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You may know them as a the restoration shop and classic car showroom they are today, but racing has always been on their minds!
Farland Classic Restoration is a favorite showroom of ours for the beautiful examples of many eras and genres of cars they bring to the public, but they have a lot of history in the automotive community, and racing. In the past, we’ve consulted Farland Classic Restoration on the state of the car market, so it’s interesting to learn about their expertise in other areas of the automotive field as well.
In a recent post on their site, we get to learn about their relationship with Denver’s automotive culture and racing before Fo Farland and Temple Buell Jr. opened their Chrysler dealership in 1963. Named after his father, Temple Buell Jr., developed a love of motorsports and wanted to be a racecar driver himself. However, he grew up to lack the small stature of many race car drivers of the time who could comfortably control a single-seat racecar, and he became one of the first Privateer racing sponsors in the world.
This venture started off locally, with racing at the Continental Divide Raceway here in Colorado, when he would become close to Masten Gregory and Caroll Shelby. Temple’s connections grew, and but the end of the 1957 Formula 1 season, Temple would begin delving into the conquest of competing in the 1958 Formula 1 season by buying a T3 chassis #2533.
The car was driven by the famous Carroll Shelby at the Portugal Grand Prix in 1958, where, unfortunately, the brakes would give out and then had to retire early on in the next race at Monza. However, Masten Gregory was racing for Temple, and he finished a quick race in second place. The battles for racing championship were dramatic, as all are, and Temple brought his respect for American road racing along with him when opening the Denver dealership with Fo Farland.
This is a very brief look inside a rich legacy of Temple Buell and Farland’s connections with racing. You can learn more here.
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