In the animal kingdom, the echidna is an Australian anteater possessed of a particularly long nose and lacking in both speed and agility. Such a creature may seem like an inauspicious namesake for a sports racing car, but Echidna builders Ed Grierson, Bill Larson and John Staver were blessed with a sense of humor on par with their ability to design and build a cost-effective race car. Just three were built, one for each team member, and next January the Echidna built for Ed Grierson heads to auction in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Grierson, Larson and Staver all hailed from Hibbing, Minnesota, which meant the men enjoyed plenty of time for conversation in the winter months. One such conversation addressed the success that Jim Jeffords and Dr. Dick Thompson were having running 3,000 pound production-class Corvettes against the lighter D-Type Jaguars, Ferraris and Maseratis competing in the SCCA modified classes. What if, the men speculated, you could stuff Corvette mechanicals in a 2,000 pound sports racer?
For many, the conversation would end there, but the trio of Minnesotans was uniquely qualified to pursue the project to completion. All had experience racing Jaguars and Corvettes in SCCA competition, and Larson, an optometrist by trade, had a reputation of being one of the fastest drivers in the region. Staver owned a metal foundry, while Grierson, who was put in charge of the Echidna’s development, was known as a talented engineer.
From the onset, the Echidna was designed to be simple and reliable, and in true Minnesota tradition, frugal. Instead of welding up a tube frame chassis, the trio opted to use Chevrolet passenger car frames, shortened to a wheelbase of 93-inches and narrowed to fit beneath a Devin fiberglass body. Rather than casting aluminum suspension components, the men used standard Chevy parts, drilled for lightness. Even the drivetrain was conventional, consisting of a 283-cu.in. fuel-injected Corvette V-8 (fitted with a Racer Brown camshaft and ported and polished heads), bolted to a Borg Warner T-10 four-speed transmission. The Staver Echidna would later be bored to 339-cu.in. to compete in B-Modified, but the other two cars retained stock displacement to run in C-Modified. The only exotic bits on the cars were the four finned brake drums, which were specially cast by Staver’s foundry.
The first Echidna (built for Staver) debuted in 1958, with the remaining two cars appearing during the 1959 season. All wore a medium blue livery, and in the cars’ first 35 racing starts, the Echindas delivered five wins and nine podiums, generally against much better-funded teams running far more exotic automobiles. As proof of the Echidna’s reliability, the three cars finished 25 of the first 35 races, a testament to both the engineering behind them and the durability of the off-the-shelf components used.
Echidnas continue to be a competitive threat in vintage racing, as time has not weakened the effectiveness of their simple and light philosophy. The Grierson car even appeared at the 2013 Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion, where it once again ran against more exotic (and more expensive) competitors.
The Grierson Echidna will cross the block in January 2015 at Russo and Steele’s Scottsdale sale. For additional details on the event, visit RussoAndSteele.com.
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