Lola...Mother to the Ford GT


Joehand1

Tungsten GT Owner
Sep 20, 2007
599
Hattiesburg, MS, USA
 
Wow! Who knew? Not I. And only three built ...
 

twobjshelbys

GT Owner
Jul 26, 2010
6,053
Las Vegas, NV
You didn't know that? Ford and Shelby "borrowed" from the Lola design for the shape and the air flow from the front through the front to hood over the cowl. It's a brilliant design that survives to this day.

I'm sure today there would be huge patent law suits over this kind of derivative design, but back then we just got along...
 

RALPHIE

GT Owner
Mar 1, 2007
7,278
I think I've posted these before, but for the newer members -

The Lola GT at Le Mans in 1963, driven by David Hobbs and Richard Attwood -

View attachment 34449

View attachment 34450

As you can see, the door cutouts in the roof were retained - it utilized a small block Ford (4.2 L) with 4 dual throat Webers (they drove it to Le Mans on the roads from England). Ford saw this and bought it from Eric Broadley, who consulted for a couple of years to Ford (but couldn't deal with the bureaucracy). Unfortunately, it didn't finish, but, neither did the '64 and '65 GT40 Mark I's.
 
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twobjshelbys

GT Owner
Jul 26, 2010
6,053
Las Vegas, NV
Maybe the door cutouts were Lola's and the front cowl was Brocks? We were talking about it the other day and Gary Patterson came over last eweek and said it was his idea from the coupe. I thought it was one of those "great ideas from multiple people at the same time" things.

In any case, there are no new inventions, only refinements of old ones. Been that way for a long time.
 

twobjshelbys

GT Owner
Jul 26, 2010
6,053
Las Vegas, NV
P.S. For this part of the history you should read AJ Baime's book Go Like Hell...
 

FourFather

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
May 24, 2007
460
Wichita Falls, Texas 76306
The Lola coupes are beautiful, timeless cars. I traded mine for my Ford GT Heritage, a new Ultima Can-Am, and a new Ariel Atom, and have really had a blast with all three, but I still get a twinge of seller's remorse everytime I see a picture of the Lola.



Eddie
 

Fast Freddy

GPS'D 225 MPH
Mark II Lifetime
Aug 5, 2005
2,684
Avondale, Arizona
that is a cool car eddie
 

AtomicGT

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Apr 12, 2006
3,032
Los Angeles
If you know your GT history this is an old story resurrected by some journalist.
 
P.S. For this part of the history you should read AJ Baime's book Go Like Hell...

There's virtually nothing in the book about the Lolas, only a tiny bit on two pages ....
 

FourFather

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
May 24, 2007
460
Wichita Falls, Texas 76306
On our wedding day, my wife Ercie and I drove ours through downtown Wichita Falls, with a police escort, in 1984. Fun Stuff



My car was originally James Garner's, and the AIR on the nose was his American International Racing team.

And Robert Duval drove it in George Lucas' first full length movie, THX1138.

Lots of cool memories--

Eddie:biggrin