[Hal Copple]

Bob Olthoff was involved in the development of the Willmet coupe, and raced it in SA, it is now i believe at the Shelby museum in Colorado, i recall Bob saying it has a different Windshield and some other changes from when he drove it in competition. In Bob's opinion, it was a bit more aerodynamic than the Shelby coupes, and was capable of a bit more speed.

If you sit and wait for Bob Olthoff to talk about his racing days, beginning in the late '50's, and hear of his duels with the Ferrari LM's, it makes history come alive, when he can then pull off his trophy case this or that silver trophy what he won against some of the great peer drivers and other race cars of the late '50's and the '60's.

If you visit the Olthoff showroom, there are three tall, wide glass cases, absolutely filled with hundreds of trophy's, many are truly beautiful and probably expensive Cups and other trophy's, from back when they gave out nice things. On one shelf, are many crystal vases and cups and such, because Bob and other drivers told the sanctioning authorities that they wanted something they could actually use at home, so they then gave out engraved crystal things.

Bob told me he was invited to part of the early Cobra racing in South Africa because he had experience with Ford V-8 motors, and they needed immediate input as to what to do to make the Cobra's race competitive. He was previously a Works MG driver.