In late 1962 the IRS forced the closure of ‘Reventlow Automobiles Inc.’ after 5 years of tax loss claims. The race shop was at 1042 Princeton Drive; Venice, CA. Carroll Shelby took over the lease around late August or early September of 1962.
By 1964, Shelby needed a hauler for the European race events in the 'Sports Car World Championship’. The Reventlow ’59 Fiat Bartoletti could fill that void, except for one big issue. The Cobra Daytona’s were much heavier than the Reventlow F1 cars. A second rear axle was added behind the first to handle the extra weight. That helped to give the transporter more support and stability. It was then repainted to match the team colors in Viking Blue.
Although the transporter was mostly needed for the Daytona Coupes, they also carried some Cobras around as well. The transporter was driven by Ermano Coughi to all the events in Europe. The first photos of it as a Shelby team hauler are from May 17, 1964. The team was getting ready for the race at Spa in Belgium. Here we see it parked in front of the S.A. Garage. (
Is that the Shelby American garage? We can see a Goodyear sign too. I’ve always wondered where the cars were kept while waiting for the next race.) During the first half of the season the transporter was not identified with a team name as we can see in these early photos.
Photo taken by Bob Bondurant