The first thing you will notice when you climb into this Lotus is all the trophy plates arrayed on the dash like so many war medals on an old generals uniform. They hint at the many battles waged in the formative years of the SCCA. I puchased SB1843 in December of 2005. The guy I bought it from was the sixth owner of the car since my father, Joe Ward, sold the car to Dean Watts in 1965.

–Bruce Ward, son of original purchaser Joe Ward

Dean Watts sold the car in the 1967. It stayed with the new owner, a commercial pilot, for about 15 years until a flying accident took his life. His widow kept the car in their garage for another number of years after which it went through a few more owners as indicated below. Interestingly, the car was bought by the original owner's son, Bruce many years later...

Bruce Continues:

My father purchased the car in early 1964 from a dealer in Manhattan Beach, California - Bob Challman/Ecurie Shirlee. He campaigned the car in the Pacific Division of the SCCA and won the 1964 C production championship for that division.

The photo at right was taken at Willow Springs just before the Sunday race and is the original from the newspaper article. The taped up left rear fender was damage caused by Jim Adams who lost control of his MGB and caused my dad's only DNF for the year.

The above left photo was likely taken at Willow Springs. Here you see SB1843 in a duel with a B production Corvette. The other photo and caption are from the same time period.

Above photos from April of 1964 at Tucson. It must have been quite a feeling having an A production Corvette coming up your backside at the start of a race, but that's what you get for beating them in qualifying!

Tucson Starting Line: note the car directly behind my dad's Super 7. It is the factory backed Cobra driven by Ed Leslie mentioned in the Dean Watts letter (see below). The August 2006 issue of Sports Car Market includes an article about the Ed Leslie Cobra which just sold in March at the Amelia Island Auction for $1.65 million. This is the same Cobra sitting just behind SB1843 in the photo above.

Don Blumenfeld's SB1604 which was originally driven by Mike Watson, also appears in the Tucson grid photo above. It is the partially obscured number 16 car. Joe Ward wrote of Mike in a letter after the SCCA points race in August of 1964 at Newport, Oregon:

Dad's own record of the 1964 season documents 21 starts with 13 first place finishes, 3 seconds, 3 thirds, 1 fourth and 1 DNF. He claims to have beaten every A and B production Cobra and Corvette in the West Coast SCCA at least once, including factory backed cars driven by pro drivers.

He competed against one B production Corvette on 12 occasions, beating that Corvette in 8 of those 12 races. This was no slouch Corvette. It ran second in points until the last race of the season, finishing third in the Pacific Division. In fact, SB1843 was so successful running against the A and B production cars that my father believed he finished second in points for B production.

I have many photos, newspaper clippings, trophies, trophy plates, flags and more, which remained in the family since 1964. Most of the owners of the car kept extensive records of the races, repairs and other information accumulated over the last four decades. One document was of particular interest to me. My father had written a nine page letter to Dean Watts recounting that 1964 race season. Dean passed that letter on to the next owner. The letter stayed with the car for over 40 years and is now in my possession (see below).

I am always excited at the opportunity to talk about SB1843. Everything matches the original factory record, except the color. The car was red as seen in the color photos from 1964, not yellow. I discussed the discrepancy with Dave Theilke, who used to work at Ecurie Shirlee. He said they often swapped kit parts on the sevens. My dad, wanting an SCCA Super 7, but not wanting yellow may have had the fenders, etc... switched with another 7. Everything else matches. I have the original engine block with matching number.

The attached "Protest Letter" regards the only DNF for the season and is mentioned in the letter to Dean Watts.

This photo was taken in October of '64. My dad is at the far left, with the glasses. I think the guy in the back with the tie is Bob Challman. The Elan in the picture is 26R-36, which my dad bought after he won the 1964 SCCA Pacific Division Championship in the Super 7. That car was crashed by a friend of the family in 1966. I, or my mom, have had it in storage for nearly 40 years and my son and I started a restoration on it about 2 years ago, but that car is another story.

When I bought SB1843 from Jeff and Diane Towner in December of 2005, Jeff handed me a stack of folders about 8 inches high. Most of it is repair records and such, so I have a pretty good idea of what has been done to the car. I'll give you some more details on that in another e-mail. The folders also contain information about the cars owners. The owners of the car are as follows:

Joe Ward - February 1964 to about March 1965.
Dean Watts - 1965 to February 1967.
Paul and Ruth Moore - 1967 to 1980.
Chuck and Joan Bobrink - 1980 to 1988.
Joel Lipkin - 1988 to 1999.
Stu Hockman - 1999 to 2000.
Jeff and Diane Towner - 2000 to 2005.
Bruce and Melissa Ward - December 2005 to present

Dean Watts' original intention had been to buy a new kit from the factory and build it himself. He had one on order for over a year but never could get Bob Challman to deliver. So, when Joe Ward's car became available, Challman made him a deal he couldn't pass by. The Super-7 was very forgiving on a short course and at the time Watts was the only one running one seriously in the SF Bay Area. Photo at left provided by Dean.

At right a somewhat fuzzy photo of SB1843 with the original owner, my dad, and the current owner, myself all in the same picture. I am the kid standing at the right rear of the car. My dad is the middle of three guys standing at the left front of the car.

As with a lot of old cars, much of what is on the car is not original. Fortunately, many of the "updated" parts have their original counterparts sitting on a shelf having never been thrown out by the guys who made the change. What follows is a rundown on what is currently on the car, original and otherwise, as well as the original items that are still in my possession.