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There were 11 DeKon Monzas made. The pics are from IMSA at Laguna Seca in May 1980. The following cars qualified in the first and second row. They were destroyed in a first lap accident at the start of the first of two 100 mile heat races. Doane Spencer rebuilt the Monzas right here in Sun Valley in one of those no name industrial shop complexes near Glenoaks and Tuxford.
19 Chris Cord Chevrolet Monza DeKon#1011 20 Jim Adams Chevrolet Monza DeKon#1012 86 Hurley Haywood Porsche 935 Tu 930 890 0018 3 Jim Busby Porsche 935 (?) |
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Funny I never knew what Dekon stood for.....Lee "D"ykstra and Horst "K"wech, the two founders of the team. Pretty impressive duo. #1001- The first AAGT car, driven by Horst Kwech. White with a thin pin stripe. Crashed, rebuilt and sold to Carter Chevrolet. Mo Carter(camaro fame) would race it in IMSA briefly. It's influencial impact on American GT racing design is still being seen on todays racecars. #1002- Harry Theodoracopulos IMSA monza. Metallic blue. #1003- Michael Keyser's 1976 IMSA monza, scoring 3 victories. White with red/blue stripes on roof a car. Brad Frisselle would convert the car to 1977 DeKon Phase 5 specs for IMSA 1977 and would enter it in the 1978 24 Hours of Le Mans race. Blue/yellow/red/white. Exists today in this form as a vintage racer. #1004- Tom Franks IMSA and T/A CAT.II monza 1977-78. White with green stripes. DeKon Phase 4 then phase 5 body. Still in original form today as a vintage racer. #1005- Alan Moffat's 1976 & 77 Australian GT Championship monza. DeKon Phase 3 body. Currently under restoration. #1006- Michael Keyser's 1977 IMSA monza. White with red/blue stripes on top of car and had a Lola Can-Am rear wing! DeKon Phase 4 body. He would enter this car in the 1976 24 Hours of Le Mans race. Roy Woods installed a twin-turbo V8 in it and campaigned with it in IMSA and T/A CAT.II races from 1977-81, painted all yellow. Currently under restoration in the usa. #1007- Jerry Jolly's IMSA and T/A CAT.II monza. Orange with blue/yellow pinstripes. DeKon Phase 3 body. Restored and currently campaigned in vintage racing by Steve Walker on the west coast. #1008- Al Holbert's 1976 IMSA AAGT Championship car, scoring 7 victories. Blue and yellow with red accents. DeKon Phase 3 body. Scored first IMSA win for a monza at Road Atlanta 1976. John Paul would compete with it in the 1977 IMSA races, painted lite blue and yellow. He modified it to DeKon Phase 5 specs with a rear "banana" wing. Purchased by Floridan Joe Gonzalez and campaigned in imsa gto throughout the 1980's. Sold to private collection in New York, usa. #1009- A circle track camaro. #1010- Greg Picket's '77 T/A Cat.II monza. White w/red/orange/yellow stripes diaginally across top of car. DeKon Phase 4 body and rear wing. #1011- Chris Cord's '77-81 IMSA car. Red w/ Budweiser sponsorship. DeKon Phase 5 body and wing. Had the most radical bodywork seen on a monza in 1980-81. Last of the "TRUE" AAGT cars. Purchased by Ken Epsen and currently campaigned in vintage racing on the west coast. Restoration on this monza is absolutely beautifuul!!!!! #1012- Originally built for Ted Fields's Interscope Team, Danny Ongais would only race it twice. Black w/ white/red pink/violet stripes. Chris Cord's second car for Jim Adams in IMSA 1980-81. Car was red with Budweiser Logo's. This car was rebuilt as a GTP attempt in the early 1980's by cord racing but was later donated to a museum in Las Vegas, Nevada where it sat for many years. Car was purchased in 2005 and is being restored to imsa aagt configuration. #1013-Never constructed, "bad luck" said Horst Kwech. #1014- Al Holbert used this chassis to win the 1977 IMSA AAGT driver's championship, recording four victories. Car was same color as '76 car. David Hienz would later buy the car for selected IMSA races in 1978-79. Car was red/white with Budweiser sponsorship. Car was sold in 1979 to south american team. Beleived to have raced IMSA GTO in private hands. Currently in private collection in New York, usa. #1015- Buick Skyhawk built for Gene Felton for the IMSA Champion Spark Plug Challenge. #1016- Built to run in the SCCA A-Sedan class for Keith Feldott. After a serious crash, was rebuilt by Dan Gallant. Saw action in IMSA GTO and T/A races in 1979-85. Restored and raced by Pleasant Lake Motorsports in SCCA club racing GT-1 From 1994-97. Currently in private hands and campaigned in vintage racing. #1017- a circle-track Camaro built for S. Burgess. #1018- Built for Al Holbert's '78 IMSA effort, it was never raced. The only DeKon monza designed to have a trans-axle and a big block "CanAm" aluminum engine. Currently in private collection in New York, usa. http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1182990816.jpg http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1182990829.jpg http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1182990840.jpg http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1182990895.jpg I miss IMSA and Group 5 . They were anything and everything on steroids. Bring them back! http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1182991263.jpg They would have made great Mulholland cars |
Hey Kurt O ! Great to hear from you.
Guys, Kurt turned into quite the race photographer with even a Porsche calendar month (Wayne Baker IMSA "934" ) to his credit! Maybe we can tease him to post some of his stash Yep, Kurt, Ricky's 914-6 is now mine; the Evil Cockaroach , or as someone (Tyson) else calls it the Toro Lawnmower It has evolved even more than before when Rick owned it. We even had an article in excellence (complete with errors) It is more of a canyon carver/ track car than ever before. It rides surprisingly well but is hard on the ears with a set o 46 ida webers inches from your head! http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1182993361.jpg |
BTW- there have been some new build dekon styled monzas and vegas showing up at "vintage" and vintage events.
A couple years ago at the SFR Laguna Vintage Festival a guy had about the NASTIEST looking well crafted Vega I had ever seen. This white whale had cross ram injected alloy big block that was an absolute rocket. It was a weird sensation getting my doors , lids, bumpers blown off by what looked like a grocery getter on steroids |
HI Kurt! Long time no see. You must have some great pics of the old days in your archives. Do you have a pic of the old TVL patch with the Mini upside down on the skateboard??
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Thank You everyone this is one great Forum. The night time raids of Willow Springs reminded me back in 1973 or 1974 a friend invited me to Mosport in Ontario Canada drove nine hours arrived at the track early Saturday morning to locked gates and my buddy going sorry wrong weekend. As I am about to kill him truck pulls up to gate with Ducati motorcycle on side. The Ducati race team had the track rented for the day to practice. My friend talks to the team manager and we are told OK to go on the track just stay out of the way of the bikes. So off we go me in my 1968 911L and him in his 2.0 914 just had to watch for the bikes in the mirror big speed difference.
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Dave! Jeremy!
How's it going guys! Jeez it's been a long time. Jeremy, the last time I think I saw you was at Laguna like 8 years ago. Dave, I think I last saw you like three years ago at the Long Beach swap meet, but I think I was having one of my anti-social days, sorry about that. I went back to the beginning of this thread and started reading, wow, lots of familiar names and every once in a while a "I remember that!" moment. Hard to believe some of the stuff we got away with! Jeremy, I still have a jacket patch but it didn't have the Mini cartoon on it, just lettering. The Mini cartoon was on a t-shirt design I did, but guess what, I just went out in the garage and found the original silkscreen I made. I'll get a photo of it and post it here. How's your brother? PM me his address or send him mine or something. Like Dave said, I was the guy with the camera. I had a couple of breaks early on like the Porsche calendar and started to take it seriously. I never tried to make a living at it but I did make money.....sometimes. I'll be happy to throw some up here for everyone's enjoyment I happen to have a stack of slide pages here next to my desk. Let's see... grab a few... nope.... nope... nope... OK, here we go, Riverside IMSA, 1983, the Bob Wollek, Mauricio DeNarvarrez 935. http://img241.imageshack.us/img241/5...rrez935kl4.jpg Just a note kids, all photos are my copyright, please do not copy or use them without permission. Chances are, whatever you want to do is fine with me, but you have to ask! Well, that's all for now. More later. Dave has been telling a lot of stories so maybe I'll tell a couple of stories about Dave! Ciao babies, Kurt O. (aka "Obe") |
Mark,
Finally we meet last night. My pleasure. Your reputation precedes you! I am sure Chris would agree we can never hear enough Mulholland stories. Nice EVO by the way. I am sure its a very fun little package to cruise around in. May towing always be good to you. Chris, As always you and I can talk about any subject. Mulholland, planes, things in the sky,wonders of the world , no matter I could stay all night. I like the idea of donuts, soft drinks and an pop up awning! Grandstands would be the best location during the day say a Saturday? What do you think? Your Benz handles pretty well for a few tons of steel. I just couldn't help myself. The guy in the red Dodge pickup was lost and I kept thinking that thing in the bed was going to tip over? His brake lights were not good for my night vision with lights out. I dropped down in second and still had to keep tapping the brakes. Radu, I wish you were up here 25 years ago with us. You are a good guy, talented and I am glad to know you. Can't wait to see the car up here soon (two weeks right??) |
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Jeff, I agree with what you said. Mark has some great racing stories to tell and thank you Mark for bringing your little Mulholland race car. It's always good to see you and talk about the wild a$$ stuff we did in the old days. Mark and I grew up in the same social circle and we share friendships with many people that used to live in the Mulholland area. In days past, Radu would have been a "major player" for sure. I wish that I could drag him back to 1976 so that he could be racing around with me and my ACR maniac friends. Radu and I have run together on Mul and I can tell he is a serious contender. He is a talented driver with the balls to follow or lead thru any obstruction. I have watched his driving skill and he has what it takes, he drives like he lives our old expression, "if in doubt, go flat out!" With his car set up properly, I believe he will be the next King of the Mountain if he so chooses. Now that we have determined that where we are gathering is safe, we can invite all Pelicans to our meeting. I propose that we meet with drinks and desert, talk about our cars, have a DVD copy of a Mulholland type movie playing, and go for a run to dirt Mul and back. Speeds will be kept reasonable and we will have a leader to keep it under 45mph. We can have special guests on different meeting nights (from the old days) like we did last Wednesday evening. With enough interest, we could revitalize Mulholland as long as we don't attract the attention of local law enforcement. Is there any interest in doing this? If there is, we can make this happen. Please post to this thread if you want to see this become a reality. When this is verified, the meeting place and time will be posted in this thread for all Pelicans. Thank you. |
hi Guys,
It was good seeing you again this past Wednesday. Thanks for the compliments!Sorry I missed you the previous week, but work sometimes gets in the way. Chris,Jane, always good to see you guys. Chris, you and I should have a friendly competition, see who gets his beast first on the road. The donuts idea is awesome. It might even work as a "get out of jail free" card. Jeff, I wish I was here 25 years ago! Some communist dictator had different plans for me though. ... anyway...as I said on Wednesday night, I vote for a flat four Scooby, 300hp...Then take the small block and mount it in the back of your Harley golf cart! HEHEHE.... Mark, nice meeting you. loved your stories. As promised, here are the pics: and some new paint schemes: |
Wow. Wow.
What fun meetings are you guys having. I wanna be down. I vote for orange stripes over light blue. |
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Stay posted for more information. The rest of you are all welcome, please join us for a good time. There's always someone with us who has some fantastic stories to tell. If you love Mulholland, Porsches, and sport driving, then you will enjoy an evening with us. It's all just for fun and the enjoyment of our automobiles. |
I've just read through about 15 more pages of this thread. Jeez, the memories. Just some random stuff...
I think I first became aware of Mulholland from a guy that lived down the street from me named Bill Henry. Bill had a really nice Healey 3000 MkII and later (or before) a Volvo 122S. Bill was my brothers age, 4 years older than me. A buddy of Bill's was Jim Carpenter, I remember having a ride on Mulholland in the daytime in Carpenter's Pontiac Bonneville cornering on the door handles and sliding all over the place. I remember catching a ride with Bill and Jim over to a place in Burbank called Autobooks and buying a biography on Jim Clark. That started my obsession with collecting car books. One time Dave B. and I went over to Dan McLoughlins shop. We went in and Dan was just finishing up a repaint of Peter Gregg's RSR. We were standing back looking at the car and Dave leans over and says to me real quiet like. "Is it just me or are those stripes crooked?" And they were! Also in the shop was Otis Chandler's 917K in Gulf colors. I was just about going ape****! A real 917K!! We couldn't sit in it but we got a real good look. I remember two things, one; it had an ignition key and the head had holes drilled in it for lightness! There was also a piece of paper taped to the sill next to the gearshift. Type written on the paper it said "Instructions for starting the Porsche 917" and them the step by step to fire it up. You vill follow zee instruktions! I've got photos from that day someplace. There was a guy in my group of friends from the hill we called Barney Bear. A lot of you know who I mean. Anyway, at one point he had a real nice Mini with a built 1275S engine, steel flares, pearl white paint and race tires on Cosmics. One night a bunch of us were sitting up on Beaumont and Barney goes out and starts making runs. he's really hammering this thing. On maybe the second or third pass he goes by and the engine sounds a little off and we see little orange sparks coming out the tailpipe. He pulls in and the Mini sounds sick. "Barney, doesn't sound good man." "It's nuthin', fouled a plug or sumthin." "Barney, man, there were sparks coming out the tailpipe." "Uhh, just some carbon getting burned off." He barely made it home. Pulled the head and found it ate a valve. Barney was kind of hard on the equipment. He once blew up a Malibu Grand Prix car. One night some of us were sitting up at Grandstands and one of the evil Hall twins rolls up in a new Maserati Khamsin. I can't remember if it was Jim or Bob, whichever one spoke Japanese. At one point I was sitting in the passenger seat talking to him and he was fiddling with the radio. It was a nice Becker with SW band and he tunes in Radio Tokyo and starts translating for us. Except he was putting his own spin on it and we were all busting up. Keep the memories going. Ciao babies! Kurt O. (aka "Obe") |
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http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1183189056.jpg |
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He raced a Yamaha RD350 for awhile and I reapinted the tank and side covers for him with rattle can Yamaha touch-up paint. Came out looking pretty damn good. That was the first time I had painted anything bigger than a Revell model kit Cheers, Kurt O. |
Bill Henry and Jim Carpenter are still alive?
Amazing! |
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Pat, how many SVO's does one man need? I have a friend who is a freelance automotive writer and I frequently do photography for him. When they first came out he had an SVO test car and we went out to Malibu early in the a.m. to shoot it. I got to flog it all morning. I thought it was a great car, really well balanced and good power. The V8 cars had lots of grunt but the big lump in the front end did in the handling. But c'mon, nine? Jeez, and people think I'm strange. Cheers, Kurt O. (aka Obe) 90 BMW E30 M3 (the buzz bomb) 05 Mini Cooper S (wife's car) 01 Honda Odyssey (the family truckster) 54 Swallow Doretti 2 Litre Sports (#30 of approx. 276 built) 54 Triumph TR2 Longdoor 57 Triumph TR3 62 Triumph Sports 6 Convt. 71 Norton Commando 750 Roadster 5? Devin Racing Body 1 wife of 27 years 1 son of 16 years 1 slightly incontinent Manchester Terrier 1 incredibly lazy retired racing Greyhound 20,000+ slides of people racing cars |
Victor(SSB) and I have been working on a new complete history of all the groups that raced on Mulholland and especially the CRE. As mentioned before this group was unique in that they all got involved in Racing in some way or another. Also they are still in contact with each other today and have reunions once a year. This is the only group that does this. Many of these gentlemen have posted often to this thread, even recently.
This is a copy of the first draft of the cover. http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1183429962.jpg Here is the Contents page second draft. http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1183431105.jpg We are beginning to collect all the needed info to completely document who is who, how the groups were created, and who was in each group and attained fame on the racing circut. This should be very interesting to those of us that enjoy(ed) Mulholland Drive. All of us experienced those beautiful summer nights with the warm winds of the Santa Ana flowing over the twisting turns and areas where we hung out. They were good times. |
Gotta love Van Halen meets Gulf ;)
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