Ameritech F1 modification parts...

[Peloton25]

Not sure how many of you are regular viewers over on FerrariChat, but there is a long running "McLaren F1 pics" thread in their 'Showroom' forum that sees occasional activity over there. All of the pics that are in that thread have found there way here at some point - often at much higher resolutions, so from an image standpoint you aren't really missing out on anything.

The discussion, at least from my perspective is usually an interesting one with people asking different questions or sharing little bits of their own info from time to time. A lot of it is repeating ground we have already plowed, sometimes several times, and again nothing earth shattering usually. If there was something new, myself or Chris or Greg or Al who have all participated at one point in it, would surely port those details over here as I am doing now.

Recently it's been 'on fire' for lack of a better term, and yesterday a new user mentioned having a crate with parts from one of the Ameritech F1s in his possession.

This evening he emailed me some photos of them - quite impressive I think, even if in use they did make the F1s look like a complete 'ugly duckling'. One thing that I learned now is that in addition to the front bumper-ettes that were fitted and seen in the infamous Ameritech F1 photo in Road&Track, is that Amerispec also created a piece to tack onto the rear bumper as well.







As you can see, they have been fixed into a rather impressive custom storage crate for long term preservation and the box is marked 'DO NOT SELL' but obviously these didn't stay with the car when it moved on.

He's on the East coast of Florida, but I have a strong suspicion these parts came off of one of Gerd Petrik's F1s - perhaps chassis #045? When he first mentioned them he stated "They are painted the dark gray color" which leads me to believe they aren't a bright silver like the other 6 Ameritech F1s would have been.

He has mentioned that he can try to take them out of the crate for better photos, and I have asked that he do so if not too inconvenient, so we will see what comes of that.

As a piece of "F1 history" I think him finding these and sharing them is really quite cool. Hopefully you'll agree, even though some might think tossing a match in the box might also be a good idea.

>8^)
ER

[mini magic]

That was quick

[svxit]

Peloton, many thanks for posting these picts. I'd been following the thread on Fchat and found it very interesting. I'd always figured the bumpers were drilled in but that the owners just replaced them with unscathed bumpers after they were registered ... small price to pay to have an F1 in the country. But the thread fleshed out quite a bit on AmeriSpec's conversion, so many thanks!

[Peloton25]

Sure thing - I was really just a lucky bystander there frankly. He did thank me via email for "encouraging him to share" - so I guess my 'love-love-love' comment did the trick. See, it doesn't hurt to beg...

Originally Posted by svxit

I'd always figured the bumpers were drilled in but that the owners just replaced them with unscathed bumpers after they were registered ... small price to pay to have an F1 in the country.

I was told long ago by someone who had worked for Amerispec at the time the F1s came in that all of these changes were designed so as not to alter the cars in any permanent way. There were no additional holes drilled, and no wires clipped to make it all work. I suspect that other than a few we've seen with Ameritech VIN stickers, that there are no signs of the 'molestation' present on them today.

= = = = = =

For those who might not already be following the FChat thread, I posted these old images of #045 there for reference on why I think the pieces in his crate were from that car. Paint color seems to match exactly in my opinion.











However, there are also several shots of #045 that give more of a titanium/brown tinge to the color, so perhaps I am off on my guess. He's trying to find out the original story on where exactly the parts came from, what car they came off of, and why they are at his shop. Hopefully whatever discussions he has will again return some interesting stuff for us.

>8^)
ER

[hurstg01]

[svxit]

Originally Posted by Peloton25

For those who might not already be following the FChat thread, I posted these old images of #045 there for reference on why I think the pieces in his crate were from that car. Paint color seems to match exactly in my opinion.
ER

Actually, I agree with you. I still have the DuPont Registry when the cars were put up for sale, and I do remember them both being this titanium color, not a bright silver. As soon as I saw the pictures, it immediately reminded me of the color of Petrik's cars. On separate notes, I did think it odd that he got both cars the same color ... but I'm not complaining. And, I take it AmeriSpec had to add the big, bright "Unleaded" stick-ons on the gas cap? Wow...

[Peloton25]

You have an ad showing both cars and it isn't this dinky little image, that I have already blown up with very poor results?



Actually the cars were different shades - #045 is "Dark Silver" and #067 was "Magnesium Silver" which would be a brighter color. You can kind of see the differences in that tiny image, though its not the best representation for sure.

>8^)
ER

[mini magic]

The shadows in that pic are throwing me off. Are you sure its not a [good] photoshop?

[Peloton25]

On the page it appeared on originally, it's about the size of a postage stamp, so no - I can not be sure it's not an altered image. It does appear there was a printing error near the rear wheel on #045, which certainly doesn't help.

Here's the page I pulled it from, along with scans of three other ads featuring Petrik's McLarens printed around the same time. The second scan definitely has the same car twice, done by simply flipping the image horizontally.



>8^)
ER

[mini magic]

It actually looks better in that scan. Thanks

[Peloton25]

LOOK WHAT I JUST STUMBLED ON!!!!!



Gerd's Exotic Cars (Set)

>8^)
ER

[hurstg01]

^ nice find!

[cabrio92]

+1 and nice color

[hurstg01]

Anyone want to buy them?



(too rich for me.....)

[XterraRacer]

You'd need a barge to transport all the horses that provide the power that 1 car does.