CULT Sports Cars - A new way to enjoy classic.

part of Designer Life with Style & Technology
by Design By Zen.com

The first projects showcasing building 8 classic retro-mods, EV upgrades & digital 3D twin asset engineering in an AI & VR era.

We love sports cars. We have owned and driven iconic brands such as Ferrari, Mercedes, Porsche and Lola to mention a few. Our experience spans over 30 years. We have found, purchased, restored, traded and sold iconic cars such as Lola Group 5 Sports, CanAm, F5000, a Porsche Carrera GT and Turbos, Ferrari 355 and a Ford GT40s, for instance.

Concours-Winning_Lola-T160_series
Concours-Winning_Lola-T160_series
1969 Lola T165 with T70 MkIII Body
1969 T165 with T70 MkIII Body
1969 T165-70 Engine Bay

Cover of Road & Track 1984
Road and Track Magazine - April 1984

”You don’t so much drive it. You experience it, for in spite of the fact that this particular automobile has been tamed for highway use, it continues to communicate its racing lineage most convincingly.”

Lola T165/70 Show History

First Place        Competition Class, Palm Springs Concours 1985

First Place        Competition Cars, Chicago Historic Concours 1984

Best of Show    Bahama Speed Week, Concours, Freeport 1984

Best of Show    Road America Vintage Grand Prix Concours 1984

First Place        Competition Class, Palm Springs Concours 1983

Best in Show    Engine compartment, Newport Concours 1983
Best in Class    Competition Cars, Newport Concours 1983

 

Lola T165/70 Provenance

The car traces its history back to the 80's era of the Californian based “Banzai Runners” Club.  A band of rich and elusive renegades.  The ultimate target was to pull a verified 200 Mph on the LA Freeway. Guy's like Dan Haggerty "Grizzly Adams" fame, brought Lola's as their preferred "weapon of choice" to make the hallowed 200 Mph mark.

Charley and Don Bartz decided to build potential contender cars.  Their chosen vehicle marque was Lola. Their first car was the conversion of a T70 Spyder to a MkIII Coupe.  Not happy with resulting performance they moved onto a T160 series Chevrolet “big block” based Can Am based car.  Read more >

Specifications

Chassis        1968 Lola T160 (SL160/10) "donor" updated to T165 spec by John Collins, Shelby team (GT40 program) fabricator
Suspension  Lola T222 spec with Koni Adjustable Shocks
Body             Lola T70 MkIII Coupe, widened by 9"
Engine          Chev 454 over bored 0.030" to 461.55 CID (7.55 Litres)
                 MkIV Cast Iron Block, Cast Iron Heads, Steel Crank
                 4 x Ingelse Weber 48 IDA
                 Dry Sump Oil System, Magneto ignition
                 560 Hp (418 kW) @ 6400 rpm
                       465 ft/lb (630 NM) at 4800 rpm
                       US 574 BHP/Ton   633 BHP/1000 kg
Fuel               "Bag" Capacity  32 US Gallons (121 L), 100 Octane

Wheels          Lola 7 Stud Magnesium Centre Drive "Knock Off's"
                         15" x 12" Front, 15 x 15" Rears 
Transaxle      ZF DS25-2, 5 Speed with reverse
                         1st 2.33, 2nd 1.47, 3rd 1.04, 4th 0.85 5th 0.71 :4.22:1

Brakes           12" x 1" "Le Man's" vented disc, 4 Pot Girling Calipers

 

Curb weight                    1950 Lb's (885 Kg's)
Weight Distribution         42/58% est
Wheel base               94” (2388mm)  Track front 57" Rear 54"   Length                      166” (4216mm)
Width                        74" (1880mm)
Height                       37.5” (953mm)
Ground clearance    4” (102mm)
Headroom                33" (838mm), Seats 15" (381mm) 
 Interior                            Black Leather Seats
                                        Footwell lined Carpets
                                        Lola Steering Wheel
Windows                         Aircraft Polycarbonate

Gauges - Smiths Speedo, 9000 rpm Tacho, Oil pressure, Oil temp, coolant temp, diff Oil temp, Ammeter, Fuel pressure, Fuel level, - Oil pressure warning lights

Air Conditioning with Barron Beachcraft aircraft vents, aircraft electrical circuit breakers and switches, Indicator Stalk