Truxmore Torino had small block at Le Mans

During our recent trip to North Carolina, we were able to get interesting data on Junie Donlavey's cars. Big news is that, contrary to popular belief, the Donlavey Torino did not use a 429 BOSS, but a 358 Cleveland engine!

This confusion must have come from the fact that the Bowsher Torino, which won its class at the Daytona 24 Hours that year, did have a 429 Boss under its hood, whereas the Donlavey Torino, was just one of his five Grand National cars, hence using a 358 Cleveland based V8! Cross checking this information with what Junie told us and with his Le Mans documentation, made it very clear that the Truxmore Torino relied on small block power at the 24 Hours in 1976!

Comments

[Dennis Garrett]

Dear Steve,
Aren't you missing some rollbars in the rollcage in the above photo?
The inside of the race car looks mighty roomy like an passenger car interior.
Did you you cut away any ( \ or / )rollbars out of your race car that kept the top of the race car from caving in during a barrel rollover racing crash?
Sincerely yours,
Dennis Garrett
Richmond,Va.23225 USA

[steve]

remember this car was sold to the air force to be used as a defensive drive school car, they cut the passenger side / bars out to add another seat for the instructor. thanks

[Christophe]

Hello Steve,

how are you doing on the restoration ? Send me some pictures of your work in progress and I'll publish them on the site here.