| Historian Ron Cummings answers
my questions about this car:
"I knew Miles Gupton. The
car, in the Martin photo, started out as the original Hans Adam Platypus.
Hans modeled the Platypus chassis after the PAM Automotive Merlyn that
they had been racing, with a Corvair motor. I watched Hans build the first
Platypus frame on two saw horses using only a tape measure, hacksaw, and
gas
welder. The Merlyn frame
was sitting on a pair of saw horses next to the new frame.
Hans used larger tube material
because of cracking in the old car's frame. This Platypus started out with
Gupton's Porsche Spyder motor. Miles later bought a spare Lotus 19 body
from Jack Nethercutt and installed that body on the car. He then installed
one of those little Oldsmobile ( BOP ) aluminum V8 motors. He later
installed a Ford 'Small Block' motor. For some reason Miles kept changing
the name of the car with each upgrade. Miles and Denny Harrison traded
off rides with the last configuration.
I will try to locate some
of the other names for the car. One thing that I used to kid Miles about
was, he advertised the car as a Lotus 19 when he finally attempted
to sell it." |
