All of the beautiful photographs are from our friend Bob Allen

Representing the height of 1960s automotive craftsmanship, the DB5 captures the spirit of innovation and luxury, just soak in with your eys the perfectworkmanship in the interior.

It is celebrated as a symbol of classic British motoring, cherished by enthusiasts around the world.

Beyond its famed appearances in films, the DB5 was a favorite among celebrities and high society in the 1960s. Its blend of performance, luxury, and exclusivity made it highly coveted.

Today, the 1965 Aston Martin DB5 is a prized collectible, with well-maintained examples fetching substantial sums at auctions. Car collectors and aficionados view it as a pinnacle of automotive design and engineering.

The engineering of the DB5 wasn’t solely about power; it also featured advanced technology for its time. Equipped with three SU carburetors, the car delivered impressive performance.

It also boasted disc brakes on all four wheels, providing excellent stopping power and enhanced safety.

The sophisticated suspension system, with coil springs at the front and a live axle at the rear, ensured a balanced and smooth ride. The 1965 Aston Martin DB5 is a hallmark of British luxury and engineering prowess.

Recognized as one of the most iconic cars in automotive history, the DB5 is synonymous with elegance, high performance, and a storied legacy, particularly noted for its association with the James Bond film series.

Aston Martin introduced the DB5 in 1963, following the DB4. By 1965, the model had been refined to perfection, establishing its status as a classic.

Designed by the esteemed Italian coachbuilder Carrozzeria Touring, the DB5 features a sleek and timeless design. Its graceful lines, distinctive grille, and elegant profile instantly mark it as a classic, admired for its beauty and craftsmanship.

Here are more amazing shots of the breathtaking 1965 Aston Martin DB5 taken by photographer Bob Allen

– from Kip Cyprus

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As the host, Kip Cyprus showcased his unparalleled collection of Ford performance cars, Shelby Cobras, GT350s, and GT40s. These vehicles are more than just machines; they represent the golden era of motorsport. Kip Cyprus’s passion for preserving and sharing this history shines through as he welcomed Maurice and Justin into his meticulously curated space.

Justin Gurney shared touching anecdotes about his father, recounting Dan’s groundbreaking achievements in Formula One, Indy Car, and NASCAR, as well as his pivotal role in founding All American Racers. Justin said, “My dad was always pushing boundaries. Whether it was pioneering the rear-engine layout at Indy or achieving that historic Grand Prix win with the Eagle Mk1, he was never satisfied with the status quo.” He also recalled, “The 1967 Le Mans victory with A.J. Foyt was one of his proudest moments. That race wasn’t just about speed; it was about endurance, teamwork, and heart.”

Kip Cyprus’s ’s garage, filled with historically significant cars, served as the perfect backdrop for these stories. Notably, it houses a replica of Dan Gurney’s 1963 Shelby Cobra, a gift for his 84th birthday.
Kip Cyprus shared, “This car isn’t just a piece of history; it’s a connection to the man behind the legacy. Hosting it here feels like honoring a friend.”

Reflecting on the experience, Kip Cyprus remarked, “Having the opportunity to share these stories and this space with people who truly understand the importance of motorsport history is incredibly rewarding. It’s about keeping the legacy alive for future generations.”

Be sure to watch the full episode of “Dan Gurney: The All-American Racer” with Kip Cyprus and Justin Gurney to delve deeper into the history, the cars, and the passion that continues to drive the world of motorsport. The episode can be found on Spotify and on Buzzsprout

Back to Home page at KipCyprus.com

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“The dealer would get the car; it was so rare, and it was the beginning of fuel injection for General Motors, and they were all fuel-injected cars. The car has a fuel-injected motor which resembles the Rochester of the Corvette. The owners of most of the dealerships tended to keep the car for a year; they drive it around and then sell it afterward” said Kip Cyprus.

“This was the most expensive car that was made by Pontiac until 1978. We had gone into a recession in late ’57, and economically, the ’58 was sold for less. This car is in beautiful condition; they were always white and they either had a red interior or a blue interior—it was one or the other.”

Kip Cyprus describes the fule injection system
The fuel-injected system on this car is referred to as a turkey baster, our slang term for the street because the fuel injection system is all underneath this lid and it looks like a rat’s nest of wires and little copper pipes going everywhere. So, they put that cap on to clean up the mess. You’ll notice there’s a blue horn and then two blocks. Well, the accessory horn that Pontiac had was always blue in 1957; it was the last year that Pontiac used the Indian as their flagship on their logos.

“I think it was $6,200 was the sales price on this car. If you think about $6,200 versus a Bel Air loaded up for under $3,000 mimicking the same offerings. This car has so much documentation on it; it actually has the original time slips when it was in Daytona and they would run on the sand. You get a time slip, and I have about 200 time slips with this car” mentions Kip Cyprus.

Kip Cyprus continues: “During the restoration, the car was really interesting. I got all this documentation when I bought the car, and I’m reading through it. It says that the car was owned by the original owner of the dealership, then it was sold, and it had gotten repossessed. A mechanic in the back of a shop had bought the car, and in his notes, he had put that he was racing the car on the sand in Daytona, and he could never get the fuel injection pump to run right. So, he took the fuel injection pump off, ran a regular intake manifold with a carburetor, and he had a horrific backfire.”

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Kip Cyprus continues; “The tail is distinctive; nothing stands out like the tail of this car. You don’t know whether it’s coming or going, actually. If I had to guess, it’s really close to 19 feet…This is the end of the air ride, so General Motors started working with air ride and airbags in the mid-late 50s. The car actually rides on two airbags—similar to what we do today with more modern pro street cars, trying to run on airbags. General Motors began it, and it’s really interesting the way they did it. Its kind of like the way a toilet works; when the toilet fills up with water, the valve on the toilet fills up, shuts the valve off when it gets a certain level. This car is the same kind of way. There’s a right height adjustment, and when the car is too low, it adds air, and when it’s too high, it lets it out…the way it operates is off a power steering pump that produces air, goes into an accumulator tank, fills up, charges, and then pushes air to all the valves. As long as the valves are at the right height, there’s a blow-by. When they’re not, it lets air in.”

Kip Cyprus considers this a luxury performance car. “When they had all the high-rises with penthouses before public transportation became popular, they would drive these big luxury cars. In those apartment buildings, when you went into them, you almost had to duck your head; they were really low. It wasn’t like a parking structure today with a lot of height. So, these cars would wind up at the bottom. The air ride system was so bad that it would always go flat on them, and they could never get the cars, when they’re all the way down, you can’t even turn the wheels without bending the fenders. It’s a terrible design. So, the cars would wind up at the bottom, and they’d get a tow truck down there to get them out. Public transportation came along, and the cars were just left down there and forgotten. So, you think, ‘Okay, we’re on the East Coast where it’s moisture and it’s always snowing, it’s cold, and that’s where all the cars would rust out.’ You never want to buy a car from New York City. Typically, you want to go to Arizona or California for rust-free cars. However, most of these survived out of New York City because they were down in those buildings, and those buildings were kept hot. They had boilers that kept the whole building hot, so those cars were always in an oven and dry as can be. That’s what saved a lot of these cars.”

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It runs on a unibody rather than a frame, and structurally, they didn’t quite have it. Hundreds of these cars were made, with only 700 exported, and the remaining 2,000 stayed in the U.S. Unfortunately, fifty percent of those in the U.S. were crushed by the factory. The tow truck would pick up the car at an odd angle, and as it went down the road, it would wobble, collapse in the center, and bend. Dealers often replaced them with brand new ’62s. For survivors, there was a recall where a supporting beam was added along the bottom.

The ’61 Lincoln Continental has an interesting feature. Similar to the later Mercedes models in the ’80s, touching a button drops the windows when opening the door. A neat touch for 1961.

The convertible top has around thirty solenoids behind the wall of the panel that operates it. Continental owners are advised not to raise or lower the top while on the road due to the complex triggers and switches, which can cause it to get stuck. Owners need to understand the intricacies to fully enjoy these cars.

Some people refer to these cars as “Kennedy cars,” although they were not necessarily linked to Kennedy. While late ’62 is more associated with Kennedy, the ’61 Continental carries the stigma, likely due to historical events.

Overall, the ’61 Lincoln Continental is a beautiful, eye-catching car with fantastic streamlines, despite its engineering challenges. It requires a certain level of understanding to fully appreciate and enjoy its unique features.

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“To me, stated Kip Cyprus “the ’49 to ’51 Mercurys – when you say ‘lead sled’- the Mercury is what we would consider a “lead sled”. As you can see, there are a lot of different kinds of cars.
This car, I’ve had for 25 years. It was my first custom. I went from being a muscle car guy to, ‘Hey, I want to have a custom,’ and I started looking at what was out there and what was cool and I decided, hey, I want a ’50 Merc, kind of a James Dean style.”

“James Dean style Mercs got their name because he had taken the Mercuries and really brought them to a higher level as far as publicity. What guys would do back then is, (a ’49 to ’51 Mercury, typical, the ultimate Mercury is probably a 1950. I prefer a ’51, and I’ll show you. It has a little bit different fins in the back than a ’50, a 1950. What the guys would do back then, is use cheap horsepower”, stated Kip Cyprus.

“Cheap horsepower came from a Chevrolet V8. So, it was very common. The guy would go up to the junkyard, (the time being 1960) he’s got this hand-me-down ’51 Merc from Dad, and he goes to the junkyard, finds himself a ’57 fully Corvette engine because that’s what you wanted to do. They put the ’57 Corvette motor inside of it.

And then, it was very common—the ’64 T-Bird and ’62 T-Birds had the interiors, and it was real common that the guys would go after the interior from the T-Bird and convert the rear back seats. A lot of them are chopped. This car is not chopped. I didn’t want to chop it because it was such a nice car to start with. But I kept the visor on it. It gives it that chop look without really having to chop the car.

As you can see, this car runs on bags, so it can sit all the way down and it has a little ride height drivability mode and then high mode for curbs.

The motor replicates a ’57 Fuelie motor. It’s been equipped with a modern fuel injection system on top of it. This is an older restoration custom build, maybe 25 years ago. The components we have today are better. If you’re doing one today, you could do it even more, but I really like to keep, when you’re customizing the cars, modifying them, I like to keep the originality—what would have been correct to the era.

Not so much just go to the store and buy whatever’s on the shelf at the hot rod shop. I like to really fabricate the parts so that either they are true correct real old speed parts, restored, or that we turn them to make them look old if we have to go with the newer part.

The 1951 Mercury normally would have had the push knobs up high, and then it would have a couple of holes in the grill. This grille has been modified, so it’s just all the teeth have been added. Additional teeth and then the buttons, the snubbers are shaved down. Another interesting part about the car running the Cadillac hubcaps was real common.

And then notice the curb. So when we metal did the car, we took the skirts and we flush-mounted the skirts. Typically, the skirts would be sitting on the outside of the body. We shaved them all down and shoved them in.

Neat little features, power windows. Kept the ’50s style upholstery. Didn’t keep it; we added it. It would have been more like a vinyl bench with no pleats, the back seats. This is really the trick on these cars, like a little love seat back there.

But if you come back here, what distinguishes a ’51 from the ’49 and ’50 is the tail. They have the little tail fins, which I preferred. So, I started with a ’51 rather than a ’50.

But I think if you ask America what’s the ultimate lead sled, they would say a 1950 Mercury. Also, another feature that must-have—you gotta fringe in the antenna, wrench it in. Same thing, bumpers, everything’s been tightened in. Little bumperettes shaved down and pushed in”, concluded Kip Cyprus.

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Oldsmobile introduces to the American market one of the 1st performance V8’s.

This is a 1950 Rocket 88 motor, Oldmobile’s performance engine that would be in a 1950 Oldsmobile.

Kip Cyprus tells us what could be found under the hood: “it is the same motor that has been modified with the in-take. It has the custom 4 strong bird carborators. Its running an original – of the era 4 in-take carborator manifold. Its actually fuel injection with 4 individual fuel injectors inside those strong birds that run into a computer – its mapped but we’re running the original Rocket ’88 V 8 motor that the car was produced with.”

“This car would be considered a lead sled or custom. It has been shaved up in diffferent areas and body worked. The fenders and the molding have been tightened up giving it a real smooth look.

It runs on a set of “bags” so it can be at different heights – a very comfortable ride.

Kip Cyprus continues: “How we have rebuilt this is very interesting. The original Rocket ’88 motor came out of a 1950 Coupe – same platform but a little different body. We were in the middle of rebuilding the Oldsmobile when another customer pulled up to the shop in a complelely cracked original Rocket ’88 Coupe.

We were thinking , when you find an original Rocket ’88 motor with all of its parts, air cleaners, carborators even the gear, transmission on it, and the manifolds – we were thinking we can’t let this go so we made a deal for it! It is important perserve items like this and not see them go to the junkyard. Its a peice of art.

This car was worked all the way down to metal and it was complelty fabbed up. From the engine – the frames and the bodies in the metal shop. One all the parts were all fabbed up we sent the parts back out for finishing – body off to be painted and engine off to the engine builder and th eplating goes out to the platers.

The inside is not the factory finish because it is a custom. It has some cool options in it like a compass on the hood that would have been factory at the time and we placed it. The steering wheel has the awesome Oldsmobile emblem in the center of it. Features like electric windows! This car has a modern transmission in it so it can travel down the road and keep up with normal traffic and it actually performs womderfuly.”

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