LPE385

Not sure if I showed these to you guys before. But a friend of mine sent these to me that bought one of the first Ontario Orange 1970 LT-1's. It was a preproduction car.

These are from a test track in CA back in Feb 5th 1970. From what I understand they were testing the new Corvette's and Z28's. They had Paul Newman there and Zora.

Thought you guys might like to see some vintage photos.

qwank

great pics. love the Camaros too

jaxlt1

Great pix.

early shark

Those are fantastic! I just love seeing period pictures of the new Corvette design and second generation Camaros. Really cool to see Zora along side the Corvette!

gcusmano74

Boy, that's when cars had style. Gorgeous.

Chappie

Wow! Great photos. What a look into the past.

Chappie

Les

Holy crap- that's a great set of photos! Did your friend take them? If not, do you know where he got them? Priceless stuff! Love the Vettes and especially the Z28s, since I'm the original owner of my avatar car- 70 1/2 Z28. By the way, any idea why the guy in the top photo is wearing a white dress?

gbvette62

Neat pictures! It was probably a press preview, or "ride and drive" for dealers and/or celebrities. Both the Camaro and Corvette were introduced around the first of the year, and production began in January 70

It's not at a test track though. I'm pretty sure that's the old Ontario Motor Speedway, in Ontario, CA. The track opened in September 1970, so it would have still been under construction in February. It's pretty obvious from the pictures, that the facilities shown are unfinished.

Definitely some cool old pictures! Thanks.

LPE385

I have slept since he gave me these but I think one of the guys there was John Harlow an engineer for Chevrolet. I think he's the guy that sent him the pictures.


Your correct that is the Ontario track. I have a few additional pictures of the track being built. There was some press there but he said they were still testing some cars that's why they had engineers there?

Here's another picture that was taken for Car Life.

Muddywaters

LPE385, Wow...those are some great images! Man, give anything to have Zora standing by my LT-1 with a camera in hand!! Muddy

Dave J

That does indeed look like "Ontario Orange". Curious because the color supposedly never made it into a production '70 Corvette, and was replaced by "Corvette Bronze".

Very cool pics.....

dmaxx3500

yep that looks like ontario speedway,,my parents took me there in 71-73 time frame,i remember seeing indy cars running,those pics are cool

3JsVette

Those white shop coats were also the everyday attire for the teachers in the GM Training Centers back in the 70s and they wore a white shirt and tie underneath. Ask me how I know.
Yes they were the good old days.

To the O/P thanks for the pictures!

jr9170

Great Pics,love that blue 70 with PO2's that Zora is standing next to...

Z06FEVER

Really neat photos, I also noticed a 70 Chevelle Malibu that sneaked into the the 2nd picture!

ralphspears

Great old pictures

69427

Love the split bumper Z28s!

Procrastination Racing

Not sure why Paul Newman would have been there. He was racing Datsuns back at that point in time. He was probably still in his 510 at that point.

gbvette62

In 1970, Paul hadn't started racing yet.

From what I remember, Paul was on the board of directors of Ontario Motor Speedway. His first ever race was a celebrity pro/am held at Ontario.

Paul got his SCCA Regional license in 72 at Lime Rock, and bought a 510 from Sharp, which he raced from 73-75. In 76 he bought a Tullius Group 44 TR6, and won the D-Production Championship with it. It wasn't until 1978 that Paul started driving for Sharp, which was also the first time he raced using his name. Prior to that, he entered and raced as "PLN", and very few people realized who he was.

Newman and Jerry, the driver I crewed for back then, were friends. They were both about the same age, and raced together in GT-1, and later the Trans-Am and IMSA GTO. Paul was quite a character. He loved playing practical jokes and pulling pranks on people, especially other racers. We were on the grid at Pocono around 84. I was leaning in the window getting Jerry's belts on, and hooking up the radio, when I felt my "backside" getting wet. I turned around to see Newman, who was next to us on the grid, shooting a water pistol at me, through the window of his Z!

Even though he was racing Datsuns and Nissans, I don't ever remember seeing him driving one as a street car. He loved VW beetles, often driving to Lime Rock in a blue Super Beetle convertible. I think at one time he had Beetle, with a small block Chevy where the back seat should be.

VETFEVER

He's a mechanic; that's the type of coat/jacket they wore in those days - were you kidding?