March 722 - 732 - 742 - 752

[Bryan Miller]

Chris, A/S JUNE 20 74 P.5 , Mike Sullivan, now has two 722 , one with Falconer bodywork and other with Latest March bodywork. One was to be driven by Aust. Driver Mike Knight on Alan Jones recc. to replace him in team .
Kevin, recd. info from one of his previous owners also advising that Kevin may bump into in Aust. ANOTHER of his ex March cars over here .
The owner was John Mackinlay , and he advised in letter on B.M.W. LETTERHEAD ON 14 MAY 2003 , that the other car was a 742 and he sold it to a chap from B.M.W. in Australia .
This is my query car re. 742-U2 .
Bryan.

[allenbrown]

Hi guys

Anyone have any history on tub number 732/15. Bryan has told me where it is today but I'd appreciate any pointers to where it might have been before 1978. Do the March records mentioned here contain any reference to it?

Thanks

Allen

[Chris Townsend]

Allen

If tub 732-15 is an equivalent to the chassis then this is a rebuild of Beuttler's 732-9 by Brian Lewis using the tub from what was intended to be 732-15 after Beuttler destroys chassis 9 at Rouen.

The complicating factor is that this may [allegedly] have subsequently been rebuilt as a 742 [10] for Heavens [the car raced by Antonio Prado in '75] Despite the fact that Jorg Obermoser has also got a 742-10 raced by Dave Walker and Harald Ertl in '74 which is a different car altogether.

Chris

[Armco Bender]

A Question,What is the difference between a tub and a chassis?.Isn't the tub the chassis,or is the chassis the tub with wheels and gearbox?.

[Bryan Miller]

Armco, March has [should have] a chassis plate rivetted on to alloy panel, which will say ,E.G. 732-9 , which at that stage could have meant an F2 or an F/atlantic.
On a certain part of the car was also stampted a tub no. E.G. 732-6 .Sometimes these were the same , but only when new,and it did not take long for cars to get damaged , you then got a replacement tubE.G. 732-20 and slid it under your chassis plate and ended up with Chassis no.732-9 plate under tub 732-20 and went on your merry way till you stuffed it again .
In the meantime your original may have been repaired and was sitting at March or Thompson's all lost and lonely untill it went into service again this time in what used to be say, 732-32.
Then along come people like say Fred Smith and buy a rebuilt tub and parts and build the whole mess up in 1976 and people like Chris,Allen ,myself and various others go nuts trying to figure it all out.
Bryan.

[Armco Bender]

So Marches,and most cars are like Grandpa's axe,7 new heads and 10 new handles,but still Grandpa's original.
So you can take the chassis plate and slap it on a new tub too,and still call it the original car as long as you have that original chassis plate?.

[allenbrown]

As this seems to be the Atlantic March thread, I thought I'd try this question here.

Thanks to the quite excellent Curt Bond, I now have full results from the 1974Van Heusen series and I'm trying to identify all the cars.

Ian Douglass's March. This is variously described as a 732, a 733 and a 743. Anyone know what it was?

[Amonfan]

Ian Douglass car was apparently a March 732 that was damaged at Amaroo in May, 1974. He then adapted 742 parts to the car. Later in the year it becomes known as a March 743, as far as i know he had the 1 car. The car was damaged at Oran park in 1975, put in the trailer, where it caught fire, and apparently the whole lot burnt to the ground in the Oran park pit area.

Curt

[allenbrown]

Originally posted by Bryan Miller
March one cute little number that ran in the Van Heusen series was Englisman Ken Douglas in a March733M/743/3 , which later burnt to a crisp inc. trailer ot Oran Park as they were leaving the circuit.

I've found it now. Before posting, I had searched the thread for "Douglass" as Curt Bond, who supplied my results, had put the driver down as Ian Douglass in each case. I'll check with Curt about this - presumably RCN got it right originally.

Thanks for this.

Allen

[Bryan Miller]

Allen.
My mistake typo or something is Ian Douglas; I probably had Ken Smith on my mind at the time; my excuse anyway!

[Alex E]

Hello Brian & co,
Ref my enquiry on the `March` thread about the two 742`s I have. I have spent most of today reading this thread & was suprised to see one of the cars in question mentioned. Seems there is a lot more information available than I ever imagined. If any of you can help to piece together some history of the cars it would be most helpful.
Brian, you know of one of the cars from the BMW Sydney connection. The numbers I have are on the plates `742-U1` and `742-U2`, monocoque numbers are `732-68` and `732-72`. Can`t remember which number is with which without looking at the cars, Strange I should have only 2 cars here with consecutive numbers ?
The `BMW Sydney` car (742-U2 I think....) was ex of NZ. The other car has never left the UK to my knowledge.
I assume this means both cars began life as 732`s? Is there any chance of finding information on either car ?
I was told when in NZ the car once used a Mazda rotary engine, i noticed that such a car was mentioned earlier in this thread. I do have a strange gearbox adapter that came with the car ??
My first love is old BMW touring cars, so I am starting from zero with this. Having read your posts, how does anybody know which car they have ??

Regards alex

[Dan Rear]

The Robin Smith/Richard Jones March 742, which also ran in 78 Libre/Aurora? .

[Chris Townsend]

Chris

The Smith-Jones 742 was a scruffy old nail! It was 742-15 ex Trivatello car raced by Gabrielle Serblin in 74, a Trivatello spare for almost anyone with an Italian passport in '75 then sold to the incomparable betoupéed 'Gimax' [aka Carlo Franchi] before it reached the UK.

[Dan Rear]

The Smith-Jones 742, yes it wasn't much of a 'looker'. As I recall it had a very home-made radiator in the front nose, nothing like as elegant as the 782 nose, but intended for the same effect I guess. About as well looked after as the infamous Carlo Giorgio car, a 732(?) that he updated thru the 70s, and still used in I think 79, up against much more modern cars. Still there were some very optimistic Italians in F2 in those days, and much the better the serries was for them !!

[Chris Townsend]

Dan

Carlo Giorgio's well used March was actually 742-28 which he bought new and flogged round Europe for at least 5 years without ever attaching mirrors...

[Ken Stone]

Regarding Don Briedenbach"s March 75b, I own it not Seiniger. Don's car is 75B/4; Seiniger's is 752-38 or 36. I know this because Tim Fortner and I restored both cars and sold Seiniger his. His car is a bitsa put together in 1976 by Richard Paul's mechanic to run in FB in 1976 and has a F3 tub. Briendenbach has seen 75B/4 and recognised it as his car and I have the log book to prove it. I also own 722-6 which supposedly is Bob Lazier's car by hearsay.

[Ken Stone]

Originally posted by allenbrown
Welcome Ken

Can you tell us who drove Don's car in 1976 and later seasons? Also, do you know who drove the bitsa in Formula Atlantic?

Allen

I will have to go get the logbook to tell you for sure. I bought the car from Roger Downer in Petaluma, Ca in 2000 after it had sat used for ten years. He had put a iron BDG in it with carbs but never ran it to the best of my knowledge. As far as 752-36 is concerned it was only run in Cal Club in southern Ca and never ran Atlantic. It passed through sveral hands then sat in the south Bay area for years till I bought as a roller and then restored it.

[Chris Townsend]

Ken

I have a few questions about the bitsa built by Richard Paul.
Did the 752-36 or 38 plate come from March or was it a modification
of the 753 plate? Or was it the tub number?

The highest number 752 seen in Europe is in the low 20s and I'm puzzled if this is in continuity with the build records.

But thanks so much for your help on Briedenbach's car. Do you have any more history on 722-6 that might help us link it all the way through?

Chris

[Ken Stone]

Originally posted by Chris Townsend
Ken

I have a few questions about the bitsa built by Richard Paul.
Did the 752-36 or 38 plate come from March or was it a modification
of the 753 plate? Or was it the tub number?

The highest number 752 seen in Europe is in the low 20s and I'm puzzled if this is in continuity with the build records.

But thanks so much for your help on Briedenbach's car. Do you have any more history on 722-6 that might help us link it all the way through?

Chris

Looking at my records 753-38 was stamped on the front bulkhead of Seiniger's car. Richard Paul owned it sold it to James Wood in 1978 then to Eric Steeg in 1987. I bought it from a body shop guy in 1997 or so and restored it correctly and sold it to Seiniger. He has the remainder of the records. 75B/4 Scca #33-862 was driven by Briendenbach but owned by Johnnie Crean or he was the owner before Briendenbach. Briendenbach sold the car to Jeff Alcana in 1976; then to Alan Holly in 1976, then to Steven Bremmer in 1978 running it to 1979 then Roger Downer had it from 1990 till I bought it in 2000 and restored it. 722/6 ran as a 75b in Cal club by George Seydell till 1979. I bought the car restored by Marc Bahner in 1992. He told me it was Lazier's car but has never found the original logbook and I wrote Lazier to confirm but he never replied. There are 5 722's on the West coast; 3 running as 722's and one as a 76. All the above info is from the logbooks. Ken Stone

[Chris Townsend]

Ken

722-6 was originally used in period [both 72 and 73 seasons] by Jean-Claude Favre, in Euro F2 and I guess the odd hillclimb.
Any idea when George Seydell got it?

Chris

[David McKinney]

I have Favre's 1973 car as 722/16

[Smellybeard]

While we're on the subject of Marches again, our March "Atlantic", 742/88 has an odd SCCA number, 073. No prefix.
Has anyone any idea how and when it might have aquired it?



David.

[Ken Stone]

Originally posted by Chris Townsend
Ken

722-6 was originally used in period [both 72 and 73 seasons] by Jean-Claude Favre, in Euro F2 and I guess the odd hillclimb.
Any idea when George Seydell got it?

Chris

I have no info as to how Seydell got the car. Tim Fortner reminded me that Chick Gladding was Richard Paul's mechanic and built 753-38 for him if that is of any help.

[Chris Townsend]

Dave

John Smith in N.Ireland currently owns 722-16 [according to Richard Young] and says it is the car he bought new from March in 1972.
Motoring News shows Beuttler as using that car at the first race that season but that wouldn't preclude it from Smith's ownership thereafter [or the plate being swapped.]

Chris

[Chris Townsend]

742-23 was also a Harper car in the MArch sales record, but F1R has it as Quester's.
Now what do we think of F1R!!?

This is probably the car that went to John Walker for F. Libre in 1976 as well - which was 'ex Purley'.

Chris