Thor grew up in northern Iowa. His father bought a red Jag XK 150 in the late 1950s, and that was all it took; he has been in love with sports cars , racing cars and the associated adrenaline rush ever since. He has vintage raced for more than 20 years, the bulk of them spent behind the wheel of a blue Elva 7. When he’s not racing, he is president of Vintage Racing Motors Inc., a collector-car dealer and vintage-racing support company based in Redmond, WA. His knowledge runs the full spectrum of vintage racing, and he has put that expertise to good use for SCM since 2003.
The Bowes Seal Fast Special was first piloted at Indy by Louis Schneider in 1930, with Clyde Terry as riding mechanic. The car qualified 4th at a speed of 106 mph and finished 3rd on the lead lap (finished 200 laps). It ran with a Miller 8 122-ci engine.
The car is restored to its most famous livery as car number 23 and winner of the 1931 Indianapolis 500. Schneider again drove the car, this time with riding mechanic “Jigger” Read More
Among U.K. Datsun enthusiasts, particularly those with a fondness for the 6-cylinder Z series, there is no bigger name than that of Spike Anderson, legendary proprietor of Samuri Conversions and the man responsible for a succession of Z-based racers in the 1970s, most notably Win Percy’s famous “Big Sam.” Very few cars are so famous that they are commonly referred to by their registration number, but FFA196L is one such and rightly so, as it was the first Datsun 240Z Read More
One of the most desirable of all of the postwar Alfas, TZs were—and continue to be—considered as Alfa Romeo’s version of Ferrari’s GTO. Ranking in rarity with the very best sports cars, only about 112 were built between 1963 and 1967. TZs raced in the most important races, were driven by some of the best Read More
Introduced at the Paris Salon in 1975, the stunningly beautiful 308 GTB—Ferrari’s second V8 road car—marked a welcome return to Pininfarina styling following the Bertone-designed Dino 308 GT4. Badged as a proper Ferrari rather than a Dino, the newcomer had changed little mechanically, apart from a reduction in wheelbase. The car retained its predecessor’s underpinnings and transversely mounted 3.0-liter V8 engine that now featured dry-sump lubrication. Produced initially with fiberglass bodywork—the first time this material had been used for a Read More
Eric Broadley’s Lola project, the legendary T70, debuted in 1965 and quickly demonstrated its prowess in the hands of John Surtees, who won the inaugural Can-Am Championship in 1966. The T70 was produced in open Mk II Spyder and Mk III Coupe forms until 1968. Although eclipsed by the Ferrari 512 and Porsche 917, the race-proven Read More
The late Fitzroy John Somerset, 5th Baron Raglan, is remembered with tremendous affection within the vintage racing world. Following a successful Chairmanship, Lord Raglan was only the third person to become Patron of the U.K.’s Bugatti Owners’ Club, in succession to Ettore Bugatti himself and the illustrious motor racing peer, Earl Howe. Indeed, here we offer the much-loved Bugatti Type 51 that Fitzroy Raglan raced “around the world” for almost 30 years, during which he and his Read More
This month’s column is a tale with both tragic and cautionary threads for those who play in the vintage racing car hobby
This Series 1 E-type roadster was purchased from its second owner in 2005 after being discovered in a garage where it had remained since the mid-1980s. The car was immediately sent to the restoration shop for what became a five-year, race-prepared restoration. This Jaguar is presented with a very high level of finish, Read More
The gulf between an assemblage of parts and a functioning, front-rank racer is immense and can be very expensive to cross
Ford was looking to race the Mk I Cortina in the Group 2 category, for which 1,000 “homologation specials” would be required. The obvious powerplant was the twin-cam version of the ubiquitous Ford “Kent” engine that Lotus genius Colin Chapman had already developed for use in the Elan. A deal was struck, and the Lotus Cortina (or Read More
This car is the sole original survivor of a three-car team put together by MG to publicize the new P-Series, which had been introduced in 1934. The idea was that three identical works cars would be entered in the 1935 Le Mans race, driven by three teams of women, with the whole enterprise to be managed by Captain George Eyston, who had raced at Le Mans in 1928 and 1939.
The press had a field day with Abingdon’s idea, Read More
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