The Scarab: one of America's finest racing cars ...

[Wouter Melissen]

Dear Ultimatecarpage.com visitor,

This week the United States was at the center of attention in the world media. To conclude this very American week, we have taken a closer look at one of the finest racing cars built in the US. To create the American answer to the dominant European sports racers millionaire Lance Reventlow assembled an all-star team of designers and fabricators in the late 1950s. The only limitation for the team was that the car could use American sourced parts only. The result was the Scarab, which absolutely dominated North American road racing for several seasons. The marriage of a very light chassis with a very potent V8 left the competition from England (Lister) and Italy (Ferrari and Maserati) gasping for air. In addition to being a successful racing car, the Scarab is also achingly beautiful with dramatic curves at all the right places. The blue racers' reign finally came to an end by the mid-engine revolution, making them the last of the great front engined sports racers.
Our 18-shot gallery shows the third and final example built. Piloted by experienced American racer John Morton, it took victory during the Monterey Historic races in August. Fittingly he beat various Lister Jaguars, a Maserati 450S and a Ferrari 412 S. Morton demonstrated exceptional car control, sliding the 385 bhp beast through the tricky corners of the Laguna Seca track. It really does not get much better than this.

1959 Scarab Mk II Chevrolet - Images, Specifications and Information

Regards,
Wouter Melissen

[Q TOY]

It looks like there is a full brass section under the hood.


Quite a elligant car for the states.

[LeonOfTheDead]

It looks like there is a full brass section under the hood.


Quite a elligant car for the states.

all I can think of it's "Ferrari"

surely a nice car though

[Wouter Melissen]

all I can think of it's "Ferrari"

But then better.

[Ferrer]

But then better.

Not against the TR though.

[Wouter Melissen]

Not against the TR though.

The 250 TR stands no chance.

[Ferrer]

The 250 TR stands no chance.

Not when playing with their rules according to your article.

[clutch-monkey]

i really liked the pictures taken of the scarab, such a nice colour too. great work wouter

[bobsirna]

I own the 25 Th. Anniversary Scarab MK-I that was built for Richard Reventlow by Dick Trotman. Don Devine, Augie Pabst and I put on a Scarab Reunion at Road America last July. It was a fantastic 3 day event integrated into the vintage weekend festivities. One of the high lights was the Saturday dinner where we celebrated all things SCARAB. Chuck Daigh was eulogized, all the Reventlow Scarab team members present were interviewed and then the Nickey Chevrolet, and Meister Brauser Team members in the room were interviewed. A 2 hour DVD has been produced documenting this event. It has 50 min. of highlights of the weekend including about 20 minutes of on track images of Scarabs at speed. The second part is one hour and 10 minutes of the Saturday dinner with all the interviews. Great stuff if your are a fan of all things SCARAB. If your would like a copy of this DVD please contact me at "bobsirna at speakeasy dot net". Bob Sirna

[cmcpokey]

Welcome Bob, wonderful to see the owners of these fantastic cars show up and talk about ownership. Do you have any pictures of the gathering, we would all be delighted to see them?

[henk4]

Welcome to UCP, Bob, nice to hear the Scarab legend is still being carried on. You must have enjoyed Don's success in getting the team truck operational again.
Maybe you could post some pictures of the Elkhardt Lake event?
We were there in 2001 when there were also several cars, including the mid-engined one.

EDIT. Please Bob, for your own sake rewrite your email address a little so that it will not be automatically picked up by some spam generating machine.

[john hegg]

Welcome to UCP, Bob. I have been a HUGE fan of the Scarab, Chapparal, Don Devine, Augie Pabst, Harry Heuer and the MeisterBrau Team, etc., since first seeing them in the early '60s at Meadowdale Raceway and at Road America. The reunion at RA this summer was spectacular and brought back soo many memories. I could/should have spent at least a day just shooting the Scarabs but there were so many other cars to shoot. I went to the 50th anniversary of Meadowdale Raceway this summer and had the extreme pleasure of meeting Don Devine and seeing his continuation version of the Scarab MK-I. Please take a look at my Filckr page for some images from KIC 2008 and some from way before. I will post more as time permits.Flickr: john300SL's Photostream
I would love to get a copy of the DVD. jchegg at yahoo dot com.
John Hegg