Searching for something appropriate for our 500th Snapshot, we naturally considered the Fiat 500 – but, distinguished though that car is, we decided to go for a more obscure machine. This is the Revis, a car that competed in 500cc Formula 3 racing just after World War II.
It was built by Reg Bicknell, a car dealer from Southampton. Bicknell raced the car from 1951 to 1954 against such drivers as Stirling Moss and John Cooper. Bicknell went on to race at Le Mans in 1956 in a works Lotus 11 powered by a four-cylinder 1098cc Climax FWA engine, pairing up with Peter Jopp. They finished a highly creditable 7th overall and 1st in the 751-1100 cc class.
Reg Bicknell built the car on Cooper lines but with double wishbone suspension. He soon found it to be overweight and, fitted with a pre-war Norton engine, underpowered. So Bicknell built a new, shorter frame with the driver placed further forward, and changed the rear suspension to swing axles. The angle of the offside rear wheel in our image shows that the car is here in this modified form. He acquired a JAP speedway engine to give the car more power. The opening race of 1952 at Goodwood showed the effectiveness of his modifications: he qualified 3rd on the grid, but a dropped valve shortened his race. For the rest of 1952 Bicknell and his Revis was one of the most successful pairings in British 500 Formula 3 racing. He changed, successfully, to a Staride for 1953, but returned to the Revis for 1954, the car now sporting the full-width nose that can be seen in the image. He continued to win: for example, he won the 500 race at the April Castle Combe meeting ahead of Ivor Bueb, Stuart Lewis-Evans and Les Leston, all in Coopers.
The Revis was exported to the USA in late 1956, bought by Pierre Mion for his first attempt at racing on four wheels. Mion (1931-2021) was a remarkable character. A well-known illustrator and artist, he studied with Eliot O’Hara and Norman Rockwell. In his freelance career he produced illustrations for National Geographic, Smithsonian Magazine, Look, Life, and many other publications and institutions. A US Marine Corps veteran, Mion worked with the Marines on combat and story illustrations during the Vietnam war for National Geographic. He was a member of the Apollo 16 recovery team aboard the U.S.S. Ticonderoga and covered several rocket launches at Cape Kennedy. In addition to his artistic work, he enjoyed motorcycle and motor car racing, and scuba diving. He was a two-time national champion of the Sports Car Club of America. He was also a licensed glider pilot.
The car ended up in Vancouver, where the owner was in 2010 asking for pictures to help with a rebuild, because the bodywork did not survive its time in a Vancouver scrapyard.
Image displayed with the kind permission of the Haynes Motor Museum.
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