I consulted the "bible", i.e., the two-volume, 2250-page history of FIA endurance racing, Janos Wimpffen's "Time and Two Seats". I was surprised that the entry for Le Mans '68 did not contain reference to the engine sizes of the various entries. I then turned to one of the first car books I ever owned, Christian & Moity's "The Le Mans 24-Hour Race", which lists 1075's engine capacity as 4942 cc in both '68 & '69. 4942 cc = 302 c.i....

Bob

Any pics of the 1075 car that I have seen shows the SB with the Gurney Westlake heads accompanied by the Webers. I think 5 liters was the maximum limit which would push you just north of 300 cid.

BTW, gang, 'ole Snakeeyes is keeping secrets from you. Speaking of GT-40s, he is the proud owner of a Mk 1, Weberized SB, decked out in Essex Wire livery with the black triangulated sunguards to prevent glare. I hope that, when he paddocks with Stauffer in his 1046, '66 Le Mans winner and Walton in his 1075 '68 & '69 car, that he will still remember us 'po folk on Club Cobra.

I hope it isn't too late to get an autograph................

Snakeeyes/Bob.................................

wut da fluck is that!! is that thing Cobra based?,Jag based?,Vette based?, or a total custom? It looks awesome! Do tell a little about it.

Karl

FESS UP BOB !
yOU GOT THIS CAR AND YOU AIN'T SHARIN" ?

Ole Cal has ratted you out so lets
see some shots. Better still you can share them over on the
www.gt40s.com forum and really make them droole.:3DSMILE:

Hersh:)

Ah, Cal, you left out the little detail about your selling me the car...

I have secretly coveted a GTD GT40 that Cal had built by the good people at Unique (yes, the Alabama-based Cobra kit manufacturer). He went all-out on it in terms of authenticity; it is done up in the faithful Essex Wire colors of white with a broad single red stripe, bordered by thin black stripes, with the aforementioned black triangles over the fenders to reduce glare from the white paint. Under the rear deck is a healthy 289 with a quartet of 48 IDAs and lovely ceramic coated "bundle of snakes" exhausts. Thankfully Cal even anticipated the car's moving to Texas by specifying air conditioning. It is undoubtedly not as quick or fast as many of the beautiful GT40 kits on the road (Hersh...), but for this history buff it frankly just gets my pulse going thinking about cruising the Texas Hill Country in such a great car. Cal offered me a deal I couldn't pass up, has been kind enough to keep the car for almost a year while I got a house built, etc., and barring the Next Ice Age I will be heading to Wisconsin this coming week to bring her home. I'm jazzed, in case you couldn't tell.

Kobra Karl, I assume you're asking about the blue Beck Lister in my photo gallery? It's one of about twenty kits (so far) built by Chuck Beck of Hesperia, California, the man probably most well-known for the 1300 or so Porsche 550 Spyder kits he's built over the last two decades. Chuck recently sold the 550 portion of his company to Club Cobra member Glenn Garrett so he could concentrate on building Listers (you can see both cars at www.beckcars.com). The Lister was a 50's sports racer built by Brian Lister in Cambridge, England. His cars went through several body iterations and powerplants (Bristol, Maserati, Jaguar, small-block Chevrolet, among others) while dominating the English road racing scene in the mid-50's. Lister hired an unknown driver named Archie Scott-Brown, who was born physically disabled (essentially missing one arm, both legs extremely short, etc.) but more than made up for it with his otherworldly car control and fierce determination. Together Lister and Scott-Brown gave all comers fits until Archie was killed in an accident late in the decade. Brian Lister never recovered from his friend's death and ceased building cars not long afterwards, but not before people like Briggs Cunningham, Carroll Shelby, Masten Gregory, and Jim Hall had discovered the value of his simple formula of a lightweight tube chassis, well-sorted suspension and powerful engine. Cunningham's team dominated the SCCA with Lister Jaguars for a couple of years, and Hall and Shelby convinced Lister to sell them rollers set up to accept the then-new small-block Chevy. Lister-Corvettes, as they were called, should have pounded the opposition but unfortunately came along just as Lance Reventlow was unleashing his more sophisticated, world-beating Scarabs on the American racing scene. That, plus the advent of mid-engined cars that would turn the sports-racing world on its ear, meant the V-8 powered Listers never enjoyed the same success as the Jag-powered variants. Doesn't matter; anyone who's seen a Lister-Chevy powersliding through a corner while bellowing out its sidepipes is likely an instant fan. I have been for a long time, and jumped at the chance to buy a partially-finished Beck Lister when it came up for sale on this website a couple of years ago. Chuck Beck builds them in the spirit of the originals, but with the tub bonded to the frame to create a stiffer semi-monocoque and late-model Corvette suspension and brakes, front and rear. Curb weight is under 2,000 pounds; how far under depends on your choice of engine. In an effort to get mine as light as possible I went with an all-aluminum small block, taken out over 400 inches, and an aluminum-cased Muncie M-22 built from new parts by our hero, Cal Metal. The motor made 543 hp/508 ft.-lbs. on the dyno so it should run pretty well, with the major limiting factor being traction. The widest rear tire that will fit within the Beck's fender is a 265 series, which obviously is woefully inadequate. I may end up flaring the fenders, 289 comp car-style, in order to facilitate much wider rears (and also to ensure a steady supply of broken halfshafts).

The car had basically been sitting since I bought it until I got serious about finishing it back in November. It now needs probably two days' worth of work to be on the road. If only I could find two days...

Sorry for this lengthy post. If that wasn't the car you were inquiring about, let me know and I'll bore you some more.:3DSMILE:

Bob

By the way, Hersh, I don't have a single picture of the '40! Perhaps Cal can post some if he has any. Want to hear something sick? Other than a three-minute videotape, I've NEVER SEEN THE CAR! That's how much I trust Mr. Metal...we've all seen his incredible 289 Comp Car, which is just the tip of the iceberg of neat stuff crowding his garages, so I know he doesn't buy junk. I also know what kind of cars Unique builds, so I have no qualms about this one. Cal has owned the car for something like five years--he can correct me on that--and it has less than 200 miles, an error which will shortly be remedied.:3DSMILE: I will put some pics up as soon as she makes it to Texas--and I can be pried out of the driver's seat--

Bob,

That was the car! i'm almost embarassed to say i've never heard of it , but i just became an instant fan. I think a lot of potentialy great cars were just five minutes late to the line and ended up "honourable mention" You could put the 427 in that group were it not for the 289 car.

I enjoyed the breif history and tech. if i lived a hundred miles closer i'd be there tomorrow for the final wrenchin.

enjoy
Karl

Dang Bob !
You been a busy guy. Two days more and the Lister is ready for debut...WOW.
I also anxiously await the arrival of your GT. It sound encredible.
Being that our friend Cal had something to do with it, it should be a truley well built machine.
You can bet that I will be passing through San Antonio someday
and I will stop to visit ...I would luv nothing more than to see those beauties in person.
I would also luv to sneak in on Mr. Cal Metal too and peruse that most misterious storage place that he has. :JEKYLHYDE :3DSMILE:

Hersh:)

Great history lesson Snakeyes,,,well done!

Ernie

Snakeeyes is getting a great car--brand new, in fact. I will have to correct him in that it has 168 miles on the odo. Allen Weaver at Unique did a great job in building this--I didn't have a hand in it and that is why it is so nice.

Just remember to keep the paint nice. When Allen was painting the car with all the varying stripes and color combos, he had to remove the body from the chassis three times to make sure alignment was correct. He told me later that if I ever wanted the body painted again he (laughingly but seriously) said it will cost you $15 grand.

I don't have any pics but when Snakeeyes picks it up I will break out the digital and post some pics on CC.

Cal, I too can see where Allen was coming from as I
had to remove the body parts three times for accuracy. What a
pain. But if you want it right that's what you do.

Bob. perhaps you have driven a forty before but I really luv the
oppurtunity to take mine out. It does nothing but draw attention and it feels like nothing else. It's the most crisp handling car I have driven and I have driven a few. So don't
let it set. Drive the he!! out of it and enjoy..:3DSMILE:

Hersh:)

Thanks for the kind words, guys. I really enjoy these kinds of discussions on this forum. Karl, if you subscribe to Speed Channel there has been a program airing the last couple of weeks on the Le Mans Classic race that was held this past June. If you watch it, you'll see a Lister Jag absolutely destroying the competition in its race group, being driven with great enthusiasm. Mine is sitting high in the Gallery pics as it lacked a drivetrain when the photos were taken. I'll post some more of it "in the weeds" when it is complete. BTW, you and Hersh and anybody else from CC are welcome anytime you pass through this part of the world. I plan on treating the '40 like the others in my garage--it will be used, but lovingly. One of the most enjoyable parts of ownership for me is sharing these cars. There's nothing like watching the faces as you go past a full school bus, or seeing a kid's eyes when you pull up next to their Family Truckster at the gas pumps.

Man, removing the body three times...I knew there was a reason I wanted to buy a finished one.:3DSMILE: Hersh, you must have the patience of Job.