1965 McLaren M1B Group 7 Can-Am Heads to Auction
Images via Bonhams
This mighty 1965 McLaren M1B Group 7 Can-Am car has extensive period Can-Am history, has been restored to immaculate condition and is in tip top competition shape. It will head to auction at Bonhams’ Goodwood Festival of Speed sale on Friday the 30th of June.
The car, 30-04, began its life with Dick Niles in 1965. In 1966 Niles entered it in the Can-Am series for driver Bill Amick, fitted with a 4.6-litre Mercury engine. Its best performance that year would be second in the 200-mile race at Kent.
After struggling with the reliability of the Mercury engine in 1966, the car was fitted with an aluminium 6-litre Chevrolet V8 for the 1967 season. Amick would drive the car five times that year, winning twice in non-Can-Am events – once in Portland and again in Westwood.
In 1968 the car was sold to promising upcoming racer and eventual Oregon Sports Hall of Fame inductee Monté Shelton. 1969 saw it fitted with a series of fresh upgrades, including another new motor – a 7-litre aluminium Chevrolet V8. It ran at Cam-Am events at Laguna Seca and Riverside, following up in 1970 by contesting the Edmonton and Riverside Can-Am races.
The end of the 1970 season would mark the conclusion of 30-04’s period career, and it would move through a few owners’ hands before settling in 1986 with Henry Wilkinson. Wilkinson treated it to a restoration before beginning its historic motorsport career, running it through to 1998.
In 2001 30-04 went to Steve Thein, who treated it to a full restoration to ‘show’ condition, fitting it with a new small block engine along the way. Thein and the car would compete twice in the Whitsun Trophy at the Goodwood Revival.
2009 saw the car going to Marc Hevia, who ran it successfully in the Classic Endurance Racing series in Europe.
The car’s current owner acquired it in 2015, giving it a year long no-expense-spared rebuild to its pre-1966 specification. It’s now running a 5.7-litre wet-sump SMB Chev V8 and new Hewland LG500 gearbox. The chassis has been stripped and restored and all components have been rebuilt or replaced where necessary.
30-04 is now in pristine racing shape and has found great success competing in the Masters FIA Sports Car series. It will be sold with current FIA HTP and a spares package that includes bodywork, wheels, gear ratios and other necessary bits and bobs.
It will head to auction at Bonhams’ Goodwood Festival of Speed sale on Friday the 30th of June, where it’s expected to fetch between £200,000 and £250,000. For the full details head to Bonhams’ website here.
Images via Bonhams
