Familiar Face at Barrett Jackson...
If you were at the Blackstock Ford Show'N Shine last year, you may remember this special guest. It will be making an appearance at Barrett Jackson on Saturday. How much do you think it will command...?
http://www.torontomustangclub.ca/for...6&d=1547762053
https://www.barrett-jackson.com/Even...ACE-CAR-224674
https://sway.office.com/X9LC24IkAIoMQVE9 - video at bottom of link
1966 Shelby Mustang GT350 SCCA B-Production Racing Car
Yale Kneeland, a recent graduate of Yale University. was hanging out at an Irish
bar in midtown Manhattan. While playing darts for blood with a wild and crazy Irish
mechanic named Jimmy Carter direct from the old sold, their conversation drifted
into racing cars. Being a gearhead from birth, Yale expressed interest, so off they
went to check out a Lotus 7 being prepared by the Irishman.
Intent on getting more involved, Kneeland was invited to attend an SCCA race at
Lime Rock the following weekend. Little did Kneeland know that the Irishman was
also trackside support for a guy named Mark Donahue racing a Lotus 20B.
Soon discovering that Donahue was a recent graduate of Brown University, the Ivy
League connection clicked. Donahue, from Central New Jersey. and Kneeland, with
a country home near Morristown, then hooked up with a local racing team out of
Dockery Ford. Dockery Ford Dockery had been active in sedan racing for some
time. At the time of Kneeland's arrival, the racing team consisted of Donahue, Bob
Grossman. Malcolm Star and Martin Krinner. This group was involved with Trans-
Am, USRRC, and the SCCA Northeast Region. Entries included Shelby GT 350s and
Cobras. Kneeland became the fifth member of the team.
Midway through the season, Star went off to join the Marine Corps and, needing
money, he sold his Shelby R-Model to Kneeland. This was the same car that
Donahue raced in B/S in 1965. Kneeland and Donahue joined forces, with Donahue
racing at the SCCA Nationals and Kneeland at the Regionals. . Later that season
while running at Lime Rock, with his entire family trackside, Kneeland put the R-
Model into a tree, putting the engine in the cab! His two sisters were so upset that
they both went into the woods and threw up!! Fear not, race fans, this was just the
beginning of Kneeland's career. Intent on continuing in the sport, Kneeland called
upon a Shelby GT350 6S928 to till the R-Model void. They took #928 down to bare
metal, totally gutting it. With help from Donahue's sponsors — Firestone, Ford.
Holman-Moody. Koni, American Mag, AER, Croughn Auto Styling — the car came to
life
Holman-Moody and their NASCAR affiliates designed and installed in the B/P Sedan
the very first SCCA legal full roll cage, American Mag designed deeper offset rear
wheels, Koni came up with the first fully adjustable bounce and rebound shocks
(for Donahue only). All usable parts from the R-Model were transferred to the
6S928. Reconfiguring the structure of the car included relocating the suspension,
extending the rear fenders, installing a transverse braking both inside the cab and
under the car. Engines came through Donahue via the Holman-Moody Ford
connection and Traco. Kneeland continued to race the 6S928 into the early 1970s.
He campaigned the car at Bridgehampton, Thompson, Pocono, The Glen, Lime
Rock, Dover and the like. He was successful in winning an SCCA Northeast B/P
championship
In 1999, the car found a new owner who began a full restoration in 2008 and has
enjoyed the car enthusiastically, returning it to its 1967 Kneeland livery and fitted it
with a correct B Production engine, featuring many original Shelby external and
internal engine parts. It will surely prove to be a formidable vintage racing
candidate for its next fortunate caretaker. As Motor Trend stated in one of its early
road tests of the GT350, “We recommend it as a cure for all strains of boredom,” a
statement that certainly applies to this example.
Five years ago the 6S928 came back to His continent, and in the beginning of last
year a plan to get an uplift was set in motion.
The engine bay got original hardware and non period correct parts were removed.
With long and intense research a historic file was put together and original car
hood was recovered along with the quarter windows and its old Konis shocks
The body was repainted on the Original paint and the racing stripes were painted
as per Order of Operations by Shelby America.
