|
 Car people familiar with the Besasie clan of Milwaukee probably know of them in connection with designer Brooks Stevens. Ray Besasie Sr. had been Stevens' personal mechanic since 1940. Joe Besasie designed a number of concepts for Stevens - including the Excalibur - and Ray Besasie Jr. built and raced cars for Stevens (as well as the Excalibur Kart).
Yet the Besasies put their prodigious talent to work on their own
projects as well, including the Besasie Explorer, which became the focus
of a two-page spread in the March 1961 issue of Mechanix Illustrated.
As noted in the article, Joe designed it while Ray Sr. and Ray Jr. built
it. The Explorer played host to a number of innovations, including
center-seat steering, a knee-controlled hydraulic steering mechanism,
and no doors. They based it on a 1957 Chevrolet chassis and used a
modified 365-cu.in. Cadillac V-8 that the they claimed was good for 350
horsepower, 21 MPG, a 6-second 0-60 time and a top speed of 140 MPH.
According to a March 1961 Popular Science article, the Besasies sold the Explorer for $20,000 (about $147,000 in today's dollars) before they even built it.
Read the Whole Article
| 
Re: Besasie’s Bizarre Batmobile: The X-3 Explorer
