1966 Lola-Ford T70 MKII Can-Am Racing Spyder - Chassis no. SL71/34
Estimate: US$1,100,000 - US$1,500,000 // £820,000 - £1,100,000
Ex-Dan Gurney, The Only Ford-Powered Can-Am Race Winner
305ci (5.0-litre) Gurney Westlake V8
4 Weber 48 IDA Carburetors
495bhp at 7,800rpm
5-Speed Manual Transmission
4-Wheel Independent Suspension
* Driven by All-American racing hero Dan Gurney
* The only Ford-powered victory in Can-Am
* Eric Broadley designed race-winning model
* "The redline used to be 8000rpm, but I just found out I could turn 8900..." Dan Gurney, Bridgehampton 1966
* "America's greatest racing man" Stirling Moss on Dan Gurney
THE CAR OFFERED
By some way one of the most admired and best-respected of all great American racing drivers is the late, multi-talented Dan Gurney. Right here Bonhams is delighted to offer one of the great sportsman's most rare winning cars - the Lola-Ford T70 Spyder in which he scored the only win ever achieved with a Ford V8 engine in the international Canadian-American Challenge Cup race series.
Dan drove this beautifully proportioned, elegant Lola to victory in the second CanAm round ever held, the inaugural 1966 series' Round 2, run on the 2.85-mile Bridgehampton circuit on Long Island, USA.
There Dan faced formidable opposition. It included a pair of sister Lola T70s: one the quasi-works Team Surtees entry for former Ferrari F1 World Champion Driver (and seven-times World Champion motorcycle rider) John Surtees, the other a Roger Penske-entered variant driven by another great, Mark Donohue. And there's more. The opposition to Gurney's car was strengthened immensely by two works Chaparrals running with tall strutted wings above their rear decks, for constructor Jim Hall and 1961 F1 World Champion Phil Hill, while a pair of lightweight new Elva-McLaren works cars appeared in the hands of that year's Ford Le Mans 24-Hour race winners, Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon. After suffering wing problems in practice pole winner Jim Hall withdrew for race day, Dan Gurney then starting from pole in this Lola-Ford T70 Spyder, entered by his AAR team.
As contemporary race reporter Ruth Sands Bentley wrote in the British journal Autosport the following week: "Dan Gurney drove brilliantly and steadily to win the Bridgehampton 200 Miles race for the Canadian-American Challenge. He took the lead at the outset and never lost it. His average speed for the 70 laps was 105.58mph, a new record, and his victory gave him nine points towards the CanAm Challenge Cup. His car" - she confirmed - "was an all-American Racers Lola T70 powered by the 5.3-liter Gurney Weslake-Ford unit".
She went on to relate how at the race's mid-point Dan Gurney had led from Phil Hill's Chaparral and the twin works McLarens of Bruce himself and his young New Zealand compatriot Chris Amon. But: "On lap 52 Hill and Amon passed as one car, and the next lap Amon was in second place - chasing - the Californian over the finishing line, only half a second and 30 feet separating the two cars at the chequered flag. Dan in the Lola-Ford left the lap record at a new mark of 108.88mph."
However, this stand-out performance was not to be repeated in the rest of that year's inaugural series, as Dan subsequently retired from every round - despite it being a sister Lola T70, John Surtees's Chevrolet V8-powered version, which ultimately took that year's CanAm Championship title.
This car had actually been invoiced and delivered to legendary racing personality, entrepreneur and agent Carroll Shelby for Gurney's All-American Racers team use on June 8, 1966. In initial form it was liveried in black, matching Gurney's famous crash helmet, but it was rapidly re-painted in dark blue and white, very much becoming one of AAR's first 'Eagles'.
Carroll Shelby was actually a partner of Gurney's in AAR, sponsored jointly by Goodyear Tires and - for their engine program - by the Ford Motor Company. Further backing for the CanAm program came from Bardahl. Dan, meanwhile, was having his own 3-liter V12 Formula 1 engine developed for him in the UK by Harry Weslake Research Limited, renowned exports in engine combustion and gas-flow matters.
While that initial 1966 season and series concluded with more engine unreliability than would have been hoped, Dan effectively presented the car to his ex-Shelby protégé Swede Savage in preparation for 1967. Savage proved very quick as an aspiring young driver, but was to die tragically in a fiery accident at Indianapolis during the 1973 500-Miles race, while driving a George Bignotti-entered Eagle-Offenhauser.
Meanwhile this Lola T70 Spyder lay unused until 1968 when it featured in a Riverside Raceway movie film session for the Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward and Robert Wagner feature Winning. Later that year it was sold to Eric Hauser, who offered it as a rent-a-drive CanAm mount, but failed to find any takers.
Hauser and Doug Hooper instead ran it themselves, entering the 1968 Stardust Grand Prix at Las Vegas, and the Monterey and Los Angeles Times (Riverside) GPs in 1969. In the early 1970s it was bought by Bobby Thompson of Houma, Louisiana, then passed on to his son Bobbie Thompson in New Orleans. He rapidly sold it to Charlie Bartz who ran the car in Bonsai Club events while retaining it into 1982.
This important Dan Gurney car had by then had its history largely obscured by the passage of time. Even so, it was acquired by Bobby Hogg of Georgia who used it mainly for show and display until 1985. A leaking fuel cell then persuaded him to put it into store in a chicken coop near the Road Atlanta circuit, where it remained for the following twenty years until acquired by the current owner in 2005. The new keeper then painstakingly restored this important car through 2006 and he was then invited to drive it in the 2007 Goodwood Festival of Speed event in England. It has since been used regularly for such demonstration events while spending much of its time on museum or collection display - including the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion, plus Concours at Road America and Carmel, California. It has been invited for display at Amelia Island, Sebring, St Joliet Raceway, and of course back to the scene of its 1966 triumph at Bridgehampton - while in 2018 we understand that it actually featured as the pace car for the Rolex 24-Hours race at Daytona.
This beautiful mid-'60s sports-racing Lola with its stressed-skin monocoque chassis and exquisitely-styled bodywork by Specialised Mouldings of England was ahead of its time when new. It bucked the trend in Gurney preferring Ford V8 to Chevrolet V8 power then - and in effect rocked the establishment by winning for 'The Oval' at Bridgehampton.
A fascinating file of historical documentation and photography accompanies this handsome car and as a Dan Gurney CanAm race winner - and indeed as Ford's only CanAm race winner - it shares remarkably significant twin claims to historic prominence.
We recommend it highly to the market as deserving the most serious consideration... Beauty, connection, history - even a Hollywood movie industry link - Lola T70 'SL71/34' here just about offers it all.
The Laguna Seca Auction 13 August 2026, 10:00 PDT - WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca
