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The road was as straight as the crow flies without any trace of the slightest change of scenery. Driving down the long unwinding highway, in the late summer of 2013, my mind had the tendency to wander. Time was passing with the same speed of the desert tortoise I saw a few hours ago trying to cross the scorching pavement. I thought, “Here’s another mess I’ve gotten myself into”, with slight over tones of Laurel and Hardy. Driving for hours with no one to talk to does put strange thoughts in your mind. I guess it is a self-defense mechanism that is inherently instilled in a human brain when idle. “Weren’t you on a similar road trip seven years ago?” I thought. “You were on The Mark Donohue quest”, I began to chuckle. You see, I had found the lost Lola T-190 chassis #03 stashed in the basement of a home in Philadelphia. I was now reliving the emotional adventure this car had in store for me. I had no idea where it was going to lead me.
I do remember how excited I felt when the final deal did go down. I had my first “real” race car safely stashed away in my covered trailer. My truck was powering down the snowy road heading from St Louis to Northern Idaho in the dead of winter. I had restored a couple of Formula I cars for an employer long gone, but this one was mine! I knew I took a chance on this car with my quick purchase. Sight unseen, plucking this diamond in the rough, out from under any other would-be buyers, was a very risky venture for me to take. Nevertheless, she was mine now and I was going to have to handle anything she was going to dish out. No matter what, I was all in!
The first thing I did when I got home was contact the Historic Lola Registry to claim I located the once lost Mark Donohue chassis #3. The car went up on the registry almost immediately, only to be taken down as fast as it went up. “There are discrepancies that have to be addressed,” I was informed and the old girl came down as fast as she went up. I was instructed to contact the leading authority Allen Brown from oldracingcars.com to verify the authenticity of my car. I had no idea that forgeries were so rampant in the vintage racing industry. How could anybody forge a lineage on such a limited production number car? This sick binding feeling deep down in my stomach began to creep up and the possibility of being duped began to sink in. The Lola was now being treated as a forgery! I felt like I came across a lost Picasso, only to be told it was a cheap re-make.
The next 24 hours, with no sleep, was excruciating yet exciting. Sending emails and photos to England every step of the way. I did what I was asked. I began sanding the body in different areas and sending pictures of what I saw. I took photos inside the tub where no fuel cell existed. I photographed suspension linkage, brake calipers, engine numbers, and the transaxle number plate as well. I was doing what I was told without a single clue of the final outcome. I finally got the last inquiry after the 23rd hour. Since the tub had been chemically stripped and painted black, it was up to me to find proof that the tub was painted green at one time. When Mark drove the car in 1969 the tub was never painted. It was polished to a mirror like finish. But when a driver named Ron Grable drove the car after Mark in 1970, it was painted green. I began disassembling the car looking for the slightest sign of green paint. I ever so lightly sanded around nooks and crannies looking for that ever-elusive color. I was beginning to believe I would never find it. Using a jet drill to clean out the center holes in cherry rivets and removing the shift linkage was the final trick. I detected small particles of green from the center of the rivets, and the very thorough stripper missed a rivet head near the linkage bracket. This was the car! I had relinquished any doubt, and the old girl was put back up on the Historic Lola Registry!
Immediately after being confirmed, I was flooded with emails from people I had never heard of. I received invitations to race in exotic locations. There were offers to sell or trade my car, but I was head strong and stayed my course. I didn‘t give in to the temptation to sell. The restoration of the T-190 was to be done by myself! “I’ll be the next lucky soul that gets to drive her!” I thought. “I have the resources and I will restore this car for myself!” I brimmed. This one was not going to go down the road after I finished her as so many have done for me in the past. After patting myself on the back, the research began. The first thing to do was to find the provenance of this old dusty Titan. Who were her custodians of the past? How many owners/drivers did this car have? What was changed and to what point in time would I restore her to? That is when I learned more of Ron Grable.
Ron was an extremely talented driver. His record in the Lola was impeccable. He was the one to beat for the first half of the 1970 Continental Championship Series in this Lola! The lack of funding was his only nemeses. Ron was chased by the likes of John Cannon, David Hobbs, George Follmer and even the great Mark Donohue in this car! These were the greatest drivers to grace the face of the earth. This was the golden age of racing when man was truly against machine. No quick shift automatic stabilizing gizmos for those guys. It was only metal, oil, and gas that made them go! Ron set the fastest track time at Edmonton, Seattle, and Dallas in the T-190. He set the track record at Laguna Seca in 1970. My car still holds the track record at Sears Point with Ron behind the wheel! Sure, it is on the old track design, but she still holds it. Ron had bested some of the greatest drivers of the time in this car, but just didn’t get the breaks others had gotten. He was one of the greats that deserved more recognition than he got. It was when I got to know Ron personally that I became a fan in the truest sense.
I couldn’t believe it when I got an email from Mr. Grable himself. At first I acted like a silly school girl. As we talked about the car, Ron and I got to know each other better. I felt that we had become friends. We were birds of a feather. Both of us striving for excellence, but not being able to grasp that proverbial brass ring of life, was our common bond. I didn’t want to wipe Ron’s memory from this spectacular car. Mark Donohue has so many great vehicles to immortalize his name in the World. Ron had fought some of the fiercest competitors in this Lola and I was not going to be the one to wipe his memory from her. This car made a name for itself with Ron in the seat. I could almost hear the car whisper to me not to put her back in Penske Blue. She was Grable green and proud of it!
Article written by: Reinhold Jung
Photography: Reinhold Jung - Plus historic records Click Here
I do remember how excited I felt when the final deal did go down. I had my first “real” race car safely stashed away in my covered trailer. My truck was powering down the snowy road heading from St Louis to Northern Idaho in the dead of winter. I had restored a couple of Formula I cars for an employer long gone, but this one was mine! I knew I took a chance on this car with my quick purchase. Sight unseen, plucking this diamond in the rough, out from under any other would-be buyers, was a very risky venture for me to take. Nevertheless, she was mine now and I was going to have to handle anything she was going to dish out. No matter what, I was all in!
The first thing I did when I got home was contact the Historic Lola Registry to claim I located the once lost Mark Donohue chassis #3. The car went up on the registry almost immediately, only to be taken down as fast as it went up. “There are discrepancies that have to be addressed,” I was informed and the old girl came down as fast as she went up. I was instructed to contact the leading authority Allen Brown from oldracingcars.com to verify the authenticity of my car. I had no idea that forgeries were so rampant in the vintage racing industry. How could anybody forge a lineage on such a limited production number car? This sick binding feeling deep down in my stomach began to creep up and the possibility of being duped began to sink in. The Lola was now being treated as a forgery! I felt like I came across a lost Picasso, only to be told it was a cheap re-make.
The next 24 hours, with no sleep, was excruciating yet exciting. Sending emails and photos to England every step of the way. I did what I was asked. I began sanding the body in different areas and sending pictures of what I saw. I took photos inside the tub where no fuel cell existed. I photographed suspension linkage, brake calipers, engine numbers, and the transaxle number plate as well. I was doing what I was told without a single clue of the final outcome. I finally got the last inquiry after the 23rd hour. Since the tub had been chemically stripped and painted black, it was up to me to find proof that the tub was painted green at one time. When Mark drove the car in 1969 the tub was never painted. It was polished to a mirror like finish. But when a driver named Ron Grable drove the car after Mark in 1970, it was painted green. I began disassembling the car looking for the slightest sign of green paint. I ever so lightly sanded around nooks and crannies looking for that ever-elusive color. I was beginning to believe I would never find it. Using a jet drill to clean out the center holes in cherry rivets and removing the shift linkage was the final trick. I detected small particles of green from the center of the rivets, and the very thorough stripper missed a rivet head near the linkage bracket. This was the car! I had relinquished any doubt, and the old girl was put back up on the Historic Lola Registry!
Immediately after being confirmed, I was flooded with emails from people I had never heard of. I received invitations to race in exotic locations. There were offers to sell or trade my car, but I was head strong and stayed my course. I didn‘t give in to the temptation to sell. The restoration of the T-190 was to be done by myself! “I’ll be the next lucky soul that gets to drive her!” I thought. “I have the resources and I will restore this car for myself!” I brimmed. This one was not going to go down the road after I finished her as so many have done for me in the past. After patting myself on the back, the research began. The first thing to do was to find the provenance of this old dusty Titan. Who were her custodians of the past? How many owners/drivers did this car have? What was changed and to what point in time would I restore her to? That is when I learned more of Ron Grable.
Ron was an extremely talented driver. His record in the Lola was impeccable. He was the one to beat for the first half of the 1970 Continental Championship Series in this Lola! The lack of funding was his only nemeses. Ron was chased by the likes of John Cannon, David Hobbs, George Follmer and even the great Mark Donohue in this car! These were the greatest drivers to grace the face of the earth. This was the golden age of racing when man was truly against machine. No quick shift automatic stabilizing gizmos for those guys. It was only metal, oil, and gas that made them go! Ron set the fastest track time at Edmonton, Seattle, and Dallas in the T-190. He set the track record at Laguna Seca in 1970. My car still holds the track record at Sears Point with Ron behind the wheel! Sure, it is on the old track design, but she still holds it. Ron had bested some of the greatest drivers of the time in this car, but just didn’t get the breaks others had gotten. He was one of the greats that deserved more recognition than he got. It was when I got to know Ron personally that I became a fan in the truest sense.
I couldn’t believe it when I got an email from Mr. Grable himself. At first I acted like a silly school girl. As we talked about the car, Ron and I got to know each other better. I felt that we had become friends. We were birds of a feather. Both of us striving for excellence, but not being able to grasp that proverbial brass ring of life, was our common bond. I didn’t want to wipe Ron’s memory from this spectacular car. Mark Donohue has so many great vehicles to immortalize his name in the World. Ron had fought some of the fiercest competitors in this Lola and I was not going to be the one to wipe his memory from her. This car made a name for itself with Ron in the seat. I could almost hear the car whisper to me not to put her back in Penske Blue. She was Grable green and proud of it!
Article written by: Reinhold Jung
Photography: Reinhold Jung - Plus historic records Click Here
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