AMBRO 001 For Sale

I bought this AMBRO from Doug Karon in 2008 when I was still racing it’s older brother, Peyote. My intention was to have a pretty version of Peyote–that is, to have an AMBRO that worked as well as Peyote, made several years later by the same characters who built Peyote. With a few tweaks it could be as competitive and fun to race as Peyote is in vintage racing. But after I raced it one time I realized Peyote had become a much more well-developed race car. Peyote passed through some very capable hands in its 50+ years of racing and was much more sophisticated than it looked. On my local track–Portland International Raceway, I the Ambro was much slower. I’ve done 1:29 in Peyote with the chicane in. The Ambro did 1:39 with me pushing it to the hairy edge. At first I put the difference down to being so used to Peyote, but I did a full race weekend after a day of testing and tuning, and was still more than 9+ seconds slower per lap. And I’ve raced a lot of cars other than Peyote–both vintage and modern. I have never had too much trouble adapting to differences. Looking the car over carefully I saw what I believed to be some obvious areas to improve–not the least of which was weight. The fiberglass body was absurdly heavy. It took three people to lift the nose off the car. On the scales the Ambro totaled almost 400 pounds heavier than Peyote–and Peyote is not a particularly light car. The rear end of the Ambro felt vague and unstable in corners which I put down to frame flex, no anti-tramping bars, and some extremely tall shackles intended to lower the car. The engine and transmission, which had been recently rebuilt and upgraded by the justifiably famous “Uncle Jack” Drews felt fine–powerful, smooth and responsive. It was mostly just weight and handling holding the car back. Peyote throttle steers with precision around corners, the Ambro just kind of wandered around, never hitting the same line twice

I resolved to improve the car dramatically. To make all the little changes that made Peyote capable of keeping up with, and often beating purpose-built factory race cars that should have had no trouble leaving it in the dust. So I disassembled the running car, bought a new body from Bill Bonadio who had made molds from an original Ambro, and started making the modifications I felt were necessary to have a beautiful, light vintage special that would handle and perform like Peyote. While I was still in the process of rebuilding it I retired from vintage racing. The project lost it’s primary reason for me to work at it–I knew I wasn’t going to race it. So it’s been sitting in my shop, gathering dust since about 2021. It’s time to put it in the hands of someone who will enjoy it.

This is a significant car for anyone who enjoys a more grassroots flavor of racing. It was built in 1959 by Bill Ames and Dewy Brohaugh, two racers from the Minneapolis area who had cooperated a few years earlier to build Peyote from a wrecked TR3 and a stack of surplus road sign aluminum from the state of Michigan Highway department. The plan was to offer fiberglass bodies like the better-known Devin bodies. They coaxed a guy who made fiberglass interiors for refrigerator companies into building a mold for them. Some of the mold elements came from a Maserati Tipo 61 owned by Don Skogmo (who later lost his life racing a Lola T70 at Road America). I have a large collection of correspondence, photos, magazine articles, logbooks, and other documents for this car–too much to easily catalog. They fill a file box. There’s a sample below. And if you bring up the Ambro 001 anywhere near Minneapolis you’ll have at least another box. In 2007 I raced Peyote at some midwest tracks. I had luch with the “Old Liar’s Club” and learned more Peyote history over appetizers than I knew from years of research. Everyone there knew all about the car and the characters that raced it. The Ambro has the same kind of history–maybe more.

Below are pictures I’m posting to Bring A Trailer. If you’re interested in the car, that’s where to bid. I’ll post a link here as soon as the auction is up and running. It will be a no reserve auction–I’d like this to go to a racer to finish it and drive the wheels off it.

So, I’ve gotta say, I love Bring A Trailer. I get the feeds a few times a week, and I look at every car offered. Seriously–every freaking one. There is so much passion for old cars out there, and I love to wallow in it. I also watch Wristwatch Revival, Itchy Boots and Xyla Foxlin. Nerd porn, especially wristwatch revival. I think if I had trouble sleeping I would just listen to Marshal trying to put a disassembled Omega back together. You don’t watch these Youtube shows? …Isn’t that sad.

Anyway, if you buy this thing and you don’t know how to put it all back together so it punches WAAAAY past it’s weight, talk to Tony Garmey at Horizon Racing. Tony knows exactly why and how Peyote kicked ass for the last twenty years. The list of far nicer cars that Peyote beat is endless and astonishing. For it’s 50th bitrthday the tagline was “pissing off people with nicer cars for 50 years.” and I made buttons that said “A little Peyote Never Hurt Anyone.” Trust me–the magic wasn’t me. Everyone who ever drove it said the same thing–holy shit–why is this thing so fast. It’s effortless to drive, but it spits in your face and says bad things about yo’ mama if you don’t push it. It was the car. And Ambro 001 has the DNA. It absolutely could be exactly that crazy good, and still look pretty. I think it could actually be faster. The guts are all there.

Ambro 001 Image Gallery

The spacer is obviously to widen the track a bit and enable more offset for mags. The aluminum hub from Uncle Jack Drews is turned from billet and it stronger, tougher, and lighter than the stock cast hubs.

The fire bottle shows a full charge but I’d have it refilled. the Accusump has been opened and cleaned, the electric valve works fine.

The replacement body weighs a fraction of the very thick original body. My plan was to make a simple aluminum floor under the body and extend the aluminum up to meet the glass. The sides and aluminum door would be polished. I considered making the cowl/headrest out of aluminum for the weight reduction and looks, but I think bonding the supplied cowl it into the glass would ultimately be a better choice and a more period look

The body looks quite a bit like a birdcage, which makes sense since some parts of the mold were lifted from a tip 61. Bob Ames reportedly wrote Lister and asked if they were concerned by how much it looked like a knobbly Lister. Lister replied that that didn’t see much resemblance.

The original roll bar is a very heavy single hoop with a lot of bracing to keep it tight behind the seat. I wanted to do a lighter hoop braced behind the shock mounts. This would brace the notoriously flexy Triumph frame. An approach that works extremely well on Peyote. Defensible even with the strictest tech inspector on safety grounds.

This competition seat needs it’s cover to be attached which will make it conform better to the frame. the original cut-down triumph seats are included, but I’d use them only if I were not going to race the car hard–there’s no lateral support.

The rolling shop stands come with the car of course.

The steering shaft is secured to the front frame hoop in a bronze bushing. Steering is precise and smooth. The angled heavy duty universal joint means No spear pointed at your chest as most early British cars had.

The pedal box includes a Tilton balance bar to adjust brake bias on-track. The bias control knob is at the driver’s right hip.

The drive train tunnel forms a complete firewall, A cover bolts in place closing it off securely to the rear wall Near the drivers feet a heavy plate serves as a scatter shield to protect the driver.

The rectangular frame holds the fuel cell box while the straps secure it. The single roll hoop required extensive heavy bracing, bracing a full width hoop to the frame ends would be stronger, lighter, and will stiffen the frame.

Another view of the robust steering and pedal box

I’m 6’2 and 230 pounds. The Ambro cockpit accommodated me easily

There’s still a stock frame down there somewhere

A better view of the tunnel/firewall. The rivet nuts make installing the cover easy.

At first glance the tunnels seems to limit driver space. It doesn’t. And the cage is well braced against side intrusion

Cut down Triumph seats. Pretty, but not very practical for racing–no lateral support to speak of.

The upper control arms have been shortened slightly to give 1.5 degrees of camber

This will be a great-looking car. The nose accommodates a forced air duct that blasts the radiator

Plexiglas windshield–new, uncut

Yes, you can have them all. The black rear end is the original one that ran in the car. I have numerous differential gearsets in various ratios that go with the car.

The plain aluminum cell is the one that came with the Ambro. You can have all three.

exhaust header, tunnel covers, radiator duct with fan, le Mans cap for fuel cell, tach, hoses (high pressure), seat base, misc parts

There are several boxes of parts and the successful bidder is welcome to browse through my extensive collection of Triumph parts to add any they feel would help assmble the car

roll bar hoop, various parts

If your local tech requirements permit, these four pot calipers bolt right in place of the stock girlings and give fade-free braking. Lovely parts. You can still get pads for them but they come with spares and rarely need replacement

This engine and transmission were in the car. Race prepared by the justifiably famous Uncle Jack. the transmission has an overdrive and shifts like butter

The upper wishbone has been shortened slightly and reinforced to provide 1.5 degrees of camber.

It’s obvious how an aluminum lower section would work, a very simple part to make. I planned to add a low fixed “door” though a hinged door would be fairly simple.

cowl has been fitted to the body and is ready to be epoxied and faired into place.

This car was running well when I took it apart. My aim was to make it handle better and lose some weight. I think it will be one heck of a racecar for the right person. That simply is no longer me.

The original body is on my shop wall–too heavy to use. Since it was the first body they made, apparently they figured if a little fiberglass is good, then more is better. It’s more than a half inch thick in places. No, it’s not included. It’s wall art.

This both lightens the rear end and give easy access. Secured with Dzus fastners.

Ambro 001 was featured with a complete article in Kas Kastner’s book on racing Triumphs

The Ambro was featured in Kas Kastners books, a set of copies is included with the car

This transmission is included–hand built by Hardy Prentice. This is a rare beast, Hardy took weeks, massaging each part. It’s an incredibly smooth shifting box.

Like most race car of the era, Ambro 001 passed through a lot of hands.

The race that convinced me I needed to rebuild the car–nine seconds a lap slower than Peyote was the best I could do

Dewey Brohaugh racing Ambro 001

the document package that accompanies Ambro 001 is full of period pictures, correspondence, and both period and modern magazines and articles with the car featured.

Ambro 001 battling a Lister and a Ferrari Testarossa

There were a few bodies sold, rebodying cars from Bristols to TR3s to purpose built tube chassis race cars with american V8s

Sales Brochure for the Ambro bodies

Ambro 001 has been in magazines since the ’50s, and was featured in numerous articles up to 2010

The birdcage Maserati that some of the Ambro body elements were based on. There have been incidents where an Ambro was offered for sale as a Maserati Birdcage–it certainly is NOT a multi-million dollar italian exotic.

Modified Ambro

Plenty of room for YOU to start adding to the history

Ambro 001–as it appeared when I bought it.

Specification page of the logbook. 1800 pounds is a bit optimistic. It was closer to 2100 pounds.

logbooks from the late ’90s to 2009–staple together as is standard practice

I did drive the Ambro in a race before I took it apart–that’s me at Portland International Raceway

The documentation and correspondence fills a file box. And of course it comes with the car.

There’s a lot of documentation–too much to catalog