This month we bring you the first of a new monthly column devoted to the many racing barn finds and “Hidden Treasures” unearthed around the world each year. Each month our intrepid racing sleuth, Mark Brinker, will select an interersting rediscovered treasure submitted by you, the reader. So send your photos and stories to Mark at [email protected]
Owen Gibson of Arivaca, Arizona is twice blessed. Not only did he find the 1957 Townsend Mark I in 2000, a car he reintroduced to the world at the 2006 Monterey Historics, he recently uncovered the wildest of all Towsend creations, the midengined Mk V. This makes Gibson the caretaker of Frank Townsend’s first and last American road racing specials, a distinction he relishes.
The Townsend Mk V was born in 1965 from the remains of a wrecked Genie Mk 4. Townsend designed a 1.5” tubular chassis with conventional coil-over-suspension at all four corners. Front brakes were Girling discs from the Genie; the rear discs were prototype ’65 Corvette. The body was constructed by modifying what remained of the Genie carcass and was painted silver. Motivation came from an Algon-injected aluminum Pontiac 389, acquired from Smokie Yunick, backed by a Huffaker BMC transaxle. When Townsend tired of the Pontiac’s oiling issues, a Chevy 427 L-88 was installed. A Hewland was swapped in when it became apparent that the 427 monster was more than the BMC could handle. The car was a ground-pounder and finished 4th in class at the 1966 American Road Racing Championship with Voedodsky at the wheel.
Once the Mk I restoration was underway, Gibson began to receive leads regarding the whereabouts of the missing midengined car. After four years of dead ends about a cowboy named Yotes who had the car “up north,” Gibson hit on a clever idea. “I called the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association and asked about ranches run by the Yotes family. There were no Yotes but there was a Yost family just over the state line in Wyoming.” A little searching turned up a ranch outside Wheatland, Wyoming. “I got an address and phone number. After many calls and a letter, I was able to contact Don Yost. He was friendly but was only interested in selling the car to the original driver (Pete Voedodsky).” That’s when Gibson had another great idea. “Pete, Frank and I formed a partnership to buy and restore the car.”
After a wild trip to the backcountry of Wyoming, the team eventually convinced Yost to sell the car, so they loaded the car onto the trailer and joyously headed back to Arizona. There the car was reintroduced to its older brother, the Mark I, and is becoming reacquainted with the men who built and raced it more than forty years ago.
