What's on this Cobra?

[Madmiles442]

Check out this photo and tell me if you know what's on this Cobra behind the Terlingua logo, under the mirror. It looks kinda like a genie's bottle (the kind you rub to get wishes). They only appear on the driver's side, kinda like you would put Japanese flags on a fighter showing your number of kills.


Here they are on a Terlingua Mustang Clone of Bill Neale's. She's got 3, she must be a kick-ass driver.




Here they are on this Terlingua Cobra, 1 of 5 CSX4000 Terlingua's done in the late 1990's.

[wtm442]

They look like little race horses with riders.

But I cannot see out of one eye and I'm blind in the other eye.

[snakebitekit]

I know it doesn't help but the first and third cars are one and the same.
Dennis

[Ronbo]

Does look like Aladdin's lamp.

Guess it means races they wish they'd won. The corvettes were no doubt plastered with them...

[mrmustang]

Small old style oil fill cans to signify races they had won.


Bill S.

[G.R.]

Beat me to it Bill....pretty common sight on old USSRC cars.

[Dan Stryffeler]

Forget the oil cans - who's the blond???

[Nedsel]

Since it is the Terlingua Team we're talking about here, which is famous for the chili cook-offs, I wonder if those actually are "kills" from, uh, after the cook-off. You know, people who wish they could crawl back in the genie's bottle or anywhere else, for that matter, to escape the flatulence.

[Madmiles442]

I knew someone out there would know. Thanks for the info.
I can't find any vintage photos with these little oil cans on them, but sounds perfectly plausible.

[G.R.]

I have a long out of print book published in the mid-60's of sportscar racing in the U.S. . In several different BW photos of cars from the USSRC races., Triumphs, Healeys, MG's etc., from the era you can plainly see the "oilcans" on the drivers door or fender.

I found this book at an automotive swap meet many years ago. The title is United States Sportscar Racing by Art Burke. It's primarily a photo book about 150 pages, soft-cover, a little explanation of tracks and venues primarily on the East Coast and Mid-west and a brief description of some of the winning regional and national drivers. Sort of like Friedmans Cobra books but with less detail.

[Madmiles442]

Digging this up, but an update -
The little decals on the side are armadillos on their back. I happened to see this car up close.
Story goes that on a cruise from Dallas to Terlingua, then doing the Texas 1000, Bill Neale and friends killed so many armadillos, they started putting them on the side of the car. Nothing to do with vintage racing at all. Just a Bill Neale witticism.
If you happen to be at Terlingua this weekend, you can see it too.

[vorpl8]

Yes, the upside down armadillos are Bill's and are a sense of humor as I recall talking with him. He sometimes gave them out as well at events and told folks he limited the number he gave out per car. Part of the fun.

I am co-owner of the yellow 1965 which was built for Bill in the early 1990's. He drove it for many years and enjoyed it greatly. It is GY-011. The driver is one of Carroll's former wives. Lena.