Monterey Pre-Historic August 2006


Last year Around October we found out the Cooper was going to be the honored marque at the Monterey Historic. It is the 60th anniversary of Cooper Cars as well. We had two Coopers that need to be restored and we decided to try and restore them both to get them to Monterey this year. Last month we abandoned the other car to focus on restoring our 1956 MkX Cooper 500 which turns 50 this year. The first time the car was all together was last Friday night at 10:00pm and we were at the track at Saturday 12:30am to drop it off.

Saturday
Saturday was a major learning curve. In the morning we had trouble starting the car by pushing it (select 4th gear instead of 1st). The car has no starter and has to be pushed or pulled to start it. An extremely nice man who was part of a 10 car Cooper contingent from England that had their cars shipped over came over to give us advice. He has 3 Cooper 500's. He convinced us based on how cool it was to pull the car with our truck and blamo it started. So we warmed it up pump cruising around the pits trying to time things so we did not stall the car and off Trevor (my brother) went in the car. The first practice begins. Trevor barely makes one lap when he had to come in. No throttle. This thing vibrates like nothing you have ever seen and it vibrated loose the slide screw the holds the throttle cable to the slide. Well we decided to locktite that piece and went around the car to see what rubbed and loosened. We found lots of little things to fix. Not the smallest was a new stress crack on the fuel tank.

As we were getting ready for the next session, by now John Streets and Charles McCabe had come over to give us more advice and encouragement. Charles has two Cooper 500's and John has a Staride that he raced in England and brought over here. We buttoned everything up to get ready and noticed that the throttle cable was slacked. Crap where did the slide spring go? After twenty minutes looking under every bit and every car we found the spring got into the screwdriver drawer in the trailer. So we did not make it for the final session Saturday but we decided to start it up anyway. As we were John Streets comes up and says Mr. Wenz has arrived. Bob Wenz was the last real owner of the car. He brought this car over from England in 1960. Bob Raced the heck out of this car and beat lots of bigger cars in it. He was born in Southern California and Moved to San Jose in the late 50's. So Bob gets out of his car with his childhood friend. And he asks us several questions about the start-up procedure. Did you get oil in the cam box? Did you back it up on compression? Did you free up the clutch? Then he gives us the "thumbs up" and we push Trev off. Bob is Smiling ear-to-ear. We are very happy to see Bob with such a grin. We pull the car around and back in the pits and park it.

Bob looks over that car smiling still and he cannot believe it, inspecting everything. Bob pulls his friend over pointing out things about the car and reminding him about the car and how much fun it was etc... We come to find that Bob's friend is the one who got him in to the Formula 3 cars in the first place. They grew up next to each other and were close friends. Bob's friend had been in Europe on business and when he came back he met Bob at a race at Torrey Pines (San Diego), he said to Bob, "They are racing these motorcycle-powered raced cars in England. You should get one. They look like a lot of fun." Bob had been racing motorcycles for some time and Bob's other friend Harry Morrow thought the idea sounded good as well. So Harry started the Formula Racing Association. Bob Built his first car the Wenz "Ariel Special." Bob built the car from and old Fiat Topolino. It had a short wheelbase and was scary to drive. Well Bob has been trying to get his friend to just sit in one of his 500's (he has had 6 of them) and he always declined until Saturday. With a little encouragement from my father we asked Bob's friend to sit in the car. Bob could not believe it...instant huge smile again. Bob says "Oh my, I need to get my camera." Soon Bob's camera is not the only camera-there are 7 cameras focused on Bob's old car.

So who is Bob's friend? Well it turns out he is another race car driver. He raced a lot in Europe. He did pretty well too. He won Lemans overall 1958, 1961 and 1962. He was the first American Formula One Champion in 1961 among other things. Bob's childhood buddy is Phil Hill.

Here is a picture of Bob and Phil. Phil sat in the car for about 10 minutes talking to Bob. They were having a great time. Saw a tear from the corner of Bob's eye even. All the work over this last year was completely paid for. We got Phil out of the car he told us a few kinds things about Bob. Image of Bob and Phil Below (photo by crew member and nice guy Ralph Hill)



Sunday
We get to the track check everything once again fuel the car etc... Trevor goes out and we pull start the car. It is off easy. Trevor warms it up around the pits. He times it perfectly to go out on course. We are out with the v8 powered Scarab Formula 1 cars and quite a few Tasman and Formula 1 Coopers. Trevor pulls the car around and into the pits for us to make sure nothing has fallen off the car. Everything is tight and perfect so off he goes 6 laps later. We breathe a sigh of relief. Everything comes back in one piece except a few items-two screws have left the car for a better home. We replace those and locktite them, tighten the exhaust which needs to be done warm, and get to experience the aftermath of an exposed valve train system from a 1950's GP bike. Oil and alcohol on everything. The thing pukes crap everywhere. So 5-10 minutes to clean everything and then we are prepping the car.

Everything is buttoned up in time for our photo shoot. Sports Cars International has decided to shoot our car. The photographer is impressed with the car and the restoration...we again feel the hard work was worth it. We take off the roll bar for the first time with the car complete. It looks amazing. He takes a ton of images. Then Trevor is back in the car and we drive up to the photographers' special photo spot at Laguna. He takes some extremely good shots of the car there as well. Then back to the pits.









We then put the bar back on and check everything one more time. Fix the rear monza cap, check the plug, etc... Then our new friend Phil Hill shows up with his daughter Vanessa. They come to look over the car and tell us they have given Bob Wenz some free VIP tickets for next weekend. So we are planning on having the Bob Wenz back in his car for parade laps. Bob has been so helpful and generous in this restoration. He has given us parts, advice and lots of great stories.




So Trevor's last race went very well. He passed the other 500 and JBS. He had lots of fun and helped break the car in. We had lots of fun and met the most amazing people.

So if you are coming to the races next week, We will be driving the car both Friday and Saturday.
We will be pitting next to the F1 Garages


Friday
9:45-10:10 1951-1963 Formula Jr. and FIII cars Practice

Sat
9:50-10:10 Warm up 1951-1963 Formula Jr. and FIII cars
12:05-12:20 Cooper racing car parade laps
12:45-12:55 Toyota Motorsport Demonstration laps F1 car laps
2:15- 1951-1963 Formula Jr. and FIII cars Race
3:40-3:55 Toyota Motorsport Demonstration laps (This one is supposed to be special)

Sun
(WE HAVE NO RACES ON SUNDAY)
12:10-12:25 Cooper Racing car parade laps

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