When I see the car again, I will ask the owner more about it for you Mr. Gilmore.
Sorry, I'm a vintage racing nut and I'm just curious about it. It also catches my eye because it has Gilmore on it.
I passed along the photo to some west coast guys I know that have old race cars. Hopefully, one of them will know the owner or have seen it somewhere and know something about it.
It looks to have a Model T frame, possibly original, but I can't tell exactly what the engine is, what name is written on the cowl or the name written on the hood- ??? Ford Special. Do you recall what the name on the hood was?
The car was documented not the sponsors. Those changed yearly. It is virtually impossible to track sponsors for a specific car, unless there was photo documentation that went from owner to owner with the transfer of the car.
Actually, it is not as hard/impossible as you think. Unless it was a homemade racer, a lot of them will usually have a stamping somewhere, likely on the frame. If you have a number, you can usually find out where it was made/came from. That's how guys find out what they have now... and with owner to owner documentation, like you mentioned
The majority of cars back then didn't have a sponsor on the car, unless they raced at the Indy 500. The car was named after either the car make, the engine type or after the owner or owners business- ____ Special. If there was a sponsor like Gilmore, they didn't change yearly, they stayed under that name/sponsor for quite a while. Not always, but usually. Photos help a lot to see how the car was at a certain time, but the best way is newspaper/magazine reports and entry lists in racing programs. There you will usually find the car name, the driver and possibly owner.
If they weren't mangled in a wreck, some of these cars (the frames, at least) raced for 20-30 years. Bodies were changed to reflect the style of the times. Engines were cracked and replaced, suspensions changed, etc... For someone to find a complete original car... is RARE!
The problem is is that there are so many vintage race cars out there that have very little left of the original car. Some guys build cars around shift knobs, seats and steering wheels and call them original... and sadly, can get them documented as being a vintage race car. You'd be surprised, it doesn't take much to get them "documented". Not saying the car you posted is bogus, I'm just interested in knowing what it is that makes it "documented".
