Carousel 1 1:18 1967 All American Racers Gurney Weslake V-12 Eagle #36- Dan Gurney- GP of Belgium Winner

Dan Gurney’s “Titanium Car” is arguably the most beautiful Grand Prix racer from the era when aerodynamicists were concerned with slipping through the air instead of creating downforce. And it was the first time that an American had won a GP with a car built in America of his own construction.

Dan Gurney and Carroll Shelby founded All-American Racers in 1965 when Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company asked them to build Indianapolis racecars to break Firestone’s stranglehold on the Indy 500. Part of the deal was that Goodyear would also help fund a Formula 1 effort. With additional sponsorship from Mobil, Castrol and many individual Americans, AAR constructed four F1 cars over the life of the program. They were initially powered by four-cylinder Coventry Climax engines and eventually were powered by the purpose-built Gurney/Weslake V-12.

The number 36 car that won the Grand Prix of Belgium at Spa-Francorchamps in June of ‘67 also won the non-championship “Race of Champions” at Brands Hatch in March of that year. It was named “The Titanium Car” because of the use of titanium in the suspension and exhaust components. Its tub was made of riveted magnesium. Designed by Len Terry and constructed by Gurney’s AAR in Santa Ana, CA, it featured a nose patterned after the vestigial beak of an eagle. The 2997 cc Gurney/Weslake V-12 featured dual-overhead cams and four valves per cylinder. It would produce 395-410 bhp @11,000 rpm and was bolted directly to a Hewland DG 300 5-speed. The car weighed-in at 1170 lbs. dry.

“The Titanium Car” ran in nineteen F1 races, won 2 and completed 4. It retired from competition in mid-season 1968 and is now on exhibit at the Miles Collier Museum in Florida.

Carousel1’s rendition of “The Titanium Car” is gorgeous. The beautiful metallic blue tub has pearlescent white stripes and “meatballs”. The wheels and exhaust system are finished in a dull metallic that gives the wheels the look of oxidized magnesium and the headers the look of “blued” titanium. The twelve injectors are covered by a fine scale screen. The front suspension components have the look of heliarced fabricated titanium and the welds look just as they would in real life. The plumbing is all there: lines for the dry-sump oil system, the brake lines and calipers, the ignition wires, fuel lines running to the injectors and the wires for the fuel level sending units.

This is a really significant racecar as it represents the end of pre-aerodynamic era. And that Gurney could build an American car with an American owner-driver and win a Grand Prix makes this car very important. When you add that this car is drop-dead gorgeous….. the highest level of beauty and function, how can you resist?

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