Changed August was Monterey time  
     Most years I have a booth full of books, models and automotive memorabilia at the Concorso Italiano on the weekend of the Pebble Beach Concours - however, this year I decided to forego the booth.  At the invitation of the Petroleum Museum in Midland, Texas, I spent the weekend at the Race Track at Laguna Seca helping out with public relations and with the cars at the Chaparral exhibit August 18th - 21st. On display this year were the Chaparral 2C, 2D, 2E, 2F, 2H, 2J, and the Indy car!  Running on the race track were the 2C, 2D, 2E, 2F and 2J.    

     With the cars were the extraordinary men: Jim Hall, creator designer and racer of the Chaparral fame, a couple of his other drivers, the quite remarkable Vic Elford and Ferrari world champion driver Brian Redmon, and Jim's brother Chuck Hall, a fine driver and delightful gentleman.  I had the pleasure of being with the cars in the pit and also on pit lane, working with these legends, along with the great folks from the Petroleum Museum, who have the honor of being the caretakers of the entire Chaparral collection. What a great bunch of folks!  If you're ever in or near Midland Texas, you owe it to yourself to see these great cars. 

     Seeing 5 of the 7 Chaparrals on the race track doing exhibition laps was nothing short of incredible. Probably the most exciting moments for everyone was watching Vic Elford driving the 2J "Sucker car".  Referred to as the "Vacuum Cleaner", it has two high speed fans driven by a 2-cylinder, 2-stroke German fuel injected snowmobile engine.  These two fans act in concert with the Lexan side skirts, which move up and down with the deflection of the suspension, to create down force (similar idea to the wing providing down force except the wing only works at speed) to draw the car down to the ground. Jim Hall is also credited with having brought the wings on race cars to the racing world. But then there were so many marvelous inventions on racing cars that are still making them work today that Jim Hall gets direct credit for devising. 

     My sincere thanks to Cenia, Kathy, Edward and the Petroleum Museum board of directors, fine folks all, for including me in this historic weekend. Also, my thanks to the amazing drivers, Jim and Chuck Hall, Vic Elford and Brian Redmon, who showed me much kindness and indulged me in an endless stream of questions. You guys are my heroes and have been a genuine inspiration over the years of my career in automobile design.     

Jim Simpson  

What's new on Whidbey Island at Simpson Design?

    We are also building a new studio and workshop for Simpson Design and Contemporary Classics of Washington (the side of our company that does exotic European Sports Cars sales and restoration) here on Whidbey Island. We will be having open house for car clubs starting the Spring of 2006.
  

New Price Information  
Call for specials - each month it's different and not posted on the web site!

PRODUCTS  

     If there is something you would like to see for your Miata, let us know.  We can‘t make everything but we may know someone who does or we might decide to make something based on your suggestion.

For Sale
Manta Ray demo available for $17,500 or best offer.  See pictures in thegallery.  
You can contact Jim Simpson directly at 360-321-4122  for details about this very nice car.    

From the photo files:    

     Visit our Italia,, Accessories and
  
  Miami Roadster galleries for pictures from proud 

owners.  If you own an Italia, Manta Ray or SDD-modified Miata 

and would like to see your car here on this website, send us 

some pictures!  We'll be delighted to add you to the alumni.   

     If you have questions or just want to talk about cars or 

accessories feel free to give us a call.

Remember - 
you don't have to be satisfied with a stock Miata!  

Happy top-down motoring!     
                                                             Jim Simpson
     
Thanks for stopping by!