king of the mountain ? that movie was shot using a lot of the ACR (Associated Canyon Racers) cars in Griffith Park at nite and on Mulholland. Its been so darn long that I could not tell you if it was really any good. Technically it sucked since when could a speedster replica dust off all comers? Then again, maybe one of their tech advisers were up there when one of the capably driven bugs shot thru there.

I would enjoy writing a book with Jack Olsen helping- he's got the skills that i lack with regards to putting it all together. The story telling inspiration (and stack of bibles guys; all i have posted is absolutely true!) came from reading a Road and Track story called "Thunder Bug and other racing tales" I think

Thanks for the kudos guys- Some great memories there

Well Dave,
As we were discussing earlier, you definitely could do soo much better than the Banning and "Screenwriter-Dude" book.

Like, oh, keeping a consistent time line going.

All the movie was good for was launching Harry Hamlin's career. I thought it sucked.

If someone were to produce a true Mulholland story, it should have interviews with the racers, the cops that patrolled it, the fans and residents. Old girlfriends would really be good as it seemed to me girls went up there to party and meet guys, and the racing was to them a meddling sidenote that took the attention from them.

Sample: I was stopped up there by a romper-stomper of a cop who wanted to prove his point that no one would get away from him. He pulls me out of my car, and point-by-point, explains how his pursuit car had a full cage (it didn't), a hyped motor (no-just factory pursuit style from GM), and a set up suspension (...sure, but explain the stock radials, officer.) He then told me he could arrest me if he wanted, but would rather race me. It'd be all I needed if he crashed, hurt himself or worse. So, no, I respectfully declined his challenge.

There was that TV show with David Cassidy called I think "David Cassidy, Man Under Cover" That had some street racing up in Mulolland I think even in an RSR. Boy that was a long time ago. Hats off to anyone who can find that eppisode !

Might be this one:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0554945/

The older I get, the better I was...;) I'm not saying all of this isn't true...it's just that human memory tends to remember the good things while forgetting the bad. Therefore, in my memory mind's eye, the girls were prettier, the cars were faster, the sky was bluer, and the fun was more frequent than it probably really was..."back then"...
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1168491387.jpg

A close relation of mine was pulled over on the hill one night driving a Datsun 510. The officer looked over the car which was shod with radial tires on Libres, lowered nicely, Momo wheel, Corbeau seat, racing belts, etc. The officer poked in the window and said to my relative, "Well, you seem like you know what you're doing. We're mainly worried about the kids up here in Mom's station wagon. Just slow it down a little and have a nice night." I believe, "Thank You Officer." was his reply.

FYI some more info from the LA Times back in June '06: http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/highway1/la-hy-125mulholland21jun21,1,6843614.story?page=1&coll=l a-news-highway_1

I use to take my Datsun 510 up there all the time. I still need to get another 510 to put all those BRE parts I have saved over the years.

too funny!

Where's MalibuExec to "one - up" everyone???

Doug

Dave,
I just faded back in..... Still enjoying this thread. I almost crapped when I read my post. I MEANT to say that your 914-6 is a very seriious car when pushed, NOT implying that you don't use it. Apology. Besides, I am the one whose brother complains that I am starting to drive my 930 Ltwt like an old man.... True... except when on boost [too much traffic for much of that where I live. Time to move out and away.]

Didn't Dan McGloughlin [sp?]... had a genuine RSR white/blue.. used to run that a lot? Or was it more fun and show?

I wish we had areas like that in NCal. Big Sur was quite something tho.. just rather lonely and rarely anyone to play with. BTW some of us up here used to sneak into Laguna and run at night. Not often. At that time the Army MPs ruled and would get very irate at us but did nothing else. The corkscrew at night was a thrill.

JR

JR
- you guys sneaked into laguna? very cool - especially at night! The roads up around Big Sur are terrific. Many a Laguna race weekend run has beckoned the CRE gang to travel those byways

Dan Mc Gloughlin had several different cars, and i mean way different! He was involved with George Lucas' THX1138 with the Lola T 70 coupes. He got back one of them, after the move (don't remember if it was the crashed one or not) and put it back together as a cool street car. He was friends with James Garner and with the impending demise of JG's A.I.R. race team, Dan got the right to use the name. Hence how American Inernational Racing was born in Burbank.
I met Dan for the first time on Van Nuys Bl cruise night. My tongue was on the floor at the sight of the lola , resplendent in dark blue with its AIR logo draped across the nose.

He was so cool describing the process of legalizing the car for the street, how he had to be so careful since the nose was so low, the cops all over it anytime it was out. You gotta remember that back in the early 70's , a Lola T 70 was like a ground bound space ship. Today it looks dated compared to the murcielagos, diablos, enzos, etal.

Anyway Dan must have hung around up there before "my" time with the some of his cars. I distinctly remember his customized GT 350 styled fastback, his hybrid Camaro (70's rear end on a 68-69 front end) ,, Mini Cooper S's, his black Miura with GT 40 headlamps. All this was before he got into the fiberglass porsche biz.
Growing up in the valley afforded me with some great after school activities. After school, my walk home took me past Dean Jeffries (before he was up on the hill overlooking the 101) and George Barris'. I saw the Batmobile being born from the left over Ford Futurama show car that just sat out in the elements. The fender reshaping was immediately obvious, even to a 11 year old boy: " This thing looks like a bat car!" I exclaimed when Barris' crew was doing the mods in secret before the show. ( I always got to go to the back shop where the cool trick stuff was happening)

When I got my license, then it was AIR, the three Porsche dealerships (Bob Smith in Hollywood offered a 911R for sale for 8k or best offer- please just buy this and get it out of here!), and a couple other cool car shops. So it was an interesting and fun way to learn about cars

When Dan started on the Porsche biz, he had done some prototype work for Fiberfab and Mitcom. The RSR's started showing up , needing repairs , mods, etc. and his talent really shined with all the designs he would come up with. Some were rather interesting.... to be polite, but he really worked hard at it.
When Andial and Howard Meister wanted to build the ultimate 935, Drag racer/ designer // engineer Glenn Blakely penned a superb narrow tube frame that Dan clothed with a slick body. It went on to win Daytona 24 in the hands of T Bird Swap Shop owner Preston Henn.

A lot of us knew the regulars that we saw up on the hill . Though we may not have been daily friends, there was a certain respect between the various groups and individuals. For sure there were the bad apples. There was a auto shop set up in Van Nuys called MRA (Mulholland Racing Association) that worked on a lot of mini's. Curious thing: If the name plate on the back of the mini was upside down, then it was a sign not to steal it. Yep, that kind of place.

Compared to the 1 Adam 12 Matadors and Plymouth Belvederes that the cops had, small sports cars were able to out run them when the conditions allowed. These cars were certainly not fast by today's standards, but nimble compared to the muscle cars and other offerings.

Update Time!
 

Dave, et. al

I talked to Arnie this afternoon and told him you were spinning yarns about the Mulholland days. He laughed, but he did give me a few details that I thought I'd throw out there.

1) The chopped, square-bumper 911 shown in the picture that started this thread began its life as A REAL 73 RSR!! :eek: It came from a local race team and Arnie brought it back to life and made it into what you see in the picture. It had a FACTORY-built 2.8RSR motor with high butterfly injection...back then. Looking back he's a bit sorry, but back then nobody gave a crap.

2) The guy who owned it back then still owns the car. Arnie tried to buy it back from him in the last year or so, but the guy has a death grip on it and won't let it go. However, it is being stored properly - on jack stands in a garage, covered, and parked next to a Ferrari TR.

Just thought you'd like to know...

I thought it was Kevin Jeanette and Gunnar Racing that prepped that car for Preston Henn.

Wow, great thread, wish I could have experienced all that. Great story telling Dave, you can give stefan a run for the money , Cant wait for your book. Thanks guys

Re: Update Time!
 

Regarding my original question that started this thread...
THAT'S WHAT I CALL AN ANSWER!

Hmmm, I read that there was a nasty fire in Malibu...8 beach front homes destroyed. I wondered if...

Don't even go to there, man. Some things are just off limits.

Hey, I just wondered...I wouldn't wish that on anyone! Suzanne Sommers was the only victim's name I read. She's had enough problems...besides, I think you answered.

(edit) Sorry I wandered off topic...I'd like to hear more of the old times in that area. Tell me guys, if you "come off the line" at sunset & vine, is there really a "dead man's curve"?

For those of us that haven't raced Mulholland, please explain. How can you spectate a road race? Seems the best you could do is catch a glimpse of 1 or 2 turns?

+1.

Sunset & Vine - it's pretty straight either west or east. If you go east, you just go through E. Hollywood, Silverlake, then end up in Downtown L.A. West, you go through more of Hollywood, West Hollywood, then Beverly Hills. Right around where Rodeo Drive crosses Sunset, is a short straight, then BOOM, the sweepers begin and the curves get nasty with progression all the way to the Pacific Ocean.

I'm not certain, which is why I won't use his name, but a well-known Pelican crashed and (I think) totaled his Carrera on Sunset. If he chimes in on this thread, you'll know him.

Back to Sunset and Vine: it used to be pretty dicey there until late. Now, urban development has revitalized the area.

It was never a road race per-se. Usually, it was just a bunch of guys with modified cars who raced each other for the fun of it. I once saw a map - maybe in the L.A. Times - that posted all the corners and their names. At two points between Laurel Canyon and Coldwater Canyon, a few cars at best could make U-turns and race back the way they came, making a sort of lapped race, but the danger toward civilian drivers in doing this would rise exponentially more than it already was.

From Grandstands, you could observe maybe two-thirds of the circuit going west to Coldwater Canyon. But really, those with the best view were the cops in the helicopters. :D

I've always referred to the area just past the Rock Store (at the top of the hill before Kanan) as Big Rock. I remember going up there on the back of my dad's Harley and having to dodge the *********s on crotch rockets who were racing up the hill on both sides of the double-yellow line. People would watch from the top of Big Rock and make bets on the races - you can see most of the road from the top of the hill.

The cops pretty much put a stop to that, but it's still a favorite road to do the solo missions during the week. It's also nice because it dumps you out onto Kanan (Fwy access) or Encinal (beach access).

I'm a big fan. That's where I learned to drive stick, as well as where I learned to ride my motorcycle. :D

Here's a young member of the Mulholland Racing Association.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1168589702.gif

From "Grandstands" you can see at least a half mile of the course between Coldwater and the "the Sweeper." You old school Mulholland guys can correct me, but I would imagine you could probably also see some of the action up past Carl's Jr. to Deadman's from Grandstands as well.

I'm just going by how I know it today.

no way dd74: that was the mini i bought after JG let some potential buyer drive it on sunset and crashed it!! Very cool- it was a 70's refugee with regards to the paint and interior: Metal FLake paint with diamond patterned blue interior.It was too ugly and expensive to fix, so my brother and I took it apart so my other mini could get finished

Thanks for finding that pic-

"1) The chopped, square-bumper 911 shown in the picture that started this thread began its life as A REAL 73 RSR!! It came from a local race team and Arnie brought it back to life and made it into what you see in the picture. It had a FACTORY-built 2.8RSR motor with high butterfly injection...back then. Looking back he's a bit sorry, but back then nobody gave a crap. "

Maybe the way Arnie remembers it (" the older i get, the faster i was" category ) but i was there every day after school and even took the slate grey "RSR" to school one day. I was soo nervous that i didn't pay one seconds attention in class worrying about if it was going to be there when i got out! That alone convinced me to demur on the swap between my not finished targa and this car. To be sure, the parts on the car were real; They came off of either John Thomas' Bozzani, Juan Carlos Bolanos', or Jim Levitt's RSR when they updated their cars to the later wider bodywork. All three had gotten the AIR treatment with regards to the RSR body upgrades
The motor had been described to me by Arnie back then as a 2.5 high compression which did indeed sport street mfi when i drove it. Motors could definitely be swapped out and i remember arnie doing a ton of work to it once he decided to go with the chopped roof set up:)

Great stories, Dave. The best stuff on Pelican.

1+++ Dave. Thanks for the great stories. I love the stories from "back in the day" when this stuff was going on. Keep 'em coming!

A quick Garner story:

As a young boy I lived up the street from the location of Jim Rockford's fathers house. While they would film inside the house, Garner would sit outside in one of those director type chairs. I would ride my bike down the hill and just sit and talk to (bug) him. He was always very nice and seemed genuinely interested in my ramblings about cars and bikes at the time. What a class act he is, very approachable.

I also got some first hand tips on how to do those "Rockfords" and used to practice them religiously with my first 510 :D

I paracticed them a lot on Mulholland, just to get us back on topic.

Dave,

He said it was former Bozzani car.

Good memory...

This is the other Bozzani car- as shown in the LA Auto Expo and at Santa Rosa R Gruppe last year. Also known as the least mileage never really raced (Road and Track test car, POC time trials, Riverside test days, and a little street driving between several owners)

If you look closely under flourescent lamps, you can just see the outline of Bozzani Porsche Audi on the front hood after it was polished off

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1168730467.jpg

Good Stuff!

Thanks.

Dave , A liitle off topic but since you brought it up ... Dan's Lola :)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...EBR69-nr10.jpg

Also Garners AIR Corvettes were all from Clippinger Chevrolet in west Covina...though there is a new dealership the old one is still there too...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6.../garnerall.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...arner_07_z.jpg

I agree.. the writting of the book was a litle dissapointing. I actually had my brother in LA buy it and send it to me. The history of how LA came about was interesting and some of the stories where great but it just seemed that a better writer could do so much more justice to the legacy.

That Cooper is cooler than the underside of the pillow. Too bad you didn't keep it.

Is that Mulholland Raceway a bunch of throwbacks from the era you're talking about or are they a modern bunch?

This is the group I'm referring to:
http://www.mulhollandraceway.org/

marmot: this is a more recent group- seems pretty verbose

Great thread!

The garner cooper's guts gave life to a all black mark 2 cooper S . The previous owner thought 13:1 compression on street gas was a good thing ! The black cooper gave way to a red one that my brother and i raced in vintage for a little while. It takes some real dedication and long hours to make those lil boxes go reliably (HAH! if that is possible on a 3 bearing crankshaft) so we wisely decided to keep the lil buggers for fast road use.
Currently do not have one, but i share my buddy's mark 1 S in the Iron Bottom Rally every other year. We drive it quite fervently (as other rally participants can attest) and save worn out plug wires in the rain , it has never let us down.

We have a mk 3 here at the shop (one of the bourne identity studio cars no less) awaiting a Vtec transformation. Can't wait to scare myself silly!

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1169171326.jpg

Did someone say torque steer? :)

Wonderful fun...

From http://www.superfastminis.com/

Ed

Isn't that cool? it may only have 3-4 " of suspension travel, but it will certainly get its owner's heart rate pumping

We are starting with a GSR package to begin with