About

The Varsity Roadster is a custom two place sports car designed and built by artist and engineer Ted Parks.  It started as a small scale sculpture exercise Parks created in an attempt to capture the aesthetics of the beautiful sports cars of the 1950s and 60s.  He used influences from the Shelby Cobra, early Corvettes, the E-type Jaguar and many other classics to create his original design.  The small scale model turned out so well that he built a full scale form out of clay, wood, rigid foam and bondo.  From that full scale form, molds were made that made possible the production of a small number of complete and fully drivable automobiles    

Once the bodies were complete, Parks began to create the mechanical underpinnings of the car.  He designed a tube steel semi-monocoque frame affixed with competition rack and pinion steering, 11" disc brakes, Carrera coil-over shocks and a 9" solid axle rear end with positraction and a 4.11:1 gear ratio.  The power plant is a 400 horsepower all-aluminum 6.2 liter Corvette V-8 coupled to a T56 Magnum 6-speed manual transmission with a McLeod Super Street Pro competition clutch.  The car sports Dayton true knock-off wire wheels, and at a gross weight of only 2,400 lbs, it is rediculously fast. 

The car has a completely custom interior which, like the rest of the car, Parks designed himself.  The seats are custom built with lateral and lumbar supports, 3 point belts and built in heaters.  The dash is equipped with a complete set of VDO series I vintage gauges as well as control for the heater, AC and sound system.  The car has a retractable hard top that stows in the trunk.  In bad weather, the top is easy to access and locks in place with the flip of two levers on the windshield header.  With its roll-up door glass and retractable top, the roadster quickly converts into a coupe.