Messages

1

Trans-Am Camaros / Re: Marshall Robbins - Carl Shafer

« on: October 17, 2015, 02:55:57 PM »

great photos of the Robbins Camaro ! is the first colour photo at Daytona, the garages look familiar ? Marshall is a really nice guy, he was kind enough  to recently answer some questions I had on the ex Chaparral Camaro he drove.

Mike (group/7)

Mike,

The first photo posted of the Camaro in Marshall's paint scheme is outside Bill Spangler's shop in Indianapolis.  Bill maintained the Camaro as well as many other of Marshall's race cars over the years.  Great guy and tremendous fabricator/mechanic.  RIP, Bill....

2

Trans-Am Camaros / Re: Marshall Robbins - Carl Shafer

« on: October 17, 2015, 02:53:42 PM »

Scott, thanks for filling us in on that background story and I'm glad you were able to get that guy to back off his fraudulent claim. It's too bad there are people out there who are always trying to pull a fast one but life just seems to be that way no matter what your hobbies or interests are.

Thanks also for posting those photos of the car when Marshall Robbins owned it. They're terrific.

Before I introduced myself to the guy, he claimed to have letters of authenticity from both my father and from Marshall - which, of course, he did not...  Marshall thought we should take a drive to Minnesota and do a citizens arrest!  lol...

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Trans-Am Camaros / Re: Marshall Robbins - Carl Shafer

« on: October 17, 2015, 03:07:04 AM »

Another photo from Marshall...

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Trans-Am Camaros / Re: Marshall Robbins - Carl Shafer

« on: October 17, 2015, 03:05:57 AM »

Marshall has shared a few photos of our former Camaro from his 1970 race season with the car...

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Trans-Am Camaros / Re: Marshall Robbins - Carl Shafer

« on: October 17, 2015, 02:46:13 AM »

John Mello - The person who placed the craigslist ad claims to have purchased the firewall tags from our former Camaro from the person we sold the Camaro to back in 1984.  That was the basis of his claim of owning/restoring our former Camaro and having "documentation" and having racing history.  The car in the photos he placed in his craigslist ad is an SS Camaro he purchased in California that never sniffed a race track.  The tags off our Camaro are Z28 body tags.  Rest assured he will try to sell the Z28 body tags to someone who has a car they intend to claim as something it is not...  The misrepresentation of this car as our former car is resolved - but I fear another misrepresentation by this person is likely to occur in the future ...

6

Trans-Am Camaros / Re: Racing AMX Information

« on: November 28, 2013, 09:59:15 PM »

There was a Dwight Knupp from Southfield, MI who ran a Barracuda in '67, car #64. Possible relative of Ike Knupp? I suspect the car at RA was Dwight's car.

Yes, Jon, I'm sure you are correct....Dwight Knupp.

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Trans-Am Camaros / Re: Racing AMX Information

« on: November 28, 2013, 06:22:49 PM »

Photo from the pace lap of the 1967 Road America June Sprints.  I believe that's Ike Knupp on the outside of the fourth row.  And my father on the outside of the 5th row in his red/white 1963 Corvette.

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Trans-Am Camaros / Re: IROC Camaros

« on: August 19, 2013, 07:02:29 PM »

Scott Shadel drove a former IROC Camaro co-owned by Fred Braun in CenDiv Nationals and some IMSA races in the 80's...

9

Trans-Am Camaros / Re: 1972 Trans-Am season review

« on: July 30, 2013, 02:25:21 PM »

ARRC Coverage from SCCA's Sports Car magazine. The American Road Race of Champions race at the end of
the 1972 race season crowned Warren Tope and his Camaro as the National Champion in A-Sedan that year.
(Jon Mello Collection)

The "Carl Shafer" Camaro referenced in this article is the 1969 Camaro my father purchased from Carl and raced from 1974 thru 1984, winning the GT1 National Championship in 1980.  The car was built by John and Burt Greenwood and was driven to the 1969 A Sedan National Championship by Bill Petree (owned by Greenwood).  It then went to Marshall Robbins, then Shafer, then my father...

10

Trans-Am Camaros / Re: Heavy duty GM 12-bolt axles

« on: April 27, 2013, 02:57:41 AM »

Ed Bertrand sent me a listing from his 1971 Chevy P&A catalog showing the jobber price of $22.84 for one of these axles back them. Over the weekend, the pair above sold for over $2500!

Wow...who knew!

We had 4 axles we rotated for several racing seasons.  Eventually, we came to fear a failure and replaced them with axle's from Strange Engineering...

http://www.strangeengineering.net/catalog/pdf/081.pdf

I'm sure we just tossed the original axles years ago...

11

Trans-Am Camaros / Re: Jerry Lagod Trans-Am Camaro

« on: April 08, 2013, 01:04:51 AM »

Looking at those photos reminds me how much I hated changing the gear ratio's in those rear ends... About the only task I disliked.  And about the only race car smell I disliked was rear end grease.  I was probably 13 or 14 when I inherited the task.  I could hardly lift the center section in the beginning.   I always picked up a few cuts on the fingers. Torquing the ring gear and tightening the pinion nut...   And usually finished up with a stiff neck!  We raced a '69 Camaro from 1973 to 1984, about 8 - 10 races a year.  We had 5 or 6 different gear ratio's we worked with.  Can't imagine how many times I crawled under there for that task

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Trans-Am Camaros / Re: Photo Gallery for A/Sedan and A-B/Production cars

« on: February 07, 2013, 02:51:54 PM »

There is an ex Jerry Dunbar Corvette race car now listed on ebay.

Robert Barg

The car started life as a 1968 Corvette.  Dave McLymont of Wheaton, IL started it's transformation into a race car.  My father and I finished it's construction over the winter of 1972.  We raced the car 10 times in 1973 in SCCA National Central Division races.  We won 5 races, had 3 second place fiishes, 1 dnf and 1 dns.  We finished 2nd overall and 2nd in B Production at the 1973 June Sprints to Bill Jobe, who was driving the ex-Alan Barker Corvette, and finished 2nd in the 1973 Central Division National points, to Mike Manner of Dearborn, MI.  At the 1973 B Production runoffs, we qualified on the front row, 2nd to Bill Jobe, in the first qualifying session.  We lost the motor in the second qualifying session and did not start the race.

The car was purchased at the end of the 1973 race season by Rusty and Max Schmidt.  They raced the car in SCCA and IMSA events for the next decade or more.  They still own the car to this day.  It is Max who has the car listed for sale on Ebay...  A lot of memories...

13

Trans-Am Camaros / Re: Are these ex-Trans Am Camaros racing at multiple Daytona 24 hour races?

« on: January 17, 2013, 04:03:35 PM »

from what robert says, the ex chaparral mo carter camaro was parted out. is the car that runs now as a chaparral camaro in historic trans-am the former sid rust car ? am I correct in assuming that agor car now also vintage raced, is the third ex chaparral car,now orange and running #13 ?  any body give some input ?

  mike

If it's the former Sid Rust Chaparral, then it's also the former Marshall Robbins Trans Am Camaro...  Same car...

Sid Rust at the 1974 SCCA Runoffs in his ex Chaparral/ex Marshall Robbins Camaro...

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Trans-Am Camaros / Re: Are these ex-Trans Am Camaros racing at multiple Daytona 24 hour races?

« on: January 15, 2013, 03:25:55 PM »

from what robert says, the ex chaparral mo carter camaro was parted out. is the car that runs now as a chaparral camaro in historic trans-am the former sid rust car ? am I correct in assuming that agor car now also vintage raced, is the third ex chaparral car,now orange and running #13 ?  any body give some input ?

  mike

If it's the former Sid Rust Chaparral, then it's also the former Marshall Robbins Trans Am Camaro...  Same car...

15

Trans-Am Camaros / Re: Warren Fairbanks #96

« on: October 20, 2012, 02:56:07 PM »

Very sorry to hear of Warrens's passing, Mike...  I have many fond memories.  My condolences to his family and friends.