Vintage Racer
ALL AMERICAN RACERS LOLA T160
Owner History Lola SL160/4
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SL160/4 1968-09-07 Carl Haas => Dan Gurney => Jerry Hansen (1969) => Fred Baker (1969) => Carl Haas => Orly Thornsjo (1970) => Jim Richmond (1973) => Mitch Nalda (1974) => Pete Moore (1976) => Bill Peter (1978) => Rich Mason (1985) => Dick Wyly (1986) => Bill Swope (1999) => Jim Edwards (2004) => Sam Lang (2005~Present)
Carl Haas
Carl Haas
Carl Haas imported Lola T160/4 and sold to Gurney's All American Racers Team
Dan Gurney
Lola T160/4 Riverside Oct 1968
All American Racers
From the Ford photo archive and Dave Friedman
T160/4 at the Las Vegas Stardust GP Nov 1968
The Gurney car had a unique wrap around rear spoiler - seen later when both Hansen and then Thornsjo owned the car
SL160/4 was also raced by Swede Savage seen at Bridgehampton above , and on the entry roster for Monterey below.
Jerry Hansen (1969)
Jim Maetzold, who worked for Jerry Hansen, picked the car up at AAR in Santa Clara and delivered it to Hansen. The car was purchased without the Ford engine, which had been sold previously. Hansen fitted the car with a small block Chevrolet engine and raced it still in the Gurney blue color with new graphics
Copyright 2013 Tom Schultz
The wrap around spoiler was still on the car when Hansen raced it
Black Hawk National 1969
Copyright 2013 Tom Schultz
​* Note the side draft Weber carbs​
Fred Baker (1969)
CanAm Road America 1969 #49
Orly Thornsjo (1970)
Ron Spargo, who was Orly's crew chief and mechanic from 1968 through 1974 provided the photos below, which he took at Carl Haas' shop in Chicago, when Orly bought the Hansen Lola. The car was purchased with no engine, but it had been fitted for a Chevrolet motor by Hansen. It sported the # 49 as was seen on the car when Baker raced it.
Orly seen with the car in 1970, now painted in his favorite red!
​The Hansen photos above, and Thornsjo photographs below, were provided by the noted Race Historian and Photographer Tom Schultz. Tom saw Hansen, Baker and Thornsjo racing between 1968 and 1970. He clearly remembers Orly Thornsjo telling him that he bought the T160 from Jerry Hansen, and that it was the Gurney car. The car did go to Thornsjo through Fred Baker, but it is not clear if Baker owned the car or had borrowed it.
Copyright 2013 Tom Schultz
From the 1970 Road America June Sprints: Thornsjo leading the McLaren M6B of Clif Apel up the hill from turn five to turn six.
Copyright 2013 Tom Schultz
From the 1970 Road America June Sprints: Thornsjo in turn 6
The wrap around spoiler on the Lola when Thorsjo raced it
Orly had a high speed crash at the Donnybrook race, when his rear tire broke its air seal in the middle of a turn. The car required chassis repairs, and replacement of both front and rear bodywork, with only the original doors surviving the crash. The wrap around spoiler unique to the Gurney car was not seen again in subsequent photos.
Ron says they "pulled out all the stops" and had the car repaired and on the way to Road Atlanta 10 days later!
Jim Richmond (1973)
Mitch Nalda (1974)
​Pete Moore (1976)
Moore was Mitch Nalda's mechanic who ended up with the car after Nalda died. The car had front end damage while Moore owned the car.
Bill Peter (1978)
Rich Mason (1985)

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April 14, 1986 issue of Autoweek page 46.
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The ad reads:
“Lola 160 Can-Am roadster---Chev small block, Hewland 5 speed, 58 mm side draft Webers, fire system, oil sump, $40,000 or best offer. Rich Mason 702-882-9246 NV
Bill Pound never owned the car but acted as a broker in the sale to Rich Mason
Dick Wyly (1986)
left click arrow to scroll
The side draft Webers seen on the Hansen car at Black Hawk, were on the car when Dick Wyly bought it. He sold the carbs to a guy from Texas for $7,000!
Bill Swope (1999)
Jim Edwards (2004)
Sam Lang (2005-present)
When I purchased the Lola from Jim Edwards, my intention was to freshen up the car and go racing. However, after a detailed inspection of the car, it was obvious that a rebuild would be required, and I employed the services of Bill Moir to start a complete restoration.
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I received a detailed owner history with no gaps back to Hansen and Thornsjo. We always thought the car was the AAR Gurney car, but that fact had not been clearly documented.
However, ​Ike Smith, ex Carl Haas Lola crew chief, who was helping Bill Moir with the restoration, recognized some modifications to the chassis only done to the Gurney Lola 160.

There were four holes in the rear transmission Magnesium cross member that attaches to the shocks. These holes held a bracket for the single roll bar brace that was on the AAR Lola 160. (Note the identical roll bar configuration in the photos above of both the Hansen and Thornsjo cars.)



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There was also a neatly detailed modification to the side of the chassis to allow room for the Ford engine starter motor.

Ike clearly remembered the modifications, and once he learned of the ownership history back to Thornsjo, he knew it was the AAR Lola T160.

The photo of the starter cutout was recently shown to Dan Gurney, and Phil Remington the fabricator who worked on his cars, and they confirmed that the modification was done by AAR . Dan was gracious enough to authenticate the photo with his signature.
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Although much of the bodywork on the car had been replaced over the years, the original doors were still on the car. Careful removal of the outer layers of paint revealed dark blue underneath consistent with the original blue on the AAR T160.
New information recently provided by Ron Spargo, and Jim Meatzold, now included in the owner history above, solidifies the lineage of SL T160/4 and answers a couple of minor questions regarding the early history of the car.
(See the "Restoration ..." page for more details on the disassembly and the rebuild which is underway )
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