It says MGB Sebring, and I know that Butch Gilbert had at least
one of the original factory cars (the one driven by Pedro
Rodriguez, if memory serves). These were selling for low to
mid six figures when collector car mania was at its peak. A
shame, as I had the opportunity (woulda been a stretch but) to
buy one of the long-nose Le Mans MGBs about six years ago for $10K.
Seemed like a lot to pay for a B then, as much as I love them...
In fact, if John Ross is still on the list, he might be interested
in the fact that the door mirror on (sniff) *his* race car came
from one of the factory 1965 Sebring cars.
Let's see if I have the history straight: Sometime in the '70s,
a San Francisco Region racer named John McEwen acquired the Rodriguez
Sebring car. He was mainly interested in SCCA racing, though, so he
wisely cut up a '65 B to be his E Prod racer, and in 1980 this car
was assigned a logbook with serial number 33R1505 (33R standing for
the San Francisco Region).
McEwen campaigned this car through 1986, winning at least one race
with it. Late in its career, he installed the gearbox and, if
memory serves, the engine from the Sebring car in #1505, along with
a few other bits such as the door mirror, a genuine Raydot.
In 1986 or '87, McEwen sold #1505 to Butch Gilbert, the guy who'd
done most of the chassis engineering on the race car. McEwen also
sold the Rodriguez Sebring car, which was mostly a roller by that
time. Gilbert had started restoring the Sebring in 1990 when I bought
#1505 from him as a roller. But Gilbert had forgotten to take the
door mirror off when he sold it to me, and I had forgotten to take it
off when I sold it to John Ross in February.
I ought to check the Los Gatos car. Wonder if they'd even talk
to me? :-) I should just walk in, look at the car, point to the
mirror and say, "This isn't original." Then show them the picture
of me driving #1505 with the actual mirror from that car.
--Scott "My brush with History" Fisher
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