Looking for info on a car, longshot

[Bill Miller]

I know this is probably a longshot, but here goes. Saw a Ferrari P4 replica / kit car the other day. It was street legal. This car burned, and burned badly, although the fire was not in the engine compartment.

I don't think this was one of the European-built replicas, or one of RCR's cars. This car was built out of mostly square tubing, and had a SBC installed. Not a whole lot to go on. It does have some kind of VIN tag, but no mfg. info.

The only bodywork that is left is the rear section. It is Ferrari red, w/ "Shell" stickers on either side of the rear spoiler section.

I'm pretty sure it was an East Coast car, but who knows. It was purchased, in it's current form, at auction. I told the owner I'd see if I could help him get more info on it.

I think it's a safe bet that it was tracked at some point in time, and I thought maybe someone here might have seen it or heard about it. Like I said, the fire was pretty severe. Anything in the cockpit that was not steel either burned or melted. The Tilton pedals were totally gone, the 3/16"alu bulkhead behind the seats is totally gone, etc.


Any info would be appreciated.

[Greg Amy]

If it has a VIN, it was probably registered, so I'd start with a standard CarFax check. If that hits, then you'll know what state it was registered in and you can go there for more info.

Got a license plate number? No title, I assume?

[Ron Earp]

Ask over on my forum, www.gt40s.com. There are a fair number of P4 folks there since they have no other forum home. A few P4 builders and some might know about the car.

[Bill Miller]

d

Ask over on my forum, www.gt40s.com. There are a fair number of P4 folks there since they have no other forum home. A few P4 builders and some might know about the car.

Thanks Ron, I'll check it out.

Greg,

No plate, and I don't know about a title, but I'm guessing not. Saw it at the body shop I'm taking my car to. As soon as I pulled into the yard, it caught my eye, so I started talking to the guy at the shop about it. The owner of the shop bought it at auction. The guy I talked to wasn't sure what he was going to do w/ it. Like I said, it must have been a pretty spectacular fire to see, as the entire cockpit and front of the car burned (although the fuel cell mounted in the nose is supposedly ok). Clearly a streetable car, as it has an e-brake as well as a horn. And as I said, a VIN tag. Not your typical kit car VIN tag though. Nothing on it about who the mfg is. Just a piece of metal w/ some stampings on it.

Looks like it was reasonably well made, but definitely American (looks like it came out of a stock car shop). Control arms we tubing as opposed to billet, and the front springs were 4" or 5" w/ an upper perch that was fixed to the chassis (like a stock car).

I don't think I'd ever be comfortable in it, as I'm not sure if the integrity of the chassis was compromised by the fire. As I said, it was hot enough to melt the aluminum pedals into nothing.

I figure the fire was spectacular enough that somebody has to have heard about it. And being a P4 replica, I'm sure someone would have taken notice.

[joeg]

Pictures?

A fire is not going to make a steel tube chassis unsafe (although if it is hot enough, could warp things a bit).

[Bill Miller]

Pictures?

A fire is not going to make a steel tube chassis unsafe (although if it is hot enough, could warp things a bit).

I'll snap a couple when I'm there today. I'm not an engineer or a metallurgist, but I know that extreme heat can change the properties of metal. Don't know if it would weaken it or not.

[Bill Miller]

Found out what this thing is.


http://www.emmotorsllc.com/meettheem578.html

Seems it's not looked upon very well w.r.t. other kit cars (have to scroll down a bit)

http://www.motivemag.com/pub/feature...kit_cars.shtml