1958 Scarab Sports Roadster

MKI Sports Roadster
Chassis number: 001

Lance Reventlow, the 21-year-old heir to the Woolworth fortune, was a keen motorsport enthusiast, and in 1957 he decided to build his own all-American race car. He hired a small team of experts, including chief mechanic Warren Olson, Dick Troutman, and Tom Barnes from KIurtis, engine builders Jim Travers and Frank Coon, and race car designer Ken Miles. Chuck Daigh was hired as a team driver. The car was inspired by the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL, with a spaceframe chassis and advanced double wishbone suspension at the front and a DeDion axle at the rear. The aluminum body was styled by 19-year-old Art Center student Chuck Pelly. This is the first Scarab to be finished, and it was driven in 23 races during 1958.

Reventlow owned chassis number 001 for many years and had it modified for street use. After his untimely passing in 1972, the car was loaned by his estate to the Cunningham museum and later sold to Don Orosco. It passed to its current owner in 1997.

The modifications to the car for road use include a windscreen sourced from a Porsche, a proper interior, and a muffler to contain some of the sound. The engine was given attention, making it more suitable for road use, with changes to the carburetor which required a hood scoop.

While in Mr. Orosco's care, the car was transformed back to its original condition. Corvette 283 V8 blocks, similar to the original setup, were entrusted to Frank Coon - the individual who had modified the original engine - and used to build a power-plant similar to the original engine.

The work was completed in time for the 1984 Monterey Historic Races. Orosco drove the Scarab and convincingly built his class. The car would continue to be raced in historic competition over the next few years.

Since then, the car has traded hands at least once and continues to be actively campaigned in many historic events.

by Dan Vaughan

MK II Sports Roadster
Chassis number: 002

This is the second Scarab Sports Racer constructed, and it was completed a few months after the Scarab MK I had begun its successful race career. The MK II looked similar to the original car but it was built with right-hand drive so the driver would be on the inside of most turns on a race track (most races then were run in a clockwise direction). The Scarabs started racing in 1958, and they had a great season, even beating Phil Hill in the fastest Ferrari at the time, the TR58 Testa Rossa. After the 1958 season, the two MK IIs were sold by Reventlow but he kept the first MK I and converted it to street use as his personal car. The Scarab MK II cars continued to have great success racing in the hands of Augie Pabst, Carroll Shelby, Jim Jeffords, and Harry Heuer. These cars were competitive until 1963 when mid-engine cars became too tough to beat.

MK II Sports Roadster
Chassis number: 003

During the production of the Scarab Sports Roadster, European sports car rules were changed to permit only engines up to 183 cubic inches. This made the Scarab's small block Chevy 283 cubic-inch V8 obsolete. Other engines were tried but were met with dismal results, so the Chevy-powered Scarab racers were limited to the U.S. with Chuck Daigh and Lance Reventlow driving. No car was more successful in SCCA B-Modified during this period.

Of the eight Scarab racers built, four were an astounding successes and four were spectacular failures. This Scarab MK II is the 3rd and final sports racer to be finished. It has the 339 cubic-inch Chevrolet small block 283 V8 engine married to a Corvette 4-speed gearbox. The resulting racer was spectacular; it handled beautifully thanks to the adjustable de Dion rear suspension designed by Dick Troutman. Frustratingly, just after the first Scarab was finished, the European sports car rules, for which it had been designed, were changed to permit engines only up to 183 cubic inches or 3.0 liters. An Offenhauser engine was tried in this car but with dismal results, as it was both heavier and less powerful. So the larger Chevy unit was put back in and in 1958 the Scarabs went racing, but only in America. With Chuck Daigh and Lance Reventlow as team drivers, the Scarabs were immediately successful in the SCCA Group B-Modified class. Scarab sports racers remained competitive well into the 1960s, long after Reventlow had retired from the scene.

Lance Reventlow sold this Mark II Sports Racer to Meister Brauser in 1959. Harry Woodnorth purchased it in 1961, selling it to Skip Lehmann that same year. Ownership later passed to Jerry Hansen, Don Devin, and then to Dick Barbour before coming into the care of the Collier Collection.

by Dan Vaughan

Laced with intriguing elements of success, failure, fame, and fortune, the story of the Scarab racers is one of the most exciting tales in the American motorsports saga. With a rich and arrogant young Yankee behind the wheel of Scarab's efforts, a dynamic story was inevitable. Throughout the history of Scarab's race cars, events played out like perfectly choreographed scenes in a Hollywood adventure movie. Scarab's decisive victories and blatant failures kept racing enthusiasts at the edge of their seats like a box office hit.

The Scarabs were the product of a company called Reventlow Automobiles Inc., or RAI. Founded by the young, privileged Lance Reventlow with great help from the money of his Woolworth-heiress mother, the real backbone of RAI's establishment was provided by a man named Warren Olsen. A talented racecar mechanic, Olsen was very familiar with Lance Reventlow. Prior to his important position at RAI, Olsen had been in charge of maintaining Reventlow's personal racecars.

A well-connected man, Olsen quickly contracted some of the best people in the business to aid in RAI's endeavors. RAI operated out of Olsen's shop in North Hollywood, California and was made up of skilled fabricators and performance gurus who represented the best of America's racing scene at the time. Among RAI's gifted staff was Chuck Daigh. Hired for his skills as a driver and mechanic, Daigh's prowess on the racetrack led to the most exciting wins the Scarabs would ever see.

Reventlow's leadership of the group occasionally led to problems. The young man's cocky attitude caused him to enter into some situations with an overconfidence that was sure to cause disaster. Such a display of Reventlow's character could be seen in his company's Formula 1 efforts. Success with early Scarabs prompted a poorly prepared entry into European Formula 1 racing, a division of motorsports with which RAI was thoroughly unfamiliar. Failure followed, and RAI would never again realize the same fortune as it had with its early cars.

While the F1 attempts by RAI have been largely forgotten, the first cars to be flown under the Scarab banner have reached immortal status. Now referred to simply as Sports-Racers, they were actually labeled Mk I and Mk II. These cars were dignified representations of the young and boastful American spirit at its best. They were fearless automobiles that dominated the competition despite being built by a small and newly established group of people.

The Sports-Racers were built in 1958. This was remarkably soon after RAI's founding in 1957. Given the car's short development time, they were extraordinarily well-engineered. A space frame of chrome-moly tubing provided the foundation for the design. Front suspension was by double A-arms, working with Ford spindles and Monroe shocks to maintain a high American part content. The rear suspension used a De Dion tube. The brakes were by Ford but with custom, finned aluminum drums that gave immense stopping power. One of the first cars to take advantage of the small-block Chevy's performance potential, the Mk I was sinfully fast. Before proving his worth as an invaluable driver, Daigh showcased his mechanical inclinations as he built up Chevy small blocks with displacements of over 300ci to be dropped into the Mk I and its followers.

Only the very first Scarab, 001, was built to Mk I specifications. The other two Sports-Racers, also built in 1958, were Mk II-spec vehicles. Numbered 002 and 003, they were modifications of the original Mk I theme. They were right-hand-drive in order to place the drivers at the inside of most turns on a clockwise track. Their space frames were revised and strengthened, and they had a widened rear track. It would be a Mk II that Daigh would drive to the most spectacular victory of any Scarab.

At 1958's Riverside Grand Prix, it was already known that the Scarabs were quick. Their thrilling success in that race, though, could not have been foreseen. Daigh had piloted a Scarab to victory at Reno the same year, passing Reventlow at the race's end. Reventlow ended up losing control of the car and, openly displaying one of the greatest flaws of his character, grew very frustrated with Daigh for beating him. That win led up to Daigh's impressive Riverside win. Beating Phil Hill in a Ferrari as well as many other notable racers in equally notable vehicles, Daigh and his Scarab grabbed first-place in front of an ecstatic crowd of 100,000.

The Mk II Sports-Racers were sold shortly afterward to finance new products. They continued to be raced with success for the ensuing years. Scarab 001 had a somewhat different fate. It was taken off the racetrack by Reventlow, who had it modified for street use so that he could drive it as his personal car. Road & Track referred to 001 as 'America's Finest Sports Car' as it reported on Reventlow's roadworthy racer in 1959. The Scarab legend had been created, and even RAI's later failures couldn't take away from the powerful story of how a group of spirited Americans took on the world's best and won.

Sources:

Pace, Harold, and Mark Brinker. Vintage American Road Racing Cars, 1950-1970. Illustrated. MBI Publishing Company, 2004. Print.

McPartland, Tam. 'The Scarabs.' Tam's Old Racecar Site Web.3 Jun 2009. http://www.tamsoldracecarsite.net/Scarab.html.

'Scarab History.' Scarab Motorsports Web.3 Jun 2009. http://www.scarab-motorsports.com/scarab_history.php.

by Evan Acuña

MK II Sports Roadster

Of the eight Scarab racers built, the brainchildren of 22-year-old Lance Reventlow - whose father was a European count, whose mother was heiress to the Woolworth fortune, and whose wife at the time was actress Jill St. John - four were astounding successes and four were spectacular failures. An intensely competitive racer, Reventlow recognized that European racing factories always kept the latest racing model for their own teams, and only by producing his own car could he achieve technical equality.

Reventlow commenced building his American car at Warren Olson's sport car shop in West Los Angeles. A 301-cubic-inch overbored version of Chevrolet's small block 283 cubic-inch V-8 was coupled with a Corvette four-speed gearbox. This powertrain was mounted in a light 127-pound space frame chassis wrapped with an aluminum skin to the configuration you see. The engine stroke was quickly increased to enlarge displacement to 339 cubic inches.

During the production of this vehicle, European sports car rules were changed to permit only engines up to 183 cubic inches (3.0 liters). Other engines were tried with dismal results so the Chevy-powered Scarab races were limited to the U.S. with Chuck Daigh and Reventlow driving. No car was more successful in SCCA B-Modified during this period.