Photos of Otis Chandler's Sunoco 917/30 Can Am car

[Cam2InfoNeeded]

I was hoping someone on this site might have taken some photos of the ex-Mark Donohue 1973 Sunoco Porsche 917/30 Can Am car during the time Mr. Chandler owned the car. I am looking for photos of the engine compartment, specifically the intercoolers on the engine. These we added by Mark Donohue and the Penske team to allow it to set the World closed Course Speed Record at Talladega in 1975 (using the CAM2 sponsorship).

I am attempting to make a correctly detailed 1/18 scale model of this car, and have not been able to complete my search for detailed photos despite trying very hard for over 20 years. I have been told that Mr. Chandler had the rear engine cover off at many of the vintage events he ran the car at, and also on the display floor of his museum in Oxnard.

Any help would be very much appreciated.

Thanks!

[sammyg2]

I saw that car back in the late 80's at Chandler's museum but don't have any pics of the engine compartment.
There are some folks here that are so knowlegable they can probably tell us what color shorts Penske was wearing that day, I'm sure they'll jump in.

Here are some other cars that Otis my man had:







My favorite:

[Cam2InfoNeeded]

Thanks Sammy,

I hope you are right.

I didn't get a chance to meet Mr. Chandler until several years after he had sold the 917/30 to Jack Setton (who still owns it today). I did get a chance to at least set in his Gulf 917K...


I haven't changed a bit since that photo...

[sammyg2]

He wouldn't let me touch any of his cars, much less sit in one.
It was still well worth the $6 to take a tour of the museum.

[Cam2InfoNeeded]

Sammy,

Here is a story I think is safe to tell now. Since you mentioned that Otis didn't want you setting in his cars, this might fun for you to read.

A good model car builder friend of mine (actually a extremely talented and probably world renowned 1/12 scale scratch-builder) wanted to get some information (dimensions, photos, etc) of a 356 Otis had in his museum. I asked my friend who was one of Otis' best friends(who had got me invited the private group testing where I got to sit in the 917K and some laps in his 935 turbo). He arranged for both my friend and I go get into the museum early (on a day when Otis was opening it up for a group of Porsche enthusiasts). Otis and my friend pretty much left us alone while they prepared for the others to arrive.

My friend, needing photos and measurements of many things, including things inside the front trunk area. He assumed that since they had given him permission to have access to the car, that he had carte blanche with it (I did NOT). While I was starting to sweat bullets, he opened the doors, sat in the interior to take photos, and opened the hood and started taking measurement and photos of it. Since some of the thing he needed info on were not visible, he started taking things out of the trunk and putting them on the floor. It was too long before Otis noticed what was happening, and blew his top. He and my friend put all of the things back into the car, while we made ourselves scarce. Otis didn't kick us out , and my friend told me not to worry about, he was just uptight over the Porsche group coming in, but the atmosphere of our visit was definitely much different than when we first arrived. We stayed there while the other group was welcomed in, but when we left, I did feel that I would have rather been somewhere that day. I didn't have an occasion to see or talk to Mr. Chandler again, but my friend said that not to worry about it and he had already forgotten about it by then.

I think my model friend had been giving access to lots of rare and expensive cars for similar recon, and I'm sure wouldn't have done anything that he thought would have intentionally caused any issues. It does make an interesting story now though, but at the time I sure felt awkward.

[URY914]

I think you have seen this one.............

[Cam2InfoNeeded]

URY914,

Thanks for the photo. It is one someone has helped me with in the past, it might have even been you.

If anyone is interested in the photos I gathered so far for my model project, you can go to my website DougSwitz.com, or directly to the project on my website at

Exoto Porsche 917-30 Cam2 Mod Project

doug

[R K T]

Hi Doug....
I sold you some 917 models and literature about 20 years ago!!!
I bought the 917 collection from JT (John Thomas) that was Otis' driver back then. If I can find JT's contact info, I'll see if he still has some pics.
Cheers!