1966 AAR Eagle MK1 F1 Monoposto

Dan Gurney's All American Racers built 158 cars between 1965 and 2012, and competed in 25 Grand Prix races, 51 Champ Car races including the 1968 and 1975 Indianapolis 500s won by Bobby Unser and the 1973 race won by Gordon Johncock, the IMSA GT Series, and Trans-Am competition.

When Goodyear went seeking a team to fund in 1965, Dan Gurney and Carroll Shelby teamed up and formed the All American Racers (AAR) in Costa Mesa, California. AAR built single-seaters for Indy car racing and Formula 1 while also running sports car efforts for Gurney in the United States. The team wasted little time in recruiting English designer Len Terry, the individual responsible for the Lotus 38 that won the Indianapolis 500 in 1965 with Jim Clark. Using the design principles of the successful Type 38, Terry and Gurney created a Formula 1 car that took advantage of new regulations for the 1966 season, with displacement growing from 1.5 to 3.0-liters.

The first chassis built by the newly formed AAR company was an Eagle MK1 with chassis number 101. This is that car - the first car they built.

Engine builder Harry Weslake was tasked with the creation of a new three-liter V12 engine, but it was not available at the start of the season, so alternate engines were considered for chassis 101, eventually settling on a tried-and-true 2.7-liter variant of the Coventry Climax FPF. Its debut race was at Spa where it placed 7th overall. John Frankenheimer was filming his Grand Prix throughout the year, and Chassis 101 was captured multiple times in the film.

At the French Grand Prix at Reims, chassis 101 qualified 15th, Gurney drove it to a 5th overall finish. Due to mechanical issues, chassis 101 retired early at the next two races - at the British and Dutch Grands Prix. At the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring Nordschleife, Gurney qualified in 8th position, just six seconds off the pace of Jim Clark's Lotus. In a rain-drenched race, Gurney drove the Eagle to a 7th-place finish in spite of electrical issues. In September, at the Italian Grand Prix, chassis 102 with Weslake V12 power joined chassis 101. Gurney drove 102 during the weekend while 101 served as a practice car at Monza. Phil Hill failed to qualify chassis 101 due to the underpowered Climax engine and Monza's long straights.

The next race of the season was in the United States at Watkins Glen. Both Eagles competed with chassis 101 piloted by Bob Bondurant. On lap five of the race, Bondurant was disqualified.

Due to the unreliability of the V-12 engine, Gurney drove chassis 101 in Mexico, and Bondurant piloted 102. Gurney drove 101 to a fifth-place finish, matching his best result of the year in France.

The Mexican Grand Prix was the final championship event for chassis 101, but it did compete in the non-championship South African GP at Kyalami in January 1967, where it retired with Gurney at the wheel.

When chassis 101 was sold to Canadian racer Al Pease, it competed in 10 races, including the 1967, 1968, and 1969 editions of the Canadian Grand Prix.

In 1971, Tom Wheatcroft purchased the car from Pease for £2,900. At the time, the car was in original condition, wearing a repaint of its original colors. The tires were the only non-original part of the car. The current caretaker acquired the Eagle in 2009 via Hall & Hall.

This Eagle is powered by its original engine (no. 1254) and Hewland transaxle (no. DG300-2). The new caretaker commissioned a sympathetic restoration managed by J&L Fabrication in Puyallup, Washington. To preserve its originality, a reproduction 2.7-liter Climax FPF unit was sourced from Crosthwaite & Gardiner in the UK and mounted in place of the original (no. 1254) engine. This engine remains uninstalled, but with the car.

This car competed in 2014 at the Monaco Classic Grand Prix.

By Daniel Vaughan | Apr 2023