Already discussed here:

http://forums.autosport.com/showthread.php?threadid=75917



Something else I found: a photo Jeremy Shaw testing the Porsche at the Nurburgring:

http://www.oncars.com/bio/1/Jeremy-Shaw

Thanks

photos: B2 Design

A couple of old March chassis' at Indy, 1984. Above is Dennis Firestone's 12th place 82C of Hoosier Transportation (per Hungness and entry list). I think it has '83 spec side pods. Below is a DNQ 83C of Gary Bettenhausen for H&R Racing. Hungness calls it a Wildcat, but even I'm smart enough to know better than that.

Brian

Wow, great stuff, Brian, especially Gary B.'s car! I love being able to see the cars that DNQd. Thank you.

Denis Hulme driving M-15 McLaren Indy car this is from 1970.
That is Tyler Alexander ducked down and at the back of the car is Tom Anderson in his youth. On the pit wall is Teddy Mayer. The fellow with his arms crossed and the white hat on is Takeo "Chickie" Hirashima.

Denis Hulme started out in the #73 car. In testing the #79 car he had his hands badly burnt and was unable to race at Indy in 1970. The #73 car was then turned over to Peter Revson.


Denis Hulme in the McLaren M-15 at Indy in 1970
That is Bruce McLaren next to Denis.
Fuel spilt out of this car while Denis was practicing in it, and then ignited, the ensuing fire badly burnt Denis's hands and he was hospitalized. And unable to race at Indy in 1970.

photos Bill Wiswedel collection

This is a Lotus 18 they have streached it and are putting an Indy type "Offy" in it.
This is from 1964 and the fellow in the hat is Bob Higman the guy lowering the engine is Mr. Seward a buddy of his.


Bob Higman in hat, Front view of Lotus 18/Offy note the size of the fuel tanks.


This idea sounded good, however it never worked right. Bob Higman was a very successful midget car entrant and mechanic. After they couldn't get the Lotus/Offy to work at Indy in 1964, he entered a Trevis/Offy Roadster for Bob Wente to drive. They qualified 32nd and they finished a very respectful 9th.

photos Bill Wiswedel collection

Ahhh, this may help solve a mystery! Allen, are you with us?

I would guess this to be the #67 "Morcroft & Taylor Special", mostly listed as a Taylor chassis.

would this be same later Chevy powered Taylor car in 1965 (that I already have listed as a possible Lotus) ? Here is a photo from Phoenix:

Michael: I have been told that the Lotus 18 above is the car Jim Hall ran at Riverside in 1960. He qualified 12th with it and finished 7th, this was at the US Grand Prix held at Riverside. I have been told that Jim Hall had to buy a Cooper Monaco to get the engine for the car. The car was then sold less engine. Some where down the line Bob Higman acqired the chassis and that is when he tried putting the Offenhauser engine in it and the big fuel tanks and attempting to run it at Indy.

'907', then!? Any opinions? Allen? Doug? David?

All very interesting. Do we know that the car in the pictures is the 1964 #67 "Morcroft & Taylor Special"? I have the 1963 and 1965 Yearbooks but not the 1964 one so I don't know if there are any other contenders on the entry list.

If we're sure it is, then it is a solution to that old problem.

As to which Lotus 18, I'd agree that 907 makes sense as it was the car that Ruby drove in three USAC races for Harrison in 1963.

But before I get too carried away, how do we connect Higman & Seward to Morcroft & Taylor?

Allen

Bob Higman was the chief mechanic of Gil Morcroft's team in 1963 and '64!

OK, I guess that counts as the connection I was looking for.

So is the "Taylor" in "Morcroft & Taylor" the same Taylor as in "Taylor 64" and the same Taylor as in "Ralph Taylor Chevy" in 1965?

M -15 McLaren Indy car of Bill Wiswedel
This is the car Peter Revson drove at Indy in 1970.


Upper half of Offy engine for M -15 McLaren.
These photos taken inside Bill Wiswedel's immaculate shop.

I was invited to Bill Wiswedel's shop the other day. It is located in the Holland, Michigan area. That is about 20 minutes below where I live. Bill has several Indy type cars. While I was at his shop he allowed me to take the photos of Team McLaren and the Lotus 18/Offy that I have posted above to show them to the forum members. That is how I came up with these great photos.

Jerry, what's Bill's connection to the Morcroft & Taylor '64 car?

Peter Revson in M-15 McLaren with Team McLaren at his side at Indy in 1970.
Alan McCall, George Bolthoff, Tyler Alexander, Tom Anderson, Bruce McLaren, Hughie Absolom

photo George Bolthoff collection - Speedway photo


Ducked down at the back of M-15 McLaren is Herb Porter
Herb was known as "Herbie Horsepower" his business was called Speedway Engine Development and his engines powered many Indy type car winners. Herb was sadly lost in June of 1999 at the age of 84 due to complications sustained in an auto accident that happened near Indianapolis.
That is George Bolthoff bent over on the side. George Bolthoff was the engine builder for Team McLaren in 1970 at Indy and also was the head engine builder for their CanAm effort.

Allen: Bill Wiswedel's connection to the Lotus 18 is that in 1984 he owned it. It had gone from being the Taylor Special into a sprint car type racer. I am waiting for photos to post showing the car in this configuration. Bill later sold the car to Mike Beale of Canada and Mike has converted it back to the orignial Formula One specs as raced by Jim Hall.

photo Bill Wiswedel collection

Are those the chassis designations used by Phil Harms? Then I would guess so, yes. I have the man down as "R. Taylor" (could well be Ralph) and joining the team in 1964 only.

Still never seen this elusive Eagle, is it an ex-Jet engineering car perhaps?

Lotus 18 #907 in it's Later Life.

Michael: Believe it or not this is what happened to Jim Hall's 1960 US Grand Prix ride. This was from Kalamazoo Speedway, a track in Michigan.

photo Bill Wiswedel collection

Lotus 18 # 907 as it looked in 1984 when owned by Bill Wiswedel


Front view showing the Triumph Hearld uprights and Girling disc brakes.

The car was Jim Hall's in 1960. Jim Hall sold it to J. Frank Harrison who had Jerry Eisert work on it from 1961-1963, Lloyd Ruby was the driver.

In 1964 the car was sold to Ralph Taylor, he was a Chevrolet dealer from downstate Illinois and partners with Gil Morcroft, that is when they had Bob Higman attempt to make it into a Lotus/Offy.

In 1965 a Chevy engine was put into it and it looked as pictured in post #1458. It is also shown with the Chevy engine in Dick Wallen's book "Roar from the 60's" on pages 324 and 330, the drivers were Bill Sullivan and George Morris and they were racing on dirt.

The car then went to a Jerry Carmen of Union City, Michigan. In the early 70's it was converted to run as a USAC Sprinter, the car wasn't run because of rule changes. It was then sold to Bernie Bennett in Union City and used as a Pavement Modified as pictured above with the wing. It ran a 355 Chevy with Hilborn fuel injection on Alcohol, using a Halibrand 2 speed trans and Girling disc brakes.

Bill Wiswedel bought the car in February of 1984 as it appears in the above photos from Ron Johns of Jackson, Michigan, It was sold by Bill Wiswedel to Michael Beale of Tecumseh, Ontario, Canada in 1985. Michael Beale converted it back to the Jim Hall Lotus 18 Formula One Specs.

all research Bill Wiswedel
photos Bill Wiswedel collection

The usual fate of racing cars in the US! Fascinating story, Jerry & Bill, thanks for that!

This is why I love old racing cars! They get up to the most amazing things. How many people that day at Kalamazoo Speedway knew they were looking at an ex-Grand Prix car?

Allen

PS I just had to take this into Photoshop and hit the 'fix' button - hope that's ok!

More pertinently: how many cared?

"Groin Preen? Never knew such a thing..."

Very nice fix on the picture Allen.

As they say over here and now the rest of the story:

This car Lotus 18 #907 was put up as the first prize in a Charity Raffle type event. The second prize was a shotgun. It was to benefit a crewman of the owner of the car who had been badly burnt. Well the fellow who had the winning ticket, told the raffle committe that he would rather have the shotgun than the car.

The car then went to the second place ticket holder. That is whom Bill Wiswedel bought the car from.

as told by Bill Wiswedel

1967 Eagle Indy car #212 at Riverside in 1967 at the Rex Mays race
A.J.Foyt owned at this time and he appointed Jim Hurtubise as the driver.

This car was completed in April of 1967. It was driven at Indy in 1967 by Dan Gurney and qualified in the middle of the front row. Car was #74 when driven by Dan Gurney.

The car was then bought by A.J. Foyt and his drivers were Jim Hurtubise and then Donnie Allison. The car finished 4th at Indy in 1970. It ran the #4 at Riverside and Indy.

In 1971 and 1972 it was driven by Bill Simpson. As the # 28 Indy car.

Marv Carmen of Union City, Michigan bought the car off Bill Simpson and converted it into an Injected chevy powered Pavement Super Modified.

The chassis was then acquired by Bill Wiswedel.


research Bill Wiswedel
photo Gil Munz

Same car believe it or not only converted into a Pavement Super modified
Doesn't look much like the car that finished 4th at Indy in 1970, at this point.


Front View of Indy Eagle in it's Pavement Super Modified Period.
Car as modified by Marv Carmen of Union City, Michigan.

Bill Wiswedel hopes to be able to bring the Indy Eagle back to it's original form minus the full roll cage and with Ford 4 cam power.

photos Bill Wiswedel collection

Great pictures Jerry!

212 is a funny number for a '67 car. 202 perhaps?

Allen

Here is the chassis plate out of the 1967 Eagle Indy car.
Says April 67 and #212

Allen: On the 1966 Indy Eagles the numbers started with #201 and 6 were built, the 1967 Eagles started #207 and end with #212 which is this car. The last of the 1967 Eagle Indy cars built.

all research Bill Wiswedel - photo Bill Wiswedel

Really, I didn't know that. I agree the 1966 Indy cars started 201 but I thought the 1967 cars started with 301.

I hate to be picky, but purely for the sake of historical accuracy I think that's John Haslett at the rear wing. The guy on the LF is Bernie King. Both of these fellows are still with the team - Haslett drives RP's coach and Bernie runs Penske Restoration.

Thanks, Nigel

Nigel - Thanks for clarifying my misidentification. That sure is a young Bernie at the left front. Thanks for pointing him out. I'll make sure I send him a copy.

Brian

BTW, I wasn't being disrespectful to John...everyone on the team just calls him "Haslett".

Thanks

Nigel

I think this photos should be placed here too:

the Eagle 78 at the 1978 Indianapolis 500







Enjoy!

Jim Hall apparently bought a Coyote (from Foyt?) at the end of 76 or begining of 77 to campaign in 77, a full year before he actually entered USAC with the Lola T500. Does anyone know anything more about this story? What Coyote chassis? Why did he not run the car in the end? What became of it? I know there was a point in 78 when he was low on T500 spares etc so why did he not wheel out the Coyote if not? Would this have been the only time Al Unser drove a Coyote, if it had transpired?

Now, that's a story I would love to know better, as I've never heard nothing about Hall having a Coyote

BTW, another interesting finding here .

Regards
Luis

Whats more interesting is why it didnt get raced I guess?

You're right. And another one is why a Coyote? (because the coyote is a prairie animal like the chaparral? I guess he didn't saw too much WB Beep-Beep/Willie Coyote cartoons, or he would choose another type of car )

Now seriously, anyone knows more about this one?

It probably goes to show the huge respect the community owed to Foyt that nobody ever build a car and named it Roadrunner... meep meep!

Is it too much of a simplification to say that the early Coyotes were Lotus copies? Also, were not the last two or three Coyote designs Rileys? Also, I seem to recall Lindsay Hopkins running a car in 1975 that he called the Rocket. It was designed by Riley and looked to be a clone of the Coyote Mk V.

Just ruminating...

Tom

No to your first question, and Riley definitely designed a couple of Coyotes, between the Hopkins and the Wildcat, I believe. Or was it before the Hopkins?

Plymouth?

Haig Altoonian along side the Gurney Indy Eagle.
This is from Riverside in 1967 and Haig was in charge of the Eagle. Dan Gurney won this race. It was called the Rex Mays Indy Car race.

photo Gil Munz - scanned for site Ike Smith

Well, I meant the racing community, but there you go...

photo: B² Design

Pancho Carter's Galles Lola T8600 Cosworth on pitlane at the Michigan International Speedway on race morning of the CART 500 miler. August 2, 1986. Pancho would survive to a 3rd place finish, two laps down to winner Johnny Rutherford. Only seven cars ran at the end of the event. I think it was Johnny's last victory in IndyCar. If I'm not mistaken, Paul Harcus is in the cockpit. Arie Luyendyk's Hemelgarn 86C March Cosworth is behind.

Brian

Yes, I realised that Michael, but as usual I shot from the lip and thought Plymouth had built the Roadrunner as a competition car. Silly me!

Pancho Carter's Galles Lola T8600 Cosworth on pitlane at the Michigan International Speedway on race morning of the CART 500 miler. August 2, 1986. Pancho would survive to a 3rd place finish, two laps down to winner Johnny Rutherford. Only seven cars ran at the end of the event. I think it was Johnny's last victory in IndyCar. If I'm not mistaken, Paul Hargus (sp?) is in the cockpit. Arie Luyendyk's Hemelgarn 86C March Cosworth is behind.

Brian [/B][/QUOTE]

Paul Harcus should be correct...

Wasn't the Superbird basically a Roadrunner on steroids?

malvi - thanks for the correct spelling of Paul's last name.

Brian