zooms in on Dan Gurney’s AAR, the only constructor in the US to design and build winning F1, Indy 500 and sports car Eagles. For our second installment of “In Detail”, we look at a pair of Eagles from the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance (AICE), up close and personal. These came from All American Racers (AAR), established by Dan Gurney who made many contributions to racing as a driver, owner, c...

LAGUNA SECA: ROLEX MOTORSPORTS REUNION!

Posted on August 31, 2019August 31, 2019 by MartynL

No vintage-racing event showcases and celebrates the ‘way it was’ better than the 2019 Historics at Weathertech Raceway Laguna Seca, sponsored by Rolex during Monterey Car Week. CGC’s Mike Matune was trackside to bring you highlights of this year’s RMMR. Each year since 1974 vintage racers have flocked to California’s Monterey Peninsula to make their mark during the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion (RMMR). Weathertech Raceway Laguna Seca again played host in 2019. This year was a celebration o...

DAYTONA COBRA COUPE: SUDDENLY IT’S 1965!

Posted on June 26, 2018 by MartynL

The first of six laser-perfect recreations of designer Peter Brock’s Le Mans winning Daytona Cobra Coupe – CSX2299 – broke cover on June 15 at the Nurburgring in Germany. It carries VIN # PBX 2299-01. Suddenly it’s 1965. Time limitations permitted construction of just six of the famed Shelby Daytona Cobra Coupes, built to challenge Ferrari, Jaguar, Aston-Martin and Ford’s GT40s for the World’s FIA GT Championship in 1964 and 1965. Collectively, the six uniquely designed racers, driven by some o...

2018 AMELIA ISLAND CONCOURS: THE BEST GETS BETTER!

Posted on March 15, 2018March 15, 2018 by MartynL

Bill Warner and his team continue to raise the bar; the 23rd annual Concours d’Elegance does not disappoint…even when rain is in the forecast. In a world that appears dedicated to instant gratification, for anything to endure 23 years, let alone thrive and prosper, is unusual to say the least. But such is the case with the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance. For nearly a quarter century it has been treating aficionados to all forms of automotive wonderment in a beautiful setting. This year was n...