1974 Shadow DN4 Can-Am
Sold for $381,000 at 2006 Bonhams.
This vehicle is a 1974 AVS Shadow/Chevrolet DN5 CanAm Sports-Racing Spider with chassis number DN4-2A. It is the chassis driven by British racing star Jackie Oliver in which he won the 1974 CanAm championship title. Oliver's racing career began with front-drive mini saloon cars, progressed to a wooden-chassised Marcos GT and then a Jaguar E-Type. Through time, he went to single-seaters, then Formula 3 and International Formula 2. In 1968 he was World Champion Driver Graham Hill's team-mate in the Formula 1 Lotus program. He raced in Formula 1 for a number of teams, including BRM, McLaren and Shadow cars. In 1969, he won LeMans while driving a Gulf-JW Ford.
In 1969 he raced in the CanAm series in Peter Bryant's Autocoast Ti22. From 1972 through 1974 he drove for Don Nichols in his AVS Shadow CanAm cars. He also drove their F1 single-seater cars at the time as well.
The fuel shortage of the early 1970s had CanAM change their regulations considerably, limiting fuel to just 37 gallons per race. The gas tanks shrank in size, many had been over 80 gallons. As a result, the cars decreased in size as well. The DN4, in comparison to the DN2, was considerably smaller, now just 100-inches in length. The AVS team claimed their V8 Chevrolet engine produced 735 horsepower. It is believed that the real figure was closer to 800.
1974 Shadow DN4 Can-Am
Sold for $381,000 at 2006 Bonhams.
This vehicle is a 1974 AVS Shadow/Chevrolet DN5 CanAm Sports-Racing Spider with chassis number DN4-2A. It is the chassis driven by British racing star Jackie Oliver in which he won the 1974 CanAm championship title. Oliver's racing career began with front-drive mini saloon cars, progressed to a wooden-chassised Marcos GT and then a Jaguar E-Type. Through time, he went to single-seaters, then Formula 3 and International Formula 2. In 1968 he was World Champion Driver Graham Hill's team-mate in the Formula 1 Lotus program. He raced in Formula 1 for a number of teams, including BRM, McLaren and Shadow cars. In 1969, he won LeMans while driving a Gulf-JW Ford.
In 1969 he raced in the CanAm series in Peter Bryant's Autocoast Ti22. From 1972 through 1974 he drove for Don Nichols in his AVS Shadow CanAm cars. He also drove their F1 single-seater cars at the time as well.
The fuel shortage of the early 1970s had CanAM change their regulations considerably, limiting fuel to just 37 gallons per race. The gas tanks shrank in size, many had been over 80 gallons. As a result, the cars decreased in size as well. The DN4, in comparison to the DN2, was considerably smaller, now just 100-inches in length. The AVS team claimed their V8 Chevrolet engine produced 735 horsepower. It is believed that the real figure was closer to 800.