Lance Reventlow's Incredible California Hot Rod

cool.......thanks for Dutch story.

 

Here is an unusual piece of Scarab memorabilia. The Peter Hand Brewery produced a lot of promotional pieces with the race cars. One of the best is this lighted sign. It has a tinfoil covered wheel that when illuminated, it appears to pour beer into the glass. The two Meister Brau Scarabs were photographed at Meadowdale Raceway. I had heard about these and nearly wet myself when I finally found one at an antique mall.

 

thanks all for the history lesson...they noticed across the pond what could be put together in he states...glad they live on....

 

Beautiful car!

 

I was Lucky to be a So.Cal. car guy at that time and got the chance to see these cars race and hang around going Google Eyed as they were being built! A great time to be a Car Kid in So. Cal.

 

Warbird7-That sounds like Dutch! I used to hang out at his shop when he was in Woodland Hills/Calabassas and I gave him the gas tank for my Motorcycle to paint. I ask him to just do it in Silver with a single Black Stripe around the bottom edge.
Well,when I went to pic it up it had the black stripe but at the top rear was a very elaborate Pin Stripe pattern and when I ask him "Why" he pointed out where a very Small nat had landed in the paint and he didn't want to sand it down and start over so he did the elaborate Pin Striping to HIDE it. No Extra Charge! Boy I wish I still had that tank today!

 

Some more Scarab memorabilia. The ashtray artwork appears to have been lifted right off the Strombecker model box. I'm sure there were other ashtrays with interesting sport cars, but I've never found them.

 

Warbird,

Just got my Strombecker Scarab tonight in the mail. It's pretty complete- just need one knockoff and I'm good to go!

Will post pics in a day or two.

 

That's a great story!

 

Another good one was the '58 Times GP at Riverside. The epic battle at the start of the race was between Phil Hill in a monster 412 Ferrari and Chuck Daigh in the RAI Scarab. After the opening laps, Daigh realized he had the Ferrari in hand and began to play with him. Daigh, the California hot rodder eventually went up and touched the Ferrari with his knock off. This upset Hill greatly where he later told Daigh, "Aggressive driving is one thing, but you're too f-ing much!"

Hill eventually vapor locked and fell from contention. Daigh went on to win the race. He had some kind of a score to settle with European Roy Salvadori who was driving an Aston or some kind of European turd boiler. Daigh waited until the right moment flashed by him on a straightaway and by his description, "just flat blew his ass off", something like 30 mph faster. That was the kind of domination that kept the car competitive for years to come.

Chuck Daigh in my opinion was the ultimate as he was a was a first rate mechanic and a really talented driver on top of that. He was very underrated.

 

^^^^^
awesome story...Meister Brau must have been a better brew back in those days to have their livery on such a fine automobile. The cheap shit my father-in -law was drinking in the early 90's was pure swill.




.

 

My inlaws are antique dealers, I have a new mission in life!

 

The Heuer family lost control of the brewery just before 1970. I'm sure the product may not have stayed the same. Certainly the Miller stuff in the 90's would be far removed.

Although he is humbled by the level of interest in the cars today, Harry Heuer was quite the wild man back in the day. Young Harry borrowed money to fund the purchase of a Bocar sports car to race before the Scarabs became available. The bank ultimately got wind that "their" car was being raced and called Harry on the carpet. He went before the company board of directors, who refused to fund his race team. Harry twisted arms and finally got their support by threatening to sell his shares in the company to the NAACP for pennies a share. Knowing he was dead serious, the board caved and agreed to fund the race team.

 

Thanks for you experience and input on such a cool thread.

BTW, I added some info to that chrome thread, feel free to PM me if you have any more questions.

 

This is a fantastic education on the cars I've enjoyed seeing at Laguna Seca so much for the last 15 years. So glad to see them on the HAMB. That, and you're all making me want to go trudge through another BS Levy book on the general era, although that takes a fair amount more willpower with each book in the series...

 

that would explain the characteristic Duc rattle... never really expected to find an answer to _that_ question on the HAMB... Thanks guys

 

Always cool to see how many HAMBers inhabit this little corner of the hot rodding world. Big motors in chassis that handle have to be the ultimate for a lot of us. Basically, it's what CanAm was all about.

 

The first racing application of desmodromic valve gear was in the Mercedes-Benz F1 cars of the mid-'50s, and they were extremely successful. I'm sure there were other, earlier uses, but the M-B engines undoubtedly inspired Lance to use the system.[/QUOTE]

just A little older than the mid 50's

Fully controlled valve movement was thought of in the earliest days of engine development, but devising a system that worked reliably and was not overly complex took a long time. Desmodromic valve systems are first mentioned in patents in 1896 by Gustav Mees, and in 1907 the Ariès is described as having a V4 engine with "desmodromique" valve actuation, but details are scarce. The 1914 Grand Prix Delage used a desmodromic valve system

 

Some great photos on www.ultimatecarpage.com.

 

Thanks Ron
Warren was just here visiting us for a few days. Shocked to say that he has shaved off that goatee. But, it was him. I checked his driver's license. Here's a recent magazine article interview.....
http://vintageracecar.com/pages/thismonth.cgi?magid=57&magiid=216
Bill

 

Sad to report that Warren Olson passed away a few days ago. He had recently celebrated his 91st Birthday. His wife, Simone (a major player in all his efforts) passed away a little over a year before.
Warren was a literal wealth of mechanical knowledge in all respects. He will be missed by his close relatives and by those who knew him. Truly the end of an era. God Speed Uncle Warren.