Last week we received an original John Tojeiro racing frame (with wire buck attached) that we have been commissioned to finish. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Tojeiro) This frame and buck was built by Toj himself, and from what I understand it's model name is is intended to be "Tojeiro California." Our goal is to have this entire car finished by the end of the year -- ambitious for sure. I'll post pictures of the progress as I'm able.
More pictures... Rear axle is a De Dion tube and will utilize a Jaguar differential: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Dion_tube
I never heard of a california tojeiro before. Do you know the year it was designed/ built? I have quite a bit of Tojeiro paperwork, letters and factory photo's
heres a picture of John Tojeiro, judging by his work clothes more than just his name went into the beautiful cars he built.
I believe Tojeiro built the original car the eventually turned into the AC Cobra? Cool piece will be interesting to see the body shape when it's done. Scotty
Cool... Tojeiro built some great cars. Can you tell us more about this car? History? Spec? ( Jag or V8?) Thanks for posting...
I never knew about John Tojeiro until this thread started, but in true HAMB tradition lots of info is coming out of the woodwork, I love this place. Bob
Our goal is to have measured drawings of the frame and DXFs of plywood body buck pieces that looks like it could be a GORGEOUS piece of hardware when it's done.
Judging from what's visible in the pics the frame appears to be an evolution or derivation of 'Cobra technology' - big straight round tubes with suspension towers up front and a cage for the DeDion out back.
AC bought Tojeiro frames for their Ace. Later, Shelby would make his Cobra on this platform. I don't know anything about the history of this frame, but (via hearsay) I believe our client knew John Tojeiro and got the frame from him. The wire buck looks very similar to the Ferrari California Spyder. We have built many of those bodies, so this shouldn't be too challenging. Our client has sent us a race-built Chevrolet 292 for this build (300hp supposedly). It will be wearing 3 Weber side-drafts. We will be using a Jaguar rear differential with inboard disk brakes.
Curious choice. I'd think Jag 3.4 or 3.8, early Cad, early Chevy smallblock, maybe even Olds 303, might have been more typical.
The DOHC Jag straight 6 was common in Tojeiro frames. Buick V8s also made there way in. I've heard that our client was also thinking about an early Corvette V8 that had some racing history. We'll see what happens in the end -- projects usually "take shape" throughout the process.
Fifties sports cars and Indy cars really fired me up as a youngster. Looking forward to seeing it fleshed out!
Both are questions I want answers for also. We just unloaded it on Thursday, and I haven't had time to do the research. I heard that "John wanted it built as an American version" -- whatever that means. When I first heard that I figured he wanted a left-hand drive V8 (I was thinking 429 Cobra style). But the chassis came to us set up for right-hand drive (that might change also). Anyone know where there might be a frame stamp on a Tojeiro frame? That would be a good place to start.
Hey, Besides building frames/chassis, Tojeiro was a painter for Buckland Body Works/AC Cars . If the frame was originally build for track use, it may well never have had a number stamped into it. Are the frame tubes and ''superleggera'' gas or electric welded on this frame? Some of the italian builds of this era were still gas welded into the 60s.Will it be skinned in 3003? " Meanwhyle, back aboard The Tainted Pork "
That's a good question about the alloy -- I'll check into that and get you an answer. I heard my coworker say (after looking at the welds) that he thought it was done with an arc welder. The wire buck is brazed to the frame.
Well, at least they stayed together on impact! Unlike Chapman's who's ethos was design out anything that didn't fail on the track
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