Very impressive to say the least. Your workman's ship and detail is spot on. Congratulations on your wonderful work!
Thanks. The boss was just telling me this past week that many people can do an 80% job on a project, but it is the last 20% that differentiates the real professionals.
I just can't imagine how I missed this thread for so long, but I'm sure glad to get the back-brief. I just love this chassis! And of course the work. Gary
True art, fabulous metalcraft, thoughtful design, respect for tradition and heratage. The whole package. Love this thread.
We're working hard to finish this car by 7/18. I believe our client has an event he'd like to take it to around then. Not sure we'll make that deadline. If not, I know he is planning on racing it at Laguna Seca in Monterrey later this summer (HMSA race).
Car was picked up on 24 October 2015. at Coachsmithing It was built in 1959. The unfinished frame was purchased by Gilbert Dickson. Gilbert Dixon was a friend of John Tojeiro he was also the registrar for the Tojeiro registry. It was purchased in Surrey England 20+ years ago by the late John Muller of Kansas City. Mr. Muller was in England meeting with Gilbert Dickson in regards to another Tojeiro. Chassis TCM 2NS which he owned at the time. Gilbert showed him his unfinished chassis TCAL 59. In March of 2011 Gilbert Dickson sent a letter stating the following about this on finished chassis. ""TCAL 59 is one of the last cars John Tojeiro designed and began fabrication of. It is similar to a Ferrari California spider in concept. The chassis is a steel tube frame with De-Dion rear suspension. It can accommodate either a Jaguar, Buick or Oldsmobile engine. John Tojeiro preferred it to be finished with one of the American motors, so as not to get confused with the Tojeiro Jaguar racing cars. This chassis is authentic, but was not built into a full running. He welcome the intended completion of the car and was happy to register it as TCAL 59 on the Tojeiro Register."
It is here in Tucson finished with the exception of the upholstery. The history begins now that the car is finished and has been test driven on the race track. This car sports a GMC straight six-cylinder 292 in.³ with three 2 barrel Weber carburetors. It develops 350 foot-pounds of torque and 300 hp she weights in at 1,976 LB.
Believe it or not on her first testing she was able to handle the corners flatter then the two 911 race cars you see here.
Charles, It brings me much joy to see these pictures and read the specific history of the frame! I moved on from Coachsmithing in October of 2014, and this car occupied most of my time for my last couple years there. I'm so glad to see it finished, and I hope it performs for you as well as I had intended. I was sorry to hear of John's passing, but I'm glad the project made it to completion. FYI... I set up the Muncie / rear end so that you should have 3,000 revs at 25mph in first gear and redline 4th gear at 155 mph. I also also swapped a locker into the rear end and set up the clutch packs with the heavier break-away (120 ft/lb if I recall correctly -- It's been a few years since that was done, so I'm getting a little fuzzy on the details). Be careful with the throttle on tight corners -- I want you to be facing the right way on the way out! The clutch is a Centerforce DFX. Brake pads are Greenstuff (repainted). The distributor was recurved so that all advance would be in at 2,500 rpms (set up for 18-36 BTDC if I recall correctly). One thing I'm concerned about is detonation due to hot air ingestion. I wrapped the headers and installed a heat shield under the intake to help. My original intake design was closed with a filter box in front of the engine paired to a functional hood scoop. This was changed after I left Coachsmithing. I'm not sure if the intake air might not be too warm right there above the headers to allow the engine to run strong with 36 degrees of advance. Have fun -- BE SAFE -- and be sure to contact me if you have any questions about the mechanicals.
Excellent! That rear axle is great for keeping both wheels flat. We spend a lot of time working on the suspension geometry and calculating the optimum suspension spring rate and total wheel travel. Those shocks have a dial adjustment for harshness. When I installed them I set them based on table data, but you might will want to tweak them until they feel right.
The test driver is an Italian friend of mine who has a lot of seat time. Formula three he holds a track records and has driven several different brands of racecars. He drove both the 67 911 racecar and theTojeirot.
Great story! Thanks Charles for filling in the rest of the story.I hope you will post again with more updates.
She is finally finished. On her way to auction at Russo and Steele in Monterey California the weekend of the 18th to 20 August. Hopefully this weekend August 6 we will take her out for her final test drive. We will be going up into the mountains for this test drive. https://news.classiccars.com/finally-completed-tojeiro-california-headed-auction-monterey/ engine running.
This is a video of the second test drive to the track. We will take it to the mountains for an altitude run hopefully this weekend August 7
This is a dream combination of my two greatest interests - road racing and hot rods. Congratulations on an excellent build and special "job well done" to HAMBer Untame. I hope you make a ton of $$ on the sale (to someone who will really race it). vic
That's the Musselman P1 track... Too bad I didn't know. I would have loved to see it and see it run...
Great car but since it's going to race in a class up to 1959 how is it going be BS'ed in with an engine that was not manufactured until the mid 60's. Even the base it was made from wasn't in production until 1962. I think Clifford made those intakes in the 70's; but I still love it anyway. Maybe a 270-302 GMC 12 port would have been in order. Many of Harry Warners Wayne Chevrolet 6's went to South America to race in sports cars.
The Jalopy Journal
