59 replies to this topic

[blackcat21]

There are some interesting aspects of the Chinook story and of their connection to Coopers as they were winding up their show. The Chinook SR cars were as I understand it pure copies of McLaren 1B or McLaren-Elva Mk2s, but fitted with Chaparral 2A clone bodies. Years after that time, I was buying other racecar bits from a shop in Toronto's east end and the proprietor introduced himself as "that Indian kid working on fiberglass in the back room at Fejers--the kid nobody noticed." Barry was the first name--I can check my notes for a last--and he was working on Porsche 944s from the Rothmans series--he knew his stuff. The important point here is that he told me the plug for the Chinook bodies was scaled up from the 1/24 slot car common in the day--Cox I think. They were the first,but soon other brands were producing--I have 3 slightly different variations myself. The body shape captures the form fairly well to my eye--the later Mk4 with the shoulder rads doesn't work so well to me.

Coopers as I was told sold virtually everything of value to Fejers--wheels, uprights and drawings among them. They were then sold to a raceshop near Barrie Ontario--I may find a name.

I heard a story at Shannonville one year when Fejers' Indy car had been dragged out of storage and put on very sorry display, that Bruce McLaren had looked at it and eyeballed the suspension geometry as "way out of date"--can't speak to the authenticity of that comment myself--very much secondhand.


HOWEVER--to put the Fejer brothers down in the "copy cat" category would do them great injustice--much of their engineering--particularly their Indy engines--was innovative and well thought-out.

Hope this has been helpful.

Black Cat21

[MGAdams]

Very old topic, but likely the right place to keep the Chinooks together.
I have rescued another FF Chinook MK-IX for restoration. I also have a good start on the MK-IX registry.
Mike Adams

[pnegyesi]

Okay, a very old thread, but hopefully a few people still check it.

Through Ed Butt I got in touch with Rudy Fejer. Back in Hungary, when he was Rudolf Fejér he was a dirt-track motorcycle champion right after WW2. He also worked at the experimental department of the Csepel Motorcycle factory. He's over 90-years-old, but very sharp and witty. I spent more than five hours interviewing him - mostly about the Hungarian part, but naturally I tried to ask him about Chinook too.

The name Chinook was simply chosen because they needed a Canadian-sounding name.

From Cooper they bought an assortment of parts.

 

Our next session is a couple weeks away, so feel free to suggest questions.

[Allen Brown]

pnegyesi, on 22 Jun 2023 - 06:00, said:

Okay, a very old thread, but hopefully a few people still check it.

Through Ed Butt I got in touch with Rudy Fejer. Back in Hungary, when he was Rudolf Fejér he was a dirt-track motorcycle champion right after WW2. He also worked at the experimental department of the Csepel Motorcycle factory. He's over 90-years-old, but very sharp and witty. I spent more than five hours interviewing him - mostly about the Hungarian part, but naturally I tried to ask him about Chinook too.

The name Chinook was simply chosen because they needed a Canadian-sounding name.

From Cooper they bought an assortment of parts.

 

Our next session is a couple weeks away, so feel free to suggest questions.

 

Yes, I have a suggestion!  Can you find out more about what they acquired from Cooper?  Did they acquire the jigs for the later cars (T86B, T90) as was suggested?  Did they acquire any plans/designs?

 

Also, could you ask about the Indy car they bought from George Bignotti.  I believe it was a Lola T92 from 1967.  The Fejers converted it to Formula A/5000 and it was raced by Alfred Ruys de Perez.  Does he know what happened to it afterwards?

[pnegyesi]

Allen Brown, on 22 Jun 2023 - 10:44, said:

Yes, I have a suggestion!  Can you find out more about what they acquired from Cooper?  Did they acquire the jigs for the later cars (T86B, T90) as was suggested?  Did they acquire any plans/designs?

 

Also, could you ask about the Indy car they bought from George Bignotti.  I believe it was a Lola T92 from 1967.  The Fejers converted it to Formula A/5000 and it was raced by Alfred Ruys de Perez.  Does he know what happened to it afterwards?

 

Cooper: He told me that by the time his brother arrived to England, he only found some parts which they acquired. I will try to be more specific

 

Bignotti was a good friend of them. He talked a lot about the Lola. Next week I will listen to the recording and translate what he said.

[pnegyesi]

Allen Brown, on 22 Jun 2023 - 10:44, said:

Yes, I have a suggestion!  Can you find out more about what they acquired from Cooper?  Did they acquire the jigs for the later cars (T86B, T90) as was suggested?  Did they acquire any plans/designs?

 

Also, could you ask about the Indy car they bought from George Bignotti.  I believe it was a Lola T92 from 1967.  The Fejers converted it to Formula A/5000 and it was raced by Alfred Ruys de Perez.  Does he know what happened to it afterwards?

 

Cooper: They have acquired parts, Bruce McLaren's design table and a table-drawing full of drawings, which they sold off for CAD 200. 

 

Bignotti's Lola. Rudy does not remember de Perez, but he confirmed that his brother raced it. He also confirm that it was converted. At a race in 1971 or 1972 the shaft of the oil pump broke and that was the end of the car's racing career. Then later when the partnership between George Eaton and the Fejer brothers stopped some time during 1980, Eaton took the Lola with him (along with a lot of other cars, parts and equipments).

Hope this helped.

[Manfred Cubenoggin]

I've probably posted the following three images elsewhere here at TNF but can't recall for a certainty.  These were snaps taken by me and are from an event at Mosport in mid-1966.

 

 

 

[pnegyesi]

We got over 90 photos from Rudy Fejer's personal collection!

 

 

 

 

[Allen Brown]

Wonderful!

[pnegyesi]

Well, obviouly the next question is: how to share all of this with the wider public? The Hungarian part - when Rudy Fejer was a motorcycle champion at the age of 14 and then worked at the experimental dept. of the Csepel motorcycle factory will be dealt with, but what do you suggest for the dozens of photos of Chinook cars and other bits?