Mid-engined Scarab

[Cedric]

I wanted to look into the only mid-engined Scarab built in '62, but I can't find anything decent on it. I know the car was raced by Foyt in the classic Scarab livery and later respayed civilised into a road car which was bought by Augie Pabst. Does anyone have any information and pictures of this car?

[henk4]

I wanted to look into the only mid-engined Scarab built in '62, but I can't find anything decent on it. I know the car was raced by Foyt in the classic Scarab livery and later respayed civilised into a road car which was bought by Augie Pabst. Does anyone have any information and pictures of this car?

Taken at Elkhardt Lake 2001, Augie Pabst was still driving it. Recently a comprehensive book on the subject of such racers (50-60) has been a published, but the title escapes me right now :)

[Cedric]

I hope the title comes to your mind soon ;) I have found this article on the internet, and I must say I find its livery on those pics much nicer than the modern version. Why the hell do they change things for the worse (of aesthetics)? Good thing the classic bucket seats were kept though.
http://www.tamsoldracecarsite.net/PabstScarabRE1.html

[henk4]

[QUOTE=Cedric]I hope the title comes to your mind soon ;) [/QUOT

Vintage American Road Racers, 1950-1970, by Harold Pace and Mark Brinker, ISBN: 0 7603 1783 6. Priced in the UK at 35 pounds.

[bobsirna]

The mid engine Scarab driven by Augie Pabst, III is one of the 6 Scarab's featured at this event. A lot of video including in car shots at speed at Road America. Great stuff. I own the 25 Th. Anniversary Scarab MK-I that was built for Richard Reventlow by Dick Trotman. Don Devine, Augie Pabst and I put on a Scarab Reunion at Road America last July. It was a fantastic 3 day event integrated into the vintage weekend festivities. One of the high lights was the Saturday dinner where we celebrated all things SCARAB. Chuck Daigh was eulogized, all the Reventlow Scarab team members present were interviewed and then the Nickey Chevrolet, and Meister Brauser Team members in the room were interviewed. A 2 hour DVD has been produced documenting this event. It has 50 min. of highlights of the weekend including about 20 minutes of on track images of Scarabs at speed. The second part is one hour and 10 minutes of the Saturday dinner with all the interviews. Great stuff if your are a fan of all things SCARAB. If your would like a copy of this DVD please contact me at "bobsirna at speakeasy dot net". Bob Sirna

[henk4]

The mid engine Scarab driven by Augie Pabst, III is one of the 6 Scarab's featured at this event. A lot of video including in car shots at speed at Road America. Great stuff. I own the 25 Th. Anniversary Scarab MK-I that was built for Richard Reventlow by Dick Trotman. Don Devine, Augie Pabst and I put on a Scarab Reunion at Road America last July. It was a fantastic 3 day event integrated into the vintage weekend festivities. One of the high lights was the Saturday dinner where we celebrated all things SCARAB. Chuck Daigh was eulogized, all the Reventlow Scarab team members present were interviewed and then the Nickey Chevrolet, and Meister Brauser Team members in the room were interviewed. A 2 hour DVD has been produced documenting this event. It has 50 min. of highlights of the weekend including about 20 minutes of on track images of Scarabs at speed. The second part is one hour and 10 minutes of the Saturday dinner with all the interviews. Great stuff if your are a fan of all things SCARAB. If your would like a copy of this DVD please contact me at [email protected]. Bob Sirna

Welcome Bob, see also my reply in the other thread and my comment on rewriting your email address

[Cedric]

Do you regularly drive these cars? And do you sometimes take them out on the public roads for a spin, just like how the mid-engined Scarab was used in the olden days?

[Bullitt5435]

If you search around Ebay you can find the Monogram 1/24 scale kit of the car, which I just bought about a week ago, got in the mail and assembled. Not a lot of detail, but a good rendering. The decals that come with it are as Foyt drove the car, with his #14. It was a beautiful car. Too bad it never got fully developed.

[henk4]

If you search around Ebay you can find the Monogram 1/24 scale kit of the car, which I just bought about a week ago, got in the mail and assembled. Not a lot of detail, but a good rendering. The decals that come with it are as Foyt drove the car, with his #14. It was a beautiful car. Too bad it never got fully developed.
I got the same kit, still unmade...I think it came originally as a slot racer, so the kit is very basic.

[BobinVA]

I feel a special attachment to this car, for several reasons. My dad bought a '62 Buick Skylark in the spring of that year. It had the 215 aluminum V8 and was considered quite a nice package at the time. Reventlow had already achieved great success with the front-engined small block Chevy cars, but the handwriting was on the wall in '62 - Brabham had already run a rear-engined car competitively at Indy, Formula 1 had made the transition, and though cars like the Ferrari GTO were winning, it was just a matter of time before front-engined cars became obsolete as ultimate road racers. Reventlow and company, looking to stay ahead of the pack, built that beautiful little Scarab in the spring and summer of '62 and used the GM 215 V8 to power it. The theory was that keeping it light and balanced would make up for giving away some brute horsepower. As it turned out, the little V8 just couldn't be coaxed into putting out enough horses to bridge the gap. This is ironic, because five or six years later Brabham won the F1 championship using the same block. I attended the first race run by the little Scarab - Santa Barbara, Labor Day weekend '62. I can well remember the anticipation and excitement that accompanied the public unveiling of the car. There had been some news coverage ahead of time, and we road race fans eagerly awaited the baptism of the new car. My buddy John and I drove up from LA, camped out on the beach, got plenty sunburned despite liberal use of zinc oxide, and just had a fantastic time. The Scarb pit always had a bevy of drop-dead gorgeous starlet-type young ladies in attendance, and this weekend was no exception. The car was stunningly beautiful, and that is saying something when you recall that pits in those days were replete with TestaRossas, Birdcages, RSKs, and numerous one-offs. It had a taut, compact, sleek animal look. With the standard Scarab blue body, set off with white eyebrow accents, it was clearly something very special. I can't recall who won that race on Sunday (perhaps Krause's Birdcage?) - I think the Scarab came second in the C Modified class, with the Ferrari TR third. By the way, that same TestaRossa was for sale for $3k. I remember thinking, "Some day I will tell people I could have had one of these for 3 thou." Bob Harris endo-ed his Harris Special (a mid-engined one-off) and totaled it in that same race. In those days they ran the A & B Production race last sometimes, because there would be so much fiberglass on the track from the Corvette fender "rubbing" that it was too hard to clean the track for any following races. Later AJ Foyt raced the Scarab with a bigger V8 - I think an Olds or Chevy - with success. I'm very glad it is back where it belongs today - it was a memorable experiment.

[henk4]

Welcome Bob,
I was searching for the result of the Santa Barbara Race and came across this one.;)

The Race Lounge (http://www.theracelounge.com/scarab.html)

[forza_autodelta]

I got the same kit, still unmade...I think it came originally as a slot racer, so the kit is very basic.

exactly, I'm quite surprised of the price since it is cheap for a 1/24 collector, I'm thinking about builiding one to go with ma GTAm

[BobinVA]

Well, I recently found tamsoldracecarsite.net for the second time - hadn't visited it for a couple of years. An incredible collection of pics and anecdotes from the early 60s West Coast scene. A correction to one of my earlier statements: Bob Harris drove the Campbell Special, one of the very first rear-engined Chevy V8 C Modified cars. It was very competitive against some pretty exotic competition - that is the car he smacked up at Santa Barbara. How he survived is beyond me - I recall the sickening sounds of the crash in the distance and then seeing a nasty looking cloud of dust and debris rising in that direction. Those were wonderful times, when backyard specials could go wheel to wheel with the big buck European stuff and guys were always trying something new. But big time sponsorship hadn't yet gotten into the sport, and most cars had only their racing numbers painted on their sides.

[henk4]

Well, I recently found tamsoldracecarsite.net for the second time - hadn't visited it for a couple of years. An incredible collection of pics and anecdotes from the early 60s West Coast scene. A correction to one of my earlier statements: Bob Harris drove the Campbell Special, one of the very first rear-engined Chevy V8 C Modified cars. It was very competitive against some pretty exotic competition - that is the car he smacked up at Santa Barbara. How he survived is beyond me - I recall the sickening sounds of the crash in the distance and then seeing a nasty looking cloud of dust and debris rising in that direction. Those were wonderful times, when backyard specials could go wheel to wheel with the big buck European stuff and guys were always trying something new. But big time sponsorship hadn't yet gotten into the sport, and most cars had only their racing numbers painted on their sides.
Bob, try to attend the Monterey Historics in August once, at least some classes do feature some of those specials that have survived..