To Be OFFERED AT AUCTION WITHOUT RESERVE at RM Sothebys' The
Elkhart Collection event, 23 - 24 October 2020.
Estimate:
$175,000 - $225,000
- Beautifully built to 1958 specifications by Scarab Motorsports
in 2011
- Handmade aluminum bodywork with correct hardware
throughout
- True to the original Lance Reventlow design, save for modern
safety improvements
- Chevrolet small-block V-8 with Hilborn fuel injection and
velocity stacks
- Five-speed manual transmission, Wilwood four-piston disc
brakes, and coilover shocks
- As exciting as it appears-a vintage race car reborn for modern
roads
During the late 1950s, wealthy young American Lance Reventlow
competed in Formula 2 and toured Europe's great race-car
manufacturers, examining their latest offerings. Reventlow
eventually determined that his portion of the vast Woolworth's
"five-and-dime" fortune could nonetheless not buy him the latest
racing models, as the European factories always kept them for their
own teams. The solution, obvious to Reventlow, was that he had to
be his own manufacturer-so that was exactly what he became,
establishing Reventlow Automobiles out of Warren Olson's sports-car
shop in West Los Angeles.
The Scarab, as Reventlow dubbed his creation, was a fantastic
machine, featuring a featherweight space-frame chassis and aluminum
bodywork by the soon legendary team of Troutman & Barnes and
carrying an over-bored Chevrolet small-block V-8 and Corvette
gearbox. In 1957 and 1958, the cars were raced all over the United
States by Reventlow and Chuck Daigh, setting lap records and, in
Daigh's hands, winning the 1958 US Grand Prix at Riverside. Even in
the early 1960s, as the early rear-engined racers emerged from
Europe to challenge it, the Scarabs, now run by Augie Pabst's
Meister Br�user team, were still nearly impossible to beat.
Daigh commented, "There was really no competition for us...There
wasn't any car in the world that I couldn't beat with the Scarab.
If we had raced against the Mercedes or the Ferraris or the
whatevers, we could have beaten them-easily." Road & Track seemed
to agree, featuring the Scarab on their cover and dubbing it
"America's Finest Sports Car."
Only three original Scarab sports racers were produced, and today
they are, appropriate to their legend, part of significant private
collections from which they will likely not emerge. A much more
readily available opportunity can be found in the car offered here,
a modern iteration, one of approximately 25 produced by Richard
Kitzmiller's Scarab Motorsports of Prairie Village, Kansas.
Each new Scarab's aluminum bodywork was hand-built in Europe and
then shipped to the factory, where a bespoke TIG-welded,
powder-coated chassis frame with coilover shocks, Wilwood
four-piston brake calipers, stainless-steel fuel and brake lines,
and a Winters quick-change differential were built to carry it. The
bodywork was completed with original-style latches, hinges, and
pins, as well as Lexan and aluminum headlight covers and an
interior with aluminum racing seats, Stewart-Warner gauges in a
textured dashboard, and quick-release steering wheel. The new
Scarab was approved by the Sportscar Vintage Racing Association for
all its track events.
The example offered here was built by Scarab for Richard Mazer of
Scottsdale, Arizona, who specified the optional rubber inner fender
liners, five-speed manual transmission with helical-cut gears,
black seat belts, four-spoke steering wheel, and polished Halibrand
'kidney bean' wheels. Mr. Mazer also specially requested false rear
air scoops, as well as a chromed roll bar with custom mountings,
and had the paintwork and upholstery completed by the craftsmen of
his choice. The Chevrolet small-block engine, fitted by Brighton
Motorsports, features a Hilborn-built electronic fuel-injection
unit, along with period performance accessories. Significantly, the
build paperwork indicates that Mr. Mazer intended to run this car
for the open road, rather than the track, a thrilling prospect
indeed.
Showing 914 miles since its completion at the time of cataloguing,
the Scarab remains in excellent overall condition, with a very
clean, tidy presentation and little signs of enthusiastic
use-something a new owner will be sure to remedy, quickly!To view
this car and others currently consigned to this auction, please
visit the RM website at
rmsothebys.com/en/auctions/el20.
