904 Anyone???

[Paul Schooley]

DISCLAIMER: I'm not affiliated with this in any ways or means, nor do I have any commercial interest

That said, I had the pleasure of meeting Chuck Beck at Watkins Glen this weekend and cream over his 904 he's working on. I think the following pics will tell the story. He's delivering to his first customers early this fall. His test mules were mild steel chassis design, all produced in Atlanta. The workmanship is very nice. This ain't no kitcar with VW bug parts in it fellas. He's going all the way.

Enjoy fellas. Comments please. I've very intrigued with this thing.

[Paul Schooley]

Ahhhhh, of course there's more...hehe

[Paul Schooley]

Yes, a couple more

[Mr9146]

I've been watching the development of that car for quite some time. I believe he's had it in the works since 2000 ...

Rumor had it that his personal interation was motivated by a 3.6 ... but that was never confirmed.

It looks like he plans to use an early 901 trans. What's he doing about shift linkage? The bare chassis car doesn't appear to have anything set up...

[Paul Schooley]

Nothing's setup really in the chassis car yet. He just brought it along to show what he's working on to go under that sweet looking body. I was looking at those welds....somebody really knows how to lay down an awesome bead.

[BAPhotowerks]

I saw one of Chuck's mules at Monterey a few years back, he usually camps next to a friend of ours. He showed us and the rest of the party every nook and cranny, satisfying every curiosity along the way. I was very impressed.

The 904 has always been in my top 10, and it's not that I'm a purist of any sort, but somehow the tail treatment seems a little overboard on this iteration. Just my taste. Guy knows what he's doing in any case, my guess is there is a significant benefit somewhere.

[Bobboloo]

The 904 has always been in my top 10, and it's not that I'm a purist of any sort, but somehow the tail treatment seems a little overboard on this iteration. Just my taste. Guy knows what he's doing in any case, my guess is there is a significant benefit somewhere.

If you notice the car also has flares something the original 904 didn't have. It seems there was an obvious compromise here as there always is. Do you stay true to original form or do you make modifications that will improve the cars performance? You eventually have to draw the line somewhere.

When you look at his chassis it also appears that he mixed tube frame and box frame technology. The tube frame areas are areas that are visible when the body is on the car and areas that aren't easily visible received the box frame. Pretty smart idea.

If he had stayed true to the original form the whole thing would have been a tube frame but it probably wouldn't have been as strong so he made a compromise in favor of performance.

I would imagine that if you wanted a car with less of a rear spoiler and no flares so as to look more original he could build it for you or you could find a body shop that does glass do the mods.

[berettafan]

i don't entirely understand making compromises to improve the performance of what is supposed to be a 904. do you want to feel what a 904 is like or do you want to feel what a modern, big tired, big motored, square tube/box framed bodied similar to a 904 is like?

Paul where are the rest of the pics? c'mon and share!

[ErVikingo]

I know someone who's gettting one of them. Can't wait to see it...

[Chuck Miller]

Chuck built the first of the 904 prototypes over 5 years ago and debut it at the Streets of Willow and the Pomona Auto Swap within a couple of weeks...

It's VERY cool, well thought out... and hauls ass

I've talked with Chuck a bunch and he's quite a character... kind'of out of the 'Smokey Yunick' mold... WITH the colorful language....
He left SoCal because (his words) 'the ass**** rule makers were making too hard for me to make and sell anything'.

Chuck was a machanic/fabracator for the old CanAm and he loved that the only two rules were (his words) 'Rule #1. - That you had to make room for a passenger... Rule #2. - That there were NO MORE F*****G RULES'...

I saw Chuck's son Randy (40'something POC super hot shoe) put the 904 through it's paces a few different times at the Streets of Willow... I was sitting with Chuck in the stands watching Randy's first outing and it wasn't too impressive... Chuck said 'the f*****g spring rates were all wrong and they had some work to do'. The next time I saw it was better but still a handful........ I think it was the third time out at the track and Randy was just a couple tenths off the 'fast time of the day'..... And that was with tall 'street tires'....

The car was 'hooked-up and cook'n'.... Chuck was just smiling.....

.... and so it goes....