Goofing around at Brands Hatch on the set of “Grand Prix”
Lost Star Cars: James Garner’s Olds 442 Goodyear Grabber
By: Patrick Smith
Television and movie star, James Garner is best known for flailing around the metallic tan Pontiac Esprit on the hit TV show, The Rockford Files. Airing in 1974 and running until 1979, the show gave Firebird prominent coverage that you couldn’t buy for air time with a big budget.Pontiac was very lucky that way during the 1970s. What isn’t as well known was James Garner’s passion for off road racing. This is interesting because Garner was actually a talented race driver with Grand Prix cars. Bob Bondurant noted that with little training, Garner could’ve been a real contender against the name drivers of the 1960s. What is known is Garner did a lot of the actual driving in film, Grand Prix in 1965. The reason Garner switched to Off Road racing had to do with life insurance policy coverage. You see, in acting, you often have companies taking out insurance on big budget films in case a star dies or does not complete the film for one reason or another. Insurance underwriters will not cover stars involved in high risk racing such as Grand Prix or SCCA events.
Garner wanted to enjoy racing but he didn’t want to be uninsurable or he’d lose acting gigs. A happy compromise was the world of Off Road Racing. Towards that end, he had Vic Hickey fabricate a 4x4 chassis for a 1970 Oldsmobile 442 body to go off road racing. The engine was an all aluminum 350 V8 which unfortunately, grenaded very early in life. A replacement Dale Smith built 410 cubic inch V8 was substituted and this proved to be stout enough with 500 horsepower on tap. The transmission was a built TH400 automatic. The tires were Goodyear Grabber high flotation units. Goodyear was the major sponsor hence the name, Oldsmobile Grabber 442.
Garner campaigned the Grabber Olds in the 1969 Mexican Norra 1000, placing second in class. Garner also raced it five more times in two year before switching to a newer Banshee 442 in 1972.
The Grabber 442 was rebuilt by Hickey and sold to Slick Gardner, who had a bad crash in it. It was rebuilt by Hickey and sold to Jack and Mark Mendenhall who raced it until 1974. Then it disappeared from the race scene and off the face of the earth….for thirty four years.
There was no sign of the car until 2008 when a brief ad appeared in Hemmings selling a “basketcase 442 race car.” Ron Johnson answered the ad and bought the car. When it arrived at his shop in Tacoma, Washington, he recognized what it was and he was in shock. There was no drive train, the panels were wrinkled and badly beaten. The inside was a strong tip off with the fuel tank on the passenger side still present as were many of the vintage toggle switches. The blue livery was still present in areas and careful examination confirmed beyond doubt they had found the Garner Goodyear Grabber 442. Johnson decided a restoration to running specs was necessary. For excellent video footage of the restored Grabber, check out this link to hickey racing and Ron Johnson.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-6MGurPEjw
Johnson got lucky a couple of times during the restoration. He found a Dale Smith 410 race engine for sale in an east coast warehouse. It was one of the 4 built in 1969 for the road race scene. When Johnson got the engine, it turned out to be the very same one Garner used in Grabber. The impossible had happend. After 34 years, the original race engine was reunited with the car. Johnson had it rebuilt and when dynoed it showed a healthy 508 horsepower on tap. Well, after that hat trick, the rest will seem anticlimatic! Johnson had the body redone in original colors with the vivid blue, silver and yellow stripes. The axles were replaced with Moser built 12 bolts road race units and special control arms were installed. Sadly, Goodyear wasn’t into the road race tire scene during this restoration but BF Goodrich had a suitable line of tires so Goodrich had their name placed on the quarter panels. The car was finished in time for the 2010 Xtreme Outlaws 250 Race Reno, Nevada with veteran racer, Rod Hall at the wheel.
Garner’s replacement for the Grabber was called Banshee. It was a 1972 Olds 442 Off Road car. Built by Vic Hickey, the Banshee used an all aluminum Dale Smith built 455 Olds V8 under the hood. A major sponsor was Hayden Coolers which supplied coolers for the engine and the TH400 automatic transmission. An interesting fact about the Banshee is it was rear wheel driven but the engine was placed midship! George Barris shortened the 442 body 14 inches to fit the Vic Hickey made chassis. This was one tough car. Garner rolled it end over end five times while testing it. He survived with injuries. Garner won one race with it, Riverside. Mickey Thompson later on raced Banshee without victories but placing well. The fate of the Banshee was better than Grabber. John Mendenhall owns it and it is in his Race Museum in Buelton, California. * note, all photographs propety of George Barris (c) 1974.
Television and movie star, James Garner is best known for flailing around the metallic tan Pontiac Esprit on the hit TV show, The Rockford Files. Airing in 1974 and running until 1979, the show gave Firebird prominent coverage that you couldn’t buy for air time with a big budget.Pontiac was very lucky that way during the 1970s. What isn’t as well known was James Garner’s passion for off road racing. This is interesting because Garner was actually a talented race driver with Grand Prix cars. Bob Bondurant noted that with little training, Garner could’ve been a real contender against the name drivers of the 1960s. What is known is Garner did a lot of the actual driving in film, Grand Prix in 1965. The reason Garner switched to Off Road racing had to do with life insurance policy coverage. You see, in acting, you often have companies taking out insurance on big budget films in case a star dies or does not complete the film for one reason or another. Insurance underwriters will not cover stars involved in high risk racing such as Grand Prix or SCCA events.
Garner wanted to enjoy racing but he didn’t want to be uninsurable or he’d lose acting gigs. A happy compromise was the world of Off Road Racing. Towards that end, he had Vic Hickey fabricate a 4x4 chassis for a 1970 Oldsmobile 442 body to go off road racing. The engine was an all aluminum 350 V8 which unfortunately, grenaded very early in life. A replacement Dale Smith built 410 cubic inch V8 was substituted and this proved to be stout enough with 500 horsepower on tap. The transmission was a built TH400 automatic. The tires were Goodyear Grabber high flotation units. Goodyear was the major sponsor hence the name, Oldsmobile Grabber 442.
Garner campaigned the Grabber Olds in the 1969 Mexican Norra 1000, placing second in class. Garner also raced it five more times in two year before switching to a newer Banshee 442 in 1972.
The Grabber 442 was rebuilt by Hickey and sold to Slick Gardner, who had a bad crash in it. It was rebuilt by Hickey and sold to Jack and Mark Mendenhall who raced it until 1974. Then it disappeared from the race scene and off the face of the earth….for thirty four years.
There was no sign of the car until 2008 when a brief ad appeared in Hemmings selling a “basketcase 442 race car.” Ron Johnson answered the ad and bought the car. When it arrived at his shop in Tacoma, Washington, he recognized what it was and he was in shock. There was no drive train, the panels were wrinkled and badly beaten. The inside was a strong tip off with the fuel tank on the passenger side still present as were many of the vintage toggle switches. The blue livery was still present in areas and careful examination confirmed beyond doubt they had found the Garner Goodyear Grabber 442. Johnson decided a restoration to running specs was necessary. For excellent video footage of the restored Grabber, check out this link to hickey racing and Ron Johnson.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-6MGurPEjw
Johnson got lucky a couple of times during the restoration. He found a Dale Smith 410 race engine for sale in an east coast warehouse. It was one of the 4 built in 1969 for the road race scene. When Johnson got the engine, it turned out to be the very same one Garner used in Grabber. The impossible had happend. After 34 years, the original race engine was reunited with the car. Johnson had it rebuilt and when dynoed it showed a healthy 508 horsepower on tap. Well, after that hat trick, the rest will seem anticlimatic! Johnson had the body redone in original colors with the vivid blue, silver and yellow stripes. The axles were replaced with Moser built 12 bolts road race units and special control arms were installed. Sadly, Goodyear wasn’t into the road race tire scene during this restoration but BF Goodrich had a suitable line of tires so Goodrich had their name placed on the quarter panels. The car was finished in time for the 2010 Xtreme Outlaws 250 Race Reno, Nevada with veteran racer, Rod Hall at the wheel.
Garner’s replacement for the Grabber was called Banshee. It was a 1972 Olds 442 Off Road car. Built by Vic Hickey, the Banshee used an all aluminum Dale Smith built 455 Olds V8 under the hood. A major sponsor was Hayden Coolers which supplied coolers for the engine and the TH400 automatic transmission. An interesting fact about the Banshee is it was rear wheel driven but the engine was placed midship! George Barris shortened the 442 body 14 inches to fit the Vic Hickey made chassis. This was one tough car. Garner rolled it end over end five times while testing it. He survived with injuries. Garner won one race with it, Riverside. Mickey Thompson later on raced Banshee without victories but placing well. The fate of the Banshee was better than Grabber. John Mendenhall owns it and it is in his Race Museum in Buelton, California. * note, all photographs propety of George Barris (c) 1974.
