Monday, February 6, 2017

"Present At The Creation" (Allen Grant's Lola GT Mark 6)





Oh, my... Who knew?  A completely original version of what became the Ford GT!  Single-owner, purchased from Lola Cars in 1965, and it was almost Eric Broadley's personal "keeper" car, converted for road use.  Well... it's restored, but restored to "as original" for the London Motor Show in 1963.

And Allen Grant's interview with Jay Leno is as careful and meticulous as his restoration of the car.  And the provenance trail!  For instance, Grant's correspondence with John Wyer about buying a ZF gearbox when he intended to race this car, to replace the original-spec. Colotti box.

Ford said in 1964 that the Ford GT was a Dearborn design.  And it's certainly true that Ford went through the Lola GT from stem to stern, modifying it extensively in detail.  But still, Ford bought the rights to the Lola GT from Broadley, hired him as a consultant to help with the conversion and the build of the Ford GT, and retained most of the basic design.  Including the troublesome Colotti box and what turned out to be sketchy aero with a full-race 289 pushing the car up to 190 m.p.h.  Ford didn't conceptualize the Ford GT, Broadley did.

Here's the link to Jay Leno's excellent interview with Allen Grant about the car:

http://www.nbc.com/jay-lenos-garage/video/1963-lola-mk6-gt/3465225