Aldin “Red” LeGrand probably isn’t a person most of us know about, but Red played an interesting role in racing history. He was a pioneer in his day and went on to build a number of single seat race cars, ranging from Formula A to Vee. His cars saw a lot of victories and plenty of failures, but no matter their successes, his designs were simplistic and impressive. This LeGrande MK 22 Formula Vee is one of the two ever built and has been in a barn for a number of years. Have a look at it here on eBay where bidding starts at $4,000.
Red lived in the right place during the right time frame to fulfill his dreams. Formula racing has always been big, but during the late ’60s and throughout the ’70s, it was the thing to do and what a better place to do it than Southern California? A number of classes popped up only to disappear almost as quickly as they came. Over all these years though, one of the few classes to solider on in the SCCA has been Formula Vee. It’s relatively cheap, utilizes all the major components from the VW Beetle, and is a blast to do. Since Vee cars don’t accelerate or achieve the kind of speed that the V8 powered cars do, it is also safer and provides a great environment to learn the principals of open wheel racing.
This racer is going to need a complete restoration, but thankfully there isn’t much to it. Red believed in performance through lightweight simplicity and that tends to equate to an easier restoration. Finding parts shouldn’t be much an issue, as most everything comes from the Beetle. We won’t lie, we would love to have this project. We have been wanting a Formula Vee car for a while now and given this one’s history, it’s very tempting. We are going to be a little closer to SOVREN soon. Hmm…
I was going to make some funny comment about the rollicking roller skate but after reading this, there’s some serious historical value here. I sure hope it gets bought & restored by someone who appreciates it!!
That’s a bit high for one that needs restoration. For that price you can get one that runs and needs minor work.
the guys sure owns a few P cars.
this seller also has a V8 914 listed on ebay. i hope this FV makes it back on the racetrack or is used for autocross/solo. FV was always a fun class to watch with full fields, do not know what it is like today. great find
“…simplicity of design and engineering. Colin Chapman of Lotus Race Cars in England did the same.” Like Colin Chapman or Lotus had ANYTHING to do w/this. Geez.
Interestingly terrible description of a very interesting FV with a great name behind it, Red LeGrand.
Red would sell a customer whatever they wanted, from a set of plans to a complete racing car. So, without doing some homework on this cars history or lack therein, this could be a car designed and built by Red or a car designed on paper by Red with some guy named “George” who could weld being the actual builder. No offense meant to “George”.
$4000 is about $2500 above what this car is worth. I’ve seen other vintage era FV’s in similar condition to complete but highly neglected go for $1000 to $3500. This shouldn’t bring anywhere near $4000.
Completely restored a vintage FV is worth a max of about $15,000, maybe as much as $20,000 if it is something really special. The gent who rescued and restored Harvey Templeton’s Ringwrath, the first lay down, modern era FV built in 1969 probably has a car worth close to $20k and that is because it set so many trends in the class such as lay down driving position, zero roll rear suspension, low frontal area and several other things. It was so far ahead of its time none of the FV manufacturers really caught up to it for about 10 years. This info just gives you perspective on the bigger picture.
The car should be saved, restored and put back on track in vintage races. SOVERN would love this car as would any vintage racing organization.
come on…..the guy had red hair…thats prooves it….look close,that thing is bent like a pretzel
I did the drawings for this car.Perhaps they will assist you in selling the Mk 22 le grand FV.I would like to see the car to check what details I do not have.Best Griffiths
I would like to reach John Griffiths in regard to a LeGrand MK2 I have.
David @golehr.com