Shelby Team car in Trans Am Racing
© Sam Colman, David Bauer, Wolfgang Kohrn - February 18th, 2003, last updated May 2022

 


#148629 with Sam Posey driving in 1969 at Lime Rock. Picture courtesy Greg Nicholson


#148629 - Sam Posey driving in 1969 at Lime Rock
Picture courtesy carmemories.com

The History of 9F02M148629

It was driven to victory at Lime Rock by Sam Posey in 1969 and wrecked at St. Jovite with Peter Revson driving.
In the wreck, Revson managed to get the blue #1 car to climb on top of the pile of destroyed cars.
Although uninjured by the crash, when he climbed from the car at the top of the pile, he fell and injured his shoulder.
The car was not repaired, but used for parts to repair the other two wrecked at St. Jovite.


Randy Gillis on the Boss 302 Forum:

"148629 suffered a bent tub at San Jovite and was written off never to be fixed, however Ron Butler and Donnie were supposed to get it and they felt it was fixable. Donnie thought Bobby Boxx ended up with it. And after his death it may have been hauled away as a junker. It was left at Kar Kraft after the thrash to fix 028 for the rest of the season. ...Donnie clearly remembers that it was left as a field stripped tub at Kar Kraft after the mad thrash. He has pictures of the carnage in mid thrash in the back lot area of Kar Kraft."

Ed Ludtke on the Boss 302 Forum:
"I believe that tail end of #629 used to repair #628 from the 1970 accident.  And I too doubt we will ever find the "rest" of that one. As far as Kar Kraft & #629 I think the info from Don is 100% correct.  All the wrecks were sent back to Dearborn and they either repaired or they used them for parts.  When KK closed the doors @ the end of 1970 season, they shipped EVERYTHING to Bud Moore."

Update May 2022 - A mail from David triggers further research.
As of 2022 we got aware of another trace, that may fit the picture. There is no doubt that the story itself is true, yet we don't know of course if the "clip" was the real deal or another clip.
Here is Davids story on several visits he made to a collector with the prename Douglas in Kentucky:

I am writing to you about a Mustang Trans am engine compartment. In around 2006 i met a man in Fordsville Kentucky who was a collector of cars. His name was Douglas Smith. At that time i bought a 69 acapulco blue mach 1 and a 70 sports roof from the man for $1800. Over the next 10 years i travelled back and forth to Fordsville where i bought other cars from the man which included a couple of Austin Healeys and a 57 Alfa romeo Giulietta spider amongst others.

 Doug Smith was an unusual man, he bought cars and things that he always claimed he was going to restore but he just pulled them up into the field and let them sit in what i called his outdoor museum. Back in California after my back east trips I had people smile at me as i unloaded rusty junk cars from my truck ....with many people asking about where I got them. 

It has been just recently that I have become interested in race cars and whilst touring your site i sort of recollect Doug showing me a rusty front engine compartment that he said he was going to rebuild into a Shelby race car.

I cannot remember much because I really did not care and race cars were not on my radar but engines were. I do however remember that Doug had Boss 302 engine blocks (5 Tunnel port engine blocks, heads and funky exhausts) and parts because i bought 2 sets of them and shipped them to Australia where I sold them to a man in Sydney whos name was I think David Livian. I recently tried to contact Doug but he had a stroke and has died.  Friends of his have stated to me that the race car clip, engine parts and documentation have been sold to a man in Ontario California some 5 years or so ago. I thought this was interesting that this sort of thing which i thought went in one ear and out the other....has come from my memory now.  I am fairly sure that the clip that Doug had was an original Shelby Trans am....although i cannot be certain.

There were no fenders or outer sheetmetal. Only the structure of the engine bay. Someone had been at it with an oxy acetylene torch on the passenger side and removed a section from it and there were non factory welds in various places which were obvious. The clip was rusted in appearance. I do not recollect seeing any paint on it. I was not really interested as Iwas about to load the 70 Boss 9 that i had just bought from Douglas which had been sitting in the dirt and head high growth for 40 years.

It was just a passing conversation where we stood by the clip for only a couple of moments before we went on to one of his buildings to look at the Tunnel port engine parts before loading my Boss 9. 

Everything from Kentucky is really really rusty. I will say that Douglas was a very proper man although eccentric. It was normal for him to travel back to Michigan to collect cars and visit people from where he was born and lived as a young child. One day he bought 3 rolls royces from the Minnesota area where he returned to his farm and placed them in the field to look at. Another car was his 57 Eldorado barritz convertible which he parked in the 60s and let it rot. There was a 54 XK140 SE, which i bought from him in 2008.

There was a 57 twin four barrel Corvette that Douglas and I made a 700 yard path through some forest to clear a path to get it out. i was going to buy from him but i ran out of money. I travelled with Douglas to White pidgeon up in Michigan Detroit area where he bought a rotten body shell of a Black 69 SCJ for $650, that car too was dragged into the field for admiration with Douglas stating that it was going to be used to put the clip onto. It is my understanding that the 69 SCJ body went to the same person in California.

 I myself would not have bought the scj body as it was just too rusty and only suitable for scrap. Hopefully the clip is as Douglas stated to me. It would be nice to see that it still exists and for it to be rebuilt as a car.

Thanks to David for contacting us, such kind of history bits sometimes sum up with other puzzle pieces to get a gap closed. We hope to verify anything here with more information in the next years.

If someone knows the California man or has more on the Kentucky based collector Douglas, pls. pass us a line.



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