According to the article “Will 1965 be the Year? The Development History of the Biggest Lotus”, Motor, 10 Jun. 1965, this Series 1 Lotus 30 was delivered to “J F Harrison.”
This car was ex-Works on 23 Sep 1964, the body color of “White,” Lotus-Ford V8 Serial Number unspecified, and ZF 5DS20 Serial Number listed as “NBG.”
| Chassis No. | Known Owners |
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30/L/5
| 1964 – J. Frank Harrison, Jr. (Chattanooga, TN, USA) – (Listed as “J F Harrison”) [1]http://www.themaseraticlub.com/ITOL_Harrison.html Retrieved 2015 Sep 30. Harrison’s crew chief was Jerry Eisert, a noted sports and Indy car constructor and mechanic. 12/5/1964 Nassau Classic Race #43 Anson L. Johnson 4th12/6/1964 Nassau Trophy Race #43 Anson L. Johnson 10th Ford V8 2v OHV 4490 cc N/A 2/28/1965 2000 km Daytona #39 Anson L. Johnson [2]https://www.racingsportscars.com/type/archive/Lotus/30.html Retrieved 2023-Jul-29 12/3/1965 Governor´s Trophy #199 Anson L. Johnson 39th – not finished 12/4/1965 Nassau Classic Race #199 Anson L. Johnson 10th 12/5/1965 Nassau Trophy Race #199 Anson L. Johnson 52nd – not finished [3]https://www.racingsportscars.com/driver/results/Anson-Johnson-USA.html Retrieved 2023-Jul-29 Date Unk – James E Herlinger, Palo Alto, CA
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Featured in the 2001 Oct – “Bad Karma” article, Vintage Racecar
J. Frank Harrison, Jr., was the son of the founder of Coca-Cola Bottling Company Consolidated and, in 1977, became CEO of the company. He lived in Chattanooga, TN, USA.[5]http://www.themaseraticlub.com/ITOL_Harrison.html Retrieved 2015 Sep 30. [6]http://www.cokeconsolidated.com/history.html Retrieved 2015 Sep 30.
Harrison’s team manager was Indy car legend Jerry Eisert, a noted sports and Indy car constructor and mechanic. It appears that the car was stored for a while at Eisert’s shop in California. [7]http://www.team.net/html/vintage-race/1998-08/msg00207.html Recollection by Steve Hammet, 1998 Aug.
This car was the subject of an article by Harold Pace in the October 2001 issue of Vintage Racecar magazine. Pace states that Palmaz had bought two Lotus 30s, the ex-Melcher car (30/L/8) and this car. The chassis was found during the 1980s in a dumpster. It did have Ford passenger car brakes, but it was minus the engine, gearbox, wheels, and, most importantly, the chassis ID plate was gone – leaving the car a complete mystery. The only identifying clue was it had white body paint. Like other unidentified Lotus 30 chassis found in America, it was rumored to be the long, lost Foyt Lotus 40/L/3…
Despite not knowing which car it was, restoration began with Huffaker Engineering doing the work. They found the chassis was un-wrecked and had no corrosion. Additionally, the chassis had been heavily reinforced and stiffened by adding steel tubing in the engine area, and a sturdy steel belly pan was bolted onto the bottom. The chassis was stripped and powder-coated, the rear suspension towers were rebuilt from stronger materials, and fuel cells replaced the original rubber fuel bags. Peter Denty supplied a new body, rotors, and stub axels. New uprights in aluminum replaced the original magnesium ones. 13″ wheels were crack tested. [8]”Bad Karma,” Vintage Racecar, Oct 2001.
A post on www.supercars.net had this to say about the restoration:
“30/L/5 underwent a thorough professional restoration by specialists Huffaker Engineering at Sears Point Raceway in northern California, with restoration costs close to $200,000.–. This included frame, engine, gearbox, suspension, wiring instruments, body, paint, etc. Many new parts were purchased from Peter Denty and all old parts were saved as spares. Car was track tested and set up with handling improvements. Ford 289 V8 with Weber carburetors professionally rebuilt with Dyno sheet. Gearbox is a proper ZF number 4589, wheels 15×9 front, 15×10 rear. This car is stunning in its quality of preparations, receipts are available for review and Huffaker Engineering is available to confirm work done.” [9]http://www.supercars.net/PitLane?viewThread=y&gID=1&fID=0&tID=92880
After restoration, Pace researched the history of the car. David Whiteside (one-time owner of 30/S2/7) provided the information that Harrison’s 30/L/5 was the only car delivered to the USA with white paint.
Pace contacted Eisert, and when told Pace told Eisert where the car was found, he replied, “It belongs in a dumpster!” Eisert identified the car based on photos of the car as it was found that Pace sent to him. Eisert said they were afraid to sell the car as a racecar, finding an owner who intended to convert it to a street car, perhaps explaining why passenger car brakes were found on the car. It appears that the conversion was never finished.
For a while, Portland, Oregon, USA, was home to two Lotus 30s, which probably gave Portland the world’s highest per capita density of Lotus 30s. In 2007, Jacqulyn and Jeff Mincheff bought 30/L/5, which was owned by and who have a collection of many other vintage cars and motorcycles. Visit http://kellysolympian.com/ to see more of their collection.
Last Updated on July 29, 2023 by Kirk Keyes
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