Which Grand Sport was sold and how much?

[Jake D.]

Re: Which Grand Sport was sold and how much?

I remember, one time I was told to go fetch a gallon of gas and bring it to Dave, who was on Rt. 83 and the east-west toll road in Oakbrook. He ran out of gas on 83, when he was driving that 64 GTO. Well, I got there and he said, "this thing is really fast". It was a 3 deuce, 4 speed car, and I had the Bondurant car. After we put the gas in the GTO, he said, "Let's run 'em off". Who was I to say no? Well we got on south bound 83, and ran 'em off. That Corvette just sucked the headlights out of that GTO. We were going so fast that he missed the ramp to get off at Rt. 34. The drum brakes on the GTO were not up to the task. I think the brakes on the Corvette were the sintered metallic ones, and it had no problem slowing for the ramp at Rt. 34. Boy oh boy, if those cars could talk. What great times they were, and we sure enjoyed all those cars!

[Bill M.]

Re: Which Grand Sport was sold and how much?

I mostly remember the day that Dave Zamora had it up to about 70 MPH on Ogden ave and the hardtop, that wasn't bolted in place, shot up about 10 stories in the air. Buxbaum was NOT impressed!
That was a cool old car. I think your right on the Traco motor too. Car was fast. Beat my 65 396 car.

Do you remember if the header clamps broke...or just opened?

Was it Bondurant's 283 C1 that outran a 396 and a GTO?

Neat stories! My dad told me a story about Dave Farr's Caddy-powered MG TD being beaten by a 300SL Gullwing on 83 in maybe 1955. He was VERY impressed!

[Michael H.]

Re: Which Grand Sport was sold and how much?

Do you remember if the header clamps broke...or just opened?

Was it Bondurant's 283 C1 that outran a 396 and a GTO?

Neat stories! My dad told me a story about Dave Farr's Caddy-powered MG TC being beaten by a 300SL Gullwing on 83 in maybe 1955. He was VERY impressed!

The Bondurant car sat in the shop without the top in place for several weeks. Someone eventually set the top on the car just to get it out of the way but never attached the bolts or secured the clamps. Zamora didn't know this, or didn't think much of it at the time, so when he was just about to go over the 294 tollway on Ogden avenue, at speed, the top departed. Supposedly it went straight up about 100 feet, then landed in the grass on the side of the road. It never fit quite the same after that.

The Traco engine was a 331 inch with a 64 fuel injection unit. The car still had some kind of wide racing wheels and 10" wide racing tires so it got a strong hole shot.
The 396 that it beat was my old 65 car, the same car that Dave Burroughs wrote the book about called "Corvette Restoration, State of the Art". That was, without doubt, the slowest 396 I've ever driven.
The Bondurant 59 put a hole shot on me and I never caught it.

I well remember Dave Farr from Hinsdale. Dave gave me all of his Rochester fuel injection parts after he stopped working on the units in about 1974. Still have a lot of it.
Dave did all of the FI work for the local dealer, Jack Douglass Chevrolet, in the 60's.

[Michael H.]

Re: Which Grand Sport was sold and how much?

I remember, one time I was told to go fetch a gallon of gas and bring it to Dave, who was on Rt. 83 and the east-west toll road in Oakbrook. He ran out of gas on 83, when he was driving that 64 GTO. Well, I got there and he said, "this thing is really fast". It was a 3 deuce, 4 speed car, and I had the Bondurant car. After we put the gas in the GTO, he said, "Let's run 'em off". Who was I to say no? Well we got on south bound 83, and ran 'em off. That Corvette just sucked the headlights out of that GTO. We were going so fast that he missed the ramp to get off at Rt. 34. The drum brakes on the GTO were not up to the task. I think the brakes on the Corvette were the sintered metallic ones, and it had no problem slowing for the ramp at Rt. 34. Boy oh boy, if those cars could talk. What great times they were, and we sure enjoyed all those cars!

That was a fun place! Never a dull moment, especially with Zimmerman and that Able character. (Dave Able...Abble... the guy that almost dumped that garbage can full of trash and banana peels into the interior of the Ferrari conv)

[Jake D.]

Re: Which Grand Sport was sold and how much?

Mike- I remember that car in the Downers Grove shop. If I remember right, that car did not have tinted glass. It was used for photographic purposes inside Chevrolet. I thought Dave Aubel was the one who blew off the top on Bondurant's car. Do you remember the 1500 mile fuel car with the mouse nest in the exhaust? Geez these stories are bringing back many memories. How about the time when Dave Zamora drove the go-cart around the Downers Grove police station one night.

[Michael H.]

Re: Which Grand Sport was sold and how much?

Mike- I remember that car in the Downers Grove shop. If I remember right, that car did not have tinted glass. It was used for photographic purposes inside Chevrolet. I thought Dave Aubel was the one who blew off the top on Bondurant's car. Do you remember the 1500 mile fuel car with the mouse nest in the exhaust? Geez these stories are bringing back many memories. How about the time when Dave Zamora drove the go-cart around the Downers Grove police station one night.

Yup, some fun times. Correct on the clear glass for the 396 car.

I still have a lot of good closeup pic's of the 1500 mile 65 FI car. I still use these shots to show how things really were on these cars when new.
When the engine was disassembled, there were mouse droppings on top of a few pistons!! Lotta folks still don't believe that though.

Well, we better stick to the original Grand Sport discussion here or we're gunna get in trouble.

[Bill M.]

Re: Which Grand Sport was sold and how much?

The Bondurant car sat in the shop without the top in place for several weeks. Someone eventually set the top on the car just to get it out of the way but never attached the bolts or secured the clamps. Zamora didn't know this, or didn't think much of it at the time, so when he was just about to go over the 294 tollway on Ogden avenue, at speed, the top departed. Supposedly it went straight up about 100 feet, then landed in the grass on the side of the road. It never fit quite the same after that.

The first year I autocrossed my '92, I removed the targa top so I could sit as high as possible. After running, I would replace the top to keep the sun out of the interior. At one event, I forgot to bolt it back in place. I realized what the new rattle was before I got on the freeway. Another local autocrosser lost his top on the freeway...twice. (He may be forgetful, but he is one of the fastest autocrossers in the country.)

I stopped running without a targa top after I saw a C4 roll in the grass at our local road-racing track. He wasn't running his targa top. The windshield just flattened. (The driver was fine.) The event was an autocross run on a small local track that was pyloned to slow the fast areas. The driver got off sideways into the grass. There had been a rain the night before and the grass was dry, but soft...over he went.