Chevron B29

[Neptune]

I have a tidbit of info so far on 29-75-14. Since I didn't know what I'd find or even what chassis type I was dealing with until yesterday, I was satisfied wth what I had to start with.

Chassis 14 had been converted to Can-Am single seater config. I will try to find by whom. The last known legal owner reported the car stollen near Cleveland Ohio while inside his trailer, probably sometime in the 80s. The whole rig was stollen, tow truck, trailer, Chevron and an A-H Sprite. The truck and trailer were recovered separately shortly after the theft, but the Chevron has been missing since. I guess I was hoping to find there was more modern history on this chassis number I could report back to the owner, but that is not the case on this list. The car's can-am body was black with broad orange and yellow stripes when stollen.

The log book was not in the trailer and retained by the owner so I will pursue getting history up to the date of the theft.

Roger

[Chris Townsend]

Roger

Fantastic stuff! Was this perhaps the Arnold Industries ASR car of the early 80s whcih had something like the color scheme you describe

Chris

[Neptune]

Chris,

The one photo I have of it in "as stollen" guise is #58 and it looks like
"Taylor Canadian Ltd" script on the nose. I'll have to check again w/ the owner to see if he can fill in previous owners. He'd love to have the car back. It'd had a BDseries in it earlier but was fitted w/ a FVC when stollen.

[allenbrown]

Are we talking about this car? Jerry Molnar's Can-Am car at Road America in 1982; reputedly a Chevron B29. The car owner was Lou Infante and I believe he was based in Ohio but Cincinatti, not Cleveland.

Allen


Copyright Tom Schultz 2006. All rights reserved. Used with permission.

[allenbrown]

And here it is later that season in the livery you describe:

http://www.racingsportscars.com/phot...-09-12-021.jpg

[allenbrown]

Originally Posted by Neptune

The one photo I have of it in "as stollen" guise is #58 and it looks like "Taylor Canadian Ltd" script on the nose.

The Lou Infante 'Invader'-Chevron was driven by the late Frank Jellinek in Can-Am in 1983 and was entered at #58 and sponsored by Taylor Instrument.

Could you post the picture you refer to? Or email it to me at allen@oldracingcars.com so I can have a look?

Allen

[Neptune]

Allen,

I just went back to the previous page on this list and then on to www.racingsportscars.com ,the livery is the same except the "SBM" is gone, replaced by the "Taylor Canadian". I'd guess you've found it. Probably don't need the scan, but I'll try anyway. Oh, and the "Sleep Cheap" logo down on the nose was a slogan from Red Roof Inns Hotels, a Hilliard (Columbus, Ohio) based start-up chain started by Jim Trueman. Many Ohio racers had some sponsorship from the Roof. I still have one of those decals, but changed, as was popular back then, to read "Leap Sheep"!

Roger

[Leighton Irwin]

I was a crew member for Bruce Jensen 69 to 76 and part of 78. His Chevron B29 had white gel coat as did his B17 if that helps. It was sold in early 78 I believe to Mich. I cannot remember as I was trying to get his new Ralt ready.
Bruce, I believe, is now in Fla. and can be found on any search engine through his Greenhouses. Wife Barb is contact. His son Eric ran Tom Bridgeman in the Champ Car Atlantics this year.
Peter Ferguson (better known as "Fergoosen" Don't ask.) had 2 B29s. The second one was driven by Linda Wilson and some including me think she was the faster on the two. Her car was always breaking down if not taken over by Peter so she didn't run too often. I think both were painted so do not know gel.

[Chris Townsend]

Leighton

I think it was B20s that Ferguson ran for himself and Linda Wilson in 73 and 74. He did have a new B29 in 75 and kept it to 77. Did he rent it to Dan Marvin at one race? (Montreal 77)

The Michigan link for Bruce's B29 is interesting in light of the recent disclosure about the theft of this car in the early 80s.

Chris

[Leighton Irwin]

OOOPS! You are right. So much for my memory of 30 odd (very) years ago. I do not know if Peter rented it to Strarvin Dan. I was away from Atlantics at that time.

[Neptune]

My friend Dave bought the Lou Infante 'Invader'-Chevron directly from Frank Jellinek, I believe in New Hampshire. This was told to me after my and Allen Brown's posts to this list in late September, so unless there was an interim owner prior to Jellinek, there would have been no Michigan owner.

Hopefully, the next time I see Dave in December, I will get a look at the SCCA log book. Dave has long thought that the car was either destroyed or still hidden away in northern Ohio, since the tow truck and trailer were recovered close by within 6 months of theft.

Roger

[Damon Milnes]

Does anyone have any information on a B29 I'm selling on behalf of a customer? Chassis number B29/75/33, it was bought from Hall and Fowler in 1997 in hillclimb spec, with white bodywork. The car is reputedly ex Beltoise (Ocean Racing) and has its original FGA box and is fitted with a BDG.

[Chris Townsend]

Damon

I'm sorry to disappoint you but the latest known chassis number given in the Chevron archives [at least that I've been given] is 30. The latest observed number is 31 [which may be a misprint] since it refers to the Hans Binder F2 car which is given in the build records as 30.
Furthermore Derek Bennett very rarely built chassis with doubled numbers [11; 22; 33 etc] He was a very superstitious man and avoided both these numbers and 13.

I have to say I would be very suspicious of a chassis 33 in the B29 run. The claim to Beltoise would suggest that it was an ROC car. Is this the ex Frank Lyons car? Who was the hillclimber?

Chris

[Damon Milnes]

Chris

My concerns exactly! However, the chassis has apparently been identified as genuine by the ex Chevron employee who built it and who now works for Vin. Perhaps it has gained a different plate at some stage?

I'm trying to establish the speed event previous owner. Steve Wilkinson and I ought to be able to work this out, being fully fledged HSA anoraks!

Not sure if Frank Lyons owned the car previously. I may try approaching Rick Hall to see if he can assist.

Meanwhile many thanks for your comments

Damon

[allenbrown]

Could the chassis number actually be the monocoque number? They came from an outside contractor (Arch again?) and probably would have included multiples of 11. We often see replacement chassis plates being put onto cars using the tub number. Few people realise that tub numbers and chassis numbers rarely align.

I have no idea whether Chevrons of this vintage had a separate tub number but it's worth looking for.

Allen

[Chris Townsend]

The evidence of Chevron build records and observations is that when someone had a big accident [tub modifying] they got a new chassis number. The build record gives chassis B29--18 for the Rapid Movements Atlantic car. But by May, after a big off in testing, Adam Ferrington observed 25 on the plate - a number that is left blank in the Chevron records. B29 tubs seemed to be matched to chassis number

The evidence for this is Bill Murray's 25-08, which had no plate but an SCCA log with the chassis no, but in restoration also disclosed well concealed markings of that number on the tub. I don't know if Bill still checks this forum but if he doesn't pop in I will email him to get exact location on the tub. I only have detail photos

The Beltoise connection might be worth following up. If true it would have to be an ROC car since he appears at Pau and Nogaro with one. At Pau he uses Christian Ethuin's chassis 12 [number observed by MN at Pau and also twice on Ethuin's car]. This matches the Chevron build record as an ROC car.

NOW: And this is all utterly speculative. At Nogaro Hans Binder appears in chassis 31 [according to MN] or 30 according to the build record and subsequent observations of the car elsewhere. This is quite late on in the season. 30 is the last car in the Chevron record. But it is not beyond the possibility that someone in the ROC team had recently had a serious shunt that required a new tub. Would Chevron, that late in the season, have bothered with the record keeping? Given that there were quite probably a couple of Americans in similar position needing new tubs going up to 33 in the record is not impossible, and wouldn't necessarily be recorded IF Chevron had a habit of leaving replacements blank in the record [as with 25]
Against this are the multiple of 11 [although 22 was used for a B29] and the absence for now of enough catastrophic shunts to require 3 extra late season tubs.

So, it's possible, but we need a lot more evidence. I remain sceptical, but am off to see what happened to ROC cars in 1975

Chris

[Dan Rear]

Just watched a DVD kindly donated by Andrew Kitson. It has the fantastic 'Go With Noakes' episode on it, where he's employed by Purley's team to run the F5000 B30.

Its based around the Good Friday 1975 race (the snowy/Gordon Spice one), and there's some great shots of Purls testing the B30, together with John N in the Rapid movements B29. They're testing at Goodwood prior to the race, and both cars are running without rear wings. Fantastic!!

As an aside, during paddock shots of the Oulton F5000s, up pops the Rossiter Reynard SF75, with Spax adverts clearly marked. A case of the ever-publicity conscious Adrian R getting his car in amongst the BBC cameras I wonder !

[Bryan Miller]

All,

I have been advised that B29-75-20 has landed on these shores a few days go , apparently 4 owners from new , I will be advised when paperwork is recieved from new owner , car came out of USA.

[Chris Townsend]

Bryan

Should be Sposato, Higgins, Cronin, Malley. Nice clean history.

Chris

[Dan Rear]

Steve W has just posted a great pic of 2 B29s on the Other Place, it being taken at a 1981 Aintree Clubbie. One is the David Ward/Stein Lager car, the other Steve notes is being driven by Bob Fearnley. Anyone know which the latter is?

[Chris Townsend]

Dan, a cracking question and one that's been troubling me since I got sent an Aintree programme with those two B29s in it.
Ward's car is chassis 3, but Fearnley's?

Where are the others in 1981
1: Written off in 1975
2: Went to USA and unlikely to have come back
3: Definitely in USA probably with Ray Schuler
4: Ward
5: Chong Boo Seng
6: Bob Howlings so one candidate depending on when Howlings raced it and Fearnley appears [Fearnley was from Stockport]
7: Probably sold for parts to Jim Blackwell in 1980
8: Andy Falbo
9: Probably destroyed in 1977
10: France
12: France
14: In USA
15: Peter Haller
16: John Galson
17: Laurence Jacobsen, under a special saloon
18: Written off 1975
19: Last seen Nelson Todd, 1979 could have come back
20: Mike Cronin USA
21: Nick Leonard USA
22: Canada probably
23: In USA
24: In USA
25: Geoff Frizell ZA
26: In Canada?
27: Georg Lorenz [Austria]
28: In USA
29: Last seen Tom O'Leary 1979, could have come back
30: Eric Morgan [NZ]
31: Unknown, probably USA with Opert if it existed
32: Unknown, probably a works car so could be in NE UK.
33: Probably in France if it existed, and a replacement for 10 or 12

My money on 6, then 19 or 29

Chris

[Steve Wilkinson]

Above: this is the photo that Danny Boy mentioned - thought I better post it on this thread as well to be on the safe side!

[Dan Rear]

From your list Chris, the main candidate must be the Howlings car, -06. Both had strong 'second-hand' Chevron connexions, tho' I saw Bobby H's car a coupel of times in 81, and I recall it being quite scruffy. This Fearnley car is nicely turned out. How I wish I had a camera with me in those days!

[Steve Wilkinson]

I think that the "transporter" in the background could be the one used by Stuart McPherson therefore could there be a link to him for this B29?

[allenbrown]

Fearnley (or Fernley or Fernly) was one of Bobby's partners IIRC. Did he run Bobby's Can-Am team in 1983?