The winning car from the very first Great American Race - a 3,000-mile classic-car rally from Los Angeles to Indianapolis - will be on display at the Tucson Rotary Club's Tucson Classics Car Show at St. Gregory College Preparatory School on Oct. 13.
Local real estate investor Michael G. Anderson drove the 1941 Cadillac to victory in 1983, beating out 80 other entries - including Tom Lester, founder of Lester Tires - and winning $100,000 in the process.
Anderson, who owned a car-painting business at the time, had bought the four-door sedan from a buddy for $5,000.
"I told him that if he loaned it to me and I won, I would give him half the winnings," said Anderson. "He wouldn't do it. Instead he sold it to me. I always used to rib him about turning me down."
The car has been sitting in the sun for decades, but Anderson is restoring the engine and interior for the show.
It will be featured alongside 400 classic cars, including a 1949 Ford Woody owned by local car dealer Jim Click.
Proceeds benefit the Reading Seed Children's Literacy Program, the Pima Council on Aging and the YWCA.
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