Trying to Identify FV

[Saltracer]

Hello

I'm trying to identify a FV that originally came from Alberta Canada. Any help would be greatly appreciated

Thanks, Brad

[Gary_T]

Hey Brad,

Someone here will be able to help - any chance of chassis pictures with the bodywork off?

Gary

[Amon]

Beach??

[HayesCages]

Congratulations, you've found the 3rd Viper FV! We owned #2 and still know where it is.

The original builder and designer, Gordon Anderson, still lives in Salem OR.

These were sold as kits in the early 60's and were featured in a 1962 magazine article.

Chassis #1 was ran as the Riviera Motors car from Portland, OR in the 1963 season, then disappeared.
Our chassis was built by an unknown person. It was raced at some point then made into an auto-cross car. We found it at an auto-cross event and ended up trading a motorcycle for it in 1987.

We rebuilt and raced it from 1988 until 1994.

I can supply many pictures if needed and more info on Gordon as well. He gave us a complete set of the original blue prints and probably still has them.

Cheers,
Lawrence

[HayesCages]

#1

[HayesCages]

And ours restored to 1962 specs.:

[Saltracer]

Lawrence,

Thank you very much for the info. I'm trying to make a deal on it and I like it because its a big car that will fit me. Were they ever a competitive car and are they at all sough after? Am I to understand there was only 3 made, or is this just the 3rd one to turn up? If I get it I may ask you for some pictures and specs.

Thanks again, Brad

[HayesCages]

Gordon Anderson seems to think there were 4. I think there were 3...but he knows more about it than I.

I think the Riviera Motors car did pretty good in the first year it ran. (1963?) Not sure though as I've seen no results from back then.

[Jean-Sebastien Stoezel]

Would you ever plan to road race this car? If so with which group?

[Saltracer]

I've thought about getting my road race license with WCMA, I'm an old autocrosser having campaigned my VW dunebuggy for close to 20 years, but I'm thinking of putting a large VW engine and tall geared transaxle in it and going after the 150mph Club membership with it at Bonneville.

Brad

[Jean-Sebastien Stoezel]

Well, that seems quite courageous in such a lightweight frame.

JS

I've thought about getting my road race license with WCMA, I'm an old autocrosser having campaigned my VW dunebuggy for close to 20 years, but I'm thinking of putting a large VW engine and tall geared transaxle in it and going after the 150mph Club membership with it at Bonneville.

Brad

[Saltracer]

Some changes would be made in the name of safety. Double hoop roll bar and re-enforced floor bars as well as a double skinned chassis or perhaps just sticking away the original chassis and building a stronger one to fit the bodywork. I'm not a daredevil, I've done 121 in my buggy and 118 in my 57 Beetle in the standing mile both are built very strong.

Brad

[Matt King]

I've often thought it would be cool to try to run a Vee at Bonneville, but the challenge is that the speed records for the streamliner classes that the cars would fit into are crazy fast, even for the displacement of an ACVW. Of course you can always run what you brung, even if it's not competitive for a record attempt. Good luck!

[Saltracer]

We race within our own little VW world at Bonneville on the 1 and 2.25 mile tracks, and have our own classes set up just for VW based cars. We race using the USFRA 130 and 150 Club guidelines for safety. these 2 classes are for people wanting to try out LSR but not wanting to build a full competition car yet. The 2 classes are mainly for street driven "road legal" vehicles and proof of plates and insurance is required although you can apply for exemptions for vehicles such as FVs and other race vehicles. There has been a couple of other FVs that have competed when I've been there and they do quite well. IF you are interested in going on this adventure you can check out all you need at saltflats.com and go to the 150MPH CLUB tech page for what you need.

Brad

[Bill Bonow]

From 2011
Think the driver is not "youthful" enough for a Laser
Shifting seems to be an issue
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7osxiE_AeY

[Saltracer]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57hMyJmIU10

While the guy in the buggy shifts a bit faster in this video, he was slower :-) . But the Deadwood Lazer was on his way down the 2.25 mile course so speed shifting is not as important as keeping the back wheels hooked up in a very light car on the long track. Most shifts are done rather lazily compared to road racing or drag racing. The salt was rather poor in 2011 where I had good conditions and hard salt in 2012 so I could be a little more aggressive over the mile.

brad

[HayesCages]

Hi, Have you gone anywhere with the Viper chassis?