March 782

[cdrewett]

[QUOTE=James Murray;2498323]Dan


Not sure about the Meyrick car. I think its 782-2 which has a chequered history and covered here before but in short Paul Smith had 782-2 in early 80's and possibly 2 cars came out of one. There is another car in ZA with chassis plate 782-2. I think Meyrick has 782-12 which was ex Toleman and genuine and also a bitza that was built up by Bill Wood for hillclimbing with 783 tub, BDG and FT200.

I've just stumbled across this thread, and thought I would add a bit of history to the "iffy" 782 that I hillclimbed from 1988 to 2002.
As far as I know, Tom Hart wanted to build a hillclimber and went along to March at the end of the 1978 season and picked up a 783 tub, 782 suspension, 783 brakes, 782 body except for the sidepods which were 783, and a 782 rear wing.The nosecone was 792 and ugly.
He fitted a BDG on Webers and an FT200.
The car was sold to Billy MacMillan and then Bill Wood. Bill told me he found he didn't enjoy single seaters and went back to Mallock. He sold the car to David Keogh who sold it to me at Christmas 1987.
I had wanted a Pilbeam and sold my March 77b to fund it, but by the time I did, the Pilbeam was sold to someone else.
So in a bit of a hurry, because the 2litre class was being launched, I bought the March. The handling was iffy to begin with but a full width 782 nose cured that.
Over the next 14 years it provided great fun, some success including FTD at Shelsley, 2 championship wins in the 2 litre class and numerous class wins.
The issue about its provenance never arose until there were some historic F2 races and series.
If I had cared about its history or future value I suppose I could have removed the 783 chassis plate and passed it off as an unknown 782. It went via Paul Matty to Peach and then Meyrick, and I have no idea whether it still exists as an entity.