Gene Beach
Dec. 1965 Nassau
photo thanks to Terry O'Neil
1990's - Blair Underwood
|
delivered 12/1965 |
Jef Stevens |
FL |
BMW 2000 |
Hewland Mk5 |
Nassau 12/65 |
| 7/1966 |
Lee Cutler |
Sarasota FL |
BMW 2000 |
Hewland Mk5 |
- |
| ? | Chevy Dealer | Griffin GA | Chevy | Porsche | - |
| 1968 | Russ Roland | ? | Lotus T/C | Hewland | - |
| 1977 | Stan & Randy Cox | ? | VW | Webster | hillclimbs |
| 1983 | Jim Mock | - | Corvair/VW | - | - |
| 1986 | Blair Underwood | Charlotte | VW | ? |
new bodywork hillclimbs autocross |
| 5/2008 | John Rankin | Seattle | ? | ? | - |
Info from current owner John Rankin (October 2010)
I just got off the phone with Russ Roland, who owned the car from 1968 to 1977. The story, as he tells it, is that the original BMW motor in the car was supplied to Gene by the BMW factory. Apparently, Gene had been working with them on another project, the 600cc road car and motor (Russ thinks he remembers), and they decided to try this under 2-liter car project for Sebring and Nassau
Jef Stevens and Lee Cutler were both "sort of partners" with Gene in the BMW car, but Gene really owned it - they just paid some operating costs and drove it for him. Lee took over those duties after Jef's experience in Nassau, but they never could get it to work reliably, and in the end, BMW took the motor back because they thought the effect their reputation was not what they had in mind when they started the project
Gene sold the roller with the Hewland to a Chevrolet dealership in Griffin, Georgia, which is where Russ bought it in late '68. The guys at the Chevy dealership were contemplating the V-8 motor, but never actually got it in the car before Russ bought it. He was racing a Porsche special at the time and said he found out they had the car through some "backdoor comments" at one of the races, and went in and made them an offer on it.
So that was how he got the car - complete without powerplant. He put in the Lotus 1600cc twincam and raced the car extensively (he had a few good stories) in the SE until he sold it to Stan (and Randy) Cox, who built VW dragster motors. Russ verified that they put the VW in it and changed the body to the widened and stretched LeGrand shortly after getting it from him.
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