When did OTT LeMans stripes become a thing?

[JD]

Here's where I lay the blame. ;D

]^^^ Briggs Cunningham !!

[jguyer]

Yeah, Mr. Cunningham did well, but maybe he could have done better if he had Carroll Shelby and Ken Miles driving. Then again we might be in the Cunningham American Automobile Club and be driving Cunningham Cudas. Probably all for the best.

[98SVT - was 06GT]

We all know they didn't come with stripes, but I am guessing the majority have them today.

I am just trying to get a feel when the "tidal wave" came. I can't blame it on gone in 60 seconds, but I wish I could.   

Here's where I lay the blame.

Pete Brock copied the Cunningham stripes on his high school car. So the blame is well placed. https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/pete-brock-ford-convert.443944/

[TJinSA]

In the years before briggs, cars were painted colors according to their country of origin.  The U.S. was White and Blue, Briggs was the first notable 'merican and his style of application set a trend....

[JD]

In the years before briggs, cars were painted colors according to their country of origin.  The U.S. was White and Blue, Briggs was the first notable 'merican and his style of application set a trend....

Yes, his cars always had this color theme - great that it was/has continued

[Grumpy]

  When did "day 2" begin?  That's right, the day after you brought that new 67 Shelby home.  And then you looked up some Cobra Kit ads or literature and started dreaming....and making plans.

It started with the 64/65 Mustangs to. Remember the gay blue 4" stripe they used on them . Then I think Plymouth and others did the same thing. Had a new 65 convertible. It was crazy all the companys that had parts for those cars. I still have the Shelby Catalog with all the cool guy stuff in it. Lots of stuff checked off.  My 68 Fastback got traction bars and a new set of rims within the first month. New 70 CJ got lots. Lots of planning before the car came in. Lakewood Traction Bars. SS Crager rims with huge rear tires and a new set of headers from Tubular Automotive
. Winter came and of course I needed some more power. Got a 427 medium riser and a new cam. Hayes Clutch (little hard to push down but my 100# wife had no problem. Of of course ya had to get some gears in it to.. 457's . Cleaning out of my junk an seeing what I did to the poor car. Then smartened up an dove into the Shelby/Cobra market.
.... In the 66-69 period I went to school in Miami. Hung out in Lauderdale. To this day I couldn't believe the amount of brand new cars heavily modified. Those were the days. 

[98SVT - was 06GT]

.... In the 66-69 period I went to school in Miami. Hung out in Lauderdale. To this day I couldn't believe the amount of brand new cars heavily modified. Those were the days. 

I grew up in SoCal in the 50s & 60s. The first hotrod I ever got to ride in and sorta work on was a friend of my parents sons in about 1958. I was a 55 Chevy gasser. Straight axle small block wheel well headers the whole 9 yards. Decided to get my first car in the 8th grade and swapped my 1/4 midget for a 28 Dodge. In high school our auto shop teacher got us work experience jobs at the local car dealer. I drew Chevy and got to rebuild and test a lot of 396 Camaro & Vette rearends and transmissions. Across the street was the Ford dealer where the driver of an A/Fuel altered I crewed on worked as a mechanic. Every day after 2 hours at Chevy I was across the street at Ford - the biggest perk over there was being the fly on the wall when he and Gas Ronda were talking racing. Around here everything got modified. First was mags a Covico steering wheel (Covina company) the Balenger headers (another Covina company) next a trip to Glendora for Les Ritchey's Performance Associates to throw a good tune on the car. Finally over the hill to Whittier Blvd every Friday & Saturday night. We generally skipped the weekend drags at Irwindale and went on Wednesday when for $2 you could make as many passes as you could get in. Some weekends we'd be at Riverside. Our Boy Scout troop hauled window signs around to all the local stores announcing the races and they let is in for free for doing it. Today I hate going to shows and seeing a line of Shelby's all restored with the only difference being the date codes on the sheetmetal and glass. Those day two mods are the story that the car can tell going back to better than as delivery loses all the history.

[427heaven]

Well..... At least there are two of us that feel the same way about these cars. Performance cars said personalize me, and we did!

[TJinSA]

As for the original question? Original Ford Illustrative art had stripes on the cars... remember the two arcing around a curve away from the viewer? I agree with all the posters that say it started right away... when it became "expected"... hell... when was it expected on the 65s and 66s? Easily by the early 70s. because of the race heritage of the earlier cars and the fitting to the styling of the 67s.  stripes on 68s... is another matter all together

[mark p]

Yeah, Mr. Cunningham did well, but maybe he could have done better if he had Carroll Shelby and Ken Miles driving. Then again we might be in the Cunningham American Automobile Club and be driving Cunningham Cudas. Probably all for the best.

Yeah... and maybe all sportin' some 4-carb Hemi power 
Hmmm... I doubt that there would have ever been a Tiger

[98SVT - was 06GT]

Cunningham was the rich sportsman of the 50s & 60s.
Need 25 cars built to race 1 at LeMans? No problem https://www.streetmusclemag.com/features/sema-coverage/sema-2017-an-original-briggs-cunningham-c-3-vignale-shows-up/
Those pesky Brits want their Americas Cup back? No problem https://www.briggscunningham.com/cunningham-sailing-12-metre/

[Bigfoot]

The gentleman who owned car #73 for almost 5 decades painted silver stripes on his factory black car because of his enthusiasm regarding the GT40 that won the 66 Le Mans.

[Side-Oilers]

I would think that most of us grew up in the '50s, '60s or '70s.  I'm talking being teenagers and in our 20s. Back then, it was almost sacrilegious to be seen in a 100% stock muscle car.

"Stock" meant slow, compared to the cool street cruisers/racers that I grew up seeing on Van Nuys Bl, etc, in SoCal.  Or at the local drags, on "run what you brung" nights. 

I'm taking about street-driven, daily drivers, not pro race cars.  Most of us only had one car.  And we were just regular young guys out looking for everything that young guys seek.

"Stock" cars in my day were either Day One brand new (that's ok), or your sister's car (not cool) or perhaps your mom's car (definitely not cool.)
 
By age 30, most of the muscle car owners guys had aged out, gotten married, had kids, and weren't the ones out there street racing any more. Their muscle cars went on to their second and third owners (more teenagers and/or 20-somethings) who modified them even more.


Turn the clock ahead the 50+ years to today, and we're mostly old-ish guys.  Some of us owned muscle cars back in the day, but many didn't.  That's ok too. 

I'm a Day Two guy, and always have been.  Stripes, mags, fat rear tires, Hurst shifters, headers, giant carbs, built engines, transplanted engines (427!) all the stuff.  We cruised and raced and tore our stuff up doing so, then fixed and improved it the next week.  Always seeking better, faster, cooler. That was the era.

Today, I'm a bit more enlightened, and even like and respect the guys who go the to extremes to have a perfect concours car.     

Peel out...

[6s2055]

I purchased my '67 GT500 (0962) new from S&C Ford. No stripes, nor was it offered. Believe pictures are available on the club archives.

[shelbydoug]

I purchased my '67 GT500 (0962) new from S&C Ford. No stripes, nor was it offered. Believe pictures are available on the club archives.

Your pictures disappeared with the crash of the first "forum".