The All-American Watson

FALLS VILLAGE — For Lou Timolat, his 1959 A.J. Watson Roadster isn’t just a cool car or a masterpiece of design — it represents a uniquely American tradition of individual innovation and gumption.

Timolat described the postwar period in American motor sports and the divide between those who looked to European cars, drivers and tracks, and the American racing world, with a lot of local tracks and the Indianapolis 500 as the ultimate event of the year.

Watson and his contemporaries “were not engineers,” said Timolat. “What they did was intuitive.

“It represented something magnificent about this country.”

The Roadster’s distinct shape has another uniquely American background. It was designed by Larry Shinoda, best known for his Corvettes and Mustangs.

As a teenager, Shinoda was interned in a California camp with his Japanese-American family during World War II.

After the war, Shinoda attended art school, but got kicked out. Then he was drafted.

He found Watson when he went to a race in Dayton, Ohio, while on leave.

The story, as related by Timolat, is that Shinoda wandered around the racetrack looking for people from California and found Watson, a native of southern California.

“He became an iconic automobile stylist,” said Timolat.

Watson-built cars won at Indianapolis seven times between 1956 and 1964.

Unfortunately, Timolat’s car will not be part of the Sept. 1 parade of race cars in Falls Village that is part of the vintage festival at Lime Rock Park. (The parade cars must be street legal, and his Watson is not.)

But Don Breslauer, one of the parade organizers, said there will be about 50 cars, including “a lot of MGs.”

Timolat pointed out that the MG, a small British sportscar, was affordable for GIs in the post-war era, and helped popularize motor sports.

This week’s Lakeville Journal has profiles of some of these cars and their owners. Click here to view story "Vintage cars will roar at Lime Rock Park".

Click here to view second story, "For vintage racer, it's all about taking time to enjoy life".