I believe it has Canadian history? Can anyone assist?
DCN
This car is a... what?
Started by
Doug Nye
, Mar 28 2009 23:52
16 replies to this topic
#1
Doug Nye
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Posted 28 March 2009 - 23:52
A friend of mine sent me these photos, expecting I would be able to identify the car which has baffled several. Beyond the name Bobsy wandering through my mind, his confidence in me was entirely misplaced...
I believe it has Canadian history? Can anyone assist?
DCN
I believe it has Canadian history? Can anyone assist?
DCN
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#2
Mistron
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Posted 28 March 2009 - 23:54
It is indeed a "what????"
I've seen it before, which makes me think it was probably discussed on TNF previously.....
I've seen it before, which makes me think it was probably discussed on TNF previously.....
#3
Doug Nye
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Posted 28 March 2009 - 23:59
Aaaaarrrrggghhhh!!! - Not posted by me, I hope?????
DCN
DCN
#4
Simpson RX1
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Posted 29 March 2009 - 00:27
Don't know about the rest of it, but the wheels are from a Corvette C3.
#5
Gerr
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Posted 29 March 2009 - 04:09
Looks like the Beast ....
Some info here (by TNF member TEJ) in the VRCBC newsletter, pages 10 and 11...
http://www.vrcbc.ca/...spring 2009.pdf
It was sold (out of Wyoming) on Ebay just over a year ago, IIRC.
Some info here (by TNF member TEJ) in the VRCBC newsletter, pages 10 and 11...
http://www.vrcbc.ca/...spring 2009.pdf
It was sold (out of Wyoming) on Ebay just over a year ago, IIRC.
#6
fbarrett
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Posted 29 March 2009 - 04:18
Doug:
This car is a . . .Mess?
Frank
This car is a . . .Mess?
Frank
#7
m.tanney
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Posted 29 March 2009 - 05:41
Originally posted by Gerr
Looks like the Beast ....
Some info here (by TNF member TEJ) in the VRCBC newsletter, pages 10 and 11...
http://www.vrcbc.ca/...spring 2009.pdf
It was sold (out of Wyoming) on Ebay just over a year ago, IIRC.
I don't think it's The Beast, Gerr. This car is owned by an Ottawa man who bought it in 2007 or 2008 from someone who was "north of Hamilton". There are more photos on Tam's Old Race Car Site. It has popped up on the Canadian Motorsport History Group's forum at least twice but no one has been able to ID it.
Mike
#8
rdrcr
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Posted 31 March 2009 - 03:56
No clue about the history of this special, but the nose looks somewhat like a hammered out Arnolt-Bristol and the whole mess stuck on some sort of chassis. The corners probably have Chevy ends as those have previously and correctly been identified as Corvette C3 wheels. (the most expensive parts of the car by my estimations). Obvious mods include extending the rear fenders outward and that windscreen.
#9
Lotus23
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Posted 01 April 2009 - 02:05
Doug, while I'm not a Jerry Mong expert, I'd bet some serious money that the vehicle in question was never one of his Bobsy creations: his work was of a much higher standard.
#10
T54
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Posted 01 April 2009 - 02:11
I love the "Plein-Air" roll-bar/windshield in one.
#11
brucemoxon
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Posted 01 April 2009 - 04:00
Except that it got run over by a train, it could be the Buddy Palumbo-built Jagillac Special, as described in "The Fabulous Trashwagon".
Yeah, couple of weekends and it will be as good as new!
Bruce Moxon
Yeah, couple of weekends and it will be as good as new!
Bruce Moxon
#12
Bauble
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Posted 28 April 2009 - 21:08
There is not a lot of it to identify from, but it has left hand drive, which suggests North America, although the windscreen frame does not look like purpose built sports racer. The wheels look completely out of proportion as if they were stuck on for the photos.
What is it? I can't believe it matters.
But you know me.
What is it? I can't believe it matters.
But you know me.
#13
Stephen W
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Posted 29 April 2009 - 09:05
Originally posted by Bauble
The wheels look completely out of proportion as if they were stuck on for the photos.
The wheels have obviously been slapped on to get it rolling as they project some distance outside the wheelarches and are way too wide for that era of racing car.
#14
Bauble
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Posted 29 April 2009 - 15:08
Doug,
Mystery solved, I can confidently name it as an early Batmobile, photographed after some Joker had tried to destroy the caped duo, while they were racing at the Gotham Grand Prix circa 1970.
The only detail I am not completely certain of is whether the pictures are post or pre the accident.
I am sure some Smarty Pants will now start a thread about who won the race and what colour his vest was.
Nurse! Where are my pills?
Bauble Bangles.
Mystery solved, I can confidently name it as an early Batmobile, photographed after some Joker had tried to destroy the caped duo, while they were racing at the Gotham Grand Prix circa 1970.
The only detail I am not completely certain of is whether the pictures are post or pre the accident.
I am sure some Smarty Pants will now start a thread about who won the race and what colour his vest was.
Nurse! Where are my pills?
Bauble Bangles.
#15
slucas
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Posted 29 April 2009 - 18:22
If you look in the grill hole you will notice a frame rail that sure looks American in stature.
An old Corvette frame with a less than well done body hung on it ?
By the time the builder got this far the car was so obsolete he gave up?
An old Corvette frame with a less than well done body hung on it ?
By the time the builder got this far the car was so obsolete he gave up?
#16
fbarrett
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Posted 30 April 2009 - 04:53
Friends:
OK, at first I thought this was one of those fiberglas bodies advertised in the little 1/12-page b&w "truss" ads in the back of Popular Mechanix that you put on a 1950s Ford/Chevy/Plymouth frame, but judging by the welding on it (see the seam-fillers added at the rear) and the dents, the body appears to be steel. Still, it has to be American, and with that tall windshield it could not have been a race car. And what were they thinking with that odd grille opening? Yes, the later wheels are just holding it up. And the photo must have been shot in sunny California or nearby. And that fuel filler and engine lid, not to mention the swollen rear fenders, make it look like a poor man's Cobra.
In the late 1950s my brother and I somehow inherited a partially-finished, one-off, Crosley-powered special, and we had great plans for it, but somehow our progress never extended beyond cranking up the unmuffled four and making lots of noise and smoke. I think we traded it for a '28 Model A, but it's good to know that we were not alone in our lofty aspirations.
Frank
OK, at first I thought this was one of those fiberglas bodies advertised in the little 1/12-page b&w "truss" ads in the back of Popular Mechanix that you put on a 1950s Ford/Chevy/Plymouth frame, but judging by the welding on it (see the seam-fillers added at the rear) and the dents, the body appears to be steel. Still, it has to be American, and with that tall windshield it could not have been a race car. And what were they thinking with that odd grille opening? Yes, the later wheels are just holding it up. And the photo must have been shot in sunny California or nearby. And that fuel filler and engine lid, not to mention the swollen rear fenders, make it look like a poor man's Cobra.
In the late 1950s my brother and I somehow inherited a partially-finished, one-off, Crosley-powered special, and we had great plans for it, but somehow our progress never extended beyond cranking up the unmuffled four and making lots of noise and smoke. I think we traded it for a '28 Model A, but it's good to know that we were not alone in our lofty aspirations.
Frank
Edited by fbarrett, 30 April 2009 - 04:55.
#17
Todd
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Posted 30 April 2009 - 05:43
Well, it is riding on 30 year old Corvette rims and 25 year old Goodyear tires. It isn't a Bobsy, or even remotely related to anything Bobsy. Bobsies were sort of like high-tech cousins of mid-engined British sports racers of the '60s. Looking at the grill opening makes me think that parts of this body once fit over a Bristol 404 chasis, but that it wasn't the case when this photo was taken.
