Geoff Howard sent me 15 photos from the archives of AC Cars. I have arranged all the photos, including Geoff's fifteen, in date order. Most of Geoff's are black and white or of the AC coupe. This first photo is the AC entry at Le Mans 1963. The aerodynamic hardtop cars reached 161 mph., about what a roadster with a tilt-back windshield would do. Steele Therkleson told me that, in 1964 in South Africa, Bob Olthoff reached 173 mph. in a roadster with a small plexi racing windscreen.

Unloading the "American" Cobra at Le Mans 1963. Ford wouldn't finance a 1963 Cobra Le Mans effort, so Shelby had to do some dealing to get a car there. The story is in the book. Another AC Cars photo courtesy of Geoff Howard.

This is Allen Grant in his Coventry Motors 289 Cobra at Laguna Seca in October 1963. Allen started at Shelby's as a mechanic's helper but quickly graduated to the office where he finageled a deal to drive Coventry Motor's 289 racer. The paint scheme was designed by his then-roommate, George Lucas. Allen would later become a Cobra team driver, see page 244 of the book. Allen was exceptional in that, at the time, he knew he was making history. Allen had the broad picture vision and selfless loyalty to Shelby which caused him to choose to help prepare the GT-40s for the Nurburgring '65 when he could have been driving a team Cobra. This photo was taken by Tony Ferrari and, together with numerous photos of the era, can be seen at his website www.tferrari.org.

The class "A Production cars at Candlestick Park (CA) September 14/15, 1963. Elmer "Red" Faris in no. 11; Merle Brennan No. 66; Dick Guldstrand No. 56; Bill Sherwood No. 183; Ernie Grabstein No. 211; John Coyle No. 125; Bob Mosberger No. 257 and Allen Grant in No. 96.

Bob Whitehouse of Sacramento, CA emailed the following 12 photos of the 1964 Daytona Continental. Here he is to the left of the John Eyerly Cobra. Bob worked for British Motor Corp. as a field rep. in Florida. At Daytona Bob raced an Alfa Spider using the pseudonym "Charles Mathis" to prevent his wife from knowing. You can find "Mathis" in the results on pages 96/97. Bob also crewed on the BMC factory Sprite at Sebring in March later that year.

Bob Whitehouse watched a Chinetti mechanic try to place a wheel on backwards and finally told him to flip it around.

The Cobra coupe leads the new GTO in the infield.

Road racing wasn't exactly a big spectator sport in America. Check out the grandstands.

Dan Gurney pits his Cobra roadster with the lay down windshield. Shelby has his best hat ever, the same rag he would wear at Sebring.

The Aston 214 of Brian Hetreed and Chris Kerrison leads the a GTO.

The David Piper/Lucien Bianchi GTO on the infield.

Looks like the Norinder GTO leading the similar car of David Piper. My eyesight is lousy, so if I am wrong, please advise.

A GTO/LMB driven by Grossman and Hansgen. This car was an experiment in aerodynamics. See pages 52 and 89 in the book.

The new aerodynamic coupe which had pulled a 38 minute lead on the Ferrari GTOs. Bob Whitehouse, the photographer, could see smoke in the cockpit when he took this photo. This was the last lap before the coupe pitted and caught fire in the pits.

I no longer have my race records and photos as I gave them to the Boulder, CO museum, but this is probably the Graham Shaw Cobra which was Ken Miles' old '63 USRRC team Cobra. There is a great photo of this car on page 72 of the book.

Phil Hill in a team Cobra, Sebring 1964. Sebring was the first race where the Cobras used the chin oil cooler scoops, tacked on during practice to direct air to the oil radiators which had been moved from behind to below the water radiators. AC Cars photo c/o Geoff Howard.

Bruce Dowell, the last 1964 European Cobra team member to be located, sent me these photos from the '64 Targa. This is the fantastically-congested pit area before the start. See pages 163 and 178/178 of the book. Bruce spent the summer of '64 hitchhiking from race to race. He was "adopted" by the Cobra team at the Targa Florio and then joined up with them again at Spa, stayed with them from the Nurburgring through Le Mans and then watched them through the fence, as a spectator, at the Tourist Trophy.

Another Bruce Dowell photo, at the Targa, of Innes Ireland (seated, right), Dan Gurney (laying down, lower right) and Bernard Cahier (left). The book has a photo of Gurney and Ireland in these positions, taken by Cahier, on page 129.

AC Cars' aerodynamic coupe frame, early 1964. These next several photos are AC Cars c/o Geoff Howard.

Engine bay detail for the AC coupe.

Geoff Howard photo from AC Cars. Jack Sears is to the left of the AC coupe, wearing a suit and tie.

One of the many articles on the M1 testing.

Jack Sears was quoted: "I'm not a raving idiot. I would not drive at those speeds if there had been any one else in sight."

AC's coupe at Thames Ditton prior to Le Mans.

Another Bruce Dowell photo, this of the two Shelby American coupes on their journey from Modena, Italy to Le Mans, in the transporter driven by Ermano Cuoghi. This looks like a customs/border check point. Check out the Vespa scooter to the right.

The AC coupe at the Le Mans weigh-in.

More engine bay details.

The lineup at the start. In the foreground is the Aston 214 which had done 187 mph in practice. The AC coupe had qualified .4 seconds (a lap) faster.

The start. The Shelby Daytona coupe no. 5 is three cars further forward in line, not having yet pulled out. Dan Gurney had qualified the no. 5 car 2.1 seconds faster than the next-fastest GT car, the AC coupe.

The AC coupe at dusk.

Night. Jack Sears and Peter Bolton stayed with the Shelby coupes as long as their car was running right. If you have Cobra racing photos 1962-65, contact me and I'll post them for you, and credit you, on this website.

The wrecked AC car. Fred Gamble's explanation of the crash is the best I have heard. The AC coupe was probably constructed with no differential cooler. Shelby's extensive racing had discovered that, in a race longer than two hours or in high ambient temperatures, a differential cooler was needed. Al Dowd told me they learned this at Augusta, GA, in March '64 just prior to '64 Sebring.

The one surviving Daytona coupe pulls out from a pit stop on the morning of the second day. Bruce Dowell photo.

The surviving coupe pits at Le Mans. Phil Remington is holding the gas filler and Jean Stucki is on his left. After the unnecessary fire at Daytona, Remington was pretty darn careful about who handled the gas lines. Another Bruce Dowell photo, never before published.

Dan Gurney and Bob Bondurant in the foreground and John Ohlsen cleaning the windscreen. Probably Fred Gamble in the blue Goodyear jacket aft of Ohlsen. Bruce Dowell photo.

Dan Gurney waits with a smile for Bondurant to finish. Gurney insisted that Bondurant take the last driving stint so that he would have the experience of finishing and winning at Le Mans. Bruce Dowell photo.

The overall-winning Ferrari 275P of Carlo Abate and Jean Guichet. Bruce Dowell photo. Skip Hudson once told me, "While everybody else was talking about it, I was doing it." This applies also to Bruce Dowell who, as a 21-year old kid with no particular assets except enthusiasm and a willingness to work, lived the dream of working with Shelby's European Cobra team. Skip's quote also applies to many of the people I met through this book -- Bernard Cahier, Fred Gamble, Jack Hoare, even Dan Gurney and Bob Bondurant. They were all trying to live the dream. God bless those who have dreams and step out of line to realize their dreams. Bruce Dowell photo.