Bought in 1959-60 without engine, body or identity as part of a purchase / trade of Lotus Eleven car & parts between someone in the NYC area and Lee Lilley in Miami.
Purchased from Lilley soon after by Burrel Besancon of Ft. Lauderdale to use as a parts car to his racing Eleven.
Sold by Besancon in 1967 as a rolling chassis to Julian “Pop” Mericle who built it into a special for SCCA D/Sports Racing using a Devin body and DKW 750cc engine. Raced as the”Mericle Special” from 1968 to ‘72, being invited once to the SCCA national runoffs at Daytona but did not participate.
The Lotus/Devin/DKW was sold by Mericle to Rick Habersin of Miami (1972) who raced it in local SCCA events and a few times on the Hialeah Speedway dirt oval.
Car purchased by Andy Anderson in 1974 for use in SCCA Drivers School. Car purchased next by Jay Sloane in 1975 for use in SCCA Drivers School. After 15-minutes on track the DKW engine blew-up, ending the car’s racing period.
Over the next two decades Sloane met and interviewed each previous owner from 1960-on as his research finally revealed the chassis number.
No comments:
Post a Comment