LVX 945J was sold to David Sutton, of Clarke & Simpson. He dealt
with many of the ex-works cars and is now a great friend of mine. He sold it to Graham
Lepley, a motor dealer in Derby, who in turn sold it to a retail customer....I forget his
name!
It ended up with a World Cup 1900cc push rod engine and I bought it
off the finance company, Lombard North Central (they were the sponsors of the RAC rally
for 10 years or more). The engine only lasted a couple of events and my co-driver John
Wilcox (John Wilcox Competition Engines) rebuilt it as a Twin Cam. We had lots of fun and
won a few events including the Cotswold Stages Rally and the fabulous Isle of Wight Stages
Rally.
Charles Eveson and LVX 945J
Charles Eveson & John Wilcox In Action Again In
LVX
Charles gets it wrong this time.......
....and promptly rolls LVX 945J Ooops!!!!
I sold the car to a Welshman who used it for many rallies /
autocrosses but the shell eventually gave up during his ownership. It must have done over
100 competitive events by then! He re-shelled it as a MK2 RS and I eventually bought it
back again in the late seventies! We did a lot of development work on it and upgraded the
engine until it was a 2000cc BDG producing about 250 BHP!!
LVX 945J - Re-Shelled As A MK2 Escort, Pictured With
Team Sponsors R & CW Transport Services
Charles Eveson And LVX Again...
Same Car..Same Driver....Different Sponsors
We had several wins but by now the shell was getting tired again. A
good friend of mine, Mark Spencer, had bought DKP 191T, Ari Vatanen's old car from David
Sutton. But he hit a tree on it's first or second outing and bought a brand new Gartrac
shell for it. I bought the old shell for LVX 945J at a cost of £400! We straightened it
on the jig at work, fitted a new front wing, rear ¼ panel, etc, and a new coat of paint
finished the job. We also had the engine uprated to a BDX and it produced 262 BHP on 50
DCOE webers with L1 / BD3 cams. This was a fabulous engine that pulled hard from 4,000 to
10,000 rpm. With the new bodyshell and Gartrac bits, it handled like a dream and I went on
to win dozens of events and the 1984 Autocross Championship with it.
Re-Shelled Again.....Charles Eveson and LVX on the
RAC Rally
Eventually, I then sold it to Roy Edwards who promptly rolled it !!
He rebuilt it and I know he had some successes after that.
Roy sold the car to Dave Jenkins who rebuilt it as a perfect, and I
do mean perfect, Safari replica with a MK1 big wing Twin Cam shell. I went to see the car
and it had all the right bits, including a 1970's dated bag tank! Dave told me it took 2
years to source all the parts but the result was an exact copy. He offered to sell it to
me but I couldn't afford it. It really was a fabulous car!
And so the full circle was completed. After various guises as both a
MK1 and MK2 rally car, LVX is back where she originally started, a MK1 Safari replica!
LVX 945J... Restored As Safari Replica
I haven't heard of LVX 945J for a while now but I hope that whoever
has her, looks after her! If the current owner would like to contact me via this website,
I would be pleased to pass on some of the history and photos of the car.
Charles Eveson
Our thanks to Charles for submitting this interesting article. If
anyone would would like to contact Charles, please email
us and we will pass on your details.
