Topic: Do You Like My Car? #461 - Bill Mitchell’s Scarab F-1 designed by Larry Shinoda

[Otto Puzzell]

An ordinary driveway, anytown USA, and a used car in the driveway.

For one point: Identify this vehicle, and who was responsible for it.

Only a correct, complete and specific answer will earn a point; tag-on's to other guesses will not. So, be specific and complete!
  

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[Allemano]

Wow!

[Otto Puzzell]

Up

[thewarlord]

Bill Mitchell’s Chevy powered 'Scarab' F-1 Street Car by Larry Shinoda

[Otto Puzzell]

That's it!

Without funding and against company anti-racing policy, Mr. Mitchell purchased the entire Scarab Formula-one racing team and one race car, brought it into GM Styling, striped the bodywork and engine, replaced the panels with panels designed by Shinoda, installed a race engine from Chevy R&D, and turned it into a one person single seat car that he drove on the street. He might have gotten away with it, except he placed it in the center of his driveway at home during a Christmas party attended by James Roche (GM president). Shortly thereafter, the car returned to the warehouse studio, body and engine was removed. Presumably returned to Scarab configuration and sold on the open market.

[Allemano]

Man, what a showin off! But I like the Shinoda design very much!

[RayTheRat]

I know it's the middle of the nite and I might not be thinking very clearly, but I can't find a date for this little 'debacle' with Mitchell and the Scarab.  The photos look like mid-late 60s, but that's about as close as I can come.  The only web reference I could find was on the Dean's Garage article and that was and "infinite loop" as we used to call it in the land of programming elves.

The color photo is a real gem.  Shinoda did a great job with it, given what he had to start with and the fact that he made it street legal (infinitely easier with a sbc 350 than with an Offy) and made it so that Mitchell could use it as a driver (maybe not a daily driver, but one he could drive on the street, nonetheless.)

I can understand restoring the original Scarab, but it's kind of a pity that a chassis wasn't scavenged or cobbled to allow the Shinoda creation to live on.  What a one-off car that would be, huh?

Any dates ya got would be real helpful, since that's the way my database's primary key is set up.

And just an observation:  It seems like Mr. Mitchell was somewhat of a martinet (re: his attempt to chop the top of the 2nd gen Camaro with judo chops.  Maybe pork chops woulda worked better) and liked to throw his weight around.  People like that are the reason I chose not to seek the "corporate ladder" and stay in the software development field.  Heart trouble exacerbated by a hostile work environment notwithstanding, I think it was the right choice and if it hadn't been for one particular middle manager, things could have worked out much better. 

Now, having been officially retired for over a year, I'm ok with the way things worked out.  The saying, "what doesn't kill me makes me stronger" by Neitche leads me to think that I musta been given IV spinach like Popeye and I'm now indestructible.  Or maybe it's the Sig Sauer .380 in my hip pocket and the 12 gauge sawed-off riot gun by my bed that leads to the more bullet proof attitude.  I guess I otta get some body armor if I'm gonna make a museum trip to Phoenix and Tucson in my Camaro.  The idea of havin that in a "border crossing" area gives me an itchy trigger finger.

But back to the Scarab, it's still a pity that the Shinoda version wasn't maintained.  Maybe there's an "elephant graveyard" like the Studebaker woods where stuff like that lives on.  We can but hope.

Maybe I can finish the LED wiring for the under-hood bowtie emblem for a slight bling increase (gotta be worth 40 hp, right?) while the insomnia monster has me.  I'm using LED strips to provide back lighting reflected by the polished bowtie underneath the bling plate.

Ohhh...I'm gettin caught up here, but it's a slow process.  I'll get there eventually.  Btw...can ya bleeve that 4 out of 5 salt flats events were either shortened or completely drowned this year?  Just when we got the Target 550 liner running on the dragstrip and tested the hell outta the brakes, we couldn't take it to the salt for medium/high speed testing.  The owner is gonna drive a roadster at El Mirage next month and I'm tryin to decide if I wanna go there...it'll be a cold windy sumbitch, but it'll be the first time that Marlo Treit has gotten into a race car for 25 years.  Tough call.  Maybe a propane heater in the Burb.  On second thought, belay that first thought.  LOL!  I'll think of something.

Hope all's well with everyone,



Best regards to all,

[Ultra]

I know it's the middle of the nite and I might not be thinking very clearly, but I can't find a date for this little 'debacle' with Mitchell and the Scarab.  The photos look like mid-late 60s, but that's about as close as I can come.  The only web reference I could find was on the Dean's Garage article and that was and "infinite loop" as we used to call it in the land of programming elves.

The color photo is a real gem.  Shinoda did a great job with it, given what he had to start with and the fact that he made it street legal (infinitely easier with a sbc 350 than with an Offy) and made it so that Mitchell could use it as a driver (maybe not a daily driver, but one he could drive on the street, nonetheless.)

I can understand restoring the original Scarab, but it's kind of a pity that a chassis wasn't scavenged or cobbled to allow the Shinoda creation to live on.  What a one-off car that would be, huh?

Any dates ya got would be real helpful, since that's the way my database's primary key is set up.

And just an observation:  It seems like Mr. Mitchell was somewhat of a martinet (re: his attempt to chop the top of the 2nd gen Camaro with judo chops.  Maybe pork chops woulda worked better) and liked to throw his weight around.  People like that are the reason I chose not to seek the "corporate ladder" and stay in the software development field.  Heart trouble exacerbated by a hostile work environment notwithstanding, I think it was the right choice and if it hadn't been for one particular middle manager, things could have worked out much better. 

Now, having been officially retired for over a year, I'm ok with the way things worked out.  The saying, "what doesn't kill me makes me stronger" by Neitche leads me to think that I musta been given IV spinach like Popeye and I'm now indestructible.  Or maybe it's the Sig Sauer .380 in my hip pocket and the 12 gauge sawed-off riot gun by my bed that leads to the more bullet proof attitude.  I guess I otta get some body armor if I'm gonna make a museum trip to Phoenix and Tucson in my Camaro.  The idea of havin that in a "border crossing" area gives me an itchy trigger finger.

But back to the Scarab, it's still a pity that the Shinoda version wasn't maintained.  Maybe there's an "elephant graveyard" like the Studebaker woods where stuff like that lives on.  We can but hope.

Maybe I can finish the LED wiring for the under-hood bowtie emblem for a slight bling increase (gotta be worth 40 hp, right?) while the insomnia monster has me.  I'm using LED strips to provide back lighting reflected by the polished bowtie underneath the bling plate.

Ohhh...I'm gettin caught up here, but it's a slow process.  I'll get there eventually.  Btw...can ya bleeve that 4 out of 5 salt flats events were either shortened or completely drowned this year?  Just when we got the Target 550 liner running on the dragstrip and tested the hell outta the brakes, we couldn't take it to the salt for medium/high speed testing.  The owner is gonna drive a roadster at El Mirage next month and I'm tryin to decide if I wanna go there...it'll be a cold windy sumbitch, but it'll be the first time that Marlo Treit has gotten into a race car for 25 years.  Tough call.  Maybe a propane heater in the Burb.  On second thought, belay that first thought.  LOL!  I'll think of something.

Hope all's well with everyone,



Best regards to all,

The salt flats in heaven are suddenly a much richer place. 

[Otto Puzzell]

A nice color pic