KIT CAR readers crave dream cars, and one car many of you have written to us about is the '57 Reventlow Scarab. Braden River Engineering is one of those few companies who have listened to your dreams and begun producing this '50s race car, a car with a storied past.
Lance Reventlow was the Woolworth heir, who on his 21st birthday inherited the equivalent in today's money of $60-70 million. He was also Cary Grant's stepson, and while he enjoyed spending his money, he sought a challenge-the challenge of auto racing.
While still only 19, two years below the SCCA's legal age, he bought a Cooper-Climax T39 Bobtail and a Maserati 200S and entered racing with some success.
He drove in Europe in 1957, visited racing car constructors, and came away with the belief that he could do better. Upon checking out a Lister chassis at the Cambridge works, he said, "Hell, I could build a car better than that!" Though the Archie Scott-Brown Lister-Jaguar was regularly beating everything in sight in Britain, and Maserati was taking Juan-Manuel Fangio to his fifth World Championship, Reventlow sought to use American know-how and power to beat the Europeans.
In August 1957, Reventlow Automobiles Incorporated was born. Reventlow decided to use a modified Chevrolet Corvette engine, and the project was managed by Warren Olson and designed and developed by Dick Troutman, Dick Barnes, and Ken Miles. Chuck Daigh, who would be the number-one driver, was the chief mechanic and expert on fuel injection.
The end-result was an astonishingly sexy car, well designed, fast, and sleek. He called the car the "Scarab." The name was a private joke because a scarab is a compost beetle, as low a creature as one could find, and was Reventlow's protest against the exotic and macho names other cars were called. Ironically, when Daigh and Reventlow raced the team's two cars and blew away the competition in the "B" Modified class, the name "Scarab" itself became macho and exotic
The car and drivers were sent to Europe to tackle Formula 1 competition, and they fared poorly. When the Formula 1 Scarabs appeared at Monaco in 1960, they were applauded for their look and handling. However, they failed in competition. Reventlow conceded that his car was two years late, and, had he tackled Formula 1 in 1958, the Scarab would have been competitive.
Reventlow hired some of the top drivers around the world, and the car raced on many venues but never gained the success he sought. For those number enthusiasts, the No. 16 car was raced by Reventlow, while No. 46 belonged to Chuck Daigh. No. 9 was driven by AJ Foyt at Riverside in 1963. No. 02 was Richie Ginther's. No. 28 was piloted by Stirling Moss. No. 90 was Walt Hansgen's. No. 10 was Jim Jeffords'. No. 50 was driven by Augie Pabst, and Harry Huer was No. 22. After a few years of hard racing luck, Reventlow quit the business and was killed in a light aircraft crash in 1972 at the age of 36.
Move the calendar up 30 years and enter Roger Feikema and Braden River Engineering (BRE). BRE has been in business for years and formed a solid reputation by building sharp '64 Jaguar XKE kits using Mazda RX-7 platforms. Two years ago, he began taking on the Scarab. From the time he was 12, he has loved race cars. When he was in his 20s, he first saw the Scarab race at Road America and has wanted one ever since. Feikema said, "It is a beautiful all-American car, and I wanted to bring it back to the public. And bring Chevy power into the mix."