When the great book of bendy racing is written, two classes of race cars will sit atop of the heap of the nuttiest ever to turn right and left. Those two classes are the Group B rally machines of the early 1980s and the Can-Am cars of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Lighter than light and powered by injected big block engines, these cars had a near upside-down power to weight ratio and none of the advanced chassis technology and construction methods of today.
That being said, they were advanced for their era and one of the premier constructors of these cars was McLaren, the company founded by racer Bruce McLaren. His chassis were run by many teams and claimed several championships along the way.
The Can-Am car we found on AutoTraderClassics.com has a bunch of great racing history. It was initially powered by a Westlake Ford engine and then ended up with an aluminum 427 Chevy mill. That appears to be the engine that resides in the car today. The car came in 5th overall for the points championship in 1968 and had strong showings at several races. The Westlake Ford motor only lasted a couple races, blowing up at the third event and prompting the switch to Rat power.
From 1969-1971 the car was apparently owned by a Japanese team and featured the well known Tony Adamowicz and the lesser known Japanese racing driver named as Sakai in the sales listing.
We would love to own this car. Granted, we would absolutely crash it to smithereens within 10 second of pulling onto the race track, but they would be a glorious ten seconds. One needs to have metallic testicles and serious driving talent to tame one of these monsters.
You’ll not find a big block wrapped in a sexier package than this!
Source — AutoTraderClassics.com — 1968 McLaren Can-Am race car
