1958 MacMinn Le Mans

Building a car that could be driven comfortably on the road and 'in anger' at the track had always been a 'tough nut to crack,' and history is full of examples but few successes. One such modern example that successfully married the 'road' and 'track' concept was the McLaren F1, initially designed for the road and the fastest production car at its introduction, but soon was brought to the 24 Hour of Le Mans, where it outclassed the entire field of competitors in 1995. This was the goal of John Bond and Strother MacMinn when they designed the sleek Le Mans Coupe as both a road and race car. Instead of using the latest materials, technology, and sophisticated componentry, the project was designed to be 'affordable' and teachable. It was to inspire the ambitious backyard engineer to build something unique of their own.

Who was John Bond?
John Bond was a designer, engineer, and the publisher of Road & Track magazine. He had a column in his own magazine, Sports Car Design, where he often wrote about sports cars. Perhaps inspired by his friend Briggs Cunningham, Bond challenged himself and his audience to design and build a car that could be driven on the road and at Le Mans. More than just words, Bond put his plan into action by assembling a team of designers and engineers, with the design team led by Strother MacMinn.

Who was Strother MacMinn?
Strother MacMinn worked at Pasadena's Art Center College of Design for approximately five decades, where he taught automotive design. He worked in the Buick studio at General Motors Art and Colour Section at the age of 17, and a year or two later, Harley Earl assigned him to a new studio to develop the Opel Kapitan. He left General Motors before World War II, returned for a short period after the war ended, and then worked for the industrial designer Henry Dreyfus. In 1948, he began his fifty-year association with the Art Center College of Design, and in 1973, he assisted in founding Toyota's Calty Design Research, remaining there until 1983.

MacMinn contributed to numerous automotive publications, including Sports Car International, Motor Trend, Road & Track, and Automobile Quarterly.

What was the MacMinn Le Mans Coupe?
John Bond initiated the challenge to design and build a dual-purpose automobile, and he was the designer of the chassis. The futuristic shape was penned by MacMinn, and the entire build process was documented in Road & Track magazine, beginning in November 1957 and continuing through April of 1958.

The ambitious project was run on a limited budget, keeping true to Bond's theory that a motivated and ambitious individual could accomplish the task even with limited means. Many of the components were readily available items, with the frame itself being one of the few customized items. It was comprised of a pair of parallel box-section rails that were suspended at the front by wishbones and longitudinal torsion bars, while conventional transverse leaf springs supported the independent rear. Seats were positioned low (at a slightly reclined angle) between the side members, made possible by the structural aluminum reinforced fiberglass driveshaft shaft tunnel. The sleek, aerodynamically shaped body was built using lightweight fiberglass.

Despite its name and lofty ambitions, the V8-powered LeMans Coupe never raced at its namesake track. Approximately seven bodies were built, and around four were complete cars. Six decades after its creation, Dennis Kazmerowski would use one of the bodies and build a complete car. The finished car made its debut in 2023 at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance.

by Daniel Vaughan | Sep 2023