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Strange Specials
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Don't you wish you'd thought of this? It's Laguna Seca 1971, and it's a support race for the F5000 event, but that's all we know about this patriotic SuperBug. Photo: Pete Lyons - www.petelyons.com
Fast Lines

Strange Specials

 Pete Lyons
Pete Lyons
Pete Lyons

Forgive me, please, but I can’t tell you much about any of these oddities. I present them here and now for the same reason that made me and, I presume, my dad take their pictures—astonishment. “Hey, isn’t this a weird one?” Some were quite good-looking, but others…well, maybe we shot them to put them out of their misery. Then both we, and history, moved on, and neither of us ever saw these strange specimens again. Meanwhile, alternative, successful gene pools created by the Jim Halls and Colin Chapmans established the shape of today’s racing world.

But take a fresh look at these forgotten ones. Aren’t they fun to look at? See how bold they are, how imaginative, how down-to-earth practical? It takes guts to craft contraptions like these, and I reckon some desperation as well—a need to race, so intense that you don’t care what anyone thinks. Well, haven’t we all had that feeling?

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Pete Lyons
Steve Natale has been playing with cars ever since he was old enough to first hold a matchbox car in his hand. A lifelong enthusiast of anything old with an engine in it or wheels on it, Steve has been active in the hobby for over 35 years. Currently he owns a successful marketing company with his wife Mary, is an automotive photographer, blogger and writer for several automotive magazines and regular contributor to various automotive websites. Steve has attended vintage car events and visited car museums and collections around the world.
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