SL70/10


As mentioned in the article about the Heritage Lola T70 being turned into a coupe, the same customer owns 1965 Lola T70 SL70/10, a Mk. I T70, run for Jerry Grant in 1965/6 by Dan Gurney’s All American Racer’s Team, AAR.

You can read the history below but interestingly, this car, when discovered and needing restoration, featured a Mk. II chassis. Jerry Grant crashed the car hard at Mosport in June and, as the T70 Mk. II was then available with a lighter chassis, it stands to reason that AAR rebuilt the “Bardahl Special” with the more modern chassis.

The car was interesting for another reason. Unlike the majority of Chevrolet powered T70s in 1966, SL70/1 ran a Ford engine but enlarged to 305 cubic inches (5 liters). You can read Jerry Grant’s comments about it below. Jerry is still in California, a real gentleman.

One story that I did hear, which is probably apocryphal, was that when the car broke down, yet again, by the pit wall at some anonymous racetrack, Jerry was so mad that he vaulted over the wall, went into the garage and got his revolver and emptied the magazine into the stricken engine. When someone asked him why he’d done it, he is reputed to have replied: “Well you shoot injured horses, don’t you?”

SL70/10

3/5/65: Sold to Carroll Shelby, Los Angeles.
305 Ford engine with Weslake heads.

SL70/10 was sold to Dan Gurney, another Californian. White. Gurney employed Jerry Grant to drive it for his team “All American Racers”. The car was re-painted in dark blue with light blue scallops.

Jerry Grant remembered that: “In 1965, I had driven a Lotus 19, fitted with a Chevrolet V8 motor. That car was fast, but unreliable. For 1966 I went to drive for Dan Gurney’s All American Team in a Lola T70 that, I think, Dan got from Carroll Shelby. I sat on the pole in most of the USRRC races. That car had a very special Gurney-Weslake Ford 305 cubic inch motor that would wind to 72-7500 rpm. Most of the time, I was battling in the races with Mark Donohue, who was using a Traco-Chevrolet engine, probably the best Chevy race engine out there at the time. It had more torque than my Ford motor, but probably only revved to 6500 rpm so the races were… interesting! I only won one race, at Bridgehampton, as the final drive kept breaking due to incorrect heat treating. I left Dan’s team, as I didn’t think I was getting paid enough; you know, young, broke and starving! In retrospect, that wasn’t a clever decision...”

1966: “Bardahl”-sponsored car for All-American Racers.
24/4: Las Vegas USRRC: J. Grant, #8; DNF.
01/5: Riverside USRRC: J. Grant, #8; DNF.
08/5: Laguna Seca USRRC: J. Grant, #8; DNF.
22/5: Bridgehampton USRRC: J. Grant, #8; 1st.
04/6: Players 200 Mosport: J. Grant, #8; DNF. Acc.

Crashed car sold to Paul Canary by Lou Spencer of Shelby Automotive.

1991: Sold to Louis Buffalo, CA.
2007: Sold to H. Somerville by Jeff Sime.
2010: March: Sold by John Starkey to present owner.