Your favourite unsolved mystery?

KevRossi · 15-04-2021 1:25pm

Who was NASCAR driver L.W. Wright?

In 1982 a man walked into the offices of a marketing agency in Nashville and managed to con/swindle/persudade his way into driving a NASCAR in the Winston Cup Series.

After taking part in the record breaking qualifying, his engine blew up after 13 laps in the race. When the marshalls went to get him to remove his car after the race, they couldn't find him. He had disappeared. Arrest warrants were issued, P.I's were employed, but he was never found. Nobody ever saw him again and nearly 40 years later he has never come forward.

It's the equivalent of someone showing up at a F1 race in Monza and getting to race a F1 car.

L.W. Wright is known since as the D.B. Cooper of NASCAR. It's not as dramatic as some of the other mysteries on this excellent thread, but it's a crazy story all the same.

Short wiki on him here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L._W._Wright

And a 5 minutes Youtube video here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-RKlj5MPC4

ohnonotgmail · 15-04-2021 1:53pm

KevRossi wrote: »

Who was NASCAR driver L.W. Wright?

In 1982 a man walked into the offices of a marketing agency in Nashville and managed to con/swindle/persudade his way into driving a NASCAR in the Winston Cup Series.

After taking part in the record breaking qualifying, his engine blew up after 13 laps in the race. When the marshalls went to get him to remove his car after the race, they couldn't find him. He had disappeared. Arrest warrants were issued, P.I's were employed, but he was never found. Nobody ever saw him again and nearly 40 years later he has never come forward.

It's the equivalent of someone showing up at a F1 race in Monza and getting to race a F1 car.

L.W. Wright is known since as the D.B. Cooper of NASCAR. It's not as dramatic as some of the other mysteries on this excellent thread, but it's a crazy story all the same.

Short wiki on him here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L._W._Wright

And a 5 minutes Youtube video here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-RKlj5MPC4

the wiki link says the stewards removed him from the race after 13 laps because he was too slow. nothing about his engine blowing up. if there was any record breaking in qualifying it wasn't by him. he qualified in 36th. He also took part in qualifying for the next race before disappearing. Probably because he knew his checks were about to bounce. sounds like a walter mitty type who fooled a lot of people.

Larsso30 · 15-04-2021 2:04pm

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

the wiki link says the stewards removed him from the race after 13 laps because he was too slow. nothing about his engine blowing up. if there was any record breaking in qualifying it wasn't by him. he qualified in 36th. He also took part in qualifying for the next race before disappearing. Probably because he knew his checks were about to bounce. sounds like a walter mitty type who fooled a lot of people.

I was excited to read about it till I read your post but its also great to get some closure on a weird story ðŸ˜‚ðŸ‘

KevRossi · 15-04-2021 2:06pm

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

the wiki link says the stewards removed him from the race after 13 laps because he was too slow. nothing about his engine blowing up. if there was any record breaking in qualifying it wasn't by him. he qualified in 36th. He also took part in qualifying for the next race before disappearing. Probably because he knew his checks were about to bounce. sounds like a walter mitty type who fooled a lot of people.

It was the first NASCAR race where a qualifying lap hit 200 MPH. Youtube video has a different version of the story.

Either way he disappeared and strangely nobody knowd who he is and he's never been found.

Roger_007 · 15-04-2021 4:18pm

I don’t know if it’s been mentioned here yet, (I didn’t read all the posts), but there was a case of two guys who ‘stole’ a Boeing 727 from Luanda airport in Angola in 2002. One of them was a qualified pilot, although he’d never flown a 727 before. The other guy was a maintenance technician. They got on board the plane, started up the engines, taxied erratically out to the runway and took off, all without any permission from ATC.
The plane headed out over the Atlantic with enough fuel on board for 2000km . Neither the plane or the two men have ever been seen again. No wreckage or debris from the plane has ever been found.

Ash.J.Williams · 16-04-2021 10:58am

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

the wiki link says the stewards removed him from the race after 13 laps because he was too slow. nothing about his engine blowing up. if there was any record breaking in qualifying it wasn't by him. he qualified in 36th. He also took part in qualifying for the next race before disappearing. Probably because he knew his checks were about to bounce. sounds like a walter mitty type who fooled a lot of people.

And it’s not like walking up to an f1 race either

Kenny Logins · 16-04-2021 11:49am

Roger_007 wrote: »

I don’t know if it’s been mentioned here yet, (I didn’t read all the posts), but there was a case of two guys who ‘stole’ a Boeing 727 from Luanda airport in Angola in 2002. One of them was a qualified pilot, although he’d never flown a 727 before. The other guy was a maintenance technician. They got on board the plane, started up the engines, taxied erratically out to the runway and took off, all without any permission from ATC.
The plane headed out over the Atlantic with enough fuel on board for 2000km . Neither the plane or the two men have ever been seen again. No wreckage or debris from the plane has ever been found.

Interesting. Had to have a quick search for that and I think I found it. :pac:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/jul/07/jamesastill

oneilla · 16-04-2021 12:10pm

Kenny Logins wrote: »

Interesting. Had to have a quick search for that and I think I found it. :pac:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/jul/07/jamesastill

I too was intrigued and searched for it. This seems to be the most comprehensive write-up around - https://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-flight/the-727-that-vanished-2371187/?all

FrankN1 · 20-04-2021 1:35pm

Sophie Tuscan Du Plantier. New documentary coming soon about it.

frag420 · 20-04-2021 5:04pm

FrankN1 wrote: »

Sophie Tuscan Du Plantier. New documentary coming soon about it.

There is a great podcast called West Cork all about this case, well worth a listen!

Day Lewin · 20-04-2021 7:52pm

frag420 wrote: »

There is a great podcast called West Cork all about this case, well worth a listen!

Yes, it is excellent, a rivetting listen.

Tons of fascinating local colour, back-story, side-lines, etc etc.

However, it does not offer a definite solution to the case!

Blue850 · 02-05-2021 1:50pm

This photo appeared in a 1962 book about London Buses, a request to identify the little blue sports car was posted on the Pistonheads motoring forum in 2015 and the car has defied all attempts to identify it since

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=23&t=1555306

Cheerful S · 03-05-2021 1:42am

Blue850 wrote: »

This photo appeared in a 1962 book about London Buses, a request to identify the little blue sports car was posted on the Pistonheads motoring forum in 2015 and the car has defied all attempts to identify it since

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=23&t=1555306

The car, least a very similar type, on that forum you linked to.

The only real difference i see between both, the color and hubcabs on the wheels.

Caegan · 03-05-2021 1:45am

Cheerful S wrote: »

The car, least a very similar type, on that forum you linked to.

The only real difference i see between both, the color and hubcabs on the wheels.

And the shape, especially the back end. The yellow one looks longer in the back end, by a distance.

Cheerful S · 03-05-2021 2:11am

Caegan wrote: »

And the shape, especially the back end. The yellow one looks longer in the back end, by a distance.

Fairly certain its a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unipower_GT A British made car. It makes sense if you look at the background. That looks like a London highstreet in the 60s.

Caegan · 03-05-2021 2:16am

Cheerful S wrote: »

Fairly certain its a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unipower_GT A British made car. It makes sense if you look at the background. That looks like a London highstreet in the 60s.

I can see what your saying and maybe it's the angle both pictures are at but I genuinely don't think they're the same car. I'm not trying to be contrary.

Be right back · 03-05-2021 7:18am

Cheerful S wrote: »

Fairly certain its a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unipower_GT A British made car. It makes sense if you look at the background. That looks like a London highstreet in the 60s.

The high street picture is from 1962 but the car you suggested was first produced in 1966.

Wibbs · 03-05-2021 9:18am

Caegan wrote: »

I can see what your saying and maybe it's the angle both pictures are at but I genuinely don't think they're the same car. I'm not trying to be contrary.

Not being contrary either C, but yeah other than both being examples of an early 60's design language for "small sports car" they're wildly different.

From the front; even if you remove the bumpers/overriders the nose is slightly different, the scoops ahead of the headlights are shorter on the mystery car and don't come as far forward and meet the line of the front. The badge is different and in a different place. The headlights mount is angled forward on the mystery car, vertical on the yellow. There is also a swage line that runs from the headlight scoop through the door and all the way to the back on the yellow not present on the mystery car. The front looks to be a clamshell bonnet arrangement to access the front mounted engine. The windscreen on the mystery car is far more oval, eye shaped and swoops down following almost a half circle. The yellow car is more letterbox shaped. The top line of the door window is horizontal in the yellow, angled down towards the back in the mystery car. The door itself on the yellow car is vertical, but follows the curve of the wheelarch on the mystery car and is much closer to the rear of the car. The rear is much shorter on the mystery car. The yellow car has a clamshell lid over what appears to be a rear engined layout, the mystery car has no such clamshell and is most certainly front engined. This is further confirmed by the rear vent. On the mystery car it opens/vents to the rear(possibly to vent cabin air), on the yellow the vent is open to the front to force air into the rear mounted engine for cooling.

I'd say the mystery car is a homebuild "special" common enough at the time, though it's a very nicely designed one. Most looked awkward compared to production car design. The yellow is awkward in a few places, though for a rear engined layout not too bad at all.

fryup · 03-05-2021 9:35am

Wibbs wrote: »

I'd say the mystery car is a homebuild "special" common enough at the time,

yep, thats it in a nutshell a modified homebuild

probably Mike Brewer's dad?

Cheerful S · 03-05-2021 1:28pm

Caegan wrote: »

I can see what your saying and maybe it's the angle both pictures are at but I genuinely don't think they're the same car. I'm not trying to be contrary.

Not exactly, the same looking model true, but very close in design look. It's also possible this was prototype on assembly line that was given a test run years before the car was produced. I was thinking also it may be a modified Aston Martin? Either way the car extremely rare since there no other images of it to be found online.

This a van type Unipower GT.

Flipped our mystery car to match the side profile.

Its a mystery alright who build it.

Wibbs · 03-05-2021 2:55pm

In those pics it's even more different. The unipower is rear engined with a rear clamshell. The mystery car is front engined with a front clamshell. The layout of the underpinnings couldn't be any more different if it tried. Your better pic of the mystery car looks like it has gull wing doors, again very different from the Unipower.

They only look close in design because that was the general template for "little sports cars" with front engines of the 1960's. Long bonnet, two seaters, fastback rear.
Ferrari 250 SWB as an example.

This design language was so embedded that the Unipower which is a rear/mid engined car tries to shoehorn very different underpinnings into the same shape. It was only later in the 1960's when Ferrari mid engined race cars came along that the design language started to change and especially when the Lamborghini Miura road car came along that things started to change in that regard.

wilddarts · 03-05-2021 3:02pm

https://www.coachbuild.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=81&t=13614

More info on the mystery car, and a helpful pic where someone photoshopped out the 2 ladies so u get a better idea of the overall shape, shut lines etc.

[Deleted User] · 03-05-2021 3:57pm

Surely someway related one of these?

(Door and front windscreen the same)

https://www.driven.co.nz/lifestyle/classic-cars/rare-sunbeam-has-le-mans-win-pedigree/

https://www.tradeuniquecars.com.au/feature-cars/1107/harrington-sunbeam-alpine-review

Suckit · 03-05-2021 4:23pm

wilddarts wrote: »

https://www.coachbuild.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=81&t=13614

More info on the mystery car, and a helpful pic where someone photoshopped out the 2 ladies so u get a better idea of the overall shape, shut lines etc.

If that photoshop is in any way accurate, then surely the gullwing doors are unique in shape?

KevRossi · 03-05-2021 6:39pm

The U.B.C. (Unidentified Blue Coupe) again. I've been following it for a few years on different forums. It's amazing that nobody has identified it, or the manufacturer.

My two cents:

It's a coach built car, probably a one-off. It was either built on a whim, or built with the intention of brining it around to a few manufacturers to see if they would supply the chassis at cost. Although coach building was starting to slowly die out in the 1960's, it was still a big business at the time and there were a huge amount of very experienced panel beaters in the UK who could build that car on whatever chassis was supplied.

I personally think it used a lot of parts off an Arnott 1100 GT Climax Coupe. I think parts such as the roof, door hinges and windscreen surround are from one. The chassis of the car could be from numerous cars. The rear flanks and front wings look home made, the front wings especially are reminiscent of 1950's cars. The headlight units would be from a normal car manufacturer parts bin. The doors look like an early Lotus Elan.

I think it's a bit of a mystery to car nuts, but it's not a mystery in that it came from space or it was used by USSR spies or something.

odyssey06 · 03-05-2021 6:44pm

KevRossi wrote: »

I think it's a bit of a mystery to car nuts, but it's not a mystery in that it came from space or it was used by USSR spies or something.

They didn't even have the decency to use it in a high profile crime or disappearance!

ohnonotgmail · 03-05-2021 6:44pm

Cheerful S wrote: »

The car, least a very similar type, on that forum you linked to.

The only real difference i see between both, the color and hubcabs on the wheels.

there are some quite obvious differences between the cars.

the top of the windscreen on the yellow car curves down the wings. the other car has a straight top to the windscreen.

the rear end shape is completely different on both cars.

the door shape is different

the area around the headlights is a very different shape on both cars. the headlights on the yellow car are set back further from the nose.

apart from a vaguely similar shape they are not that alike at all.

ETA I didn't see Wibbs post before I wrote this. What he said.

Itssoeasy · 09-05-2021 5:40pm

Jill dando. Her name came into my head last night and I decided to read the wiki article and it had a part about her death. I can remember it happening at the time and them convicting Barry George wrongly(I think he lives in Ireland now) and the fact that they seem none the wiser as to who was involved or what it may be connected to is amazing after 22 years.

Doublebusy · 16-05-2021 9:48am

Oman Benguit
6 short episodes
Very interesting
Watch without reading the comments

https://youtu.be/_pLLOGcawh0

turniphead · 16-05-2021 11:05am

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/05/17/has-an-old-soviet-mystery-at-last-been-solved

Article about the Dylatov Pass mystery

Your favourite unsolved mystery?

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