Found this today BRE

[ZWOLF]

Wow ...... some impressive company.

Surprised the gate keepers would even let a Z enter the display area.

Was the infamous, high speed, 200+ mph, $1M+ purchase price also on display?

Yea, interesting company.

4 Bugatti Veyrons, F40's, F50's, Enzo's, an Enzo FXX, if it was expensive, or rare it was there.

In fact there's another one in a week and a half in Orlando.

http://www.celebrationexoticcars.com/

[Ron Carter]

Carls, restoration is flawless, he has done a beautiful job restoring that Baja BRE car.

[Carl Beck]

Hi Guys:

Thanks for the kind comments.

Parked on the other side of the Z's was one of my favorite newer cars, an Aston Martin DB-S... (window sticker is ONLY $265,000.00). So they had the "less expensive" cars parked together - . Behind and a couple rows over was another of my favorites - a BMW Z08 in Metallic Blue...

I was certainly glad to see ZWOLF and Frank there. Another friend from Tampa was supposed to bring a Vintage Z and/or a 69 Production Year Z as well - but at the last minute a schedule conflict resulted in a no show. The organizer of the event really wanted to see more Classic Z's there this year, and most of the owners of the Ferrari's etc that I talked to - all had a great appreciation for and even knowledge about the 240-Z's.

The Sign:

ZWOLF is correct - the sign was completed, finally - and I picked it up at 8:00AM. The "sign" project was a first pass, and it was a totally screwed up process. What you see is NOTHING like the sign I had in mind... So I'll be taking another pass at that. I allowed a week to get the sign done... and it wound up being a rush job in spite of all efforts to coordinate. I will also tell you that standing off a bit watching the car and the people that looked it over - the sign has way too much information in words.. It was a huge show, and not too many people actually took the time to read all the words.. Lesson Learned.. Next one will have far more pictures and far fewer words... I've also now broke down and purchased my own copy of Adobe Illustrator - so I can do my own layouts, and not have to depend on other Graph Artists... (large prints require vector graphics file formats).

kinfish ask: "Was the infamous, high speed, 200+mph, $1M+ purchase price also on display?"

Only on the window stickers of a few of the new cars on display. I have to say that a very nice lady that owned one of the Bugatti Veyrons was very gracious showing us (my Wife, Daughter and I) her car, giving detailed technical and performance spec.'s and even offered to let my daughter sit in the car. The owner said she was a member of the Orlando Bugatti Club.... I remarked that they must have a very small membership list, and she said; "oh no - we have about 15 members now".

26th Z's last picture - was one of the most impressive cars there IMHO. A 1930 Bugatti that featured an engine with Dual Overhead Cam's, 4 valves per cylinder, and dual carb's. Amazing technology for 1930.

FWIW,

Carl B.

[Carl Beck]

I came across these today and thought I would post them.

Thanks for Posting the pictures. I'm curious - where did you come across them? I only saw four or five people take pictures of the sign.

FWIW,

Carl B.

[HS30-H]

Carl,

Car looks wonderful. Good work!

Quick question if I may: What suspension legs / struts are fitted to the car now? Did it survive it's post-BRE life with the correct units, or did you have to track some down for it?

I mainly ask because I have a set of four original Sports Option 'rally' legs sitting on a shelf in one of my garages. The stronger ones with the longer tubes, higher platforms and loooong springs. Combination gas/oil filled. Sitting there doing nothing, poor things.

Can I also ask - what stopped the car on the original event? Was it a component failure, or something else? I don't think I've ever seen the reason for the car not completing the event - despite good initial pace - mentioned.

I saw one of the original Stroppe Broncos in a specialist race prep workshop not too far from my home a couple of weeks ago. The ( American ) owner has just had a new car built to use in mainly European based historic events. Guess what - it's a 1970 HLS30U!

Cheers,

Alan T.

[rdefabri]

I'll take the Ferrari F1, thank you

Also, what are the square-shaped brackets on the side of BRE used for?

[26th-Z]

Carl,

That's a Bentley.

[Marty Rogan]

Yes, the pics are from the Festival of Speed in St. Petersburg last Saturday. Beautiful day. Great show. Frank Rygel brought his ultra rare 280ZX. Of, course ZWolf was there with both his cars. It was good to see that many Zs mixed in with the crowd of exotics. The Festival of Speed is getting better every year. I'll post some pics.

What is ultra rare about the 280ZX??

Marty

[26th-Z]

Frank's car is one of three manufactured in 1981 in that color scheme - black and silver. The three were supposedly made for Nissan executives. Two were shipped to Canada and one to Hawaii. Frank's car is Canadian and sports 28,000 original miles. Quite a piece.

[Marty Rogan]

Frank's car is one of three manufactured in 1981 in that color scheme - black and silver. The three were supposedly made for Nissan executives. Two were shipped to Canada and one to Hawaii. Frank's car is Canadian and sports 28,000 original miles. Quite a piece.

Interesting. I had not heard that story.

thanks,

Marty

[Carl Beck]

Carl,

That's a Bentley.

Oops... you are correct of course... I guess I had that Bugatti girl on my mind..

If you have a full picture of it - you should post it so everyone can see it.. it was a Magnificent Machine

Carl

[Carl Beck]

Carl,

Car looks wonderful. Good work!

Hi Alan:

Thanks... It's been a fun filled project.

Quick question if I may: What suspension legs / struts are fitted to the car now? Did it survive it's post-BRE life with the correct units, or did you have to track some down for it?

I mainly ask because I have a set of four original Sports Option 'rally' legs sitting on a shelf in one of my garages. The stronger ones with the longer tubes, higher platforms and loooong springs. Combination gas/oil filled. Sitting there doing nothing, poor things.

The suspension is the Nissan Sports Option Race Suspension (54302- and 54303-), by Ampco. Gas/oil filled, adjustable coil-overs. The front hub/axles are fitted with tubes for the odometer drives. The original Nissan labels were still on them - although badly faded and beat up. I believe that you said this was the same suspension set up ran on some of the EAS Rally Z's. (label below).

According to Dr. Logan, the man that bought the car from BRE in 74, the suspension hasn't been changed since he bought it. However very early pictures of the car do not show this suspension... so BRE may have ran the Rally Suspension at first, then converted to the Race Suspension... Or the early pictures were for publicity, before the car was actually completed. Mr. Brock said he really didn't remember any other suspension package, other than what is on the car now...

I'm still trying to figure out exactly what happened. Documents from Nissan Motors mention parts special ordered from Japan, as well as the competition budget spent on the car, but are not specific in detailed part numbers ect. - Mr. Brock seems to think the present suspension is what they ran... Fritz seems to recall wanting to rework the suspension between the Baja 500 and the Mexican 1000 (aka the Baja 1000).

Can I also ask - what stopped the car on the original event? Was it a component failure, or something else? I don't think I've ever seen the reason for the car not completing the event - despite good initial pace - mentioned.

What stopped the car? - on the Baja 500 a lower radiator hose leaked pressure - caused overheating - and caused one stop that was photographed in the 500. The guys at TrackSide Photo were near by and they loaned Peter a 5 gallon water jug.... which he has still to return ;-). I don't know what else happened on that trip, all Peter would commit to was "no one had to walk".

For the Mexican 1000 race. Fritz Warren ran the car for BRE. Fritz said the front shock tower weakened and the front frame rail was bent slightly (large boulders), that lead to a failure in the steering rack mounts, then the radiator supports let go - letting the radiator interface with the fan.... end of day. At that point, the Baja Z was about 15 minutes ahead of the BRE Baja 510 (they started together)... Fritz tells me that the car was amazingly fast, handled fairly well, but they needed another season to sort everything out on the unibody...

While any competition effort is serious, I get the impression that the first year for the BRE Z at the Baja was an initial shake-down run, aimed as much at generating publicity and additional sponsorship as anything else. Of course in spite of all efforts - Nissan dropped factory sponsorship for the Professional Teams in 73 for the US (BRE and BSR). (BRE received their first funding and cars directly from Nissan Motors Ltd. Japan).

There were a couple other 240-Z that ran the Baja, and I have no idea of how/where or if they finished the race. Hard to see the names clearly but it looks like:

73 Baja 500

Car #105

Hendrik Blom

Hans Ceo Crimm

car prepared by Crimm Performance

1970 Mexican 1000

Thiel Motors, Modesto, Calif

Car #111

Don Thiel

**** Jaggard (shortened version of Richard)

Still trying to find more information on both of these...

Note: TrackSide Photo copied here with permission. Original Prints can be purchased on-line at http://www.TracksidePhoto.com

I saw one of the original Stroppe Broncos in a specialist race prep workshop not too far from my home a couple of weeks ago. The ( American ) owner has just had a new car built to use in mainly European based historic events. Guess what - it's a 1970 HLS30U!

I've been contacted by a couple of guys that were preparing 240-Z's for historic events in Europe. They were looking for information about the Baja Z - how it was prepared, what components were used and documentation etc.

When it came to the Baja - Stroppe's vehicles were always very well prepared. Lots and lots of experience there...

FWIW,

Carl B.