I thought maybe Mike Rosen would respond with information about the
"drop-tank" car, since he probably knows much more about it than I do, but
since he hasn't , I'll tell you what I know.
Yes, there is such a car and it is owned by the Elcomb family of Kingsville,
Ontario. It is raced by the son who I believe is in his late 20's or early
30's. I think the car might have be built and raced by the senior Mr. Elcomb
back in the late 50's and early 60's when the Canada Class was popular among
our friends north of the border.
The first Canada class was developed as developed as an open wheel formula.
It was to provide for inexpensive racing (that oxymoron again!) and to
foster innovation. The class had some quirky rules, one of which was that
there had to be an emergency brake. That is why this odd car has a handbrake
lever mounted outside the cockpit like the old Midgets. The class had a
number of displacement groups. I believe the Elcomb car runs a BMC A in the
948 trim. It is true that the body work on this particular car was a surplus
drop-tank. One of the other quirky rules was that the engine, transmission
and major components had to come from a car that could have been purchased
new for less than $ 2500 Canadian.
In the early 60's, the Canada Class rules were modified to provide for a
closed wheel group. Again, there were different displacement groups and
there were limits on cost. There is another Canada Class that has been at
Waterford and it is called the Coyote. It has a Ford V8 (I don't know the
displacement, but it sounds brutal) It looks like a Lotus 7 on steroids.
I have a Canada Class that I am working on, and may some day be seen in the
Thicko Village. It also is a real oddball. It is a right hand drive, and a
tube frame. It uses 85 Mini components. It uses an empty Mini subframe
assembly up front for steering and another Mini subframe assembly in the
rear with the steering knuckles pinned. The main thing I am lacking is
bodywork. To make matters worse, nobody knows what the car should look like.
Hope nobody is suffering from cabin fever.
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