Argo

[HayesCages]

Wow, nothing for 3+ years...this is a going thread!
We're still racing the Argo JM17 and have purchased another chassis from Butch Dennison.
Interestingly it has the same SCCA roll bar stamp as our other chassis...
I think it boils down to the fact that the "spare" chassis was written off at a race in Portland, OR., this chassis appeared from somewhere and the 2 were made into what is our racer now.
Butch is a pretty good fabricator and they did a great job building this chassis. Along the way it seems that they took a little artistic license and modified a few things to make it a better handling car.
I have made contact with a few ex-JM17 racers over the last few years and have found out some good info.
One person was Dan Wall, who won the Kansas Region Divisional Championship in '89. ( I can't remember if I talked to Dan himself or a person that knew him well, the K region historian Sharlene Smith)
I also spoke with another gentleman (name escapes me) that mentioned that they raced a JM17 and it took they 2 years to get it setup. After they won the championship he test-drove a Swift DB3 and immediately was 2 seconds faster than the Argo had ever been. This with mere minutes in the seat.
Some in-car:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r_11TvHSo0

[Euromontagna]

I am interested in JM21 history..

1991 drivers:
- Augsburger, Kaufmann, Traversa

1992 drivers:
- Günther Köbele, Fritz Köbele, M. Köbele, Hunkeler,

1993 drivers:
- Günther Köbele, Fritz Köbele, M. Köbele, Hunkeler, Louis Bärtsch, Lompech, Ehrat, Binder (JM21-139-C3), Roth

1994 drivers:
- Ehrat, Binder (JM21-139-C3), Roth, Hahn (JM21-136), Dorffner, Martin Koehlmeier (chassis called "PRC 883-052")

1995 drivers:
- Fredy Kueng (JM21-134-C3, Traversa Racing), Hahn (JM21-136, Traversa Racing), Martin Koehlmeier (chassis called "PRC 883-052"), Bockhorn

etc.. any more information?
later:

JM21-133-C3 => 1998 Gerhard Ludwig => Roland Mittländer = >Mitch Mittländer => Theodor Billy Erhard (+Walter Novotny)

JM21-134-C3 =>Fredy Kueng

JM21-135? =>Bruno Kueng

JM21-136 = >Hahn

JM21-137 ????

JM21-138-C3 => 1996 Forresti => 2001 Wolfgang Dietmann

JM21-139-C3 => 1993 Josef Binder

[Bernie14]

Hi All!

Reviving this ancient thread. I recently purchased a JM14 FF2000 car. Still deciding what to do with it....I'd like to keep it FF2000 as intended but the temptation to do a F1000 is certainly there.

The car is largely complete but I do have some questions. I need uprights! Any suggestions on where to source those? Or break out the check book and have some fabricated?

Also, I'm wondering if anyone has any detailed photos or drawings that show suspension/mounting points/ect. My car came as a pile of parts and, while it has been fun to figure out, photos would help.

As an aside....this seems like a fantastically built car and I am excited to bring her back to life.

Any suggestions/pointers/general banter is greatly appreciated!

[HayesCages]

Welcome to the Argo FC world Bernie.
Uprights are around, you just have to find someone willing to part with some. Or, like you said, have some made.
I have no idea if the 14 and 17 (we have a JM17) have the same suspension mounting points but would be happy to share pictures and measurements.
My email is: hayescagesllc (at) gmail (dot) com.
Our chassis design is what I would describe as "what was needed to get the car out the door". They are interesting in that there are some tubes that aren't being used to stiffen the chassis but they had to put them to mount or hold something.
Looking at the forward bulkhead they had no triangulation for the first 2 sections. I added some at these points.
The engine "spider" mount is so over-loaded it breaks off the boss on the block that it bolts to. I've added several other tubes from the engine to the rollover hoop.
Maybe post a few pictures of your chassis and we can compare?
Cheers, Lawrence

[Bernie14]

Thank you, Lawrance!!

It appears our cars are (relatively) similar. Good to know the uprights are still out there....somewhere. Al gave me the name of a fabricator who can make them but I assume it would be nice to have the measurements and dimensions.


Attached are some pictures of my chassis and a few of the upright that I do have. First step for me is to get it all stripped down, cleaned, and take an inventory of the parts I have, the parts I need to buy, and any parts to be fabricated. I'll certainly email you if I have any specific questions and I appreciate you replying!

We are practically neighbors (Tacoma, WA) and I plan on racing with SOVREN.....perhaps we'll see each other in the future!!

[HayesCages]

Yep, that's pretty different in a lot of ways. Al seems to be able to pull these chassis out of thin air.

I know of a few others in the NW; one in Bend, at least another in the Puget Sound area, and ours. I'm FB friends with a guy in NC that has rebuilt one. Then there're a few in the midwest.

Butch Dennison at Dennison International had 3 that they were going to refurb and rent then went another direction. I think Al bought all of them from Butch. Ours was one of them.

At one point Al bought an entire JM17 that was in pieces that had never seen a track, so basically new. I think he pieced it out here and there. We bought a few things, like uprights. I have no idea where the rest ended up.

How's your bodywork?

[delta]

Hello Bernie. I have three JM14 FF2000 chassis and loads and loads of parts including uprights. Send me a PM or e mail. I do not want much for everything it will just be the logistics on getting the parts over the water. Best wishes lain.

[prensel]

Hello all,

So I'm picking up where Delta left of by acquiring all his Argo chassis and parts

I'm Paul from the Netherland and been racing in FF1600 from 1993-2005 with a Merlyn MK20AS. Being 'out of the scene' for almost 20 years I've decided to get back on the track and have acquired a Vector Sports2000 a few years ago and just recently bought Iain's Argo project.

To get at least one car back on the track again I could use some information. And parts.

I'm already in contact with Glenn Bator in the US who owns a JM14 and a Royale RP39.
Are there any other owners, or drivers maybe, of these cars on this side of the globe ?

For parts: anything is welcome, but for most uprights. With three chassis and just two rear uprights I'm very limited in getting more then one car back on the track and even breaking an upright would be a disaster without having a spare(s).


I'm also trying to track some history of these cars. Unfortunately everything concerning Argo was sold after Jo Marquart died and documentation seems to be lost since then. As I have understood everything was sold to David Sears and/or to Hugh Kleinpeter in the USA. The latter labeled the car as Royale RP39 but I'm not sure if this was the JM14 or the extended JM14b version.

So any information is more then welcome, even small things like raceresults from 1983/1984/1985, old photos etc.

Thanks :-)