Quote:
Originally Posted by Zeke
The candy apple Corvette Auto Parts car was driven in part by Pat Foster. I worked at CAP and was the young kid that got the job of color sanding and hand rubbing out that paint job. Later on I worked at J and D Corvette running the fiberglass shop.
The owners at CAP were Doug Kxxp and Don Kxxxy. Don was a painter on the Ford line before going into business. I still have the dual line air pressure regulator/water filter from the spray booth. You see, CAP was shut down by the police for receiving stolen auto parts. I quit 2 weeks before the raid. I'm still in touch with one of the ex employees that was taken into custody and then released, booked but not charged. The 2 owners were.
In another 2 years I was with Rex Ramsey on the Canadian tour when he drove the Formula A LeGrand. FA became F 5000 2 or so later. I was a 20 year old flunky with wide eyes when James Garner and Dicky Smothers walked by. I saw very young David Hobbs and Brian Redman, plus all the usual crowd many of whom went to Can Am.
Got paid 25 dollars a week, yes week for 18 hour days plus food, a place to sleep (sometimes in the truck) and all the weed I could handle. The chief mechanic for LeGrand carried a ball of hash in his pocket that slowly shrank from the size of a ping pong ball. That was courtesy of....... no, I won't. Ramsey did win that year at Trois Rivieres. He broke or spun (I don't remember... heh he) at Mont Tremblant.
I might be able to tell you something about the LeGrand MK IV (was it?) going down the 405 in Sherman Oaks at 3 am for a shake down, but it was a little foggy out.   |
What an awesome post! That’s some history there! To be involved with real track campaigning! Rex Ramsey sold the Corvette to move up! I should have a shot of his F-5000 car in my 20k loose pictures somewhere! I do have the race records for that entire series.
What year did that happen at CAP? I vaguely remember something abou that. I think we bought the dual ram set up from them, and the drag Halibrands and Slicks for the 64 Vette. We copied the wheelwell cut outs on the CAP drag car for our car.
At JD, We knew Jaime really well, and thought Noel was a dick! Noel sold the 1958!!!! Ps—- I was young going to CAP, but still have one of their catalogs! Our car in the JD Catalog is the small block dual ram car, but another big block car was similar in the same catalog!! I don’t know who bought it, but I think that was when it ended up in the catalog! I asked my Father if JD Corvette bought it! He didn’t remember! He loved that car! We sold our 1957 to a very well known enthusiast, name escapes me at the moment! He own the #92 L88, starts with a C.
I can see why you are a car guy!!! What a background, right in the thick of things! So I have some questionable stuff maybe in my garage, just kidding! CAP was long gone by the time I got my first Corvette. I had out some of their old decals the other day! I will post for you!
Where did Rex live- I could look it up though in my race records! I have Post Grid, Speed & Sports News, Finishline, Raceway, The Wheels, Competition Press, Gridlines, the SCCA mags, Corvette News, and many many programs and so many more magazines from all of this, plus all of the Porsche mags. I will look him up! Occasionally I share a little of this stuff.
JD Corvette tried a number of years back to get me to loan them my rare fiberglass pieces! I declined them, as I don’t want cars reproduced in mass with the flares, hoods, spoilers I have! Sounds like you were long gone from there, when that happened! I like Jaime, but last time I was there, a guy at the counter jumped my case, claiming I needed to pay for a special order that I paid for and picked up a month prior! The order I was there to get was the second batch of gel coat, as Ineeded more. He thought I had the first batch still there unpaid a month later, and that I was just getting in there finally! I haven’t went back! We have shopped and bought there since the early 1960s!
Pat Foster went to Beach City Chevrolet and didn’t he crash in the Funny Car! He got into chassis building after that! My Father knew all of these guys! He worked in Direct Mail Marketing and his favored Clients were the car oriented outfits, selling them printing and advertising! He was responsible for many car performance advertising that went into the Los Angeles Times newspaper! We used to go to Otis Chandlers house, my parent used to go out to dinner with them!
I could relive this era forever!
Did you know Bill Cook? Corvette top enthusiast with MG Club Long Beach 1960/70, then I think he joined SMART Club.
Another enthusiast we were really good friends with was Andy Porterfield down your way, but I think he moved and recently died! RIP