This was news in 1969 – 1969 Chicago Auto Show
(first posted 2/28/2014) I’ll begin the final installment of pictures I took at the ’68 and ’69 Chicago Auto show as I did on Wednesday, with a Ford. The Formula Ford concept was developed by Geoff Clark and John Webb at the Brands Hatch race track in England in 1963. The cars originally were an outgrowth of a Formula Junior chassis outfitted with a 1498 cc Cortina 4 cyl pushrod engine and by late 1967, Ford had bought into the concept. This was Ford’s initial effort to introduce the Formula Ford to the US.
The original Formula Ford – 1969 Chicago Auto Show
Combined with low weight and a relatively stock, bulletproof engine, Formula Ford became the initial step up from go karts and continue to this day as a club racing class.
Ford Super Cobra Concept – 1969 Chicago Auto Show
Wow! How daring can a car company get? Asymmetrical placement of the badge on the nose.
Ford Super Cobra Concept – 1969 Chicago Auto Show
I couldn’t find much info on this car, maybe some of you know a bit more about it. It has the look of an AMT Styline kit, generic ‘60s George Barris pre-disco. The car had 428 cubic inch V-8.
One element of the Cobra Concept that did make it into production was this wheel design. Steel wheels can look great without plastic hubcaps.
Ferrari 275 GTB – 1968 Chicago Auto Show
The 275 GTB was produced from 1964 through ‘68. It was designed by Pininfarina and only 970 were made. With the Colombo 3.3 liter 60° V12, it was one sweet ride. Today auction prices are north of a million dollars.
Ferrari 275 GTB – 1968 Chicago Auto Show
The successor to the 275 was the 365 GTB/4, otherwise known as the Daytona. In the second Cannonball, Dan Gurney, along with Brock Yates, cruised at 172 mph across the Arizona desert in what Yates described as perfect serenity. They won the dash but I could never get excited about the Daytona’s styling. The nose just didn’t have the essential “Ferrariness” that previous Ferraris had.
AUSCA Alfa Duetto – 1969 Chicago Auto Show
You’re going to have to pay attention because there will be a test. Horst Kwech was born in Austria. Early in WWII his mother moved the family to Australia. In time Horst became a race car builder and driver. He called his cars AUSCAs. In 1961 he moved to Lake Forest, Illinois where he became lead mechanic for Knauz Continental Motors. In 1963 he won the SCCA Central Division Championship in an AUSCA MkII.
In 1965 Kwech won the SCCA Central Division Championship in an Alfa Giulia Ti Super. In 1966 Kwech and Knauz bought an Autodelta-prepared GTA from Alfa Romeo with which Kwech and teammate Gaston Andrey won the Under 2 Liter Trans-Am championship.
See http://www.trans-amseries.com/results/1966.pdf for the 1966 Trans-Am results.
AUSCA Alfa Duetto – 1969 Chicago Auto Show
AUSCA cars typically carried Australian-themed marking schemes as did Kwech’s Alfa in ’69. I’m not sure how it performed or in what series it raced. But Kwech hired on with Carroll Shelby International to drive a Trans-Am Mustang. He won the Riverside Trans-Am for Shelby that year.
Nearly a decade later Kwech and Lee Dykstra formed DeKon Engineering. Their most successful product was the DeKon Monza which won the ASSC (Australian Sports Sedan Championship) with Alan Moffat in 1976. Al Holbert drove a DeKon Monza to the IMSA GT Championship in ‘76 and ‘77.
Horst Kwech, 76, now lives with his wife in Lake Forest, IL.
I tried to find some info on You Tube about Kwech but the only thing worthy of mention is this video about the BRE Datsuns and how they beat Kwech and his Alfa. It can be seen here.
Thunderbird Saturn II Concept Car – 1969 Chicago Auto Show
I must have found the cars at the Ford display interesting as I did photograph them. But today, as I mentioned earlier, the forms look as though they were developed for AMT Styline kits. This has to be one of the few cases where I found the production cars more interesting than the show cars.
Thunderbird Saturn II Concept Car – 1969 Chicago Auto Show
The Saturn II had its nose stretched four inches and its top chopped by two. As a harbinger of the future, the Saturn II included a lot of electronic gizmos including two-way communication (gadzooks!) and radar for what Ford claimed was “computerized travel.” The car also featured “reflective paint” on the hubcap centers. Hate to be the one to break the news, but all paint is reflective, otherwise we wouldn’t be able to see it (think “black holes”). Now that would have been a novel idea: a display with nothing but a bunch of models walking around pointing out innovative features on invisible cars. Wow! Like totally trippy!
Ranchero Scrambler – 1969 Chicago Auto Show
Ford must have had a lot of extra metallic brown paint in 1969 and used it all on their concept cars. It looks as though one element from this concept did make it to production–the emblem on the grille went on to be used for the Maverick in 1970.
Mystery Car – 1969 Chicago Auto Show
I have no idea what this is. It’s a miracle that I was able to get any kind of image at all, the light level was so low.
So that’s it for the 1968 and ’69 Chicago Auto Show. Some fun stuff close to 50 years ago. Damn, that’s kind of scary. Half a century ago and some of the cars still look good.
Kevin, I have thoroughly enjoyed this series.
Odd question: Were you there during regular hours or after hours? I ask only because from going to the auto shows in St. Louis and Kansas City, it would be nearly impossible to get any pictures (let alone the quality stuff you have here) as there are too many people in the way.
Regular hours. Sometimes as a photographer you just have to shoulder your way in and be impolite. To further the challenge I shot without a flash with Kodachrome 64 and Ektachrome 400. The cars on turntables were a particular challenge.
Any more photos by chance of the Oldsmobile exhibit?
That last photo looks suspiciously like an early AMX III concept. The photo (taken at the 2013 Chicago Auto show, natch) I’ve attached is of one of the surviving AMX IIIs, still owned by the Teague family.
Did a little googling… the car in your photo is the AMX/2 concept.
You beat me to it. I was going to say the AMX/2.
That’s it! Thanks Ed and BigOld for researching this and coming up with the answer.
I immediately recognized it as the AMC AMX/2 concept because I remember it from back in the day. I was a teenager really into cars, though not yet old enough to drive. Anyway, never saw it in person, but read a lot of the period car magazines. I had hopes of it (or the AMX/3) going into production, as even though I wouldn’t have been able to buy a new one, I figured I’d buy a used one when the prices came down to what I could afford. I still very much like the looks of it and the AMX/3.
This was about the same time the deTomaso Mangusta came out, followed by the Pantera only a year or so later. At the time I thought it would be great to have a choice of something other than a Corvette to compete with the foreign exotics. A few years before I was an aviation buff and had thoughts of possibly becoming an aviation designer. But, by this point in time, had changed to thinking abut becoming an automobile stylist. Was definitely a fan of Richard Teague’s designs. And, as mentioned previously, after writing to American Motors about a specific car, I received a letter back from and signed by Richard Teague.
You are really close, in picture is American Motors AMX/2
Great pictures again today, almost like being there. I enjoy seeing the big logo displays on the walls. It has been a long time since I have seen that “FORD” logo that used the lightbulb (“Ford has a better idea!”.)
Silly you – if only you had taken these kinds of pictures of the Camaros, Chargers and Mach Is, you could be selling framed prints for megabucks.
I don’t know why I didn’t shoot any more GM or Chrysler products. The one Charger that I shot suffered from too much camera shake, and it was a fiberglass flip-top funny car in lime green. No big loss.
Love the Formula Ford. That was the 3-5 year period when Formula cars were truly beautiful. Then the wings started sprouting . . . . . .
Do you like the looks of Ferrari 156 F1 sharknose?
Wings actually sprouted in ’68 – just not on Formula Fords. Despite the large Ford logo, I think this one is a Lotus 51. That model and its successor the Lotus 61 were the last Lotus race cars sold for lower-end amateur racing. Also, didn’t Formula Fords come out of the chute with the 1600 cross flow motors, not the older 1498?
Formula Ford is still wingless mid way between Formula VW and Formula Toyota a very popular learning class.
Is it me, or do all the Ford concepts sort of have the same front end?
You know what came in 2nd to the 365GTB/4 in the Cannonball?
A 1973 Sedan de Ville.
The Caddy was a “drive-away” and was driven by Steve “Yogi” Behr (with Monte Carlo Rallye experience), Bill Canfield, and ironically, Fred Olds. These guys won the Cannonball in 1972.
Yup, I assume you’ve read Brock Yates “Cannonball”?
If not, I highly recommend it, great read.
It’s part of my library.
Loved the photos taken from this show, many thanks. They just reinforce how interesting the cars were in this era (my favorite era of all).
The Super Cobra pretty accurately foreshadowed the 70-71 Torino roofline.
I just did a quick google search for it and Wow! Check out those taillights!
The Thunderbird Saturn II concept still looks pretty cool to me, as does the Super Cobra concept. And, of course, the Ferrari 275GTB is awesome! What else I liked from this period, though not shown, was Dodge’s Charger III concept, which was a 2-seater with a flip up canopy. That’s another one I was disappointed never made it into production.
The fastest car I’ve ever driven was a Star Mazda formula car in about 1997. I don’t think the straights at PIR would allow for much more than 100-120, so I’ve gone much faster in a street car, but that thing would allow you to get in over your head very quickly with its cornering ability. I don’t even know if they still have these as a class, but I’m assuming they were about equal to a FF. To see the simple mechanical beauty of that race car is a pleasure. I miss being a volunteer at the old CART races, especially with all the support classes, and seeing the circus that accompanied Paul Newman, and later, Dave Letterman and Danica when she ran the Atlantic cars. We were spoiled by the quality. Sometimes three F1 champs in a CART field (Emmo, Mansell, and Andretti).
Hello,
I am looking for pictures of a Maserati Mistral as featured on the 1969 Chicago Autoshow. Would you happen to have any pictures of that car?