Gordon Spice Plymouth 'Cuda
Discussion
Hello, I am wondering if anyone has any information or photos of the 1970 Plymouth Hemi Cuda that Gordon Spice raced at the Martini International Meeting on the 12 of May 1974 ? (where he did not finish). I am reliably informed that it was not the same car as that raced by Tony Lanfranchi in that era as that car was in France at the time. I have a friend in France who is researching and documentimg the European circuit racing 'Cudas with the intention of writing a book about them. Thank you and here is a picture of Tony Lanfranchi's Cuda if it jogs some memories... 
Interesting post and great photo ! Ime pretty sure that T. Landranchii sadly passed away , but I beleive he had a brother ?
As a young teenager i was a. Big fan of Gordon Spice and his Capri exploits , but wasn't aware that he raced a Hemi Cuda . But he must have raced lots of different cars . He wrote a book , which I havnt been able to get , " Life Of Spice " , i think its called , perhaps there is mention I'n there of it ?
I am very keen to know what happened to his 73 Avon Tour Yellow 3 Litre Capri , if anyone knows ?
As a young teenager i was a. Big fan of Gordon Spice and his Capri exploits , but wasn't aware that he raced a Hemi Cuda . But he must have raced lots of different cars . He wrote a book , which I havnt been able to get , " Life Of Spice " , i think its called , perhaps there is mention I'n there of it ?
I am very keen to know what happened to his 73 Avon Tour Yellow 3 Litre Capri , if anyone knows ?
I will try and answer most of the points brought up in this brief thread. First of all, Tony Lanfranchi does indeed have a brother called Peter. I was talking about a mutual friend in a ski lift in Switzerland one day and this voice pipes up - it was unmistakably a Lanfranchi!
The Lanfranchi Hemicuda pictured is French registered (92) from the Boulogne suburb south-west of Paris, if that's a help.
Gordon mentions his Hemicuda briefly on pages 73 and 75 of his amusing book, Life of Spice. He says (I hope I'm allowed to quote) 'The encouraging result on the (1973) Avon Tour inspired Stan (Robinson of Wisharts of Crook) to greater things, and this took the form of a massive American Plymouth Hemicuda for 1974.' He then leaves the Hemicuda to talk about how he met his eventual wife Mandy.
Two pages later, he continues on the Hemicuda '1974 was a bleak season. The only thing vaguely funny about the huge Hemicuda was some journalist wag's headline: 'Gordon's got a whopper.' We never managed to get the car sorted, and whilst the engine was powerful, we couldn't get it to run reliably. After much testing and one DNF appearance at Silverstone the car was sold.'
And that's it, I'm afraid. He doesn't mention who prepared the engine for the Capri either, only that the car was prepared by the excellent team of Dave Cook and Peter Clark, later CC Racing Developments. However, I have to admit that I haven't yet read the book from cover to cover. Hope that helps a little.
The Lanfranchi Hemicuda pictured is French registered (92) from the Boulogne suburb south-west of Paris, if that's a help.
Gordon mentions his Hemicuda briefly on pages 73 and 75 of his amusing book, Life of Spice. He says (I hope I'm allowed to quote) 'The encouraging result on the (1973) Avon Tour inspired Stan (Robinson of Wisharts of Crook) to greater things, and this took the form of a massive American Plymouth Hemicuda for 1974.' He then leaves the Hemicuda to talk about how he met his eventual wife Mandy.
Two pages later, he continues on the Hemicuda '1974 was a bleak season. The only thing vaguely funny about the huge Hemicuda was some journalist wag's headline: 'Gordon's got a whopper.' We never managed to get the car sorted, and whilst the engine was powerful, we couldn't get it to run reliably. After much testing and one DNF appearance at Silverstone the car was sold.'
And that's it, I'm afraid. He doesn't mention who prepared the engine for the Capri either, only that the car was prepared by the excellent team of Dave Cook and Peter Clark, later CC Racing Developments. However, I have to admit that I haven't yet read the book from cover to cover. Hope that helps a little.
i used to work for wisharts they were a ford retail dealer,ido some where have a photo of the plymouth in its stp livery, ialso have some photos of the capris that gordon spice drove,the very first capris were looked after by the lads at the garage pete clark did not look after them till they were very late mk2s which werein m and m plant hire livery i should have some photos of these as well,will look for these and submit them
JoeBolt said:
Slightly off topic, but that crash helmet looks like a Griffin Clubman. I don't think Griffin makes motorcycle/motorsport helmets any more. I've had two, the second one (a red one) I bought in 1983. I still have it, on top of the wardrobe in my bedroom.
I remember Sir Nick Williamson (British Hillclimb Champion 1970 & 72 wore a Griffin because it allowed him to smoke a cigarette while queueing to do his runs. Sadly no longer with us, unfortunately.G
Anyone interested in the French racing Cudas, here is a link by my friend researching the cars. Click on the attachments for pictures;
http://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?C...
http://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?C...
I had 2 Griffin Clubman helmets, an HP and an International (1 notch below F1 at the time!) as they were the only decent make I could find that fitted my head comfortably!
Fell off my bike (only 10mph on ice) days after buying the International and put a scratch on the ali trim round the bottom on the righthand side - really upset me!
Fell off my bike (only 10mph on ice) days after buying the International and put a scratch on the ali trim round the bottom on the righthand side - really upset me!
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