Dear James, Bob, Tom et al---
Dr. Palmer is right. I feel obliged to respond to the thread of 7/26 on "Book
Report."
I attended the buffett at TU XIII, and although I thoroughly enjoyed the
excellent photos presented by Dave Friedman, I was quite upset by the
narrative that accompanied his show. It was full of inaccuracies and
misleading references; so much so that in hopes of setting the record
straight, I had already been working on a piece on this subject when the
current list thread started dribbling in.
Friedman, who was the P.R. man and official photograper for Shelby American
during the 60's, admitted at the outset of his presentation that he really
wasn't very familiar with the Tiger or it's history, and that admission was
certainly confirmed as the show progressed. It does not, however, excuse his
proliferation of misinformation, as his recollections and opinions are
published on a fairly wide basis and could logically be accepted as gospel by
his readers. In fact, I think many in attendance at TU XIII may have accepted
them as that. Even though Dave invited the audience to correct him if he
seemed to be going astray, during a Q & A session after the slide show he
appeared reluctant to accept suggestions which were offered.
Dave's screened about 60 predominately black & white pictures of Tigers,
Alpines, Cobras, etc., many of which had never before been seen by the Sunbeam
community. The quality of the photos was excellent, and Dave could probably
tell you exactly what film and f-stop he had used on every picture. But he
had trouble remembering particulars of events associated with each shot, and
in many cases his narrative was just flat wrong. That was understandable, as
these events occurred over 30 years ago, and as Dave pointed out, there was so
much going on at Shelby American in those days that is was really hard to keep
track of it all. Shelby's Tiger projects were pretty small potatoes in the
total scheme of things, and went essentially unnoticed in the back corner of
his crowded Venice, CA shop. Frankly, I think Dave was simply confused about
details of the Tiger projects, and the result was that his discussion of them
came across as a jumbled confusion of the facts as we have previously
understood them.
For example, Dave said he had no recollection at all of any Shelby prototype
"street car" (referring to the white one shipped to England and driven by Lord
Rootes), but recalled George Boskoff cutting and beating to fit a Ford V8 into
an Alpine (he insisted on refering to the car as an Alpine) which Shelby
converted into a Tiger race car. Historically we know that Boskoff built the
white Shelby prototype, but that Ted Sutton, John Morton and Jim O'Leary did
the work on the race car. This car (probably AF-3, serial no. B9470003) was
shipped from England to Shelby in March, 1964. Friedman's own pictures of the
car as it was delivered clearly show it was a prototype Alpine-Ford, with the
battery in the trunk, the factory-modified engine compartment, even the little
bracket for hooking the wooden trunk floor to the inside of the trunk lid.
The car still had all the badging of a Series IV Alpine (as did all the other
AF cars), because at that time the name Tiger had not even been chosen. I
concluded that Friedman had observed (maybe even photographed) both Shelby
Tigers, but that he had combined the facts about both into one hazy
recollection which he associated only with the yellow race car.
I have to take exception to Friedman's observation that the trouble with the
Tiger was it's short wheelbase. After all, the Alpine wheelbase is identical
to the Tiger, and there were some fairly successful Alpines being raced during
the 60's by the likes of Stirling Moss, Jack Brabham, and Jerry Titus.
Friedman showed several slides of these cars, and said he was surprised by the
high level of audience interest in them. It is a matter of record that Alpine
drivers applauded the straightforward, predictable handling of the car, but
felt it could never be truly competitive because it was simply underpowered.
This, in addition to the prospect of increased Sunbeam sales, is what
influenced Ian Garrad to install the Ford V8 in the Alpine in the first place.
In fact, it was Jack Brabham, not Bill Carroll, who was the first to suggest
to Garrad that the Ford engine was the one he ought to use.
The other racing Tigers which Mr. Friedman discussed included the #74 and #50
cars which, as I far as I know, Shelby had nothing to do with (contrary to
what Friedman implied). After Lew Spencer crashed #45 at Laguna Seca, the
badly mangled car was sold on the spot to Sports Car Forum in Ohio. Here it
was decided that the car was not worth rebuilding, so most of the Shelby-
developed pieces from it were transferred to another Tiger (B9470605), and the
Shelby car was eventually scrapped. The new car was primarily driven by Don
Sesslar, and wore the same number as his previously successful F-production
Alpine, number 74. The #74 Tiger still survives in Florida, and is owned by
Duane Gordon. The other Tiger shown in Friedman's collection was car #50,
driven by Ken Miles. So little is know about this car that is has become
known as the "mystery car". Dave Friedman said he thought it was red, but
Steven Alcala has an old race program from Riverside Raceway which lists the
color as green, and the driver as Miles. I have no idea what was meant by "the
Red one in the fall of 1963", unless it is perhaps a reference to the Miles
prototype, with which Shelby had no connection.
If anyone has any evidence or information beyond what I have presented here,
I'd sure to be glad to hear from you. Maybe Tom Hall's suggestion is the only
way we'll ever get this really sorted out.
For the record,
Dick Barker
|