1963 Bobsy SR-2

History

Bobsies were designed and built by Gerald “Jerry” Mong in Medina Ohio, beginning in 1961. The 1963 model, the Bobsy SR-2, was successful out of the box, consistently beating the popular and fast Lola Mk.1’s and new Lotus 23’s in part due to the Bobsy’s unique, super light, very strong, all aluminum tube frame under its fiberglass body.

Mong continued producing Bobsies through the 1960’s and 1970’s, including more sports racers, Formula V, Formula Ford, and even Formula Atlantic. For more on the Bobsy story, please go to the Bobsy Sports Racer Registry

The Bobsy SR-2 offered here is the works prototype SR-2. It was raced with factory support by Chuck Dietrich in 1963 and 1964. Dietrich raced the Bobsy in  Sports Car Club of America (“SCCA”) National races, as well as in United States Road Racing Championship (“USRRC”) races. Dietrich won the 1963 SCCA G-Modified National Championship with this Bobsy. To see Dietrich’s races results with the Bobsy, please go to: 1963-64 Dietrich Bobsy race results.

 To get a feel for just how fast Dietrich and the Bobsy were, check out the 1963 Road America 500 race results. There you will see they finished 5th overall. Ahead of them was a 2 liter Porsche powered Elva Mk.7 driven by local hero Augie Pabst. Next were Ken Miles and Dave MacDonald in two of the Shelby American Team Cobras, and then a Porsche RS 60. Behind Dietrich and the Bobsy were Bob Johnson in another Shelby American Cobra, a Ferrari Dino 206, another Porsche RS 60, a 250 GTO Ferrari, several 250 TR Ferraris, a lightweight Jaguar E-Type, Maserati Tipos 61, and 151, etc. These were iconic cars then, and are now. Compare those cars, their period performance, and their current values to the Bobsy’s offered price of only $49,000.00.

The Bobsy is currently dressed in its period livery of Black and Gold (Team Bobsy) wearing #88 as Chuck Dietrich did during his Championship year with the car.

Description

The Bobsy was originally fitted with a Holbay-Ford 1100 cc engine mated to a Hewland transaxle.  However, the car’s design allowed engines from 1 to 2 liters to be fitted to race in different classes.

The Bobsy currently has a Loyning-built Kent Ford pushrod 1600 c.c. engine with 22 hours on it. The engine received a head refresh in September, 2017. The engine produces 130 h.p. at the rear wheels, running through its Hewland 5 speed.

The Bobsy has been maintained to a very high level by the same pro shop for the past 19 years. It is well sorted, and competitive.

Importantly, the Bobsy also comes with a host of original Dietrich bits including the original seats (sewn by Jerry Mong’s wife), original aluminum suspension, and magnesium wheels (one cracked) Also provided will be a period Road & Track article about the car.

This Bobsy SR-2 sports racer is qualified to run at the finest historic racing events across the U.S., including the Monterey Reunion. It would also be an excellent entry for historic USRRC events, including the new USRRC feature series with CSRG in the west, or can be run in Group 5 with SVRA, and other organizations across the U.S.

The Bobsy is not limited to just U.S. racing either. The SR-2 cars were also actively raced in period overseas.  The American-made Bobsy SR-2’s have received invitations to the some of the most prestigious international events, including the Goodwood Revival. To see a photo of a Bobsy SR-2 racing at the Goodwood Revival, please see Madgwick Cup, Goodwood Revival

We think this car is an great opportunity to purchase an SCCA National Championship winning works prototype car at an amazing bargain price. This car beat some of the most famous, successful cars of the period, including the vaunted Lotus 23, the Elva Mk7’s, and the Brabham BT8’s. It also beat many of the big bore production cars, such as the Cobras, Corvettes, Ferraris, Maseratis, and Jaguars, all of which you can now find selling for many times the offered price for this championship winning Bobsy.

We recommend serious consideration on this car. Opportunities like this don’t come along very often.

Please feel free to Contact Us if you are interested in this listing.