Recreating History at SAAC-34

Recreating History at SAAC-34
– Greg Kolasa
C
onvention goers attending Thursday night’s welcoming mixer at
SAAC-34 got an unexpected surprise. Along with Tony Branda, Bill
Collins, John Barnes, Rick Radtke and
the SAAC Registrars, there was a shiny,
red 1967 Shelby GT500 parked in the
ballroom. A real one. Keen observers familiar with the finer points of ’67 Shelby
construction could tell from the hodgepodge assemblage of ’67 and ’66 features
that this was no ordinary ’67 GT500 (if
“ordinary” could ever be used to describe
one in the first place). The car’s display
signage confirmed that fact.
This was “V-738-2,” the prototype
1967 GT500 featured in the article
“Serendipity” (in the Winter 2009 issue of
The Shelby American) and it was being
shown to the public for the first time
after a ten-plus year restoration. Lowell
Otter, 738’s owner, his friend and Chief
Wrench Dave DeHamer, and a half-dozen
of Otter’s (hopefully not former) friends
pulled several near all-nighters getting
the car together for its debut at SAAC-34.
While their gallant efforts fell just a tad
short of producing a running car, the effect of the sleek red Shelby was, nonetheless, outstanding.
Accompanying the car were various
posters describing its unusual features,
its truly fascinating history and some of
The SHELBY AMERICAN
the promotional photography of the day
that made use of that very car. Included
were the well-known beauty shots of the
car, partnered with an attractive red-hatted brunette (used for PR photos and on
the color brochure), as well as some
slightly more obscure shots of the car
being tested at Ford’s Arizona Proving
Ground, accompanied by test pilot Chuck
Cantwell. Guests swarmed over the
unique vehicle. The next day, the red
Shelby was pushed into position on the
car show field, where the unique GT500
garnered the Chuck Cantwell Award.
Sometime on Saturday morning, the car
would be loaded back into its trailer for
the trip back to Michigan, and eventual
completion. But there was one more task
to be completed before it was whisked
away.
Several weeks before the convention,
it was becoming apparent that having V738-2 assembled in time for the convention was more than just a pipe dream, I
suggested to Lowell that we ask Chuck
Cantwell to pose with the car, recreating
the pictures taken in August of 1966 in
the Arizona desert. It didn’t take much
convincing. Chuck’s response was an enthusiastic “YES!” He even had the same
helmet he wore back then and he would
bring it with him.
The various promo shots of Chuck
and the car were gathered up and copies
were made to use as “cheat sheets” for
staging Chuck and the car. We also discussed restaging the promo shots with
the lady in the red hat but after a few
weeks worth of fruitless searching for a
vintage 1960’s equestrian-style hat (as
the model wore in the promo pictures),
the idea of the lady with the car was put
on hold. We just couldn’t find the right
type of hat, not to mention an appropriately photogenic female. But the
Cantwell pictures promised to be great
fun and we all looked forward to shooting—or rather, reshooting—them at the
convention.
As the Thursday evening get-together progressed, we gathered to discuss
the photos which would be taken the next
morning. The hotel parking lot would still
be fairly full, but there was an area
where 738 could be shoved into place
with a fairly unobtrusive background. We
agreed on 8 a.m. the following morning
and the weather looked like it would cooperate. Things were falling into place
nicely. The only regret was not being able
to stage the model shots, but the lack of
a model (not to mention that hat) still
had us stymied. Oh, for an attractive
brunette.
Then, as if by divine intervention,
the lights in the room dimmed ever so
slightly and a bright pencil beam illuminated the answer to our prayers. Well,
okay, the room lights didn’t actually dim.
And there was no pencil beam of bright
white light; but the answer to our
dilemma was right in front of us. She was
standing about ten feet away looking like
she was bored to tears listening to
Howard Pardee unreel a steady stream of
Shelby trivia. It was SAAC member and
head proofreader for The Shelby American, Yvonne Kirk.
Yvonne was perfect for our model! It
all worked: attractive, she had a hair
style that would work, a pleasant smile
FALL/2009 55
and, perhaps most important, she would
certainly be willing to “take one for the
team” and pose for the photographs. Or
so we thought. We approached her with
our plan, appropriately downplaying it so
as not to scare her away: “Just pose to
recreate some of the original ’67 promo
shots...no big deal...” Her response was
an unenthusiastic, “No way!”
ond Unit Photo Documentarians, photographing the fiasco for posterity. The
heroic test driver, being reunited with his
charge for the first time in forty-plus
years would be played by Chuck
Cantwell and the part of the pretty lady
would be played by pretty lady Yvonne
Kirk.
It was an award-winning cast if ever
few shots of the attractive Kirk for possible use in his upcoming documentary,
“Million Dollar Mustangs.” His glib
promise indicated that it was not the first
time this rake had used it on a susceptible female.
We continued shooting, concentrating on three main poses, each mimicking
an original 1967 promo photograph:
However, her resolve was no match
for the collective charm (read “badgering”) of Mathews, Pardee, Kolasa and
Otter. Seeing no immediate exit, she finally, albeit reluctantly, agreed. “Ok, just
a few. And no close-ups.” I hoped she did
not see Pardee, standing behind her rubbing his hands together in anticipation.
He had temporarily forgotten that he
would be required out at the track the following morning. To cap things off (pun intended), GT350H owner Dick Daniel
ponied up one of his brand-new, Hertz
Sports Car Club baseball caps…in bright
red, of course. We were ready to rock-androll.
The next morning, right on cue, 738
was pushed into position. As the “production crew” gathered, people started
falling into their respective roles: the
car’s proud owner stepped into the role of
renowned Hollywood director “Otter”
Preminger; Kolasa would act as Second
Unit Cameraman; Dave Mathews would
fill in as Technical Consultant; his wife
Nancy (happy the pressure was off her to
be the model), was Costuming and
Makeup and Dave DeHamer, Dom Ciliberto and Diana Duffee all filled in as Sec-
one was assembled. Nancy Mathews positioned the red hat atop Yvonne’s head
just so, and after studying the original
photos, Yvonne struck the appropriate
pose. Digital camera shutters silently
clicked away. It quickly became apparent
that an attractive lady, with a pretty red
car, was a real crowd gatherer and more
than just a handful of spectators stopped
by to see what was up. Even Alan Bolte’s
sixth sense kicked in, and he grabbed a
seated behind the wheel, leaning against
the car, and everyone’s favorite—standing behind the red Shelby, arms reaching
skyward in a pose that shouted, “Ta da!”
With every image captured on disc,
Yvonne became more and more comfortable with what was a potentially humiliating experience and actually seemed to
be enjoying herself. Soon it was all over,
but with another session out at the track
pending (oh, the busy lives of these fash-
The SHELBY AMERICAN
FALL/2009 56
fact (likely to the very month, no less)
was the same man, wearing the same
driving suit, holding the same helmet,
striking the same pose, standing in front
of the very same car! Those not present
four decades ago when the originals were
taken had a second chance to witness the
event—clearly, something that doesn’t
happen very often. More megabytes of
imagery were captured and all too soon,
the fun was over.
The production crew signaled a
wrap, 738 was winched back into its
trailer, and the crew scattered. Some
ion models!), Ms. Kirk and her entourage
headed off. Now it was Cantwell’s turn in
the glare of the spotlights.
Apparently, Chuck Cantwell is a
man loathe to throwing anything away,
and we were certainly fortunate there,
because not only did he produce the same
helmet he wore in those 1966 photos, but
he stepped into the very same, white
“Goodyear” driving suit.
The objective of this little exercise
was simple: to produce a handful of cur-
The SHELBY AMERICAN
rent-day photographs that mimicked the
original shots, without getting carried
away with the minutiae. We didn’t worry
about matching the exact angle of the
sun or shadow lines; we just wanted to be
able to put the two photographs—the
‘then’ of 1966 and the ‘now’ of 2009, sideby-side and see the resemblance.
If the images of Yvonne were eyebrow-lifting in their similarity to the ‘66
photos, those of Chuck were downright
jaw-dropping. Here, 43 years after the
went to the track, others to the hotel and
still others headed home. We turned the
images over to post-production wizard
Randy Ream and through the magic of
Photoshop, he was able to make the pictures look as if we actually knew what we
were doing, cleaning up some background
clutter that was missed in the frenzy of
activity. The results of Saturday morning’s activities at SAAC-34, the ‘then’ and
the ’now’ are, as Rod Serling used to say,
“Submitted for your approval…”
FALL/2009 57