Beach Mk 4B sports racer s/n 101

1965 J.W. Denton - LHD, Abarth engine and "poppy red" body

hk-101-01.JPG (96821 bytes)
1965 Beach sales brochure		 hk-101-02.JPG (89522 bytes)
1965 Beach sales brochure		 4B-cockpit.JPG (17286 bytes)
1965 Beach sales brochure		 4b-open.jpg (17563 bytes)
1965 Beach sales brochure
courtland-65-1a.jpg (86013 bytes)
 6/65 - Courtland AL - Car #14 is J.W. Denton in 4-101
(#89 is 3-005, #84 is 4-001)

Converted in late 1965 to RHD and Imp engine - painted blue & white
Raced in 1966 by J.W. Denton - SE Division winner
Raced in 1967 by Fred Cox - SE Division winner

101-denton-01.jpg (306172 bytes)
1966 photo thanks to John Denton		   beachmk2-01.jpg (26647 bytes)
7/66 - Courtland AL
JW Denton 4-101 on left, Fred Cox 4-001 on right   		 spec2-04.jpg (551474 bytes)
JW Denton - 8/66 sales brochure
Beach88a.jpg (116270 bytes)
Fred Cox 8/67 Montgomery 
(photo from Dave Seibert)		 Beach88b.jpg (121036 bytes)
Fred Cox 8/67 Montgomery 
(photo from Dave Seibert)		 -

Mk4B
(LHD/RHD)

101

 delivered
9/5/1964

J.W. Denton (LHD)

GA

Abarth

Fiat

  Red
2/66 J.W. Denton (RHD)

GA

Imp

 Fiat converted to RHD with Series II nose.
Blue/White
66 ARRC invite
1967-69 Fred Cox Nashville Imp Jack Knight 67 ARRC
1969-70 Gene Shelton Nashville Fiat 850 Fiat new Series II tail
1971 Toly Arutunoff Tulsa Fiat 850 Fiat  -
1970's various Virginia Fiat 850 Fiat -
???? ?????????? ????? ??????? ??????  crashed in autocross

   From the 1966 Beach Mk4B-II sales brochure - "One privately owned Beach Mk 4 B has even been called infallible, but we prefer to just say it's the reliability built into every Beach car at the factory. However, this particular car, owned and driven by J.W. Denton of Hiawassee, Georgia, has set a beautiful competition record. In the current 1966 racing, season Mr. Denton has entered his car in all six National Championship Races and won all six races, including the heat races on Saturday. This record has earned him 54 points and a trip to Riverside Raceway in California. At the annual Chimney Rock Hillclimb, Mr. Denton entered the car, winning fourth overall and shaving down last year's H Modified record by 22 seconds."

    J.W. Denton writes - "I bought the BEACH MARK FOUR RACING CAR, as Gene described it, Chassis No. 4-101 on September 5, 1964 and the car was delivered to Daytona. I had made the order at the September 1963 Labor Day race at Daytona. I had known George Avent since my Abarth racing days. I was impressed when he up-graded to a Begra. I ran against him in Daytona in 1963 and decided I needed a new Beach. Gene was there and after the race we sat in the sand and made a deal on a new race car. I paid $2,822.06 for the car without engine, transmission and wheels. I used an Abarth engine and Fiat transmission. I also had Minilite wheels from the Abarth days. They were soon to be too narrow and I went to American Mags on the rear and Minilites on the front.
    I ran the car in 1965 and was second in Southeast points in H-sports racing. Fred Cox [Beach Mk4 #4-001] won SE that year and went to Daytona. In the Winter of 1965 Gene totally rebuilt my car. We went to right hand drive and installed the IMP engine. We used the same Fiat gearbox. It was taken to West Palm Beach for the first race of 1966. I missed practice and had to start at the back in the Saturday race and on the first lap I was second overall and on third lap I was first and I had never been on the track before. I slowed the first lap to follow someone who had seen the track before. After a couple of laps I felt like I knew the track and went out front to stay. On Sunday 2-27-66 I won first in class and 2nd overall.  April 16, 1966 Fernandina Beach I was first in class and first O/A. 5-15-66 Savannah, GA - 1st in class and 3rd overall. May 29, 1966 Courtland AL. - 1st in class and first O/A.
    July 3, 1966 Courtland again for first and first again and beat Fred Cox when he came in Third. First good clean race between Fred and I. Fred was my greatest racing friend and we stayed in touch and visited until his death. A great person.
    August 13, 1966 Montgomery, AL.- first again and won the SE National Championship."
 
After 15 straight wins that season, Denton was unfortunately taken sick and unable to attend the 1966 runoffs at Riverside.
   

More History

Denton sold #101 at the end of 1966 to Fred Cox of Nashville TN who replaced the Fiat gearbox with a Jack Knight using a "bicycle sprocket" gear change. Cox won the 1967 SE championship and was running 2nd in the third lap at the 1967 Daytona runoffs when another driver put him off track.  

The tail was damaged in that shunt so Cox obtained a new Series II tail and removed the engine and gearbox before selling the car to Gene B. Shelton. Shelton installed a Fiat 850 pushrod engine and 600D gearbox and won several regional races in 69-70.  

Shelton sold the car to Toly Arutunoff of Tulsa around 1971. The car next went to Virginia and had several owners before being damaged in a parking lot autocross in the late 1970's. This car's current location is unknown.