Original
"King Carrera" 1959 Carrera GT
May 17, 2005
One
of Bruce's last rides in his original, short-course '59
This is
one of Bruce Jennings' famous Carrera GT Speedsters and it's
in "as raced, original" condition. The interior
is original, the drive train (Bruce's trick stuff) is original,
and most of the paint is original. The car has been raced,
whacked, crashed into a few things, and only spot repaired
after each incident. The paint match is only as good as Bruce
cared about at the time. Bruce's cars were mechanically perfect
and mostly second to none.
This is
a more current shot without the top installed.
Bruce's
original personalized plates are still on the car.
Bruce
used an RS-60 steering wheel because it was stronger than
the original Carrera wheel. This steering wheel alone is probably
worth about $10,000. Just one of the reasons why this car
is still so cool.
This is
not the original engine. Bruce took new cases, barrels and
pistons, and heads to form his own demon engines. This is
one of Bruce's trick engines.
The car looks good
in the pictures because you can't see the dings and nicks.
But it looks even
better when you're up close and you can see all of Bruce's
racing road rash.
King Carrera at
his best behind the wheel of a GT.
Below
is an excert from Hal Thoms' book, Porsche
Racing Milestones.
Thanks Hal, we took the liberty to use this story from your
great book!
It's a must for the Porsche fan to have Porsche
Racing Milestones in their library.
A
Speedster first at Laguna
On November 10, 1957, Laguna Seca’s first racing event
was held before an estimated 60,000 race fans. The newly opened
facility would see the 356 Speedster legend born there in
grand style as thirty-two cars would take the green flag in
the twenty lap event for under-1500cc production cars. It
proved an easy win for Skip Hudson in his Carrera Speedster,
averaging 65 m.p.h. for the 38 mile race. Porsche 356s took
the first five places.
For several years- from the late ‘50s to early ‘60s-
a Vasek Polak-prepared Carrera Speedster, driven by Jay Hills,
competed on California’s race tracks from Santa Barbara
to Riverside, Pomona to Hanford. Their reign of podium finished
for class wins is legendary on the West Coast. Many, many
more competed in both the pushrod and Carrera versions.
One man, however, stands much taller than all the rest. Bruce
Jennings became known as “King of the Carrera Speedsters”.
In 1955, two weeks after his friend Duncan Black took Jennings
to a sports car race, he purchased his first Speedster, a
1500 Normal. He worked on the car during the 1956 season,
Black drove it at Watkins Glen, New York, for Bruce. It did
not finish the race, but no matter. Jennings was excited and
on his way with the racing fever.
In early 1957, after competing in novice races at Marlboro
and Cumberland, Jennings obtained his race license. He soon
bought a 4-cam Carrera engine for less than $1,000. He was
quickly learning how to maintain the complex 4-cam engine
and also how to drive. By the end of the season Jennings had
taken a 5th in an SCCA race at Danville, Connecticut, scoring
his first national points.
1958 was another year of learning for Jennings. He “totaled”
his 1955 Speedster but fortunately for Bruce, Emanuel Pupilidy
dominated the SCCA’s F production class championship
and left racing, putting his GT Carrera Speedster up for sale.
Jennings bought it.
Jennings had earlier met Heinz Bade, a former motorcycle and
factory VW mechanic. Bade had worked successfully “tricking-out”
other Speedsters, and after the 1958 season he and Jennings
began working together. Over the winter Jennings, with the
aid of Bade’s knowledge, was ready with the 1958 Carrera
GT Speedster for the ’59 racing season. He made a tremendous
start to the new season, winning the first race at Danville.
At the next race at Cumberland, he started 34th due to a bad
“draw-out-of-a-hat”, as many grids were determined
in those days. He drove through the entire field, catching
Harry Blanchard- who has started from the pole in another
Carrera Speedster- on the final lap of the race! With extreme
pressure from Jennings, Blanchard “overcooked”
his brakes and spun out. That gave Jennings what he says was
the greatest drive to victory in his career. These early races
were the highlights of the ’59 season, as later results
saw many DNFs that year. But even with the poor finishes it
was obvious he was becoming a serious contender.
1960 was Jennings’ first National Championship, winning
the “C” production crown. In an amazing year,
not only did he win the final C/P race of the year at Daytona
for the Championship, he also won the event overall, a combined
race which included A and B production Ferraris and Corvettes.
That year Jennings won 26 National and Regional SCCA races,
winning the C/P crown by a slim margin of 2 points over Bill
Romig in another Carrera Speedster.
1960 had been tough, but a real challenge came for the 1961
season when the Carrera Speedsters were bumped up to “B”
production. Jennings decided to take on the powerful Corvettes.
By now he had several Carrera Speedsters in his stable, including
short-course (chassis #84950), medium course, and long course
racers. They all were set up with different suspensions, gears,
exhausts, and engines. He had an up and down season which
included a major wreck at Watkins Glen, and finished in 5th
place in the B/P Championship. Dick Thompson won it with his
factory-supported Corvettes.
Jennings also competed in B production in 1962 and ’63,
finishing second nationally in ’62, and third nationally
in B/P in ’63. That year Jennings also ran in E/P with
a pushrod Speedster on Earl Wenger’s team, and association
that lasted until 1968.
Jennings worked with the Porsche Corporation of America, which
lead to several improvements on the Carrera Speedsters. Jennings
had gone from the 40 DCM Weber carbs to the larger type 46
IDMs. He installed Spyder drum brakes on the rear and annular
disc brakes up front. He also preferred running the roller-bearing
engines over the plain-bearing type, with type 692 engine
cases. Many modifications were also made on the car’s
suspension components. His contemporaries wondered how he
went so fast, and many of the tuning secrets developed by
Jennings and Bade were never revealed.
In 1964, Bruce and his latest Carrera Speedster were returned
to C production, and together they won their final National
Championship, beating the Lotus Super 7 of Dave Clark, 51
points to 33.
Beginning in 1965, the SCCA began its “Runoffs”
which were held to determine National Champions. Jennings
never attended, although he had qualified for them in 1965,
’66, ’67, and ’68. He believed that to determine
a National Champion, results should come from more than just
one race. Bruce Jennings finally retired his Carrera Speedsters
at the end of the 1970 season. “King Carrera”
had one of the most impressive runs for any Porsche racing
model, ever. His tenure as a top competitor lasted well over
a decade!
This Porsche
Carrera GT is the most original, most raced and has the most
wins for any non-restored speedster in the world. Unless someone
can find another, better than Bruce Jennings, "King Carrera"
GT, which they won't, I'll take back what I just said. It's
not everyday a car like this is offered for sale. This one
won't be cheap, but there ain't one better....period!
If interested,
call Kevin at (561) 844-8482
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