absmiami

The bulkhead at the end of the frame that supports the suspension and rear frame tubes …

Brackets made fr Evergreen for the mounting brackets attached to the block …

Engine mounts - parts in white - made fr multiple pieces of Evergreen plastic

this is - actually - the same race car - sporting the '69 season tobacco livery - and the dozens of changes that Team Lotus made to create the 49Bs. I'm glad that MacAllister restored R2 to it's '67 season spec. And it was worth the long drive up to Amelia to see it again ... and oh by the way - that is Lovely's famous Volks transporter in the backdrop ... I messed up - should have taken a dozen pix of the transporter - oh well ...

as I said - this particular Lotus is an old friend: I happened upon R2 [it was then R11] at Laguna Seca at the Monterey vintage races over 30 years ago - it was then owned by Pete Lovely. It was being serviced in the pits - thereby revealing its charms to all who passed by.

Dept of Corrections: some more accurate chass hx fr the 'net and a check of Doug Nye's Theme Lotus book - because I don't have him on speed dial - reveals that Oliver crashed R4, and not R2, in the French Grand Prix - although both Oliver and Siffert competed in '68 in R2... from the 'net: The 1967 Lotus 49 Chassis No. 49/2 is the second Lotus 49 built. It was debuted by the legendary Jimmy Clark at Zandvoort in 1967, marking the first appearance of the Cosworth DFV engine. In addition to winning at Silverstone & Watkins Glen, it was the winner of four Tasman races from 1967-1968 while being driven in 1968 by Jackie Oliver and Jo Siffert. It was raced by Mario Andretti in South Africa in 1969 and sold to Pete Lovely by Lotus’ Colin Chapman in 1969. Lovely then raced the car in multiple grand prix races from 1969-1971. The car was restored by Classic Team Lotus in 2010.

Michael Q’s artwork turns up in surprising places !

Straight - i havent heard that expression since i was in college ! Which as i think you know was way back in the previous century …. But an excellent descriptive …

Just sayin’ …

You made the ‘33 Lemans winner …. The ‘34 winner was displayed at the Amelia Island Concours this past Saturday -

So at the top of this thread I mentioned that this car was an old friend - I’ll explain that part of the story once i’ve wandered home fr an always fun weekend at Amelia …

Chapman and Team Lotus made many changes to the 49 during its 3 year race history - some of the changes to the monocoque held the clues needed to identify R2 - the shape and size of the inspection and adjustment hatches and the holes in the skin of the cockpit - which you can see in these pictures - were the giveaways …

Which is what we were treated to at the Amelia …

When Chris McAllister bought this car he investigated the chass history and lo and behold - R11 was really Jim Clark’s R2 - so McAllister had it restored to late season ‘67 Team Lotus spec with the correct ZF gearbox …

Lovely owned the car for nearly 30 years - after he retired from competition he finished “R11” in Gold Leaf livery and campaigned it in numerous vintage car events -

Pete Lovely was a race car driver - not a collector - vintage race car collecting was not “a thing” in 1968 … so he would never have agreed to buy a lotus with major race damage - so Chapman repaired R2 - gave it a new chass plate - R11 - and sold it as a new Chass to the unsuspecting Lovely …

Here’s where things got weird - R2 suffered major crash damage during the ‘68 season - returned to Team Lotus to be dismantled - or so we thought - was it the car that Oliver wrecked at high speed at the French Grand Prix ? Dunno - does anyone have Doug Nye on speed dial ??

R2 was Clark’s Team Lotus ride in 67 - although a race winner - Clark was to run a new 49B in Gold Leaf tobacco livery in ‘68 - so R2 was upgraded and assigned to Jackie Oliver after Clark’s tragic early season death in an FII race …

McAllister purchased the car fr Pete Lovely - who bought the car fr Colin Chapman at the end of the ‘68 season - He campaigned the car as a privateer in ‘69 in a simple off-white and blue livery - advertising his Volkswagen dealership - Lovely thought he had purchased chass R11 -

It took forty years to sort the individual Lotus 49 chassis histories - this is R2 - owned by Chris MacAllister - history seeps from its mechanical pores - if only cars could talk …