WTB an older vintage racer

Wire Wheel often gets some interesting older racers. Tends to focus on British, mostly. Current race car inventory includes a Jag E Type , and a TVR.

wirewheel.com - Wire Wheel Classic Sports Cars

 

There are millions of places. Vintage Racing Services, Kim Baker in Massachusetts, tons of folks. What do you want? British? Italian? German?

Ahh, open-wheel pre-1960. That would mean Formula III or Formula Junior. The latter may be beyond the upper limit of your budget. I'd recommend Formula Ford, pre-1972. $25-30K for a good one, lots of places to run.

Where do you want to run it? VSCCA? VRG? SVRA? HSR?

Begin with the end in mind...

 

Kim seems to be a good guy to deal with. Tried to buy something, but it didn't work out. Nevertheless, I think he was a straight shooter. His site is vintageracecarsales.com.

You can also look at race-cars.com

FantasyJunction.com usually has a couple of interesting '60s open wheelers.

CW

 

Vintage Race Cars For Sale | Formula Junior Historics North America | FJHNA | FJHNA

 

The Race Car Sales Site

Matt

 

You should check with this Texas based vintage racing organization for possible cars for sale, plus do check with the Texas SCCA they often know of cars in different classifications for sale.

CVAR | Corinthian Vintage Auto Racing Corp

 

The only issue with the pre-60's cars is the relative safety, or lack of it.. I had the opportunity to look at some SCCA H modified cars from the 50's and they were, in the as raced condition, death traps. Fine if you just want to cruise around, but really scary when you consider them from a safety standpoint.

To race any of those cars today you'll have to install modern roll over protection, but they still aren't going to have a level of safety that we consider normal today. If you crash any car from that time period you are going to be severely injured and face it, accidents do happen even in vintage racing.

One thing that has changed over time is that the tires used, even in vintage racing are a lot better than the tires available in those days. Today's street tires are way better than racing tires were in the early 60's. This means that the old cars are going a lot faster (and crash harder) than they did way back when. Just another thing to think about when you consider what you want to do and how to prepare it. Really old vintage cars need to be carefully gone over in light of the better tires that put higher loads on the suspension than they ever saw in the good old days. Some of them are built like tanks, but others aren't and you're dealing with old stuff that gets fatigued, so maintenance is critical.

Not to throw a wet blanket on going vintage, but really old open wheel cars do require more care and feeding than door slammers that are production based. JMHO and qualified as such.

 

I disagree. While new(er) cars are substantially "safer," it's still the loose nut behind the wheel that determines the outcome. I think this is part and parcel of racing old cars.

The oldest cars at most of these events are regulated to use a hard compound Dunlop (or equivalent) tire, and many of the cars (almost all that are habitually used) have modern 4340 stub axles and hubs. While I think maintenance is critical on ANY car you take on track, there is a lot to be said for sliding around an older historic racer.

For the budget, you may need to look at Formula Ford from the late '60's and early '70's.

These cars have rubberized fabric covered fuel cells (well, all historic cars are supposed to have these), decent rollover protection integrated into the frame and race with like cars.

I have raced HM and DSR cars for some time (Siata, Beach Mk 4B, NTM, the latter a FIBERGLASS monocoque from 1970) and with the Beach and NTM, can go quicker than a street 360 with less than a liter sized automotive engine on most "momentum" tracks. I used to race a LOT of Italian and German "door slammers" and liked that, too.

Pick a car you like, enlist the aid of a trusted mechanic and prep shop, pick and choose the venue that you find most supportive and aligned with the culture you like and have fun! Just my opinion and qualified as such! <grin>

 

http://www.formulajunior.com/For%20Sale/FJ_Cars_for_sale.html

 

I'm with Peter, Formula Ford is a great class to start in. When I was racing FF back in the late 70's the Crossle 32F was one of the most driver friendly and hard to beat when well driven.

later on in Vintage Racing I had a Brabham BT29 which, in the opinion of many, was/is one of the best non-wing cars around.

 

race-cars.com

 

My coach/buddy IMSA Pro Eric Curran has a business selling race cars & exotics.

Home - westcoast

 

Just listen to and follow whatever advice Peter Krause gives you. He knows better than just about all of us with regards to this kind of thing.

 

When are you coming back out, Brian? In the Norma, I hope!

 

FF is certainly your best bang for buck... Don't know your height and weight but I'm 6'1", 210 and could barely be shoehorned into my friends Merlyn... But I couldn't move my arms!!! I don't know how much racing experience you have but not sure if open wheel is the best place to start if you don't have racing experience but YMMV... I know where there's a vintage race prepped '58 Alfa Giulietta Spider if you're interested. Good Luck!

Tom

Elva MkVII below...
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The Elva is a sweet car! You can race it almost anywhere in the world, too.

I have several client drivers with Mk VII's and Mk VIII's and they are wonderful.

The deal I made with my SO is that I would NOT race open-wheel... So these would be the next best thing for something from the early-mid 1960's. More than $50K though.

I have a few Giulietta Veloce's for sale myself. A racer and a pristine 750 series street car...

 

Peter--

Funny you should ask about me and the Norma. I am currently rebuilding the chassis-replacing the ally skins on the tube frame chassis with carbon skins. (Because I can!) and have added some "Ferrari 333SP" style diagonal down tubes from the roll cage down to the dash bulkhead. Hurts the "look" of the car a little bit but adds a bunch of safety. And that is just a bit more important to me!

Here is stripped chassis-all fixed and painted-waiting to be reskinned.
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The car I raced before going open wheel, a 1964 Merlyn MK6A.

This is chassis # 85, I bought chassis # 58 new in 1964 and raced it for five years in SCCA then when I started vintage racing I bought chassis #85 and restored it to original specs with a 1100 CC Cosworth only to find on my first race that everyone else had a 1600CC twin cam with almost twice the horsepower I had.
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Yeah... displacement creep is pretty much the law of the land in Vintage Racing... My Elva was raced in '63 with 1000/1100cc motors. Currently fitted with the usual Lotus Twin Cam.

PS Love your Merlyn!!!

 

Find the nearest track, check the schedule for anything like Historic or vintage racing then go to the show, people sell cars at these events.

 

Google Historic Race Associations, there are several and they have classified sections.

 

no affiliation, sweet looking ride though

Lotus 61 formula ford vintage race car

 

Rare, collectable, but won't be inexpensive to maintain race car.

1969 Cooper T90 F5000 | Bring a Trailer

 

Better have some serious skills for that one, or else. It will well exceed the OP's stated budget anyway.
http://www.longlostcooper.com/#PhaseBox1