FULL CIRCLE

With the famous Glickenhaus ‘Boot’ and the new ‘Boot’

- Robb Pritchard

Held in the wilds of Mexico’s Baja Peninsula for the last half a century the Baja 1000 has always been one of the ultimate tests of engineering and driving skills. A literal graveyard of stock car parts, innovation in vehicle design had come to the fore even way back in the late ‘60s… as seen in the famous Boot. Built by Vic Hinkey, who would go on to design both the Lunar Rover and the Humvee, it was a space-framed 4x4 with a mid-mounted V8 and all-round fully independent suspension. Well ahead of its time, it is considered to be the grandfather of all today’s Trophy Trucks.

1969 BAJA 500 WINNER

Briefly owned and raced by Steve McQueen, it won the first running of the Baja 500 in 1969…. the same year that Rod Hall took victory in the longer Baja 1000 in a Ford Bronco. Long retired from active service it was bought a few years ago for the Glickenhaus collection, but although it hasn’t raced since the mid-’70s it has inspired one of the most intriguing Baja entries for many, many years.

The story of how the Glickenhaus Boot got to Ensenada began back in 2005 with a conversation between Andrea Pininfarina, of the famous design house, and James Glickenhaus, a well known collector of cars. He asked that if instead of simply collecting cars, what would he make? That question, coming from such a luminary of the automotive world, was the spark that brought the glorious Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus cars to life. The Boot is the latest in a prestigious line of these motoring masterpieces.