1985 Rare Schumacher Chassis Old Timer
Posted: Sun Nov 15, 2020 7:34 am
I picked this car up for a really great price in a parts bundle not so long back, and didn't really know what it was at that time. Having looked into it i have come to realise that is actually has a rare Schumacher GRP lightweight chassis on it, which was initially released in 1985, so dates the car pretty well. The car was filthy with a total covering of fine silty orange dust, but after a fairly swift initial wipe-down it has come up really nice and i absolutely love it! I don't really plan on over-cleaning it as the look works just as it is.
I am surprised at how rigid the chassis is, but then it is fairly thick. The front-end is also pretty stiff considering there are no support bars from the nose plate. The gold wear is all very pale too, not as orange as the later cars, and i think the whole thing just absolutely screams 'vintage racer.'
I am aware that the front wishbones are wide Andy's and date from '88 onwards so are a little late for this car, so i have earmarked those for another build. Fortunately the original short arms from this car also came in the sale so they can be switched back on. In a bid to retain the wide front-end the original owner wanted I will also be fitting a wide Hot Trick front nose plate.
The car also came with an unpainted but aged bodyshell, complete with integrated bodyclips!! This is the first time i have ever seen fishing line used to prevent bodyclip loss. Kind of a cool feature. I haven't even started looking at cleaning up that bodyshell yet, but i will hopefully get it into period paint at some point in the future. For now i have gone with another period bodyshell which i think really pops on this car. This is an original Team Brimod shell in their racing colours (Brimod were based in Wolverhampton and the colours of the local football team - Wolverhampton Wanderers - are yellow/orange and black). Every Team Brimod car i have seen in photographs has been in this colourscheme and this bodyshell actually came with my recent purchase of the Brimod prototype 4wd car.
Following a wipe down....
I am surprised at how rigid the chassis is, but then it is fairly thick. The front-end is also pretty stiff considering there are no support bars from the nose plate. The gold wear is all very pale too, not as orange as the later cars, and i think the whole thing just absolutely screams 'vintage racer.'
I am aware that the front wishbones are wide Andy's and date from '88 onwards so are a little late for this car, so i have earmarked those for another build. Fortunately the original short arms from this car also came in the sale so they can be switched back on. In a bid to retain the wide front-end the original owner wanted I will also be fitting a wide Hot Trick front nose plate.
The car also came with an unpainted but aged bodyshell, complete with integrated bodyclips!! This is the first time i have ever seen fishing line used to prevent bodyclip loss. Kind of a cool feature. I haven't even started looking at cleaning up that bodyshell yet, but i will hopefully get it into period paint at some point in the future. For now i have gone with another period bodyshell which i think really pops on this car. This is an original Team Brimod shell in their racing colours (Brimod were based in Wolverhampton and the colours of the local football team - Wolverhampton Wanderers - are yellow/orange and black). Every Team Brimod car i have seen in photographs has been in this colourscheme and this bodyshell actually came with my recent purchase of the Brimod prototype 4wd car.
Following a wipe down....