Only 100 of the 330 GTS was built from 1966-1968. On a rainy day, driving on Sunset Boulevard and approaching Beverly Hills from Brentwood (around 1969 or 1970), Garner slid on the rain-soaked road and crashed the Ferrari beyond repair. Garner was uninjured.
Sold by the cousin of James Garner.
“The cousin told me that he and James used the truck to haul chickens and eggs from Denver Corner to Norman’s farmers’ market and for sale to passengers at the Santa Fe depot,” Agin said.
It was a farm truck that was passed around the family, eventually ending up in the cousin’s hands.
with Parnelli, Leslie, Amon, Andretti, Penske, Smothers, Bondurant, Surtees, Posey, and others
See it on Amazon Prime on your flat screen, or You Tube on a computer
The cars are just FANTASTIC. No matter it it's the Lolas, Porsche 908s, GT40s, Camaros, Corvettes, Broncos, Mustangs, or other cars on the tracks, or the commuter Vette or Camaro that Garner drives.
Surprising sights are the AIR Econoline van spotted in the pits
and the Condor RV that flat tows a race car across country
The Racing Scene was a collaborative effort between legendary motorsports writer William Edgar and Andy Sidaris – the sports director of ABC’s Wide World of Sports. The film was shot during the 1969 season with scenes on both sides of the Atlantic, much of the film focusses on James Garner’s then-new team American International Racers (AIR).
The Daytona 24 segment of the film was to be an honest look at big time professional sports car racing with his AIR team of cars and drivers as the focal point. Garner’s goal was to make a documentary film that would break the stereotypical mold that had developed in Hollywood concerning racing movies.
I find it strange that the internet simply doesn't mention what cars Garner owned, other than this Mini. I already posted this Mini. It's a 1966 Cooper S, which you probably guessed from the tires and rims. He owned a 78 Firebird Formula 400 like the Rockford Files Firebird
I'm not sure if he owned, or was just driving, the '69 442 he drove in the Baja, or the '72 Cutlass, or if he owned the 68 L88 Vettes that were raced at Daytona by AIR
none of those links have any idea what Garner owned other than the Mini and the Firebird. I shit you not. He must have owned other cars though, just for basic commuting!
Anyway, back to his military service:
He enlisted in the U.S. Merchant Marine at the end of World War II, then into the California National Guard before deploying to Korea for 14 months with the 5th Regimental Combat Team.
He was wounded twice: first in the face and hand by shrapnel from a mortar round, when enemy soldiers were advancing on his companies position, and second in the butt from friendly fire shrapnel from U.S. fighter jets as he dove into a foxhole.
Garner’s AIR team was the subject of a documentary called The Racing Scene, which was filmed during 1969 and released a year later. Between 1967 and 1969, AIR would take part at Le Mans, Daytona, and Sebring.
and I just learned that there is an IMDB for airplanes, so, not only a movie database, and a cars in movies database, now there's an airplanes in movies database!
In 1969, I wanted to move to California and asked if I could represent them out West. Union Oil was merging with Pure Oil and they said they would love to have me move west and get the program going.
We were regulars at the Indy 500, the Mint 400 in Las Vegas with Flip Wilson and James Garner,
Ontario Speedway activities, Truck Stop events, etc. I also flew back for the Talladega Speedway construction, among other things.
The Talladega 500 was on September 14, 1969 and was attended by 62,000 fans. I remember that that track was known for its very steep backs. Hence the photo. We were also at the Grand Old Opry a few times, but I can’t exactly say why or what we were promoting….haha
Linda not only was a Pure Oil Show Stopper, she also was the Chevrolet spokesperson for the Killy Camaro!
I traveled the Auto Show circuit with OJ Simpson and Jean Claude Killy and was the spokesperson for the car. My black girlfriend, Toy Russell Van Lierop, was my counter part for OJ. I got Toy hired at Union Oil as a RaceStopper. She went on to be a head make up artist on many TV shows and movies. Neat gal.
While Linda was on stage with the Special Edition Killy Camaro on stage; O.J. Simpson, John DeLorean sit at a nearby table, while Hunter S. Thompson takes notes from the side of the stage. Such was the scene at the 1969 Chicago Auto Show
Simpson, fresh off his Heisman Trophy-winning campaign at the University of Southern California, was known for his charm and affability, making him an ideal pitchman. DeLorean, widely regarded as a brilliant engineer, had a non-conformist, counter-cultural public persona that positioned him as the future of Chevrolet. Killy was a 25-year-old from the French Alps hawking a special edition “Killy Z-28 Camaro” at the sport’s saturation of popular culture, from the rise of televised skiing celebrities like Jean-Claude Killy to depictions of James Bond on skis outwitting villainous pursuers (Bond first skied in 1969’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, just as Jean-Claude Killy was at the height of his global stardom).
The silver K Type took a bow before the television cameras in March of 1979, appearing in a two-part episode of The Rockford Files, “Never Send a Boy to Do a Man’s Job.”
In The Rockford Files role, the Type K has been updated with a 1979 Trans Am nose, as shown in the GM publicity photo above with Garner and journalist and PR guru Eric Dahlquist.
The initial Type K was designed in 1977 by David Holls and Jerry Brockstein under the direction of General Motors.
Italian automotive designer and builder Pininfarina was later commissioned to have two metal-bodied Type Ks (the prototypes were built out of fiberglass) manufactured.
Painted silver with red interior and gold with beige upholstery respectively, the twin shooting brakes sported glass gullwings in the back and were received enthusiastically as they were showcased around the US. The reception made GM ponder a limited production series with a price of $16,000 (almost triple than the 1978 Pontiac Trans Am coupe), but it never happened.
Word has it that the gold-painted Type K was destroyed, while the silver car is still out there somewhere.
with a Lola, a GT 40, the James Garner 4x4 Baja Sc/Rambler, Peter Revson's Trans Am Javelin, a Hurst SS AMX, the ramble seat prototype AMX, and the Don Lee Special, and about 70 others
In the late 1980’s, Phillips opened his current endeavor, Focus Auto Design, which specializes in molding and forming custom auto parts for restorations and general fixes. Because of the high demand for his services, Phillips quickly earned the money he needed to get back into collecting cars.
Unlike almost every other collection of this nature, these nested boxes of wonder aren’t secreted away from the public and covered up. Instead, every so often Fred throws open his doors and gives a guided tour of his collection. If you happen to be in Calgary at the time, do everything in your power to attend.
You won’t just be getting access to one of the most fantastically varied car collections in the country. You’ll also be getting access to Fred Phillips. Trust me, this is well worth the price of admission – a donation to AARC, the Alberta Adolescent Recovery Centre.
Thanks Greg, for getting it. Look around at the content, the stories, the photos, the heros and icons. If bashing on the grammar and spelling mistakes is all the satisfaction you can get, you're blind to the elephant in the room... and need a lot more maturing than you'll ever achieve lurking on the internet while building toy cars. Go outside and see the world, step away from the computer for a change.
by that, I mean that a guy who could race F1, Baja, SCCA or anything else he was interested in, would not be wasting his time with a cart if it weren't as fun as full size cars
