Monday, February 20, 2017

Found and restored, Penske's Blue Hilton


After an exhaustive restoration process, Team Penske has unveiled one of the most unique pieces of its history, a customized 1972 International Fleetstar truck known in the racing circles as “The Blue Hilton.” The truck was one of the first known enclosed transporters used for racing purposes. It served the team in various capacities from 1972-1983.

the Blue Hilton transported the No. 66 McLaren that Mark Donohue drove to victory in the 1972 Indianapolis 500 – the first of Team Penske’s record 16 wins in the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing.” In conjunction with its sister transporter, “The White Hilton,” it was used to transport the powerful, championship-winning Porsche 917s that dominated the landscape of the Can-Am Series in the early 1970s with George Follmer and Donohue before it was sold in 1983.


Until Jerry Breon, a long-time Penske team member, located the sales listing in an automotive trade magazine in the fall of 2015, this historic vehicle was thought to have been scrapped. The truck was purchased from George Boyd of Urbana, Illinois, who had utilized it while competing in various racing series until retiring it to a spot on his property.

 He was the only owner of the truck after its days at Team Penske. After verification and removal from the Boyd property, the Blue Hilton was towed to the Penske Truck Leasing (PTL) Collision Center in Ft. Wayne, Indiana where the restoration began with the help of Donohue’s original blueprints.

They took it to truck body manufacturer Morgan Corporation, who was able to supply many of the original extrusions used in building the box section. One Morgan employee had been with the company when the Blue Hilton was constructed in 1972, and provided invaluable advice during the rig’s restoration. While the aluminum skin of the box section appeared well-preserved, much of the internal steel structure had corroded after decades parked in an Illinois field.

“When you talk with the crew members that drove and worked out of this transporter over those years, and you look at the photos from the many cars it carried, you see how the Blue Hilton was an integral part of our history,” said Bernie King. “It’s certainly very much a part of the Team Penske heritage. Everyone at Penske Truck Leasing that was involved did a fantastic job of restoring this truck to how it was when it ran and carried many of the team’s winning cars.”

http://www.teampenske.com/news/index.cfm/a/666/53212/TEAM_PENSKE%20RESTORES%20ICONIC%20TRANSPORTER
https://www.hemmings.com/blog/2017/02/27/team-penskes-1972-international-transporter-the-blue-hilton-lives-again/

2 comments:

  1. Why is there No mention of the Two main guys who did the restoration? They work so many long hard hours to do this fabulous job with no extra incentives or now even the recognition they so rightly deserve!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wait... just reach down, and pull those knickers out of the knots and twisted mass... because you've gone and bunched them all up over nothing. As you might not realize I JUST GAVE THEM THAT RECOGNITION! You outraged person you. You went and created a profile, registered with Google, and left a comment, all so that you could point out that I'm not doing a good job at recognizing effort, work, and achievement.
      Ahem. Take a deep breath. Now, one more for good measure, and slowly exhale, then read on
      I have this blog thing / website, and all I do it give recognition for things I find wonderful, and I want to point out... I do not put my car on this site, nor my bike, nor my resume, nor advertising, and I do not make money in return for the time and effort to post all the things I share with you, and everyone else that reads along with here.
      Did you write me to mention my long work? In view of the fabulous (in my mind) job I'm doing with no extra incentives, and not much recogniiton from YOU?
      NOPE
      SO, calm down, take a sip of something cool and tasty, and reflect on the 10 years and 27000 posts of stuff before you, on my site, that only I have created. You, didn't realize that I've put more hours by a factor of 10, and 4 times as many years, into this site, ALONE.
      And you didn't realize that all it is, it's only function, is to SHARE THE COOL STUFF I FIND. That means, simply, I think it's cool, or it wouldn't be here.
      Maybe I don't appreciate the guys work in restoring that truck, maybe it didn't occur to me, maybe I was sorta putting that post up kinda fast to get them some recognition by people who will CLICK THROUGH to read the entire article, as I have A LOT OF SHIT going on. Not much of it pleasant.
      SO, be kind, rewind. Click though, then YOU GIVE THEM SOME APPRECIATION like Bruce Willis was screaming in your face! DO IT! DO It NOW! Sam Jackson is pissed as a motherfucker, and you know he is, that YOU AREN'T RECOGNIZING it! And you know Samuel Jackson, he will say motherfucking, a lot. And mean it.

      Delete