Alan Mann Mustang DPJ8B

The 1964 Alan Mann Mustang DPJ8B
Alan Mann Racing entered it in the Spa-Sofia-Liege Rallye August 1964
& Brands Hatch 1965. Later raced by Keith Schellenberg and Brian Cutting
© Wolfgang Kohrn, Carlos Lopes - September 2015, last updated February 2024

DPJ8B is on the cover of Autosport in February 1965, seen at Brands Hatch in January.

This car was a DSO 89 ordered pre-series car out of the 180 first Mustangs, not an export car from the factory.

The History of the Alan Mann Mustang DPJ8B

Jaques Passino distributed a number of the first early pre-production cars worldwide to get into racing. 100025 and 100026 were the ones that arrived via Lincoln Cars to Alan Mann first , even before the more famous Tour de France cars. They were licenced in the Slough area with DPG3B and DPJ8B indicating a July 64 licencing date. The Sofia rallye started August 1st., 1964 in Spa/Belgium.

Note: Actually 100027 and 100030 are registered in Jaques Passinos paperwork as well, but all AMR team member only remember 2 cars arriving for this rallye aside from the 4 TDF cars, another mystery yet to solve in the near future.

DPJ8B was entered in that race by the AMR team and carried door number 46. In the top picture you can clearly spot the engine/oil pan protection plate, that both rallye cars received at AMR.
Furthermore the famous leather strap together with some tie down hood lockers.
These cars were not meant to be circuit racers, so to lower it was not the initial priority. But they certainly got the 3/4" front end drop that Alan Mann had proposed and performed already on the February 1964 Mustang prototype in the suspension tests.

During the race Peter Procter and Peter Harper on board left the road and crashed it. Alan Mann remembered in my interview the following:

"At one time one of the rear tires of the Procter Mustang exploded. It really blew up. At first we did not know what happened, but then it turned out, that they were driving with the handbrake applied for an extended period and that caused the brake and tire to develop extensive heat. Obviously the rear tire could not stand the immense heat and literally exploded. We had to change tire and off it went again. Other then that there were only minor things to repair."

By the end of 1964 the car (or DPG3B with DPJ8B licence plates) was straigthened out and sitting around, so the AMR team thought about some fun at the annual Boxing day to have a first appearance at a british race. Unfortunately during practive the engine blew a piston, but on Christmas day Lionel Whitehead and Alan Mann met at Brands Hatch for the qualifying just to recognise with other racers that the ice would prevent any racing.

In the January, 31st, 1965 Brands Hatch race, Alan Mann drove the Mustang himself with door number 111. Due to bad weather this race had been postponed to end of January.

DPJ8B had been repaired after the crash a the Liege-Sofia Rallye. You can clearly spot the perspex side window replacing the former glass window, the side exhaust and some front undercarriage modifications. Again ...maybe at this time a licence plate change took place with DPG3B. Once we have the proof we will know better.

The cardboard in the grill was just placed to reduce the cold air flow during the race in January. Outside temperature made that necessary.
More interesting is the scoop hood that was used during this race.
The hood has the known Shelby hood locking pin kits, so we may wonder from which car these got on the car end of 1964 at Alan Manns shop.
Alan won that race...of course.

George Merwin actually did not like Alans playing around with those race cars as they had put a lot of money in this adventure. Alan admits in his book that he might have been right.
Alan Mann sold this car soon after the Boxing Day race.

Next owner may have been already Keith Schellenberg, who raced this car acc. to our latest contributor John Wood at the Croft racing circuit on August 30th, 1965 and later again in the Harewood hillclimb race in November, 26th 66. (Stockton Farm, Harewood, Leeds)

A left over mystery:
What maybe surprising is that Carlos Lopes from France found in 2023 a pic of DPJ8B being at one of the 1964 Tour de France checkpoints in Cognac. Carrying the "assistance" sticker that service cars typically had at the TDF 1964.

It may indeed turn the history records, since obviously neither the early 260cui prototype nor the 4th TDF car was the actual spare part car, but one of the earlier rallye cars from the Liege/Sofia rallye. And obviously the DPJ8B licence plate was used on it.

Could be as well, that Alan Mann drove it to that spot only. We will keep you informed about this newsbit. Or could this be VIN 100027 or 100030, a "doublette" that Alan Mann speaks about in his book as a trick car or another spare car that the licece plate was just used on. Maybe future will tell.

After Keith Schellenberg sold DPJ8B, Brian Cutting entered the rallye or racing scene with it and used it at least until 1970. In the begginning it still had the DPJ8B licence plate. Co-driver was Clive Hall in this race.

Brian raced in 1967 an Anglia at Castle Comb against Ronny Lyon in the DPK7B ex-Brabham - ex AMR TDF winner.
By 1971 he raced an Ford Escort Martin V8 at Thruxton.

Carlos Lopes contributed the first picture from his research.

He later added flared front fenders and sculptured rear fenders for wide tires.
The race with door number 66 is the Castlecomb race from March 30th, 1970.

The second is from the Autoforum Nostalgia/Photographer Bill Riley

What happened to it after 1970? We do further research. Stay tuned.

Read on - Exclusive on Ponysite:

The History of the '64 TDF winner Mustang DPK7B
The History of the '64 TDF second winner Mustang DPK6B
The History of the '64 TDF DNF Mustang DPK5B
The History of the 1964 Liege car DPG3B DPG3B
The History of the 1964 Liege car DPJ8B DPJ8B
The History of the 1964 Jacky Ickx car ABP325B

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DPJ8B is on the cover of Autosport in February 1965, seen at Brands Hatch in January. This car was a DSO 89 ordered pre-series car out of the 180 first Mustangs, not an export car from the factory.	The History of the Alan Mann Mustang DPJ8B Jaques Passino distributed a number of the first early pre-production cars worldwide to get into racing. 100025 and 100026 were the ones that arrived via Lincoln Cars to Alan Mann first , even before the more famous Tour de France cars. They were licenced in the Slough area with DPG3B and DPJ8B indicating a July 64 licencing date. The Sofia rallye started August 1st., 1964 in Spa/Belgium. Note: Actually 100027 and 100030 are registered in Jaques Passinos paperwork as well, but all AMR team member only remember 2 cars arriving for this rallye aside from the 4 TDF cars, another mystery yet to solve in the near future. DPJ8B was entered in that race by the AMR team and carried door number 46. In the top picture you can clearly spot the engine/oil pan protection plate, that both rallye cars received at AMR. Furthermore the famous leather strap together with some tie down hood lockers. These cars were not meant to be circuit racers, so to lower it was not the initial priority. But they certainly got the 3/4" front end drop that Alan Mann had proposed and performed already on the February 1964 Mustang prototype in the suspension tests. During the race Peter Procter and Peter Harper on board left the road and crashed it. Alan Mann remembered in my interview the following: "At one time one of the rear tires of the Procter Mustang exploded. It really blew up. At first we did not know what happened, but then it turned out, that they were driving with the handbrake applied for an extended period and that caused the brake and tire to develop extensive heat. Obviously the rear tire could not stand the immense heat and literally exploded. We had to change tire and off it went again. Other then that there were only minor things to repair." By the end of 1964 the car (or DPG3B with DPJ8B licence plates) was straigthened out and sitting around, so the AMR team thought about some fun at the annual Boxing day to have a first appearance at a british race. Unfortunately during practive the engine blew a piston, but on Christmas day Lionel Whitehead and Alan Mann met at Brands Hatch for the qualifying just to recognise with other racers that the ice would prevent any racing. In the January, 31st, 1965 Brands Hatch race, Alan Mann drove the Mustang himself with door number 111. Due to bad weather this race had been postponed to end of January. DPJ8B had been repaired after the crash a the Liege-Sofia Rallye. You can clearly spot the perspex side window replacing the former glass window, the side exhaust and some front undercarriage modifications. Again ...maybe at this time a licence plate change took place with DPG3B. Once we have the proof we will know better. The cardboard in the grill was just placed to reduce the cold air flow during the race in January. Outside temperature made that necessary. More interesting is the scoop hood that was used during this race. The hood has the known Shelby hood locking pin kits, so we may wonder from which car these got on the car end of 1964 at Alan Manns shop. Alan won that race...of course. George Merwin actually did not like Alans playing around with those race cars as they had put a lot of money in this adventure. Alan admits in his book that he might have been right. Alan Mann sold this car soon after the Boxing Day race. Next owner may have been already Keith Schellenberg, who raced this car acc. to our latest contributor John Wood at the Croft racing circuit on August 30th, 1965 and later again in the Harewood hillclimb race in November, 26th 66. (Stockton Farm, Harewood, Leeds)
A left over mystery: What maybe surprising is that Carlos Lopes from France found in 2023 a pic of DPJ8B being at one of the 1964 Tour de France checkpoints in Cognac. Carrying the "assistance" sticker that service cars typically had at the TDF 1964. It may indeed turn the history records, since obviously neither the early 260cui prototype nor the 4th TDF car was the actual spare part car, but one of the earlier rallye cars from the Liege/Sofia rallye. And obviously the DPJ8B licence plate was used on it. Could be as well, that Alan Mann drove it to that spot only. We will keep you informed about this newsbit. Or could this be VIN 100027 or 100030, a "doublette" that Alan Mann speaks about in his book as a trick car or another spare car that the licece plate was just used on. Maybe future will tell.

After Keith Schellenberg sold DPJ8B, Brian Cutting entered the rallye or racing scene with it and used it at least until 1970. In the begginning it still had the DPJ8B licence plate. Co-driver was Clive Hall in this race. Brian raced in 1967 an Anglia at Castle Comb against Ronny Lyon in the DPK7B ex-Brabham - ex AMR TDF winner. By 1971 he raced an Ford Escort Martin V8 at Thruxton. Carlos Lopes contributed the first picture from his research. He later added flared front fenders and sculptured rear fenders for wide tires. The race with door number 66 is the Castlecomb race from March 30th, 1970. The second is from the Autoforum Nostalgia/Photographer Bill Riley What happened to it after 1970? We do further research. Stay tuned.
	Read on - Exclusive on Ponysite: The History of the '64 TDF winner Mustang DPK7B The History of the '64 TDF second winner Mustang DPK6B The History of the '64 TDF DNF Mustang DPK5B The History of the 1964 Liege car DPG3B DPG3B The History of the 1964 Liege car DPJ8B DPJ8B The History of the 1964 Jacky Ickx car ABP325B
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