10 replies to this topic

[chaparrAL]

What is the difference between the Chaparral 1 and Augie Pabst Meister Brauser, and were these cars an evolution of the Scarab?

Thanks.

[Cheater]

Al,

I think all of this is explained in "Chapparal" by Falconer and Nye, but I can't remember the detailed story. I do have the book at home.

Check out this LINK, which may address your questions.

IIRC the Meister Brauser label was used on both a Scarab and a Chapparal, but that's a pretty fuzzy recollection.

[MG Brown]

Meister Brau was one of the Chicago-based beer brands acquired by Miller in the late 1960s. Meister Brau "Lite" became the basis for Lite beer from Miller.



So in short- it was sponsorship rather than a car name as such.

[TSR]

As well as many other specials, Dick Troutman of Troutman-Barnes built a "Special" in 1954 with a modified Mercury engine:



One of the first post-war American Specials was the Troutman-Barnes Special by Dick Troutman and Tom Barnes. It was their first racing design before they went on to create the legendary Scarabs for Lance Reventlow. The fabrication quality was very high as was the level of engineering used by Troutman and Barnes.

Built in Troutman's garage in Los Angeles, the new car use a steel space-frame with two-inch steel tubing. This initially supported a Mercury flat-head V8, which was replaced by a Ford Thunderbird unit.

Suspension was unique with custom-fabricated upper front wishbones and a transverse leaf spring. Power was send the read wheels through a shortened Ford live axle that was suspended by transverse leaf springs and used floating radius rods. Braking was supplied by drilled and ducted Ford-Bendix drums.¹

Nine aluminum body panels covered the Special and were fastened used Dzus fasteners for quick removal. Occasionally the car ran with some of the front panels removed to expose the engine. The car was fitted with a tidy wraparound windscreen and Halibrand magnesium wheels.¹

Chuck Daigh raced the car extensively from 1955 through to 1957. He was always in the running for the lead and won the 1957 Paramount Ranch race as well as the 1957 Santa Barbara race.

Meanwhile, Lance Reventlow wanted to build a world beater and asked Dick Troutman to build him a new car that was to be called the Scarab. With the help of Phil Remington, this took place and the car won tons of sports car races including the famous 1958 LA Times GP, beating the works Ferrari of Phil Hill after a torrid battle.



In 1961, Jim Hall was interested in building an evolution of this car powered by a Chevrolet engine, and contacted Dick Troutman, who built the new car not only for Jim but there were four more examples built for other teams, including the one driven by Skip Hudson.



And, that's it in a few words.

Jim Hall never considered the Chaparral 1 to be a true Chaparral, and this is the only Chaparral model that was actually sold to another racer.

[MantaRay]

Here is a pic of the Meister Brauser Chappy. Maybe Dokk can help with the history

[TSR]

It's now owned by a friend who also has a Ferrari 512S and a whole rash of very nice machines.

This is 002, the car that Meister Brauser sponsored along with their ex-works Scarab MK1, driven by Harry Heuer.

You can read the story HERE as well as some of the other cars Harry drove, HERE.

The Chaparral 1 "004" has a funny story: it was owned by Chuck Jones and team Meridian, driven by Skip Hudson. When the car was truly obsolete, Chuck removed the Chevy engine and the gearbox, did the same on his Maserait T151 coupe (ex-Briggs Cunningham, also driven by Skippy), and THREW both cars carcasses in the Irvine landfill. The engines and parts were sold over time.

Now that was in 1973 or so. Comes 1987 and car values are on fire, so Chuck has the cars re-created completely, built from the ground up by... Dick Troutman, now an older man in need of work.

And surprise, while the Maser finds its way for mega-cash to an Austrian museum, the Chap sells at auction for quite a pack of bills, but the story has become public so the price is nowhere near the original estimate.

Both cars are nowadays, represented as "the real thing".

These guys should work for the government...

[MG Brown]

Here is a pic of the Meister Brauser Chappy.

002 was also on display at the recent Meadowdale Show.

[chaparrAL]

One of my favorites.

[Durf]

As a further note on the transition from Scarab to Troutman and Barnes to Chaparral there is actually one more "step" in between.

After Reventlow essentially wrapped up the Scarab sports car project Troutman and Barnes worked up a design for a car of their own, to be called the "Riverside". When Hall came along looking to build a car T and B suggested they just build the Riverside with whatever changes Hall thought might be necessary and they would name it the Chaparral.

Ironically the utilization of this preexisting design was the major reason that the Chaparral 1 chassis 001 is unique amongst the 5 chassis built. It is similar in dimension to the Scarabs, which is to be expected since it is pretty much the Mk 2 version of the Scarab. One result of this lineage is the 88" wheelbase. This worked fine and led to a car with adequate cockpit dimensions for the usual Scarab drivers and most of the other US drivers. Everything was OK until they folded Mr Hall's long, lanky frame into the car and said "How's that feel?" Chassis 2 through 5 have a 90" wheelbase to give him a little more working room.

[chaparrAL]

[John O'Malley]

Having worked with Phil Remington (Rem) for many years I can add this little tidbit. He was always getting a lot of attention from his time with Shelby, building the Cobras and GT cars but he would be the first one to tell you that the Cobras where (in his words) S**T BOXES. But he always spoke fondly about the Scarabs. He said they where some of the best cars he ever built. And brother he built a few cars! Rem is one of the best guys in the world to sit around the table with in the cocktail lounge. If you get a drink into him he starts to tell stories and man he's got some good ones.

John