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I returned last night from Bloomington/Springfield/Pheasant Run/ Mecum with a sad heart. The 62 Gulf Oil racer that I owned for 22 years (and that Vic Preisler now does a wonderful job of caring for and showing) was vandalized while in the room duing setup for the special collection/Hall of Fame. Someone ran either a razor blade or a knife down the side ost of the length of the car about 3/4 of the way up the right side, and then made sure that they also made a long cut down low enough that they damaged the blue paint in the cove as well. It was done with something other than a key, because it is so deep that you can easily catch your finger in it (in a couple of places down to the primer).
That's the first time in 20+ years that any such thing has happened at the Special Collection. And they do have pretty decent security precautions in place!
Apparently someone has a rather low self-esteem if they feel it necessary to damage someone else's property in order to feel good about themselves!
We put that paint on in 1985 after much research, color-matching, etc., and it has stood up extremely well. And of course, that paint is no longer in production!
Also, the transporters (don't know the name of the company) in backing the car out of the the carrier, damaged the exhaust system on both sides. The exhauast, per GM's input to Gulf, ran inside of each rocker panel, and obviously hung somewhat low in order to do that. They (the transporters) changed the mufflers (actually resonators, designed to comply with the letter of the law at FIA and SCCA back in 1962)from round to oval--at least on the bottom.
That car has been so many places, transported by so many people--and seen by so many people--to have two incidents of damage in less than 24 hours, hurts even though I haven't owned the car for 3 1/2 years.
Thanks for listening!
Mike Ernst
That's the first time in 20+ years that any such thing has happened at the Special Collection. And they do have pretty decent security precautions in place!
Apparently someone has a rather low self-esteem if they feel it necessary to damage someone else's property in order to feel good about themselves!
We put that paint on in 1985 after much research, color-matching, etc., and it has stood up extremely well. And of course, that paint is no longer in production!
Also, the transporters (don't know the name of the company) in backing the car out of the the carrier, damaged the exhaust system on both sides. The exhauast, per GM's input to Gulf, ran inside of each rocker panel, and obviously hung somewhat low in order to do that. They (the transporters) changed the mufflers (actually resonators, designed to comply with the letter of the law at FIA and SCCA back in 1962)from round to oval--at least on the bottom.
That car has been so many places, transported by so many people--and seen by so many people--to have two incidents of damage in less than 24 hours, hurts even though I haven't owned the car for 3 1/2 years.
Thanks for listening!
Mike Ernst
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