In the 1950's, Lance Reventlow used his family's Woolworth fortune to go racing. Using many of the same players that went on to develop the Cobra, including Carol Shelby, Lance set out to build the ultimate American bread race car. That car was the S... <BR><BR>To read the rest of this blog entry from The Jalopy Journal, click here.
Wow! That was wonderful having the sound of the motor and the squealing tires! I like when he overtakes the red car right after the main straightaway at about 2:45min.
Jeez, he wasn't the smoothest driver, was he? But HP and $$$ makes it look a lot smoother from 50ft. Gary
Amazing footage! Especially considering the level of film technology of the day. The tire squeal reminded me of Pirellis. They sang a loud tune and drivers used the sound to tell them when the end (of traction) was near. The Scarab is a beautiful car with great lines. Thanks Ryan.
Video is right hand drive and the pictures is left? Hmmmm... great stuff and I wont need more coffee today. Thanks, Ryan.
There's a great film called The Sound of Speed directed by Bruce Kessler from 1960 of Lance testing his Scarab at Riverside.
man, awesome video! the squealing tires were awesome (and the link to "Tatra Girl" wasn't bad, either)! Thanks for the post!
Working as a professional writer myself, there's nothing more I hate than people nitpicking grammar and misspellings. But I do I love when spell check gives you the wrong word, but it's even better than your original thought. I'm pretty sure that's what happened when you wrote the phrase "American bread." Of course you originally wrote bred, as in born and bred, but spell check unintentionally put a whole new spin on the phrase! The fact that he spent a huge chunk of the Woolworth "American bread" (as in dough, dollars) on making an impression in the european racing world with an American bred car made me smile. Love these stories, Ryan thanks so much for "skating the same line" over and over for us to enjoy.
Is the red car one of the Bocars, made in Colorado, some with Potvin crank driven blowers on Chevy engines? They should have been one of the few to exceed the Scarabs' power, but certainly did not have the development team to sort the cars!
I had a chance to see Augie Pabst run his Scarab at Road America when I was a kid. Apparently he's still doing it at age 73. http://www.tomstrongman.com/ClassicCars/Scarab/Index.htm It's pretty cool to see guys take these very rare and very valuable cars and get them out on the track.
If you get a chance to see the Goodwood Festival take a look and see what they do over there. Not only out on the track but they seriously race them and bend them. No parading.
Wow, awesome exciting historic video, thanks! I'm not sure but I was thinking it was some kind of Lister (Jag?). In any case, I was surprised it hung in there so well.
LOL, so the film was printed reversed? Car in the photo is left hand drive, car in the video is obviously RH drive. Neat as hell, anyway...
They originally made three cars. One left and two rights. The lefty became Reventlow's personal I do not know if it ever actually raced but was I believe qualified at Riverside in 1958 and then damaged in practice. The two rights are the ones that Meister Breauser purchased. The left hand car was and perhaps is still owned by Rob Walton of Wal-Mart fame.
Edge of my seat thru that marvolous film. God if that ain't pure hot roddin, nuthin is. Thanx for the coolest race I felt I had ever driven. Made in U.S.A.!! Uber cool ~sololobo~
Cool video, Contential Devide Raceway was just south of Castle Rock Colorado, half way between Denver and Colorado Springs. Was a long road course that used the drag strip as the straightaway. Fun track to race. Too bad it was crowded out by growth.......................
Best 5 min. I have spent today. Tire technology sure had a ways to go back then. I thought he would loose it a time or two.
cool vid. I always had a little interest in L.R because he was one of the last persons to see J.D. alive. They had a chat at blackwells corner and had made plans to hook up for dinner in Paso Robles. Of course we all know what happened about 20 miles later. When L.R. sold the car to John Mecom, he installed a Traco-built 327, put A.J Foyt in the drivers seat and won some races at Nassau.
Have you ever driven an actual race car on a high-speed circuit using the tires they had in the 60s. That isn't an interstate freeway, it's an asphalt track with dips and lumps, reverse camber curves and a good driver was always at the absolute limits of adhesion. Watching his hands whip-sawing that tiller looked exactly like he knew what he was doing. I invite you to give it a shot sometime.
Years ago, Briggs Cunningham had a museum in Costa Mesa. I went there many times, he had the best collection of cars, race cars particulary, I have ever seen. One of them was a Scarab. I understand most of the collection went to San Diego.
The Jalopy Journal
