Jack Cohen Super Vee

[VMAX]

I came across the remains of mid to late 70s Super Vee driven by Jack Cohen. The car is white #48 and apparently came out of Indiana. Does this ring any bells to anyone?

Vmax

[Rick Kirchner]

pics? chassis tag?

[VMAX]

No tag, unfortunately. Waiting for pics.

[VMAX]

Incidentally, pancake motor, VW gearbox, swing arm and drums in rear. Monocoque tub with side pods. Looks like early FSV from rollbar back and later car from rollbar forward.

[BLS]

I may be wrong but I do not believe any FSV used a swing axle rear, or drum brakes...

[Steve Demeter]

Some of the early Air Cooled cars did use rear drums.

I remember Rick Haynes had a RP-14 that had rear drums in 1978. Probably a 1973 car IIRC.

And the most original Super Vees were not much more than FV with big motors and tires.

[TED K.]

Early FSV -1970 to 1974 ?- used 4 joint VW 4 speed trans, uprght-some with rear drum brakes and a type 3 0r 4 1600 with dual carbs. And a much more sophisticated suspension and steering than a FV.

Ted K.

[Charlie Schmidt]

As I recall, the SV rules required the use of the CV joint axles/stub axle units

the early cars were all drum rear brakes I don't think discs were legal until 1973ish

my rp-14 came with drums, and at least for vintage, converting to discs gained nothing

[rdfrancis]

If it is the car from Baton Rouge, I was going to buy it but spent a lot of time doing the history on it first. Jack Cohen was a big time Shriner in Indy. He had this car modified to drive it in the pre-race parade for the Indy 500 back in the 1980's. Do a Google for SHriner Indy cars and you will see a lot of them on the internet. They are a big deal in Indy. There are a couple Shriner decals on the body and also mini-indy. Many formula cars were modified with VW motors and swing axles. It was a easy mod that worked well for just driving them in parades. The chassis from the rollbar forward is aluminum monocoque but the engine/transaxle is tube frame and not built IMO to hold up on the track. I think the car was once a ZINK SV. The frame rot at the front suspension mounting points scared me away from it but I thought it might make a great autocross car if done right.

[VMAX]

Yes, it's the car in Baton Rouge. All that you said makes perfect sense, and I agree the air-cooled mod is not up to racing standards. Too bad there's no chassis tag... might be more than a parts car otherwise.

I've attached a photo in case anybody can better ID the tub.

VMAX

[rdfrancis]

That's the one. I still think it might be a good candidate for autocross. Good luck with it. Let us know of your progress on it.

[VMAX]

Actually, I only looked at. It's still for sale on Craigslist in Baton Rouge.

[VMAX]

Here's the link: http://batonrouge.craigslist.org/cto/4623335823.html

[racerdad2]

It's a good looking car. Would look even better going thru the cones.

[rdfrancis]

My fabrication skills are somewhat limited so the work needed to the front suspension supports convinced me that I was not the right person for this car. It had sat outside for a long time and the front frame rotted. It also needs work on the monocoque but if you have the skills this could be a nice project. The owner is Edward and I talked to him several times. He is a nice guy and I think he could help with some great advice on repairing it. I searched the internet for another car like it and came up empty. Here are some photos of the bad parts. The rest is workable IMO.

[rdfrancis]

To see how serious the Indy Shriners are about their race cars, watch this video. These are some very nice x-race cars.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OB7Pk4vC2IQ

[djones]

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