something special

[broadspeed]

hello all
i am new here and would like to say hello to everyone
my name is mitch

i am here to ask your help on identifying something special

a freind of mine has bought a strange looking race car  in miniature form

it's a single seater  race car in the shape of a can am racer
build in the 1960's or 70 's by a company called NARVAL

they where based in france (  cambrai )

and the chassis plate states that this is chassis nr 25

type of the car  is according to the chassis plate  JC 713

the car is based on the running gear and engine of a  Vespa 400

i realy hope anyone can shed some light on this subject because we don't know what it exactly is 
there is nothing to be found on the net so i am trying to find someone  who can help us 




regards

mitch

[Rusty Chrome (Malcolm Parker)]

Hi Mitch

Its difficult to get the scale of things from the photograph, but I'm assuming that this is a small vehicle for adults rather than a kiddies car ride of the sort they have at Le Mans etc. It doesn't look as if it's anything more sophisticated than a superficial race car appearance, so I'd guess its something for a holiday camp or theme park? More details might help. It did make me think of the original Can-am Shadow though.

[Barry]

Good to have you on board Mitch.

You are in the restoration game?  Looking good - http://automotiverestauration.wordpress.com/

Seraching around:-
http://tonblankespoor.nl/projecten/huidige-projecten/narval.html

This must be the original advertisement?

http://www.2ememain.be/sports-fitness/sport-divers/carting/narval-1964-lemans-156598837.html

http://www.marktplaats.nl/a/sport-en-fitness/karting/m689428186-narval-uit-1964.html



Advertised as - carting

Spelling sometimes seems to be Narwhal

[broadspeed]

thank you both for the reply

i don't think it's for the little big le mans  ( kids ) race
the car is to big for it
the picture of the shadow is more the right size but i suspect that the shadow was a serious race car and i guess with a vespa 400 engine  it 'll not go very fast  ( compared to the shadow )
so not realy  a contender in that game


theme park or race school  is something we have been thinking as well
narval jc001 was used as a race school demonstrator but jc002 and 003 where serious race cars   for formula 1 and 3


i am in the restoration buisness yes
mainly special aluminium body's  and one off coachbuild cars  next to that  the occasional restoration of an existing car

the website ( ton blankespoor ) is of my freind who bought the narval 
he also is in the restoration buisness  and has his own workshop doing basicaly the same as i do

the ads of marktplaats and 2ehands be are of the car in question  before he bought it


hopefully  someone here knows something  and can help us find  out what this thing is 

thanks 
regards
 

[Rusty Chrome (Malcolm Parker)]

Unless it was only ever intended as a one-off the choice of engine seems odd unless somone happened across a few of them. The bodywork is definitely Lola T280 inspired so earliest would be circa 1972, while the Vespa went out of production in 1962. Narval seems to have disappeared around 1973-74 around the same time as the Hubert Hahne race school went out of buisness. A racing theme park ride that didn't attract the investment hoped for sounds plausible for a serious race car manufacturer who also didn't quite make the cut.

[broadspeed]

i don't think it's a one off as the chassis nr is nr 25 
i wouldn't start with nr 25 if i did not build any more