Of the eight Scarab racers built, the brain children of 22-year old Lance Reventlow - whose father was a European count, whose mother was heiress to the Woolworth fortune, and whose wife at the time was actress Jill St. John. Four Scarabs were astounding successes and four were spectacular failures.
In a West Los Angeles sports car shop, Reventlow commenced building an American race car to take European long-distance racing by storm. A 301-cubic-inch overbored version of Chevrolet’s 283 V-8 seemed right married to a Corvette four-speed gearbox. This power-train was mounted in a light 127-pound space frame chassis wrapped with an aluminum skin to the configuration you see. The resulting racer was spectacular.
Alas, between the creation of the Scarab concept and reality, the European sports car rules were changed to permit only engines up to 183 cubic inches (3.0 liters). An Offy engine was tried on the 3rd Scarab – this car – but with dismal results. Briggs Cunningham fared no better when he tried the same thing in his C6R Len Mans cars. Both teams went back to the Chevy power in 1958 and began racing in the U.S. No car was more successful in SCCA B-Modified during this period. Scarab sports racers remained competitive well into the 1960s, long after Reventlow retired from the scene.
This car won Best of Show Concours de Sport at the at the 2014 Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance.
You may purchase a print in our dElegance 2014 online gallery.