Mozart - The Colorado Car

[Mike]

Going to be a great story, wonder what colour it's going to be.....

[rhd racer]

Incredible, love it

[210bhp]

Ah, it’s that car. Darren’s comment was the teaser..

Keep the story coming. What a find Jon.

Regards
Mike

[DustyM]

One of Wendy’s work colleagues was also the owner / Trustee of the Shelby American Collection based in Boulder, Colorado. She had arranged that we would have a private evening viewing of the collection that night.

So after a quick trip back to the hotel for a clean up we were off out again.



Now I don’t claim to be a huge fan or expert on American car history but over the last few years and several trips to the States it’s growing on me.

But what greeted us inside would have any petrolhead weak at the knees.





The collection is amazing with some hugely historic motors.

The first cobra, various one off Mustangs, Cobra Daytonas, GT40s with every race win you can think of.

A massive amount of memorabilia from Carroll Shelbys own collection (the owner of the museum had a call a few years back from Carroll to come and clear out whatever he thought was worth having!)

There is even a Shelby Ford Falcon Stationwagon with a 350GT engine which was used as the shelby parts run around.











It was a wonderful experience and the owner full of firsthand knowledge, if you are ever nearby don’t miss it……

[markm]

What a great find, that museum looks amazing.

[DustyM]

So next day we are due to fly home but not until the afternoon so a quick trip up into the foothills of the Rockies









And then into Boulder for a walk around



Before heading back to the airport. I think we were travelling for almost the same time as we were there!



A couple of weeks later the car was collected and started its journey to a different continent.







And onto the ship.

[210bhp]

Fabulous......

Regards
Mike

[DustyM]

Whilst we are waiting for the car to make it’s way overseas it seems like a good opportunity to go over it’s history. Both myself and the owner are still discovering new information and links to its past so do forgive me for any small inaccuracies but you’ll get the gist.

The car was purchased new in 1972 by Lance Reventlow, may of you will know the name and infact if you watched the recent film LeMans ’66 you may of noticed his character featured briefly. Lance was the heir to the Woolworth fortune and as a young man set up and created the Scarab race team.





He lived in Colorado and bought car for running the passes up to Aspen in the Rocky Mountains. He had previously ordered a 911 R from VW Pacific in Culver City CA and specified it in Scarab Blue.







For some reason he never took delivery and the car ended up in the ownership of Vasak Polak, seen here with the car.



Unfortunately in July 1972 he was killed in a light aircraft crash.

[jjeffries]

Wow, serious provenance. Reventlow = major historical figure. Fascinating. And Colorado's pretty cool, huh? Best, John

[sladey]

Loving this

[Darren65]

Wow, serious provenance. .....

....indeed!

As Mark said, loving this story of what is a really special car

[210bhp]

That blue R was the one that Raj used to own I think. His threads have all gone from the ESR after a major forum fallout so all trace of its ownership history by him have been lost. Shame.
Anyway, back to the story.....

Regards
Mike

[DustyM]

At this point his half brother Richard Reventlow acquired the car. It was Richard who decided to modify the car.

I’ll let Richard fill you in on some of the finer details in his own words

“Luckily, I had good connections at the Porsche factory in Stuttgart, and with Porsche factory driver Jürgen Barth, I decided to upgrade the 911E to 2.7 RS specifications. A parts list was compiled by the racing department, where I had befriended the lady in charge of racing parts, Frau Baer. I had given her an Hermés silk scarf on a previous visit and became a special customer. I also speak and write fluent German, and Frau Baer spoke only German. This was before today’s electronic communication, when it was wiser to go to the factory directly to speak with people who knew how to rebuild Mozart to 2.7 RS specs. Not to discount the fun of going to the Porsche factory, of course.
The accurate parts list is in the archives that I gave Greg when he and Wendy bought Mozart. Needless to say, the list is comprehensive, and most of the details have been forgotten
since 1972.

Once the rebuild plan had been assembled and the parts airfreighted to the U.S., I drove the car to Los Angeles, where I had been in touch with Dick Troutman of Troutman & Barnes, who had originally fabricated the Scarab race cars. Dick still worked in the same shop on Clausen Avenue in Culver City where he and Tom Barnes had worked in the 1960s. Tom had retired to Maui, and Dick now had Peter Miles as his assistant in the shop. Peter’s father, Ken Miles, had laid out the chassis for the Scarab and was the top driver for the Shelby Cobra team until his untimely death in 1966 while testing a Ford J-Car. Peter and I remain friends and stay in touch.







Just up the alley was Ritchie Ginther’s shop, and I asked Harold Broughton there to rebuild the 911 motor to 2.7 specs. His experience and skill is legendary. It was fun to wander over to Ritchie’s in the afternoon and talk about racing. Ritchie had a varied and very successful racing career, so he was legendary. Ritchie and Lance had been good friends, and he had great stories about the 1960 Formula 1 season when Lance campaigned the F1 Scarabs in Europe, though not very successfully.

Besides Ritchie, I befriended many other old racers and race technicians. The most amazing fabricator was Phil Remington, who worked for Dan Gurney at that time. His recollections of his fabrication work on the Scarabs brought new life to the years of Reventlow Automobiles Inc.
Between Dick Troutman and Ritchie’s men, we learned a lot about special parts and their fabrication and implementation into the car. Mozart was lightened by removing superfluous parts: the rear seats came out, and a 911R muffler (half the weight of a stock one) and a plastic gas tank went in, along with very light Corbeau racing seats; among other suspension changes, a cross-brace was added between the front shock towers. A front oil cooler was installed, a proper radiator instead of the simple stock tube in the wheel well. And on and on.

The engine produced a good 275 bhp. The steel fender flares were butt-welded via Dick Troutman’s bodywork skills, and the car was repainted by Junior (Junior’s House of Color), at that time a celebrated painter who learned his trade from George Barris.
Frau Baer called one day and said she had received the first order of whale-tail spoilers fabricated by their race shop. I immediately ordered one to replace the “duck-tail” spoiler used on the RS cars. What a score! Junior painted the spoiler, and Dick installed it.





After Mozart was finished, I was driving it from Aspen to L.A. for some purpose now forgotten. Entering Nevada, I crossed the state line on I-15, saw a Nevada Highway Patrol car, and thought nothing of it. I motored on, and as I was getting close to Las Vegas began to slow to about 90 mph. Suddenly there was another patrol car behind me, lights flashing. I pulled over, and the officer came up with the usual requests. When I passed him the papers, he noticed the registration to Lance. He also noticed that this was no standard Porsche; he showed interest in all the modifications, including the roll bar and racing seat belts.
When I innocently asked why he had stopped me, he said his colleague at the border had clocked me at between 139 and 142 mph but had insufficient space to catch up with me. Amazingly, the trooper gave me a verbal warning, indicated that Mozart was safe for driving at those speeds, and wished me a good day!
There were other exciting moments, particularly as the car’s exhaust note came via the straight-through 911R muffler, creating what was probably an offensive noise to the average motorist. I also remember Grady Clay doing some incredible time over Independence Pass from Aspen to Twin Lakes in Mozart.

When I sold Mozart to Greg and Wendy, I replaced it with a blue factory race-prepared 1974 3.0 RSR, one of 30-odd built--and the only one never raced. The RSR was street-licensed in Nevada with the plate 'RSR'." - Richard Reventlow. “

Oh and the name Mozart? “ When I collected the car from Lance’s house on Red Mountain in Aspen there were numerous Mozart cassettes inside which led me to name the car Mozart” - Richard Reventlow.

[KS]

What a fantastic story!

[PeterK]

Lovin' the back story & can't wait for the refresh story when it finally lands this side of the puddle.