Some more stuff from various earlier threads, including info from Richard Falconer himself:
I have now done what I should have done in the first place- check in the Nye/Falconer Chaparral book. The car is a Chaparral 1, chassis 005 bought in '63 by Phil Scragg, who had a horrible season with it, " it would not go straight, and would not turn corners," plus the engine did not deliver the expected power, quote his mechanic. In Dec '63 it was sold to Rotheram agricultural machinery manufacturer Howard Parkin, who then set about converting it to 4wd, and thus it became the Cannon Ball Special.
Usual disclaimers; for thos enot familiar with the work, the Nye / Falconer Chaparral tome is everything you would expect it to be. Published by Haynes in 1992.
Roger Lund
I had a good chat with Richard Falconer about both Chapparals. Chap 1 started life ordered by Phil Scragg for hillclimbing but he didn't like it and quickly sold it. When Richard found it it was minus body and the chassis had been chopped around a bit. He paid £120 for the remains and found that Walter Wolf had a body buck which he swapped with Richard for a washing machine.
Chap 2 is certainly a replica, but built around the almost unique 2-speed GM transmission which was never offered for sale. It has a torque converter that locks up at 3500rpm. The tub is fibreglass as the original was.
Sadly it only got one competition run at Shelsley because Ian Wright was at the top of the hill with Chap 1 when he was due to run. Bit of a muddle really but I think it's agin the rules for one driver to compete in two cars.
Otherwise it was a great meeting with masses of lovely cars in the car park Concours and lots of people in period dress. The hope is that it will develop into a social gathering for Classic enthusiasts in the same style as vintage Prescott for the VSCC. Maybe HSCC could get interested.
Chris
I would be pleased to answer any queries anyone has about Chaparral 1 and Chap 2. However I would like to make one minor correction to Chris's comment above. He has misunderstood my story about Walter Wolf. In the mid-70s a friend of mine, who was an unofficial scrap man to the Formula One teams, acquired several sackfulls of polyurethane from the Wolf team. I swopped him this for a washing machine. Later I took a week off work, went to a corner of a shed on the West Wilts Trading Estate, made up some profiles on the Chaparral chassis, and infilled between them with said polyurethane foam.
Some years later,mainly through the work of Pat Cuss, we ended up with a finished body. Of course only the 1963 Sebring Chaparrals had glassfibre bodies, but when the car was comprehensively wrecked in 1989 I was very glad not to be stuck with the bill for repairing an aluminium body. Funnily enough, my car does have surprisingly original features. I supplied 3 complete pairs of seats copied from mine to American restorers, and the first comprehensive work my engine has had was changing the head gaskets last year.
Richard Falconer