A BOND/MACMINN LE MANS COUPE IS HONORED AT AMELIA CONCOURS PART 3

THUS FAR, IN PARTS 1 AND 2, the Bond/MacMinn Le Mans Coupe has been theoretic. Here in Part 3, we see the car transformed into hardware, briefly tested, and then a 12-year old sees it on an R&T cover. Years later he turns a dream into a reality at the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance.

“Sports Car Designed Realized.” In R&T August 1960, Strother “Mac” MacMinn described, “A number of people wrote, expressing definite interest in attempting the project, and the series of articles actually did trigger three dedicated Southern California enthusiasts into action.” 

A Trio of Enthusiasts. Marvin Horton and friend Ed Monegan contacted Mac with details of their prototype in August 1958. Around February 1959, Alton Johnson brought his experience with Victress Manufacturing Company (of fiberglass bodywork) into the project.

Riverside Testing. “Johnson,” Mac noted, “had his own chassis enclosed in the first body by August 1959, when it was possible to run an airflow observation test at the Riverside International Raceway. White wool tufts for determining air-flow direction were easily visible against the dark grey primer, and sections that had already been out of the body for the headlight tunnel openings were carefully taped back into place to provide a completely smooth form.” 

Mac continued, “Howard Miereanu (now a General Motors designer, but then a student at the Art Center School in Los Angeles), possessor of a Bolex 16-mm motion picture camera, was perched in the passenger seat of an accompanying car and panned past the coupe which was run at steady speeds of 60, 70, 80, 90, and 100 mph down the 5100-ft back straight of the race course.”

Tuft evaluations at Riverside.

“Viewing this film at slow speed,” Mac said, “later confirmed theories that some of the top boundary layer could be diverted around the corners of the cab by use of a sharply peaked cowl and windshield, and that the general air flow was true to the developed contours with a minimum of turbulence.” 

Bond’s Far-Reaching Suggestion. “Johnson has since built an entirely new chassis for his car,” Mac recounted, “all of which should be covered by a revised version of the original body by mid summer…. Since Horton’s ‘original’ will probably be licensed about the same time, it should make this dual culmination of Bond’s far-reaching suggestion a most exciting reality.”

Calendar Pages Flutter. On March 3, 2022, HEMMINGS.com headlined, “From the Cover of Road & Track to Decades of Languishing, One of the Few Remaining Strother MacMinn Le Mans Coupes to be Resurrected.” 

Dennis Kazmerowski recounted a charming tale: “It started in August 2021, still on COVID-19 lockdown with much time to think about the past, present and future.” He shared a dream of his youth with friend Geoff Hacker (founder of Undiscovered Classics and auto archaeologist). It was the car on the August 1960 cover of Road & Track.

Kazmerowski continued, “Geoff, who has tracked down the surviving coupes built from MacMinn’s design, shared that the car shown on the cover of Road & Track magazine had been destroyed early on in an accident. But he knew where a virgin body was that was produced from the original molds. He shared the contact information with me and the wheels started to turn. I talked with the owner and after a few phone calls we agreed on a price, and my project began.”

Image from Hemmings. 

Kazmerowski wrote, “I immediately re-read the Road & Track Le Mans coupe articles, and I noted that one of the articles shared that production bodies were made very thin to keep weight down for racing purposes. This may have been good 60 years ago but over the years, with no inner structure, the sun had taken its toll and weakened the body.”

“My wife, who always supports me in these nutty projects, thinks I’m crazy for taking on such a project in the latter stages of my life,” said Kasmerowski. “But hey, I was 12 years old when I bought that issue of Road & Track in a drugstore in 1960, with my Schwinn bike (with raccoon tails and mud flaps) parked out front. Sixty-plus years later, I’m finally living the dream.”

Amelia Island, 2024. And, indeed, what a dream when the Bond/MacMinn Le Mans Coupe entered by Dennis and Karen Kazmerowski and Chip and Shannon Fudge garnered the Chief Judges Award at Amelia Island, 2024.

Families celebrate the Le Mans Coupe. Images from Hagerty.

You’ll note the reading material. ds 

© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2024