Anyone remember visiting Bill Mitchell's "man cave" on Hamilton Road in Birmingham?

Back around 50-60 years ago I was invited by Bill Mitchel, ex-styling VP of GM, to see his racing memorabila, trophies, photos, apparal. Anyone notice anything odd about the collection? (Or is it just my memory?) i want to know because i am writing a fiction story about it and want to know if anyone had the same reaction.

 

The sharks were actually painted?

 

Yeah everybody knows they couldn't get the Shark (later Mako Shark) prototype to match the stuffed shark in Bill's office (I think that was his work office) so word is some designers snuck it out and repainted it to match the color of the car and finally to Bill the car looked like the Shark on the wall. I'm talking about the car parts and clothing enshrined in the plexiglass boxes on stands at his home .

 

Maybe Peter DeLorenzo at autoextremist.com can help since he grew up with Mitchell as a neighbour:

http://www.autoextremist.com/current/2020/4/7/bill-mitchell-the-passionate-design-maestro.html

 

Yes, Peter was there many times.

 

OK, the "secret" (which maybe only creeped me out) was the racing souvenirs from famous drivers had blood on them. Imagine back then, you're a race driver. you hit hard and get thrown out of the car and you see a hefty man running toward you...and all he wants is your helmet, gloves or shoes, something with your blood o it...