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Scorpion II |
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Once again Don Ross who recreated the
Scorpion I of Bobby
Langley's
UPDATE: The car is delivered to the Garlits Museum in March 2006
In June 2003 We had our reproduction chassis of Scorpion 1B at Bowling Green .
Don Garlits came over and sat under our tent for a while. He asked some
questions about the car and said he had never raced against No. 1 He
remembered and Raced against Scorpion 2.
Well time rocked on and we showed up with our finished
car at B.G. 2004. We were having some carburetor troubles and Big came over
and volunteered to help . As we had fired the car up several times it was
getting the water temp up above boiling. In the rush to get the car to B.G. I
failed to get an over flow system on the coolant.
Don had just stood up after being squatted down by
the right front freeze plug and it blew out scalding him on both knees. He was
in pain the rest of the weekend. I went over to see how he was ,he and Pat
were deep in conversation about what had just happened so he didn't say much
to me. That evening we got lost and didn't make it to the host hotel.
The next day some of our friends said he was in good
spirits and said he had been bitten by the Scorpion. Later Saturday I went
over with Scorpion shirts for Don ,Pat and T.C. I talked with Don and said
that I had taken new cars to races before but had never hurt anyone. Don said
things like that happen and he was doing a lot better because the medics had
put on some save that pulled out the heat and one nee was back to normal color
and not inflamed .
Rock on through the cackle fest and come back out
Sunday we talked to Don more and just enjoyed the day. As Bill Collins and I
were loading up No. 1 Don came over and said he wanted to contract us to
reproduce Scorpion 2. I went home and studied the hundreds of photos I have
from Bobby Langley's personal photo albums. I called him and quoted a price
for a complete car less engine only. He studied for a few seconds and said the
museum could not absorb that big a hit.
I went back to work in my shop but could not get the
project out of my mind. After a few months I called Don back and suggested
that we just do all the metal work and not the finish work, like paint, chrome,
upholstery and so on. We struck a deal and I started scrapping up parts that I
had already located. Kenny Helms had an Anglia front end . Jim Kellogg hat
some 12" wheels with Anglia hubs and were already drilled for moons. I swore
Langley must have built a duplicate set of wheels for someone. The originals
were bent when Scorpion 2 was flipped at Caddo Mills in Texas on April, 7,
1959. I had located a rear end from a 40 ford and a 50 mercury housing for the
ends and axles. The list of parts is three pages long and Don had several he
sent to me to get started.
I started assembling parts January, 25 2005 and as of
this writing have been on it for a true seven months. The chassis is all done
as is the scatter shield and all required to get into the body work. I am
building the tail section first as it is the hardest part and every thing else
works off it.
The rest will be curved body panels and Dzus fasteners
like any other race car.
Don Ross
Bobby & Ed Iskenderian discussing things cira 1960
Don scaled this old photo to come up with a starting point for his version of the Scorpion II Don Gets Started
It begins as a mock up of pieces and parts on the floor of Don's shop in Dallas
Parts and fabrication work make it start to take shape.
Note the roll bar and
More bolt on's.. The motor mounts and the tube struts add strength and rigidity to the aluminum frame members.
The Anglia front axle is drilled to lighten it as was the original. Not a quick job!!
The finished "buggy spring" axle assembly, fully lightened and cleaned up
Axle and suspension parts are mocked up before mounting.
Cross member is lined up and ready to drill mounting holes
Chassis starts to take shape with the addition of steering box and pedals.
Chassis nears completion on the rotisserie
Chassis is far enough along now to start on the body. Don is an excellent tin man and fabricator.
Steering box is made ready. Not sure what this unit comes from.
CONTINUE to the
"Scorpion II" Photo Album
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