Finally....

[JeffW]

After many years, thousands of $$, and even more hours in the garage, the ex-Rosberg B45 Excita Chevron chassis #4 is finally complete (only four B45s were built).

I bought the car in the UK from Simon Hadfield, who was in the process of restoring it but I persuaded him to sell it to me as a bare tubs with gearbox and all the suspension bits and bobs, original Speedline wheels etc.

The car was bought by Opert for Eje Elghe, but after Rosberg stuffed his car (chassis #2)at Lime Rock, he used this car to finish 4th at the LR event. Rosberg continued to use the car throughout the season, mainly as a spare but at Trois Riviere it was driven by Arturo Mezarrio. It was returned to the UK in preparation for the Macau GP where it was once again driven by Rosberg who had a coming together with another car in the race. It came back to the UK where it was bought by Jim Crawford who went on to win the British FA series. Later he put a BDX in it and ran the Aurora AFX series, wining in the rain at Oulton Park. When Jim Crawford made his way to the US the car was sold to Vin Malkie of Chevron fame, and later passed through a number of club racers, before I bought it.

Unlike Rand's sweet FA, I have yet to run this car - heck I have never even driven a FA. I am hoping that Frog will enjoy the color.

JeffW

[mikey]

[Purple Frog]

[mike g.]

Wow. ! Nice.

Did you do all the work yourself? Any idea how many hours?

I wouldnt even know where to begin..

[DanW]

Great looking car Jeff!

We saw two of these at Monterey in both the Excita pink and blue versions.

[Daryl DeArman]

I remember seeing that car (same model and paint scheme) out at the Palm Springs Grand Prix watching the kid chase down pops around 90-91 I think.

Jeff or Dick Marconi in any log books?

http://www.marconimuseum.org/museum-...ar-collection/

How many of these models around sporting that paint scheme? Pardon my ignorance.

[marshall9]

Way cool!!!

[provamo]

love it!

remember kk sideways and three-wheeling that thing

C O N G R A T U L A T I O N S!

[stonebridge20]

I think this thread is going to get interesting.

[ric baribeault]

Why aren't you sleeping so you can get up early and work on my car?

[ric baribeault]

There are 3 cars out there sporting the Excita paint. One is a supervee converted to FA and not one of the four 45's made. From the research I've done 2 of the 4 cars remain. I have the other one. Chassis #2

Jeff, incredible job. I hope a certain early morning poster does as good a job restoring mine

[Paddy O'Brien]

Somewhere I have a photo of the shifter knob on this car when Keke drove it. Apparently it was also used to test the sponsors product, I wonder who has the "knob" now?

[Revs2-12k]

Awesome work Jeff.

You should bring that to the local Wilmington " Car's & Coffee" sometime. Better yet, the annual British Car Show. I took my Reynard FC there once.

Would like to see a " Before " photo.

[Amon]

Jeff,

Was this car once owned by Dick Lepla in Cleveland? I remember going through his
warehouse 25+ years ago and remember seeing a car in this paint scheme.

Mark

[marc sproule]

don't know the chassis numbers but pics of the cars can be found in my atlantic and keke sets.......

https://www.flickr.com/photos/46681980@N03/sets

[Mark Walthew]

That is a wonderful iconic car.

[marc sproule]

That is a wonderful iconic car.

Gordon Kirby and I were standing next to our buddy Paul Webb at that moment.

GK turned to me and said something like "I think KK just hit the fence."

PW said "I think I got it on film."

Unfortunately years later the slide disappeared when Paul moved.

Now the only way that snap exists is on the web, pardon the pun.

Definitely a pic I wish I had managed to get too.

[marc sproule]

Somewhere I have a photo of the shifter knob on this car when Keke drove it. Apparently it was also used to test the sponsors product, I wonder who has the "knob" now?

https://www.flickr.com/photos/46681980@N03/6971757103/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/46681980@N03/4476488349/

[marc sproule]

https://www.flickr.com/photos/46681980@N03/7580273412/

[JeffW]

Thanks for all the great comments and pics etc. I am swamped at work for the next day or so, but I will get back to everyone with more info and answers to the questions.

Thanks again,

JeffW

[Michael Rand]

Jeff,
When you do jump in it you to will fall in love with it, the flat bottom early-mid-late '70's Atlantics are the best.
We should try to show up at the same event sometime.....

[dereklola]

..... the flat bottom early-mid-late '70's Atlantics are the best.

Mike - you are so right - I drove mine for 15 years, mainly with SVRA - and loved every minute of it (except maybe the once I found myself going backwards).

We used to have grids of 20-25 such cars - now sadly we sometimes get only 2 or 3. With your enthusiasm and organizing ability maybe you could help do something about that?

Derek

[jkrt125]

Beautiful car! Love those flat bottom Atlantics! Go wheel it!

[jhwright]

That looks fantastic!

Some wild ride height, tho...

[dereklola]

.....wild ride height, tho...

That's how they ran them in the day, softer springs too

[Michael Rand]

Derek is absolutely right.
I have a sale sheet of maybe 5 pages from Fred Opert announcing the "All new for 1973" BT40 from MRD [the Ecclestone owned Motor Racing Developments aka Brabham] an the setup sheet shows 2 3/4" front ride height and 4" rear with175lb front springs and 250 rears.
It was a different time, wasn't it.....thankfully !.

[DB4 Tim]

So sweet...what size are the fronts

After many years, thousands of $$, and even more hours in the garage, the ex-Rosberg B45 Excita Chevron chassis #4 is finally complete (only four B45s were built).

I bought the car in the UK from Simon Hadfield, who was in the process of restoring it but I persuaded him to sell it to me as a bare tubs with gearbox and all the suspension bits and bobs, original Speedline wheels etc.

The car was bought by Opert for Eje Elghe, but after Rosberg stuffed his car (chassis #2)at Lime Rock, he used this car to finish 4th at the LR event. Rosberg continued to use the car throughout the season, mainly as a spare but at Trois Riviere it was driven by Arturo Mezarrio. It was returned to the UK in preparation for the Macau GP where it was once again driven by Rosberg who had a coming together with another car in the race. It came back to the UK where it was bought by Jim Crawford who went on to win the British FA series. Later he put a BDX in it and ran the Aurora AFX series, wining in the rain at Oulton Park. When Jim Crawford made his way to the US the car was sold to Vin Malkie of Chevron fame, and later passed through a number of club racers, before I bought it.

Unlike Rand's sweet FA, I have yet to run this car - heck I have never even driven a FA. I am hoping that Frog will enjoy the color.

JeffW

[JeffW]

Thanks to everyone for your positive comments. I am going to try and answer the questions that have been asked. First off, let me acknowledge Simon Hadfield for a perfectly presented car. Even though it was a bare tub with nothing connected, everything was in perfect shape. The gearbox is mint, all the calipers, hubs, and wheels rebuilt, and much of the suspension pieces were freshly Ni plated. Plus in true resto tradition, Simon had boxes and boxes of parts all related to its history, including a skid plate that could fit on a rally car (bumpy tracks in the north), and a wiring loom that I have been told was an Opert mod.

While I spent many many hours putting the car together, so that it was a roller, I relied heavily on experts for help with key steps I couldn't do. so lets start with:

Ronnie Mong - from a drawing I made on the kitchen table with a T-square he fabricated a beautiful bulkhead plate that fitted perfectly and mounts the front lower arms (the old one was tatty looking and needed to go). Had it glued and riveted at a local aircraft operation. We also worked together to produce a set of water pipes which I thought were a neater improvement over the originals.

Mark Wehrman - knows these cars like the back of his hand, and supplied me with improved front engine mounts to the rear bulkhead, and a better gearshift rod- not to mention lots and lots of advice and info. Also Ted Wenz took many pics of a B39 Mark did to help me figure out how the car went together. In that regard I also sent a disposable camera to Ed Swart in CA to take pics of his B45 (chassis #3 now converted to an F2). This was very early on before the Internet had been invented - well almost!

Kevin K at Comprent - Did a B39 in the past. I wanted new fuel cells, plus electrics, fire system, throttle system, rear bulkhead, finished the exhaust system, etc. They completed this very neatly and made it a functioning race car.

Ted Wenz - who put together a very nice motor which I look forward to exercising soon.

The story isn't complete without mentioning the enormous help and support from my family, particularly my wife who has always been willing to help with set-up, brake bleeding, looking for the wrench in the garage that went AWOL, loading and unloading the cars, and not complaining as $$ flew out the door. There were a few times when even my sphincter muscle tightened.....

The ride height is not correct and is the next thing to do - it does need to be lowered (3" front at the moment!). I have fitted slightly stiffer springs - we'll see who that works. The nose frame is canted upwards slightly which adds to the feeling the ride height is too high.

With Ric's car, I now know where all the four chassis are. My car, when it completed the FA series it left the US and went to Macau, then back to the UK when Crawford bought it. The two pink cars seen at Monterey are not B454s, one is a B39 for sure, since it was a red car Mark Wehrman did, bought by Lee Braihn, sold to a guy out west who had it redone in Excita colors.

The car is fitted with 9" fronts and 12" rears.

I do hope that Mike Rand and others have a chance to race together - I can learn a lot running with other experienced FA guys. Everyone tells me they are a blast to drive.

Thanks again,

JeffW

[JeffW]

Oops - I forgot to mention Pat Prince - who recently made a spare rear subframe (he has jigs) and a spare wing mount. Both beautiful pieces as you would expect.

I hope I haven't omitted anyone else, but this whole project has been a journey over many years while I got side-tracked on a tub-up build of two S2s, and moved to the US. I vehemently deny the suggestion that I came here to get closer to racing, but it does help with shipping!

Best wishes,

JeffW

[marc sproule]

saw that there were some pic views on my flickr stuff coming from this thread so i thought i'd put the link to my atlantic set for any who might not have seen it.

lots more to come.....

https://www.flickr.com/photos/466819...7623186773769/

[billtebbutt]

Jeff,

Lovely car. Just fantastic!!!!! You will have SO much fun in that, this era FA is a riot.

I am returning, in two weeks, to running my 78B after many years involuntary layoff. I can't wait. Rand may remember me as one of high ambition and low talent from my Nats days at Lime Rock. I wish I could get the Atlantic car to the northeast to run with you guys.

Marc, your Flicker thread is awesome too! I see a number of pics of Brack in his STP 78B. He had two, I own the spare car. Once rented to a J Villeneuve (Gille's brother, not the son!). Great work.

Cheers
Bill

[marc sproule]

i wish i had gotten into the series even sooner than the three races i went to in '75. full time for a number of years after that as i was covering the series for autoweek as both scribbler and photog.

if you know when and where jv ran your car you might be able to find snaps of by googling or searching flickr for it.

one of my most-likely-not-gonna-get-to-do-it fantasies is to drive an rt-1. in my opinion they were the best of the flat bottom atlantic cars.

i hope all of you out there who have the flat bottom atlantic cars have as much fun driving them as the drivers did when i was covering the series.

[JeffW]

Well, after some fuel regulator issues which I eventually resolved and going down to Savannah for Ted and Wayne to fit a new Jennings dizzy and ignition system, the car sounded and ran like a Cossie should.

Took it out to a little test circuit a couple of hours from here and the car ran without a hitch. Fantastic acceleration (compared with what I am used to) and unbelievable brakes: I started off using my S2 braking points which were waay to early....That will take some time to adjust to, plus the extra grip. I can understand better when drivers say they are a lot of fun to drive.

Thanks,

JeffW

[Kazis31]

Angeline here in LA would love the color.
Nice work.

[KodaBear]

I remember seeing that car (same model and paint scheme) out at the Palm Springs Grand Prix watching the kid chase down pops around 90-91 I think.

Jeff or Dick Marconi in any log books?

http://www.marconimuseum.org/museum-...ar-collection/

How many of these models around sporting that paint scheme? Pardon my ignorance.

John Marconi was the Son. dick the dad. Dick would have been driving a F5000, and John the Chevron in pink excita colors. I'm not sure I ever saw the other brother race. John used to come in the shop I worked at back in those days. I got to do some VIP stuff at a couple vintage events. Fun times.

[ric baribeault]

the one in LA is a '77 car, not one of the 4 78's that were B45's. it may have been a backup car for the team in '78. Fred had a couple 39's that he used as backup and for "guest" drivers.

[Amon]

Didn't Dick Leppla own one of these during the late 80's and early 90's?