Roadster Replicas

[STAND E]

I found this company Fine Sports Cars that does replicas of classic cars. They made a replica of Rodger Ward's 1959 Watson Roadster--

http://www.finesportscar.com/index.html

http://www.finesportscar.com/WatsonIndy.html

[Eagle104]

Beautiful. Thanks, Stand E.

It sounds more like a restoration than replica.

Cool that Rodger Ward oversaw the whole process.

[misbehavin]

Would be the car Tony Bettenhausen was killed in if it is a restore. I had heard that Doug Stearly had kept the wreckage.

[NoviVespa]

I've been searching, but I cannot find the site again. A few months back I found a site for a company that builds brand new roadsters. Any kind you want. The feature of this site was a man who ordered a brand new Novi. The car was built with a new Novi engine in it. It also said he drove the car at Texas Motor Speedway.

Also, I believe A.J. Watson is building roadsters. For public sale.

[theunions]

Originally posted by NoviVespa
The feature of this site was a man who ordered a brand new Novi. The car was built with a new Novi engine in it. It also said he drove the car at Texas Motor Speedway.

This one (seen at Fontana CART 2001)? I was subsequently told it's a replica.

[NoviVespa]

That is the replica of the Novi that I saw on that web site. The web site is Champion Racing of Indianapolis. Tried to open it but it does not work.

[STAND E]

I don't know anything more than on the site about the Ward replica. It could be Bettenhausen's car made to look like Ward's?

That Fontana car would also be fun to redo in STP livery, by the way (C7's thread). Nice car.

Champion Racing of Indianapolis is not online at present. I wonder if they moved or closed. FYI I found these directories of car builders while searching--

http://dmoz.org/Shopping/Sports/Motorsports/Auto_Racing/Builders_-_Car_and_Chassis/

http://directory.google.com/Top/Shopping/Sports/Motorsports/Auto_Racing/Builders_-_Car_and_Chassis/

http://www.widgets.ws/Shopping/Sports/Motorsports/AutoRacing/Builders-CarandChassis/index.htm

http://www.fexweb.com/fexit/Auto_Racing/Builders_-_Car_and_Chassis/

[SteveE]

Replica

That is a replica, although the real car still exists.

[NoviVespa]

If you are talking about the Novi, the last I heard that the car was in the entrance way of STP headquarters in Florida. But there was more than one car.

[mac miller]

replica roadsters

Building new Indy roadsters is a very popular business . I know because I have built over 30 new Watson roadster bodies in the past 12 years. Several of the guys who have built new roadsters include A.J.Watson, Chris Paulsen, Champion Racing, Ronnie Ward and Bill Finley.

The Novi replica, pictured above, was built by Champion Racing. It uses a four cam Maserati V8 engine. Champion Racing is out of business.
The only surviving Kurtis 500F, which this car was based on, is in the museum in Talledega, Alabama.

I am currently building some new roadster bodywork based on the Kurtis 500G, similar to the Pat O'Conner Sumar Spl.

[SteveE]

#5

The real #5 car is in a museum, down South I believe. Doug Stearly kept the car till the late 70's, then brought it to Watson to have it restored.

[mac miller]

Re: #5

Originally posted by SteveE
The real #5 car is in a museum, down South I believe. Doug Stearly kept the car till the late 70's, then brought it to Watson to have it restored.

The #5, shown at the top of the page, is, probably, the car that Rodger and Ronnie Ward built in Calif. in the late 80s.

[$noopy]

Originally posted by theunions
This one (seen at Fontana CART 2001)? I was subsequently told it's a replica.

What a beautiful race car. I wonder how many replica dollars it would take to buy it?

[KnockOff]

Those were the days when knockoffs were really knockoffs!

[Len Ashburn]

Champion Racing

Sadly, I hear that Gary Babineau's recontruction business on the northside of Indy has been shut down and is splitsville. He confirmed to me that he used a Maserati engine for the Novi because they were available and much cheaper as well. He used
a production four banger in the Watson copies but I forget which one.