Vehicle Description
Conceived in the late 1950s by Lance Reventlow as an American road
race car to rival the Europeans, the Scarab had a short but
illustrious career. The roadster body was penned by an 18-year-old
art student named Chuck Pelly, and the Scarab debuted March 1,
1958, in the Phoenix area on an old 2.5-mile airport racetrack,
driven by Bruce Kessler and setting a track record right out of the
barrel. Reventlow first raced in Palm Springs in April, and won his
first race at Santa Barbara in May 1958. Reventlow Automobiles,
Inc., built a total of eight cars to much success, with an array of
drivers such as Chuck Daigh, Carroll Shelby, AJ Foyt, Don Devine
and Augie Pabst. The last race Carroll Shelby won was in a Scarab
at the Continental Divide Raceway. This Scarab re-creation was
built in 2013 and is Serial #19 of the continuation series. It is
powered by a bored-out 283ci Chevy engine, which was completely
rebuilt. It has a new Duntov 30-30 solid-lifter cam with Mallory
dual-point distributor, and custom headers and side pipes. Backing
the engine is a new Tremec 5-speed manual transmission with
overdrive. This roadster is equipped with a Winters Performance
quick-change differential with 3.43 gears, a chromoly frame and
3-point roll bar, and weighs approximately 2,100 pounds. The
chassis uses Corvette C5 disc brakes, fuel cell, Corvette spindles,
half-shaft Corvette axles, coilover adjustable shocks, inboard disc
brakes in the back, and rack & pinion steering. The hand-built
aluminum body is a re-creation of the original race cars and was
built in Poland. **TITLED AS A 1958 SCARA SPECC**
