RCR Mki GT40 Rehabbed Ladawri Sebring ’67 GT500 Clone
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RCNMag.com AUTUMN 2019 RCR MkI GT40 Rehabbed LaDawri Sebring ’67 GT500 Clone ELEMENTAL APPEAL www.vdo-gauges.com www.vdo-gauges.com VDO 356 gauges Give your ride the classic look of German performance. Our 356 gauges feature the timeless look of the original VDO factory instruments with crisp graphics and brilliant chrome bezels. Page 58 Available in a 120 MPH / 200 KMH 100mm Speedometer, an 8,000 RPM Reinventing a one-off ’50s sports 100mm Tachometer, and a 100mm Temperature and Fuel Gauge with special with contemporary LS power warning lights, 356 gauges have a classic look backed by modern technology. [email protected] 800-564-5066 To Mirror a Maserati www.vdo-gauges.com Page 40 VDO a – A Trademark of the Continental Corporation VDO a – A Trademark CO5994 ReinCarNation_VDO_356 Gauges_FullPage_7-19_V1.indd 1 6/7/19 11:58 AM Meister Brauser Scarab • Limited Series of 20 • Built to Original Team Specs • FIA Certified Street Legal High-Performance Scarab • All-Aluminum Body • Available Painted or Unpainted • SVRA Approved Option Services Provided • Vintage Race and Classic Car Restoration and Repair Services • Aluminum Body Construction • Fabrication Services • Specialists in the Development and Construction of Limited Edition Alloy Body Recreations Scarab Motorsports LLC 5002 Hadley St. Overland Park, KS 66203 (913) 972-2189 • www.scarab-motorsports.com INTRODUCING... The Available Soon! Unrivaled Design & Craftsmanship – Custom Built for You! • Limited Run of 33 Vehicles • All Aluminum Body • GM 6.2L LS3 Engine, 430 HP • TREMEC 6 Speed Manual Transmission • Full 1.5” Tubular Chassis, Docol R8 Steel • Custom Designed and Built Inboard QA1 Adjustable Coil-over Suspension • Wilwood Brakes • Hand-built Stainless Steel Side Pipes • Wire Spoke or Kidney style Wheels • Stewart Warner Gauges • Estimated Weight: Under 2,000 lbs View detailed photos and video of the Troy Indy Special in action at: 7FifteenMotorworks.com 715-493-7911 • www.7fifteenMotorworks.com Contents 58 COMING NEXT ISSUE On the Cover Gas Ronda Galaxie 500 Tribute The all-new Troy Indy Special from 7Fifteen Motorworks salutes an inspiring ’50s sports custom Shelby’s “Secret Weapon” Coupe with aluminum bodywork and a GM LS engine. This prototype boasts 495 hp, and is the first of Fabrication Tech Tips a series of 33 roadsters to be built by the Wisconsin-based startup. Photo by Dean Larson. Bruce Meyers on Designing the Manx THROTTLE STEERING EVENT RECAP 6 Design Desires 32 Beetlemania By Steve Temple, Editor Getting crazy at Mid America’s VW Funfest. By Steve Temple RCN ONLINE 8 @RCNmag.com FEATURE CAR A preview of current online exclusive content. 40 To Mirror a Maserati Building an unobtainable Italian berlinetta from scratch. READER’S RIDE By Sudhir “Banzai” Matai 10 Totally Flipped Out FEATURE CAR The enduring reaction to an ambitious flip-top Factory Five Cobra build. 46 The Survivor As told by Kevin Beamon Refreshing a LaDawri Sebring provides an eerie view into the world of early kit cars. READER’S RIDE By Joe Greeves 18 Roundel Racer READER’S RIDE Handbuilt Bavarian beauty recreates a prewar competition roadster. As told by Charles Walden 52 Triple Threat A blistering tribute to the sensational and successful MkI GT40. FEATURE CAR As told by Chuck Schmidt 26 Dollars and Sense COVER STORY The case for crafting a proper ’67 Shelby GT500 clone. By Steve Temple 58 Elemental Appeal Reinventing a one-off ’50s sports special with contemporary LS power By Dean Larson 4 CONTENTS 10 26 18 40 FEATURE CAR 68 Animal Rescue Reviving an exotic South American cat here in the states. By Joe Greeves TECH 74 Induction Alternative How to install K&N’s electronic carburetor injection system. By Jim Youngs READER’S RIDE 80 Motivational Exercise 46 52 Financial advisor busts stress with a custom Factory Five Coupe build. As told by Bob Hassett FEATURE CAR 86 Seabee’s Solution Persistence pays off in a homebuilt, twin-turbo exotic. By Juan Lopez-Bonilla RCN 94 Marketplace 68 86 reincarnationmag.com | Autumn 2019 5 DO IT YOURSELF do it yourself PRODUCTS THROTTLE STEERING REINCARNATIONDESIGN DESIRES t some inner level, most car enthusiasts probably As for Meyers, I’ve crossed his path several times wish they had the skills and ability to design over the years and always enjoyed is mirthful spirit. Atheir own car. Probably the next best thing is That’s exemplified in the Manx, and its later variants, to live vicariously through the eyes of a professional which make people smile all over the world. But I didn’t designer. That’s what I was able to do recently, with the know until recently, during a visit with him at Mid privilege of interviewing two famous designers, Peter America Motorworks’ VW Funfest (featured in this Brock and Bruce Meyers. Brock was instrumental in issue), that there was a much darker side to the development crafting the lines of both the ’63 Sting Ray Corvette and of the car. the Cobra Daytona Coupe. Meyers invented the Manx During World War II, Meyers served as a sailor on dune buggy, one of the most copied cars in history. Each the USS Bunker Hill aircraft carrier. While this ship Steve Temple of these immensely talented individuals had some was covering for the invasion of Okinawa, Japan, it was Editor intriguing comments to share about their experiences struck by two kamikazes, setting the vessel on fire and and motivations in creating these legendary shapes. causing hundreds of casualties. Meyers was forced to In our previous issue, we already noted Brock’s jump ship and lent his life jacket to a fellow seaman who revisions on his personal Daytona Coupe, adding and didn’t know how to swim. Meyer’s years of surfing and modifying aerodynamic elements that he wanted to job as lifeguard enabled him to aid in the survival of include originally. The rush and pressures of competition other sailors in the water. When asked by officers on prevented him from doing so at the time, but his vision the rescue ship if he did anything heroic, Meyers denied was ultimately realized several decades later. any sort of actions in that regard. If they had known Brock’s work on the ’63 Corvette Sting Ray arose in what Meyers did, they likely would have awarded him part from European designs spotted by his boss Bill a medal for distinguished service. Mitchell at the ’57 Turin Auto Show. One feature in While looking back on this horrific experience, and particular that he emulated was the crisp belt line, a all the suffering and death he witnessed that still brings radical departure from the rounded shapes of the first- tears to his eyes, Meyers had an epiphany. He now generation Corvette. realizes that he designed the fun and friendly Manx as For better downforce, Brock added a subtle S-shape emotional “compensation,” a lighthearted counterbalance in early concept drawings for the Sting Ray, designated to the gravity of his war years. Something good had to as the XP-87. Overruled by Mitchell, he was later proved come out of those traumatizing times, and the sand- correct, as early C2 Corvettes had excess lift in the nose. slinging, dune-hopping Manx was the perfect antidote. The problem was eventually corrected by changing the Indeed, when Meyers caught some air over a dune stance of the car, with the front-end suspension set much in Newport Beach, California, and made the cover of lower. Hot Rod magazine back in 1966, it was the bestselling This aspect was just one of several corporate dictates newsstand issue ever during that era. he had to comply with, such as nonfunctional scoops Clearly he captured the youthful imagination of an on the sides of the body. Fellow Sting Ray designer Larry entire generation in one simple shape. (Stay tuned for Shinoda called them “surface entertainment,” and Brock a feature on how Meyers developed the body form.) It’s disparages them as something you’d see on a kit car. If a cultural waypoint of the ’60s that embodies the feel he had his way, he would have preferred to either open and look of a generation, a vehicular version of Beatles up these recessed areas or eliminate them entirely. music and Peter Max art. Looking back on his Sting Ray work, “Talk to any Myers remains modest about his accomplishments, of the guys still responsible for the Corvette’s lines today though. Commenting on the design of the original and they’ll tell you that the C2 is still a major reference Manx, he admits that, “I don’t know why I did what I point in their constant review of what they are currently did: It’s a mystery to me. I just followed my instincts.” working on,” he notes. “They ask themselves: ‘Is this as Which is ultimately what any great designer does powerful and strong a statement as the original?’” Ever — or car enthusiast, for that matter. conscious of real-world performance, he adds that today real aero-work and functionality has a much greater Steve Temple editor rcnmag.com importance in design. @ 6 vintagewires.com quality product reincarnationmag.com | Autumn 2019 7 NEWS & ALERTS Visit RCNmag.com and sign up for our newsletter. RCNmag.com Get exclusive content delivered @ right to your inbox. Visit the site daily for new, exclusive content. Read our daily content and get the most out of ReinCarNation Magazine. Double-Bubble Barn Find This time capsule Kellison J-5 was raced in period, and retains its mag wheels, Stewart-Warner gauges and Oldsmobile V8 driveline. www.RCNmag.com/fresh-finds/ double-bubble-barn-find VDO 356 Replica Gauges Cyclekart Racing is a Grassroots Grand Slam VDO Instruments’ 356 gauges Inspired by cyclecars of the early 1900s, cyclekart racing accurately reflect original equip- combines go karting and grassroots ingenuity for nostal- ment and include ample inputs gic thrills on a shoestring budget.