James Garner in Grand Prix
Picture courtesy Prisma online
James Garner driving 6S611 into the paddock
Scene from the movie GRAND PRIX
James Garner alias Pete Aron in 6S611
Carroll Shelby, Dan Guerney, James Garner, Roy Ginther in Watkins Glen 1966
Picture courtesy FORD Media
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 James Baumgarner - known as James Garner - enjoyed his ride
Bernard Cahier, the famous Sports Car Graphic Illustrated editor back then, remembers GRAND PRIX quite well in a recent interview I had with him.
"I was working a lot with John (Frankenheimer) on this movie regarding the locations in France. We started with the race in Monaco in January 1966 for the movie and I was there to give ideas and recommendations. I was deeply involved as consultant and actor."
The movie was filmed at the original race tracks like Monaco, Spa, Clermont-Ferrand, Brands Hatch and Monza. Most of the well-known racers of that time were acting as themselves in this 3 hour movie. John Frankenheimer did not like to speed up racing scenes, so all scenes are for real. Except for the cars, in fact, Formula 3 cars were made to look like Formula 1 in most cases. James Garner drove all of his racing scenes by himself. The same cannot be told for Yves Montand. After a crash into the woods, he was afraid of higher speeds, so his car was pulled by a GT40 in the following scenes doing over 130mph. Still, Yves felt much safer with this setup than driving himself. Further information on the plot can be obtained from the US Movie Database.
But what is more interesting for us is the Hertz Shelby that James drove in this movie. Acc. to Howard Pardee of the SAAC SFM6S611 went back to the US around 1982 and has been shown on several occasions. It has not been really restored, but is a nice and interesting car on display at some SAAC events.
"I had met Steve McQueen before and we became friends through Peter Revson, who was one of my best friends and with who Steve finished a brilliant 2nd overall in Sebring with the Porsche 908. I went several occasions to Le Mans during the filming of the LE MANS." says Bernard Cahier and continues "I had a loaned 350 GT Shelby Mustang for several months. Eventually Shelby gave this car to de Tomaso...
It was blue and white and it had a modified suspension. Also a 289 Cobra engine with over 360 h.p.. It
was very light, very fast, very uncomfortable."
Well these facts rang another bell and Howard was quick to point out further facts on this special export Shelby.
"The other Shelby mentioned by Bernard Cahier is SFM 5S114 and is a street car. It was shipped to the Ecurie Filipinetti in Geneva via boat fur use by Carroll Shelby in Europe. It is thought to be the car that was tested by the german magazine AUTO, Motor und Sport in the 20/1965 issue. It is "now on display" means hanging from the ceiling in a restaurant/bar in Switzerland.*
The
first mention of this car was an article in the LOS ANGELES TIMES newspaper
in 1965 that said that Juan Fangio had tied the Modena track record with a
GT350. This prompted ROAD & TRACK magazine to publish an investigational
story 11/65. THE SHELBY AMERICAN #36 has an article with 3 photos (one of
them a centerfold) of Fangio with this car. This article prompted Peter
Brock to write an explanation in THE SHELBY AMERICAN #37 with yet another
photo of Fangio with the car. It was then featured on the cover of THE
SHELBY AMERICAN #45 back in 1984. The photo shows the car in front of the
Eiffel Tower in Paris and was taken in May."
*Well, it was actually not hanging from the ceiling, but standing on its own four tires in this bar next to another Shelby and some Shelby engines. Our friend Iso Schwager from the Swiss Mustang Club updated me on this fact. And after further research we found out... it has been sold recently in December 2002 to a family in the Tessin in Switzerland.
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