These popped up on facebook recently, and I just had to share them. These are taken from the famed Holman Moody workshop, circa 1970-1971. Most of what you see here is redundant, given Ford had pulled out of racing. But its absolutely staggering to see.
Look really closely, and you'll see at least one partial Ford GT40, the famous Honker II Can-Am cars, in addition to the many NASCAR body shells. There are even parts from the still-born 1970 Torino NASCAR program.
The #5 Ford GT MkIIB would almost certainly be the Gardner/McClusky car that was wrecked at Le Mans 1967. Given the 7 litre cars were banned from 1968 with new 5 litre limit introduced in the World Endurance Championship, it must have sat here ever since.Originally Posted by Steve Holmes
Wow amazing scenes. That stack of Boss 429's .
Another of the Ford GT MkIIB's in one of the many stacks is this #6 car, which by my reckoning is the car entered by Ford France and driven at 1967 Le Mans by Jo Schlesser and Guy Ligier. It was eliminated in a shunt on lap 183 after 13 hours.
It appears here prior to the race at top of screen next to the #5 HM gold car.
End.
Wow, what a sight Steve, It would have been a great time to acquire some very rare parts and cars by todays standards.
Imagine the race budget Ford would have had. Great post!
Cheers
Damn, no XA Coupe bodies there
No XA bodies but when I first visited there circa 2004 there were five new Allan Mann GT40 chassis on the "shelves".
The factory went through a period of deterioration after the adjacent Charlotte international airport lodged a claim on the Holman property ( eminent domain I think) for expansion of the airport. They wouldn't decide about the purchase for many years ( at least a decade) which was frustrating for Lee Holman as he couldn't sell to anyone else to fund another building elsewhere. Eventually the airport went ahead with the takeover and Lee Holman moved to a new facility elsewhere in the Charlotte area. I might have some of the timing and dates out of kilter but that's the gist of the situation.
Grant, Its really great that Lee has managed to preserve Holman Moody and keep it alive, as you say he must have gone through some tough times in those earlier days, But, I believe they are doing very well now. I may plan a trip there later this year.
Can you imagine moving it all!
Cheers
So Paul,
You accepted the job offer at H M. Good on ya mate !
One building at H M was rather gruesome being filled wth all types of racing Fords that had been involved in fatal racing accidents mainly during the sixties such as the GT 40 wreckage from Walt Hansgen's crash while practicing for the 1966 Le Mans race.
K H
Its my understanding these photos were taken leading up to an auction HM was due to have, to clear out old sock and to appease Ford. Ford had massively reduced its racing budget for 1970, and cancelled several planned racing programs as well as various homologation specials.
That would explain why so many people are pictured in the photos. The hangar was apparently where HM stored their old cars, junk and parts! We look at pretty much everything in the photos as incredibly desirable pieces of history. But for HM and Ford, in late 1970, they were just old cars and parts. This wasn't part of their racing workshop.
Some interesting vehicles in the background of some of these photos, including the 1964 Ford turbine truck (in the doorway), the famous concept vehicle built to promote how Ford were a forward-thinking company.
Wonder where that truck is now?
Imagine if you had some coin and went along to that auction. Mouth watering collection.
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