Chevron B16s are just about the coolest, most beautiful, fastest little fantasy of a race car that you can get your hands on
Only 23 Chevron B16s were built and today they are universally praised by their drivers for handling, performance, and-most elusive of all-an exceptionally graceful design. Indeed, the Chevron B16 is among the most svelte and sleek automobiles ever produced, right up there with the Lola T70 and Ferrari 330 P3/4.
Even more important to today’s historic racers, however, the B16’s benign handling and light weight, urged on by diminutive but powerful Cosworth fours, make them competitive with even über-motor Can-Am cars and FIA prototypes. A well-prepared and sensitively driven Chevron B16 will simply walk around turns on the inside of 7-liter McLarens and Lolas, and build up such an advantage off the corners that only the longest straights would allow those high-powered machines to catch up.
The Chevron B16 pictured here was the prized possession of the late David Kopf, SVRA’s driver of the year in 1991. Prepared to a high standard with upgraded Ford Sierra Cosworth YBM 2-liter Formula 2 engine, it was originally owned by Jo Siffert and is one of two Chevrons enthusiastically raced in vintage events by Kopf.
This car has not been used in several years and is ready to be refreshed and race prepared. It includes both its present Cosworth YBM and a Cosworth BDG Formula 2 engine. Offered without reserve, this is a rare opportunity to experience the exhilaration and performance of an exceptional sports racing car, one that is beautiful, powerful, svelte, fast, and with an outstanding history.
SCM Analysis
Detailing
| Vehicle: | 1969 Chevron B16 |
| Years Produced: | 1969-1970 |
| Number Produced: | 23 |
| Original List Price: | $10,000 |
| SCM Valuation: | $290,000-$325,000 |
| Tune Up Cost: | $1,500 |
| Distributor Caps: | $25 |
| Chassis Number Location: | tag on frame at transaxle mount |
| Engine Number Location: | right side of block |
| Club Info: | Sportscar Vintage Racing Association, 275 Dekalb Industrial Way, Decatur, GA 30030 |
| Website: | http://www.svra.com |
| Alternatives: | Lola T212, Chevron B19, Abarth 2000 |
| Investment Grade: | A |
This Chevron B16 sold for $94,600, including buyer’s commission, at the RM Monterey auction held August 13, 2004.
There is no doubt that Chevron B16s are just about the coolest, most beautiful, fastest little fantasy of a race car that you can get your hands on. If you can find somebody who is willing to part with one and you’ve got the cash, they are worth every penny of the roughly $300,000 that you’re going to have to pay to get a really good one.
But before we start talking dollars, let’s take a little deeper look at this much-loved, but short-lived marque. Chevron was founded by Derek Bennett, a fine driver himself, as well as an excellent, intuitive engineer. In his short career (he died in 1978 at age 44 in a hang gliding accident) he created a marque that still casts a long shadow across motor racing history. Bennett started out building “Clubmen” racers but quickly gave in to a desire to build a GT car. The first “production” Chevron was the B8, a somewhat boxy 2-liter, mostly BMW-powered coupe that sold very well in the late ’60s. But the emotional zenith of the marque was reached in 1969 with its successor, the B16.
Having given up on being able to get enough horsepower out of the BMW 2002 engine, Bennett went to Cosworth, who agreed to stretch its Ford-based, 1600-cc FVA (Four Valve A) out to 1800 cc for his new car. This Cosworth FVC (at the factory they joked that it stood for “Four Valve Chevron”) made close to 250 hp, but the real draw of the B16 was its beautiful, tiny coupe design. Credit goes to Jim Clark, a stylist with Specialised Mouldings, the firm that built the bodies.
The B16 was immediately competitive-Brian Redman won with it in its first time out-but it quickly became obvious that the car had a nasty case of rear end lift, a problem that was solved by adding the distinctive “orange crate” spoilers on the back.
Like many icons, the B16 was a short-lived model. Chevron built 23 B16s in 1970, and though beautiful, they quickly proved too heavy, as substantially lighter open cars like the Lola 210/212 showed up. To stay competitive, Bennett created a B16 spyder, which was essentially a coupe chassis with a knockoff of a Porsche 908/3 body on it. A production version, called the B19, replaced the coupe in 1971.
I’ve spent some time in a B19 and they are truly wonderful cars to drive, so stable and solid, and with so much stick that it can be disorienting to a traditional vintage driver. Running through the esses at Seattle Raceway in a Chevron once, it dawned on me that I felt like I was playing a video game-that is, it seemed as if I was sitting still and manipulating the visual scenery, rather than physically moving through it. Unnerving, but still a heck of a lot of fun.
As an astute SCMer, you’re probably asking the big question by now: If these cars are so great that they fetch a quarter-million dollars, why did our subject car sell for so little? Simple: It’s a bitsa.
Like 1930s Alfas, Chevrons are notorious for having been “built from parts.” While I have no doubt that the car pictured here is mechanically fine, marque experts tell me it’s likely that this chassis was written off some time ago, and now four known cars are laying claim to it. Is this the “real” one? Well, if you read the catalog carefully, no in-period history is claimed. Regardless, the engines supplied with the car are incorrect-both are too new-though in fairness, both Cosworths are frequently used and considered acceptable in most vintage racing circles.
So, we’ve got a questionable chassis number with no known history and the wrong engine. How do we value it? If you’ve been reading my musings about race car values, and the difference between ones you’d
collect and those that are just beat-the-heck-out-of-it cars, you might guess at my answer. As this Chevron B16 is clearly acceptable to both SVRA and HSR (with racing history in both), there are plenty of American venues to run it. It’s undeniably fast, fun and beautiful. The buyer paid only about a third the price of a great B16 and he’s going to have just as much fun as the guy in a perfect car. So whatever problems there are with provenance have been solved by the price. This is a classic example of buying the experience without having to pay a collector premium for the history, and I call it well bought.
(Historical and descriptive information courtesy of the auction company.)u