Topic: SOLVED: Djetset #638 - CADV AC Ace (from Venezula)

[Djetset]

Sorry, but not a Fernandez.

[nicanary]

One of his cars was found in a junkyard with the name "Chivera" on it. I believe that translated from Spanish this means "goatee beard" (!?). Is this what you're looking for? (Just like Lionel Ritchie)

[Djetset]

I'd be 'dancing on the ceiling' if it was called Chivera, but sadly it is not!

[nicanary]

I'd be 'dancing on the ceiling' if it was called Chivera, but sadly it is not!

I'll be researching this "All night long".

[Djetset]

 

[Carnut]

3 AC Ace Bristols were raced in the Venezuela GP in November 1957, entered by Equipo C.A.D.V., including one by Droullers/Fernandez (Jack Fernandez was the Caracas-based AC importer).

Although I haven't been able to find out exactly what CADV stands for (I'm working on it!) I believe it was an organisation that built or modified cars as well as racing them.

So, anything to do with CADV?

[Djetset]

Well done Carnut, it was worth the perseverance!  This AC Ace was indeed modied by CADV in Venezula.  I kdon't know much more about CADV, apart from the fact that they also raced and modified a handful of other cars, including some 1950s Ferraris and Maseratis it seems.  Below is the CADV badge that adorns the bonnet (hood) of this rather attracrive Ace.

[ropat53]

Is this the car that belonged to Renny Ottolina a Venezuelan-born producer and entertainer who had Karl Pentz a German born panel beater modify the body?
Is Pentz the name you are looking for?

One of his cars was found in a junkyard with the name "Chivera" on it. I believe that translated from Spanish this means "goatee beard" (!?). Is this what you're looking for? (Just like Lionel Ritchie)

"Chivera 905" was the name of the junkyard that owned/racer the car at one time. Chivera is the name they give junkyards in Venezuela and 905 was the meters above sea level where that junkyard was.

[Djetset]

Sorry Ropat53, but too late as it has alrfeady been resolved as the CADV Ace.  I'm not sure if Pedntz has any connections with this car.

[pnegyesi]

CADV stands for Club Automovilístico de Venezuela. I don't think they modified this car. There's a very nice thread about this car in a forum on Venezuelan motorsport

[Carnut]

The plot thickens!
To respond to ropat53, Renny Ottolina was also driving an AC Ace Bristol entered by Equipo C.A.D.V. in the 1957 Venezuelan GP, but you can't tell if it's this one or another one.

[ropat53]

CADV stands for Club Automovilístico de Venezuela. I don't think they modified this car. There's a very nice thread about this car in a forum on Venezuelan motorsport

I agree with pnegyesi CADV was a car club, the badge on the car was taken from the very few photos that exist and none in colour.
In that Venezuelan Motorsport forum Karl Penz (Pentz) is mentioned as presumably having modified the body.
I'm not after a point, because there is no way of being sure who made the body, that wasn't even part of the puzzle and the car is not known with that name.

[Carnut]

I'm hoping to get a definitive answer from the current owner of this car, if he responds to my email, as I know he is in possession of the details of its history.

[Carnut]

I'm hoping to get a definitive answer from the current owner of this car, if he responds to my email, as I know he is in possession of the details of its history.

I've now had a very helpful reply from the current owner of this car, BEX 148, which I can do no better than quote below to resolve all the questions regarding this car:

QUOTE
The car is a part of the first batch (of seven) Ace-Bristols shipped to the Venezuelan importer Juan 'Jack' Fernandez. All took to the race track.

Three of them were modified by a Caracas-based German artisan, Karl Pentz, in 1956. All were different, but Pentz clearly took his styling cues from the plethora of privateer sports racing Ferraris and Maseratis that filled the grids at the time.

BEX 148 belonged to Oscar Lupi, BEX 149 to Antonio Izquierdo and the third car belonged to Renny Ottolina; I'm not certain of the chassis number.

Alas, I know the Ottolina car was broken up, and I fear the same may have happened to BEX 149. The cars were very hard used on poor roads and there was little incentive in the 1960s to preserve worn out no longer competitive racing cars.
UNQUOTE

So the modifier was indeed Karl Pentz as suggested by ropat53, and I think the answer to the 'make of car' question should really still be AC and as the question of who modified the body was not part of the original question this puzzle was really answered in my Reply #43 on 4th June!  Clearly CADV could never been construed as the make!

[Carnut]

I really think ropat53 should get a point for correctly identifying who modified the bodywork of this AC.
Whilst I got a point and did identify the car as an original AC Ace Bristol, my identification of CADV as the modifier was not in fact correct according to information newly supplied by the current owner of the car.

The bodywork was, as ropat53 suggested, done by Karl Pentz.

What about a point for him Djetset?!

[Carnut]

This car is currently for sale at Pendine, Bicester Heritage.
Its descriptions says "Exported to Venezuela new where its first owner, Dr Oscar Lupi, had Karl Pentz modify the nose for improved performance. Raced extensively in period, it was sympathetically restored by Winchester Motorsport in 2011 and has since been campaigned at events including the Goodwood Revival."

No price is mentioned, but it certainly won't be cheap (a pile of rusty AC Ace bits, minus the chassis and suspension, sold at auction recently for £202,500! It wasn't even a car, just a load of bits...)