0726 history deserves a thread of its own

Would it be prudent to publish the story in public? I have the impression you know the story but won't tell it yourself.

 

The photos from the magazine article in post no. 23 have absolutely nothing to do with 0726/TR. The car shown in those photos was an attempt to reconstruct 0726/TR using the remaining rear frame and deDion rear-axle assembly from a 290MM that was recovered from Brazil.

The original remains of 0726/TR minus the engine & gearbox plus a few other bits and pieces were recovered from Cuba in the early 1980s and done completely legally. They ended up for a short time through some odd travel arrangements in a well known but now closed shop in the States.

Anyone care to guess what happened next?

Ciao,

Bill

 

The history of how we are today is amazing in all of these types of cars....

 

I am going to go with the Duddini brothers.They seem to have used anything they could get there hands on to build 250TRs. just one man's opinion tongascrew

 

[Anyone care to guess what happened next?

Ciao,

Bill[/QUOTE]


Bernie Carl?

Regards

Wolfi

 

Wouldnt have a clue, but please do tell us, this stuff is fascinating.

t

 

The closest 0726/TR ever got to Brazil was Venezuela.

Ciao,

Bill

 

Yes, 0726/TR survives as a complete car but largely reconstructed from the frame on up. The engine is still in Cuba and possibly the gearbox. The steering wheel, gauges and a few other bits and pieces were recovered after the fatal crash during practice. The engine and gearbox were separated shortly after the accident, stored for many years together then separated from the remains of the car prior to it being sold.

The chassis eventually found its way to a shop here in the States. The chassis no. 0726/TR made no sense to the shop that had the car as it did not match the few details they could find about the central and south American TRs.

Rather than taking the time to research the situation further they took a short cut and ground the chassis number off the frame and stamped in one that matched the books.

As insane and pathetic as it sounds, thats really the way it happened.

The car has been this way ever sense.

Not a pretty story but there are worse ones.

Ciao,

Bill

 

Does anybody know who went to Cuba to bring back the pieces of 0726 TR?

 

What pieces when? Shortly after the crash... a few days at most, the steering wheel, gauges and a couple of other small bits and pieces were removed by the mechanic that was assisting the driver during the race.

The rest of the car remained stored for many years in Cuba untouched until at least 1978/1979.

The engine and possibly the grearbox still remain in Cuba. The rest left in the 1980s and formed the starting point for a complete restoration into the car that exists today.

Cheers,

Bill

 

Bill,

Am I correct in thinking it was Colin Crabbe who recovered the chassis from Cuba?

Best,
Dave

 

He spearheaded finding, identifying and arranging for the recovery but had some assistance with the actual movement, export and shipping as the car was rather difficult to move and crate up due to poor storage and the accident damage.

Ciao,

Bill

 

Good evening,

As a small tribute to Branko, I am linking in his website the threads on the La Trinidad Street Circuit, where 0726 was raced in 1959, in Caracas, Venezuela, by Lino Fayen. Only two races were held there, in Nov 58 and in March 59.


Nov 1958 race:

http://www.pasionalavelocidad.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=614

Mar 1959 race:

http://www.pasionalavelocidad.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=124


Regards,

emunoz167