Webster Special V8 1964

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After the relative success of his two litre sports car, Marvin Webster went for something larger and in good tradition made a new car fitted with a V8. In this case it was the all aluminium Oldsmobile V8, later known to be one of the most applied V8 engines outside of the USA, propelling quite a few other cars, mainly from the UK. The car appeared in the mid of the 1964 season and participated in the 1965 Can-Am series.

Its capacity was only 255 cubic inch (stroked from 215), making it less competitive against the Ford and Chevy 260 and 289 blocks, but still the car managed to create a stir by finishing 6th overall at the Las Vegas Canam Race in 1965, again driven by Jerry Titus.

As was the case with his 2-litre car, Webster made a special issue of a perfect finish both of the interior as well of the body of the car. The gloss black of the 2 litre car was replaced by an even more brilliant highly polished aluminium, which no doubt has been in the back of Ron Dennis’ mind when he choose the livery for his 2006 McLaren F1 Team. The body was handmade by Jack Hagemann, who is know to have created many other bodies for the American race scene.

The car has been restored in 2001 to the same standard and is shown here during the 2005 Monterey Historics at Laguna Seca, where it did not fail again to convey the impression of perfectness, which is so rarely seen in one-off cars.