I just ran across a mention of the 427 "Shelby Daytona Super Coupe" prototype. Wait, I've seen that car! In person.
I remember going to a restoration / race shop on Kalamath St in South Denver near our garbage company - I think I was supposed to drop off the check every month. Nondescript industrial neighborhood with concrete block buildings. It was mid-70's. I rode my bike down there to see what they were doing, then I stopped by in college a few times when I was home.
They restored old Ferraris, raced Cobra roadsters in vintage racing, and did a lot of restoration and race prep for wealthy owners. It was called MPH I remember, which stood for Mike’s Performance Headquarters. I was just a kid, so they humored me and let me look around and ask questions. I think I was touching distance from some pretty famous cars and didn’t know it. That was the first time I saw a new 512BB Ferrari in person - in for a tune-up.
This Shelby coupe was a crazy looking thing - way different from the well-known 289 Daytona coupes Ford raced. They had full-size body drawings on the wall while they fabricated panels with english wheel and planishing hammer. That’s the first time I saw a guy make a curved metal panel on a wheel - I was amazed.
I clearly remember them making the center light bay, headlight covers, those double-layer perspex quarter windows that are the rear brake cooling intakes, the extremely tapered roof, the fuel fillers on the rear kammback, etc etc.
I remember being told it was a Ford project, but never finished, and they were essentially building it from scratch. Now it makes sense.
They were trying to get it ready to go out to CA to unveil it for the first time, rushing to finish all the details. I think I saw it being built over a couple of summers.
So, the owner-genius of the shop was Mike Dopudja, and I’ve found several mentions of him in Ferrari searches. I read that he sold that shop in the early 2000s maybe, moved to Mesa AZ, takes care of some owner’s car collection, and plays with airplanes. Might be in his mid-late 70s now.
"Ultimately, the Type 65 Daytona Super Coupe was sold as part of a package deal when Shelby American was liquidated. After being purchased by a Kansas collector, master fabricator Mike Dopudja completed the project with guidance from Peter Brock. Unveiled at Riverside Vintage Races in 1981, it was driven on numerous occasions.”
http://www.autoblog.com/2007/01/23/2...pe-427-sold-a/
I found out he was also one of the founders of the big Colorado Grand sports car rally, and was an old Bugatti guy…
I remember going to a restoration / race shop on Kalamath St in South Denver near our garbage company - I think I was supposed to drop off the check every month. Nondescript industrial neighborhood with concrete block buildings. It was mid-70's. I rode my bike down there to see what they were doing, then I stopped by in college a few times when I was home.
They restored old Ferraris, raced Cobra roadsters in vintage racing, and did a lot of restoration and race prep for wealthy owners. It was called MPH I remember, which stood for Mike’s Performance Headquarters. I was just a kid, so they humored me and let me look around and ask questions. I think I was touching distance from some pretty famous cars and didn’t know it. That was the first time I saw a new 512BB Ferrari in person - in for a tune-up.
This Shelby coupe was a crazy looking thing - way different from the well-known 289 Daytona coupes Ford raced. They had full-size body drawings on the wall while they fabricated panels with english wheel and planishing hammer. That’s the first time I saw a guy make a curved metal panel on a wheel - I was amazed.
I clearly remember them making the center light bay, headlight covers, those double-layer perspex quarter windows that are the rear brake cooling intakes, the extremely tapered roof, the fuel fillers on the rear kammback, etc etc.
I remember being told it was a Ford project, but never finished, and they were essentially building it from scratch. Now it makes sense.
They were trying to get it ready to go out to CA to unveil it for the first time, rushing to finish all the details. I think I saw it being built over a couple of summers.
So, the owner-genius of the shop was Mike Dopudja, and I’ve found several mentions of him in Ferrari searches. I read that he sold that shop in the early 2000s maybe, moved to Mesa AZ, takes care of some owner’s car collection, and plays with airplanes. Might be in his mid-late 70s now.
"Ultimately, the Type 65 Daytona Super Coupe was sold as part of a package deal when Shelby American was liquidated. After being purchased by a Kansas collector, master fabricator Mike Dopudja completed the project with guidance from Peter Brock. Unveiled at Riverside Vintage Races in 1981, it was driven on numerous occasions.”
http://www.autoblog.com/2007/01/23/2...pe-427-sold-a/
I found out he was also one of the founders of the big Colorado Grand sports car rally, and was an old Bugatti guy…
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