The Roaring Season

These popped up on facebook recently, and I just had to share them. These are taken from the famed Holman Moody workshop, circa 1970-1971. Most of what you see here is redundant, given Ford had pulled out of racing. But its absolutely staggering to see.

Look really closely, and you'll see at least one partial Ford GT40, the famous Honker II Can-Am cars, in addition to the many NASCAR body shells. There are even parts from the still-born 1970 Torino NASCAR program.

End.

Wow, what a sight Steve, It would have been a great time to acquire some very rare parts and cars by todays standards.
Imagine the race budget Ford would have had. Great post!
Cheers

Damn, no XA Coupe bodies there

John McKechnie wrote:Damn, no XA Coupe bodies there

No XA bodies but when I first visited there circa 2004 there were five new Allan Mann GT40 chassis on the "shelves".
The factory went through a period of deterioration after the adjacent Charlotte international airport lodged a claim on the Holman property ( eminent domain I think) for expansion of the airport. They wouldn't decide about the purchase for many years ( at least a decade) which was frustrating for Lee Holman as he couldn't sell to anyone else to fund another building elsewhere. Eventually the airport went ahead with the takeover and Lee Holman moved to a new facility elsewhere in the Charlotte area. I might have some of the timing and dates out of kilter but that's the gist of the situation.

Grant, Its really great that Lee has managed to preserve Holman Moody and keep it alive, as you say he must have gone through some tough times in those earlier days, But, I believe they are doing very well now. I may plan a trip there later this year.
Can you imagine moving it all!
Cheers

So Paul,
You accepted the job offer at H M. Good on ya mate !
One building at H M was rather gruesome being filled wth all types of racing Fords that had been involved in fatal racing accidents mainly during the sixties such as the GT 40 wreckage from Walt Hansgen's crash while practicing for the 1966 Le Mans race.

K H

Its my understanding these photos were taken leading up to an auction HM was due to have, to clear out old sock and to appease Ford. Ford had massively reduced its racing budget for 1970, and cancelled several planned racing programs as well as various homologation specials.

That would explain why so many people are pictured in the photos. The hangar was apparently where HM stored their old cars, junk and parts! We look at pretty much everything in the photos as incredibly desirable pieces of history. But for HM and Ford, in late 1970, they were just old cars and parts. This wasn't part of their racing workshop.

Some interesting vehicles in the background of some of these photos, including the 1964 Ford turbine truck (in the doorway), the famous concept vehicle built to promote how Ford were a forward-thinking company.

Imagine if you had some coin and went along to that auction. Mouth watering collection.

Stacked on the top shelf here is the 1967 Honker II, the Ford supported Can-Am car with Paul Newman's name on the nose, and driven by Mario Andretti. It was part of what was lauded as an epic 6-car Ford entry into the Can-Am, as part of the companies Total Performance program. In fact, the effort fizzled quickly, with just the single Holman Moody Honker II, plus an elderly tube-frame car entered by Team Shelby and based on an old King Cobra chassis. Neither were successful and neither were seen again in the Can-Am after 1967.

During the NASCAR 'aero-wars' of the late 1960s, both Ford and Chrysler set about building special models featuring bodywork designed to cut through the air on the super speedways. Ford were first to realize the importance of wind cheating bodywork at nearly 200mph, with the 1968 Ford Torino and Mercury Cyclone. But the most famous and successful of these were the Chrysler aero cars, the Dodge Charger Daytona and Plymouth Superbird with their extended beaks and tall rear wings.

To be allowed to race these cars meant building a limited number of road cars, which Chrysler duly did. For the 1970 season, Ford were due to unveil its slippery Torino King Cobra, based on the new 1970 second generation Torino. Only three cars were produced before Ford pulled the pin.

This this photo from HM you can see the nose piece for one of the Torino King Cobras dumped outside next to the back half of a Mustang body. I assume this was made for one of the planned race cars, as the wheel opening differs from the production cars.

Steve Holmes wrote:[ATTACH=CONFIG]59825[/ATTACH]

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Wow amazing scenes. That stack of Boss 429's .

Steve Holmes wrote:[ATTACH=CONFIG]59839[/ATTACH]

Wonder where that truck is now?