The  Lemans  Coupe  Teams

Bond and MacMinn challenged “America” to build their car and to date, two teams have been found that build at least one body and a car.  Each team lofted the LeMans Coupe design on their own which led to subtle differences in the body styling for each team.  The first team (we call this “Team 1”-) is reported about in the August, 1960 issue of Road and Track Magazine and consisted of Marvin Horton, Ed Monegan and Alton Johnson.  The second team (Team 2) was a father/son combination – Edward and Frank Tifft of Gardena, California.

In discussing these teams, we have had direct contact with either the individuals on the team, their family members, their friends, their employers and others who participated who could verify the authenticity of what they designed, how they built it, who was involved, what was done and other details.

Individuals from both teams confirmed that both John Bond and Strother MacMinn monitored their progress.  Both teams were located in the general Los Angeles area, and it was good to hear that Bond/MacMinn visited each team.  Both teams reported that Bond/MacMinn did not guide their work or alter their plans.  Each team and builder on each team followed their own vision.

We’ve visited the John Bond Archive at Kettering University to research other information about the LeMans Coupe project and although additional detail was found, information on teams other than the two teams identified here was not found.  Since the challenge they made was to “America” there could certainly be other undocumented teams and their cars out there.  What fun that would be to find those teams and their cars, and document their history.

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Team  1  (Mold  1)
Horton,  Monegan  and  Johnson  (3  Finished  Cars / 3 Projects / Bodies)
Click  Here  To  Learn  About  Team  1

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Team  2  (Mold 2)
Ed  Tifft  (1 Finished  Car)
Click  Here  To  Learn  About  Team  2

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