VIN: the Kirk F. White 1971 Cannonball Run-winning Ferrari 365 GTB/4 chassis 14271
History of chassis 14271
Completed in May 1971, chassis 14271 started life in “sand beige” (probably Nocciola Metallizato) with Nero upholstery. It was delivered to Ferrari’s US distributor, Luigi Chinetti, at the 1971 Le Mans 24 Hours (which took place over the weekend of June 12th-13th).
Chinetti had ordered the car for a “Doctor Jones” which was reputedly a front for Philadelphia car dealer, Kirk F. White. At the time, a consortium led by White was campaigning a Ferrari 512 M (chassis 1040) that had been re-engineered by Roger Penske Enterprises into the quickest Group 5 Sports Prototype around.
Having finished third at Daytona and sixth at Sebring, White hoped to see drivers Mark Donohue and David Hobbs collect a good result at Le Mans where he was scheduled to collect the 365 GTB/4. Unfortunately, having run third against the mighty Porsche 917s, chassis 1040’s engine blew approaching the fourth hour.
After Le Mans, the beige Daytona was shipped back to Kirk F. White Auto Enterprises in Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia. Upon arrival, it was immediately dispatched for a repaint in Sunoco Blue with Yellow pinstripes to match the colour scheme of the consortium’s 512 M. The radio antenna was also removed along with any smog equipment. Upon completion of this work, Kirk F. White used chassis 14271 as his daily driver.
One evening during the weeks that followed, White took a call from senior editor of Car & Driver magazine, Brock Yates, who had recently purchased a vehicle from White. Inspired by the tales of Erwin “Cannon Ball” Baker who had raced across the US in a variety of machines, Yates was organising a near 3000 mile contest from the Red Ball Garage in Manhattan, New Yor,k to the Portofino Inn on Redondo Beach, California.
Officially dubbed the Cannonball Baker Sea-to-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash, but better known simply as the Cannonball Run, Yates wanted chassis 14271 for he and his co-driver, four-time F1 winner and two-time Le Mans winner, Dan Gurney.
White agreed and on November 15th 1971 the Sunoco Blue Ferrari lined up alongside seven other teams for the midnight start.
Gurney drove the first 18 hours, much of it through horrible weather, and frequently took the Ferrari up to its 172mph top speed. The Yates / Gurney entry ultimately arrived at the Portofino Inn in on November 17th in a time of just 35 hours and 54 minutes. Their nearest rivals were 53 minutes behind - the modified Chevrolet Sportsvan entered by Briggs Chevrolet-Ferrari of New Jersey for the all-Polish pro team of Tony Adamowicz, Oscar Koveleski and Brad Niemcek).
With Group 5 cars like the Porsche 917 and Ferrari 512 outlawed from most major championships in 1972, Kirk F. White’s consortium sold chassis 1040. However, White still wanted to race and decided to have another 365 GTB/4 (chassis 14065) prepared for the 1972 Sebring 12 Hours. Holman Moody did much of the work with the engine built to Competizione specification by Traco in Culver City, California (the firm that had uprated the White consortium’s 512 M engine).
As the engine in 14271 seemed to offer superior tuning potential than that in 14065, the power units were swapped between the two cars. By this time, 14065’s original engine had already been enhanced with altered valve clearances and an improved the cooling system.
Later in 1972, Kirk F. White sold chassis 14271 with its recently installed engine to Terry Clark of Clemson, South Carolina. It was in turn purchased by Joe Gulrich in 1979 who undertook a major restoration during the early 1980s.
Kirk F. White re-acquired 14271 in 1987 and retained it until the year 2000.
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: unattributed
