1958 Macminn LeMans Coupe
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- Опубліковано 14 січ 2024
- The only remaining example of Strother MacMinn's 1958 LeMans Coupe, saved from a California field by long time friends Dennis Kazmerowski and Alan Fudge.
Vintage JLG Episodes featured in this video:
• 1967 Lamborghini Miura...
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A new video every Monday! Visit Jay Leno's Garage, the Emmy-winning series where Jay Leno gives car reviews, motorcycle reviews, compares cars, and shares his passion and expertise on anything that rolls, explodes, and makes noise. Classic cars, restomods, super cars like the McLaren P1, sports cars like Porsche 918 Spyder and Camaro Z28, cafe racers, vintage cars, and much, much more. - Авто та транспорт
I would just like to thank everyone for their kind comments . As the builder of this car with the group friends that helped me along the way --IT HAS BEEN A AMAZING TRIP --Jay Leno's guys are so professional and they made us feel right at home from the start. What always amazes me is the knowledge JAY has on so many car related subjects . TRULY A CAR GUYS GUY . WE SHOULD BE HONORED TO HAVE AN AMBASSADOR LIKE HIM KEEPING OUR DREAMS ALIVE -------------THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH ----DENNIS KAZ
Did you drive it back to NJ ? lol. I agree with an earlier comment that you and the Lemans Coupe would have made a nice extended episode.
Congratulations Dennis! Ya done good!
Beautiful car Kaz! Thank you for restoring this beauty. I now have a favorite car 👍
Beautiful job.
Magical work, Kaz. What you started with was unrecognisable as a car, let alone the sylphen beauty you conjured from the ashes. Thank you.
Interesting that they didn’t mention how much the front looks like a Corvette from the late 60s-70s. The design was a decade ahead of the 68 Corvette, amazing.
I came here to say this. This car was WAY ahead of it's time, aesthetically.
Opal as well.
I saw it too. I actually owned a 79" vette in 2015 that looked exactly like this in everyway except headlight cutouts and a tad shorter fron end and less extended rear. Could have been this car's young sister. It was a comfortable JOY to ride. No regrets.
There's some Jaguar E-type in it also. Prophetic design.
Yup. The whole car resembles a much later vette or even multiple years of them, the rear from one year the nose from another. And yeah, this car is a decade ahead of the rest.
Man, if i had that car in my garage I would just sit and stare at it for hours every day, absolutely beautiful.
Smoking cigar and drinking whiskey
You stare at it, I'll drive it
Jay, I love your videos! Objectively, this is an ugly car, like many, many (most) sports cars, including many Ferrari's, Jaguars, etc! However, they all could be great with minor design corrections. Case in point: getting rid of the 'oval' around the front wheels of this car would be the first step, the inward placed wheels next....It all looks a bit silly. Like everything human, good taste is given only to a few!
Ok who is this Stevie Wonder? Mr Magoo? Perhaps Ray Charles back from the recently departed? - the XJ13 replica is beautiful things to look at this is just hideous - it's up there with the Marcos Mantis and Fiat Multipla.
@@Leonardo-ql1quUgly? You are not a car guy.
Mac was an amazing man! I had the privilege of being one of his students at Art Center back in the late 1980s. I learned a ton from him! And, he was one of the nicest guys you’d ever meet.
You're a fortunate man! Always wanted to attend Art Center. MacMinn's work looks so effortless. Two Strother sketches are among my prize possessions, along with a Richard Arbib concept sketch from his time at Packard, I think during the time he was dating Bettie Page.
@@Nicks66ServiceNow that would be a hell of a ride with Bettie Page in this wounderful car back in the 50's!
Damn it, where's my time machine!!!?
What was it like 112 years old at the time lol you’ve got to learn from the master that’s like somebody learning from Frank loydd Wright!
Good to know that the chap was not just a nice designer, but also a nice person. Those two do not go together that often.
Props to the painter. That is a great finish.
Restoring an old weather beaten fibre glass body and then painting it black. There's a challenge.
@@johanbjork1650 Amen to that. Done red before. Took so much to get it to not be pink lmfao. I can only imagine the struggle of such a dark shade.
They told us how many days they had in building it. But how many hours wet sanding, 5,000,000,000 ? They couldn`t afford a headliner when they decided on black.@@Cemi_Mhikku
looks like a piece of smoked candy
Years ago I told the owner he should get this painted in black.
So glad he took my advice or this video would never have happened.
Props to me!
The GM designers who penned the Mako Shark must have had images of this car hanging on every wall of their studios! Another beautiful car, thanks for sharing 😊
yeah read my comment and I own a Silver L82.....
Larry Shinoda, another legendary designer.
The fact that this design is 70 years old is mind blowing.
ANd yet today mfr cant make a unique vehicle. All look the same to me....boring
More like 75 years!
The front end really reminds me of the C3 Corvette. Jay you hit another home run on this feature car. The owners that have so often let you be the first person driving their creation. You are the ultimate car guy. No one could even dream of the collection of cars, motorcycles, and a team of talented people that restore and keep your vehicles in tip top shape.
The two men and the people that came alongside them to bring this car to completion are amazing. Jay were it not for your decision to create Jay Leno's Garage people like myself would have missed out on so many unique, rare, and exceptional cars.
A Big Thanks to You!
It is such a difficult sure when you're giving millions of dollars for seeing a couple of silly jokes and sitting there and talking to people who are known and not necessarily for any good reason to be revered and pay big money for nonsense joking around!
@@lotusjplet’s not forget that when the studio was wanting to shut the show down due to money issues Jay gave himself a cut in pay of half his salary to keep all of the people that worked on his show employed thus saving everyone’s home and possibly family units by giving the people jobs to support themselves. A Good and Kind man. The world could use more people like him.
A Corvette C3 for the length and an Opel GT for the width
thought the same its like a C3 and an E-Type had a child
@@lotusjp what language is your comment in? Non sequitur.
I had Strother as an instructor at Art Center. He had such a great enthusiasm for design. A legend.
Wow, learning from him must be quite a student of Frank Loyd Wright you are very fortunate
I have to give props to whoever does the lighting in Jay's garage. The cars always look great.
Look up at the ceiling . . . there is where the magic happens. It is a huge 'soft box' that gets the job done. Very rare bit of kit.
11q❤😊
W 7868...........and every video is color corrected properly .
The real props should go to the guy who saw this at Pebble Beach and said "Derr you should put it on Lenos Garage 🤪"
He's the real hero here.
@@stevenkelby2169 it would be worthy of praise, except that never happened
I don’t recall any car from 1958 that looked like this car. What a fabulous design!
BY FAR the coolest thing Jay has ever had on the show. Wow.
nothing does a build like this justice but a drive…so thank you to the gentleman that let us all see & hear it actually drive! EXCELLENT EPISODE!!!
Congrats to the two gents, and to Jay for always helping the regular folks get some recognition in this busy world of annoying influencers that don't have this level of passion.
Wow! I never thought I would see the MacMinn LeMans Coupe on the road. The sound of that engine! We took my dad to see it when it was being shown at the Petersen Automotive Museum. My dad got a little emotional and we spent a long time enjoying the view while he told us stories about the car's history and the journey Dennis "Kaz" had in restoring it. Impeccably beautiful paint. After hearing about the LeMans Coupe all my life, I felt honored to be able to see the only one left, in person. Much thanks to Dennis, Alan, and Jay for allowing the world to see this rare piece of automotive history.
My dad worked with the builder of the first, red LeMans Coupe that was on the cover of Road & Track, Alton Johnson. He helped Alton throughout the build and was there when the R&T photos were taken on an on-ramp to the then new 91 Frwy. Alton's car had a 4-speed 327 CI Corvette engine and Triumph front discs. At some point after the car was finished, the two of them tracked the car at Riverside Raceway.
Alton and his buddy were driving it in Malibu Canyon when the right front brake seized. The car spun around and went over the cliff backwards, but not before the cable rail caught the two men and pulled them out of the car on its way over the edge. Decades later, a cleanup crew was down in the canyon and they came across a bunch of pieces of a red fiberglass car. No one there knew the significance of the mangled pieces and so they were brought up and thrown in a dumpster. It was just coincidence that someone who knew about Alton's car spoke with a person who was on that cleanup crew and found out what had happened to the remains.
On one of the "test" drives around 1 AM in Simi Valley, my dad and Alton decided to race a freight train that was going full speed, from its caboose to the engine. The tach got up to about 5800 RPMs. Since there was no speedometer in the car, they calculated they hit 170 MPH that night.
There's so much more history on Strother MacMinn and his designs, the three known cars that were finished, and the men who took on Strother's challenge to build a car that could win at LeMans, but this post is long enough. I really enjoyed this video and getting to see Dennis and Alan.
The roofline and rake of the windscreen are straight influence from the Phantom corsair car. Just an incredible find and story and amazing restoration.
I saw this car at Pebble Beach last year and told the owners of this 1/1 custom built beauty they should put it on JLG. They said 'good idea, we'll meet with him later anyway'. I'm glad they took my advice
🤦🏼♂️
JLG = Jay Leno's Garage
😂🤣😂
Things that never happened
You did it!
BS 😂
Jaw dropping gorgeous. This is an epic American creation. Strother’s influence on style continues to this day.
Never did find out about the frame construction??? Would have loved to have seen it on the lift. Wonderful automobile.
That car looks like it's going a hundred miles an hour when it's sitting still !❤ I absolutely love it
No other show does this so well. Thank you Jay and the owners of this car.
I love Jay Leno’s knowledge of everything he introduces
He does research.
@@EndeavorsDnBresourceful indeed
That’s why this channel is so popular. He’s a real car guy
He sure didn't know that a 66 dodge coronet was a midsized car,or that it wasn't body on frame as he stated on video....
Needs knowledge to change clothes
I would love to see actual wind tunnel results on the car. It would be so interesting, no matter the result!
definitely. also please check out aubrey de grey
This car needs to be revived! I've never felt so passionately for a car or design from the past.
Has a C3 corvette Maserati/Citroen mix here on the body. The interior is beautiful. This must have been so alien to everyone in 1958. Cool car.
Yeah the interior is beautiful especially the view of the fiberglass texture on the roof line... Also why are U insulting Maserati and Citroen designers! By comparing them to Corvette or American know how which doesn't exist! When it comes to design!
Wow, what a piece of art by Strother! I showed my wife the before and after shots, and she was flabbergasted by the unbelievable restoration by Alan and Dennis; just stunning! Thank you two for bringing this piece of history to the Garage, and thanks to Jay and crew for another fantastic episode!✌️❤️🙂🇨🇦
Really love how much Jay gushed over that car 😊 they did an excellent job
One of the most beautiful cars I’ve ever seen.
It is something isn't it. American contemporary. As lenno mentioned the two worlds European and American sort of evolved independently of each other.
What a beauty. Pure artwork. Glad this was brought back to life.
It’s amazing that it was salvageable at all, that’s an incredible amount of dedication and knowledge to achieve this.
Soon as I saw the C1 hubcaps and heard that exhaust note I knew it was the 283. THIS is the sound of the hot rod era then
Great history....if this car can be driven in ghetto LA areas so can any classic car, theres no excuse!
FOund out the hard way tomorrow you can become crippled and beyond broke...better get those memories in while you can, they dont happen in the garage or a picture. The sounds this car makes are just pure awesome...wow
Art, sculpture, machine, and sound in harmony.
I was a kid that waited with feverish anticipation for the new Road and Track and Car and Driver in the mail. I would rush home from school to check the mail. The cars were the fuel for so many dreams of mine as a kid. You brought them flooding back talking about it. Great times in car history.
What a beautiful car. I can't believe how cool a design this is. What a cool piece of history.
I cut some concrete inside Chip's shop one time not too long ago. I got to look at his car collection, and there were some GREAT cars in there!
I've been a car nerd for over 30+ years. I've never seen or heard about this beauty! Wow. Just wow. Thanks Jay for this unbelievable episode, what a ride!!
Righteous, what a beautiful job! When they took the hood off at almost brought tears to my eyes. But it did bring a big smile across my face. I must say, thank goodness for a friend with a lift!
Another well done video. Kaz, this is a beautiful car. My friend, Dave Cummins, was a student at the Art Center and studied under Strother MacMinn. He respected the man's awesome talent and was familiar with this design. Dave became Chief Designer at Chrysler. He is now retired here in Tucson.
Thank you Jay, and Mr Kazmerowski and Mr Fudge, for that matter, for bringing us these snippets of Automotive History. This is a beautiful car and my God, that sound. Thank you.
I am almost speechless... that car is so beautiful on every level.
WOW!!! This car is WOW!!! I had the opportunity to see it at the Petersen Museum and in person this car is MAGNIFICENT!!! The lines, the paint color, the interior (I could go on and on) are AMAZING! It is obvious a lot of time, effort and heart went into restoring this body and bringing it back to life 👏👏👏😃😃
Very few people alive today have anywhere near Strother MacMinn's knowledge of vehicle history although Jay Leno is certainly one. As a former student, I'm happy to see MacMinn's legacy honored with the resurrection of this LeMans Coupe.
That's a work of Art ! Really beautiful. Designed in 1958 !!?? Very advanced
No designed in 1950!!!
What a fantastic car!!...Hats off to all involved in saving this jewel....and what a great exhaust note!
Incredible design...stunning workmanship...Great Jay showcases projects like this.
His segments are always tops
One of the most beautiful cars I have ever seen. Jay, thank you for bringing this to all of us! The passion from the builder, Dennis, is admirable. And I really appreciated his thanks to all of the people who helped him along the way. These two men seem like class acts and the car is just amazing!! One of my favorite videos on this channel to date!
The sound of the car I could listen to all day!
Cheers to Chip & Dennis & the many people who brought this historic beauty back to life.
The fragile, ghost-like creation is a unique melding of historic automotive restoration, fantasy & art.
Many thanks also, to our host, Jay Leno, who should be honoured some day , with an annual car show, filled with variety, history & class.
You can see inspiration from so many cars that went into designing this, as well as inspiration that was taken from it and put into cars made since. Such a beauty, well done!
It is so beautiful, sounds so good an impeccable restoration, I’m not sure when someone moves from body man to Artist, but this car is rolling Art!!!❤️❤️❤️👍👍👍
The body/paint was done in about 35 days by a true artist Mr Joseph j gries
Good job, one of the most aesthetic vehicles I have ever seen in my life...
From any era...
Amazing piece of automotive History. And thanks to Jay, thousands if not millions of people can appreciate it rather than just a handful that might see it at an auto show.
Dennis, it has always been my position that cars have always been an incarnation of American art. The American love affair with cars has been reflected in some really beautiful pieces of what I refer to as "rolling art." Cars as diverse as the Cord, the Mako Shark predecessor to the quintessential 'Vette, the '57 Chev and the '69 Lincoln Mk III that truly show American style and imagination. The list is endless.
I want to thank you and your friends for literally bringing back from the dead a superb piece of design genius from the '50s. The design is timeless and the fit and finish (and that paint choice) are beautiful. You guys _created_ a piece of art that was dead and gone and there are not sufficient words... only thank you.
It is only fitting that you should present it on the premises of one of America's major custodians of vehicular art, Jay Leno who is exactly as you described him, a car guy's car guy!
I AGREE
A real piece of HISTORY. A real piece of ART. A real piece of AUTOMOTIVE ARCHEOLOGY. WONDERFUL video !!!
Jay is so smart when it comes to cars. If you notice he doesn't mess with junk duds. "Jay knows what time it is "
I don't think I would ever want to get out of it ❤ the looks the colour the sound ,just lovely!
I'm older than Jay and remember waiting for the latest issues. Lost all my magazines in '82. The internet is amazing but there was something special about them. Mine were all worn. This car is so absolutely beautiful. Job well done. Thank you
Me too but mine were all mint. My ex put them all in boxes and put them in the basement without my knowledge. I found them years later after she was finally gone. Basically compost, that basement flooded almost every spring. I was devastated.
I'm so thankful that there's still gentlemen around to invest their time and money into keeping these rare important cars in my world.
I grew up with a treasured copy of MacMinn's 1959 "Sports Cars of the Future", which features his drawings of this coupe on the cover and more delicious artwork inside. Missing from this body are the split rear windows with the bat fin, chrome form-fitting bumpers and the headlight nacells on the upper fenders. I can understand (historically) not modifying this body, but I would love to see a creation of the Le Mans coupe exactly as drawn. As ever, Jay, you deliver!
That's some real craftsmanship and dedication. End result is pure beauty. What a thing to look at!
whoever the guy that did the fiberglass is, he really made a strait smooth job
This car was done in about 35 days body and paint by a good friend of mine Mr Joseph j gries Manahawkin nj thank you. Rb
This is my favorite car that’s been on the show hands down what a beautiful piece of art!!!!
One can tell right away that Jay got smitten by this amazing piece.
I remember seeing it at speed week getting unloaded off a truck, not having a clue what it was. It was truly a stunning design
Amazing stuff, To build something so wonderful from just a bit of shell is so impressive and saved a piece of history. Love these kinds of things.
2 minutes and I'm crying high octane gasoline! I love car design... I love your passion... excellent content
That's a wild design for 1958! ❤
This looks like baby child of a Bugatti 57S Atlantic and a ‘68 Corvette.
Absolutely gorgeous from any angle you see it. Pure brilliance.
Just the vision to bring this car back to life, the sound, the color, it all works..great piece of American Automotive history
This is an awesome looking car, I like watching JL garage, because of the unique and beautiful cars he owns or has access to, and give us a brief history of them.
Can't help but feel this car would have won Le Mans. She looks stunning and the build is exemplary. That engine bay is a lesson in minimalism. The guys who built this deserve recognition. Jay has a nose for the right thing.
The paint is just incredible. My cousin is a highly skilled professional restorer, and that is as good as it gets. Fiberglass? Bonus points
I intended to just watch the intro to hear the motor and come back later - but stayed, transfixed, until the end.
A scale replica would sell like hotcakes.
Excellent job, and tganks for bringing this out for us, Jay.
This car was done body and paint in about 35 days by a friend of mine Mr Joseph j gries from Manahawkin nj 08050
@@user-qh5ki6pz4r he should've signed that. Black is so hard to get right, and that car went through the wringer beforehand.
Such a cool story.
Hi thank you very much, I did take some work to get this finish , also o know the car does look like it is black, its not , it's a newer BMW color that was picked out by Dennis, its more of a root beer / plum , closest match would be in the pontiac colors. Note: I did leave my mark on it. Thank you. Joe gries
OMG is this beautiful! This is extraordinary! Thank you for featuring this and sharing it with us.
I am not a car guy but somehow got recommended this video. Glad I did. Stunning design. The lines, the proportions. Gorgeous car.
An amazing car built by two guys that love the craft and thrill. I'm sure Jay was a little conservitive driving it, but those little 283's are some great engines.
Beautiful car! Struther MacMInn was my favorite teacher when I was a student at Art Center College of Design back in the mid 80's. He was a truly great designer and a kind and professional teacher. He made it fun to learn.
I have never seen something that fascinating considering shape. Beautiful work of pure art.
I’m so glad, stoked, looking forward to see what’s new and restored out there Jay, thanks again for showing us this incredible work of art. Let’s thank them, the builders also for their efforts . Wow!!!
Looks like the inspiration for the GRX in a Speed Racer episode "Fastest Car on Earth."
A labor of love and it shows. Beautiful execution, a real piece of history but boy, it sounds PERFECT!
when you look at some of the fiberglass kits from the late 40s and into the 60s you see a lot designs that are somewhat similar and also some that showed up later in production cars. just shows that some of our old hot rodders and custom car guys from the old days had lots of talent and an eye for the future of automobiles.
Amazing build.
Wonderful lines.
Great episode, ty.
It looks like something I'd expect to see in that ancient 15 fps TV show "Speed Racer".
Or in "Whacky Races" with a gigantic mallet on top which smashes other cars.
Or huge springs underneath that would allow it to jump over other cars, when activated.
Yep! “Mark 6!”.
I saw it in another video but didn't get much info on that video but how amazing that it was designed in 58. Way ahead of it's time.
I'm trying to put words together on how I feel about this car and I have a traffic jam. So many good words and thoughts from all directions. Thanks to all involved. This is something special.
If I saw that car as found I definitely would have passed it up as being unrepairable. Amazing how beautifuly it turned out!!
Thanks to the both of you and your team for keeping this historic legend of a car alive guys.😉
We need more people like you two in this world. Absolutely amazing car!💯🤩
Amazing gentlemen. Thank you to everyone watching and revering. Everyone involved strived for excellence and they attained perfection..... Thank you Jay for being the fine friend to us all.
Car is nice, but that sound is divine! Great package.
As a kid, Jay's age, I drooled over every R &T, Car & Driver magazine I could get my hands on, but I missed this one. Thank you Jay for bringing this piece of history to us. Either Strother Mac Minn worked with GM on the 68 Vette or they literally stole that front end from him. Well done to the heroes who restored this beautiful car.
I truly appreciate it and enjoyed it. Thank you so much for showing it. I truly hope to see it again somewhere. Cars like it are not around anymore.
Yeah the car looks amazingly good for having been a middle of an open field find and Jay and his guest barely touched on the restoration work that had to have been done to help make the car look as good as it does 😊😅😮😢😂❤😂😊❤😊
This car was done body and paint. Delivered in about 35 days
What an amazing endeavor to take this on and make it right.
Absolutely beautiful.
Thanks for sharing
Thanks Chip Fudge for your contribution to this project. As a new transplant to CA from western AR, it's nice to see someone from "my neck of the woods". Thanks to both of you gentlemen.
I love your channel and have watched it for many years. This episode is one of the very special shows. It has captured my imagination and interest like few other things have ever done. Thank you for sharing this incredible story. I absolutely loved it.
Rolling art, absolutely stunning!
Body and paint was done in about 35 days. Delivered by Mr Joseph j gries Manahawkin nj
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The history aspect here is interesting and the styling for the late 50’s is wild to be honest. The design when taking into consideration the front to year flow queue doesn’t seem cohesive. The hood area is very much akin to a late 60’s Corvette, however the largess tail is more in alignment with a 40’s boat tail racer. A well done interpretation of what is ‘believed’ the original designer’s dream.
Rarely can a video of a car enrapture my mind as this did. I appreciate that they shot video from outside the car with go-pros and then removed them so we could see the lines without all the video cameras' hardware. I also appreciate that they had at least one shot from the outside showing all the cameras attached, as it gave me an appreciation for how it was done. It would be cool to get a laser scan of the car and make a mold to manufacture more glass bodies. It would work well as an electric car, showing how timeless the style is. Thank you for pulling this body out of the California sun and giving it some Eastern love. It was totally appropriate to have it at Pebble Beach to allow it to re-visit Califonia; nicely done.
Love that exhaust note during deceleration.
I drove this car for 62.5ft. in 2022. it handles & brakes well at 6mph
I love the sound of that 283 Chevrolet small block. It's music to my ears
ART on wheels, that moves and sounds great. Life is good.
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