Besasie Chevrolet Accessories

After reading the Cad Fins thread, I wanted to post an advertisement I have for a man whom I respect named Ray Besasie. If you don't have anything positive to say please do not respond. Hope you enjoy!

That 'Turbo-Supercharger' sounds interesting.

After seeing the Milwaukee address in the ad, I googled Ray Besasie and realized that I had actualy seen one of his cars parked at what I recall as a Texaco station somewhere on Oklahoma avenue not far from the Excalibur plant in West Allis, WI. I may even have taken a photograph of the car, but knew absolutely nothing about it until now. Thanks for the post.

Larry that is cool. Ray built 4 cars total, one had tiller steering. He was Brooks Stevens personal mechanic and his son's Ray Jr and Joe also worked for him. They helped Ray build the cars. The first and my favorite being the Besasie Barracuda. The Turbo Supercharger was started in 1939 and was actually adapted to more than just the Chevy 6 engine. Juan Fangio is said to have used one in the early South American Pan Am races in one of his Chevys before switching over to a Wayne 12 Port.

I have a set of those add on fins, very close if not exact but they are packed away in my Hershey stuff. Should anybody want a set, for $50 plus shipping I'll bring them out.

I have a set of those add on fins, very close if not exact but they are packed away in my Hershey stuff. Should anybody want a set, for $50 plus shipping I'll bring them out.

PM sent

Heres a 1941 picture, a 32 Ford Roadster, may be a Willys 4 cylinder or a Ford 4 cylinder? Winfield Carb. Early adaption of Besasie turbo supercharger.

I am no expert on turbochargers or superchargers. And I cannot see this picture very well, but it would appear to be a turbo charger (exhaust driven). I thought superchargers are mechanically driven.

They are all superchargers. A tubocharger is just a type of supercharger. All thumbs are digits, but not all digits are thumbs

Turbo Supercharger is an old aviation term that Besasie also coined. The turbo supercharger does indeed function like a turbocharger, driven by exhaust gases, not belt driven.

THAT IS A BEAUTIFUL CAR. Is it based on a Chevrolet?

Ben

The Besasie Barracuda may be on a '53 Corvette Frame. When first built it sported a Corvette 235 motor with the triple carb side draft intake.

They are all superchargers. A tubocharger is just a type of supercharger. All thumbs are digits, but not all digits are thumbs

Good to learn correct terminology.

The Besasie Barracuda may be on a '53 Corvette Frame. When first built it sported a Corvette 235 motor with the triple carb side draft intake.

I believe the Barracuda (X-1) is on a 53 corvette frame. The last I heard, it is undergoing restoration somewhere in Michigan. The X-2 is lost and possibly destroyed. The last pictures or the X-2--which had a Cadillac engine & transmission BEHIND the driver--were taken in an impound yard in Skokie, IL in the early 70's. If anyone knows more about the location of the X-2, I would be very interested.

The X-3 Explorer is currently in my shop undergoing restoration. http://www.retrocom.com/retromilw/besasie.htm. Follow this link--you may have to paste it into the address bar of your browser--for pictures of all the cars.

The last I heard of the X-4, it is in a barn/garage somewhere in Jefferson County, WI.

If anyone in SE Wisconsin is interested in helping me restore the X-3, I would welcome the assistance, especially since it needs rewiring and I'm very inept when it comes to electrical things.

Ran across the name Besasie in the site. In the spring of 1950 my dad bought a Besasie Turbochager and installed it with a great deal of effort on our 1940 family Chevrolet. I was 15 and learned to drive on it. Besasie was very bright and could do almosdt anything imaginable with his hands, but kind of off-the-wall. The unit as it came required hours and hours to make it work with any reliability. The poured babbit rod bearings (used by Chevrotet thru 1952!) required frequent attention.

I learned to drive with this car. It was faster than any flathead Ford in town. My dad took it off shortly after I g ot my license(no surprise) and sold it thru an ad in Hot Rod magzine.

I have photos of the installation. If anyone is interested i can find and scan/post.

Going back further, my dad was friends with Joe Jagerberger, who manufactured and sold RaJo OHV heads for model T Fords in the teens and 20s. Ra for Racine, WI and Jo for Joe. Joe came this country from Austria for M-B cars and later went to work for Case, who made cars early on but went to tractors later. He drove in the first Indy 500 for Case. I used to visit him with my dad. Joe died in 1952 and I have his obit, again "somwhere". Can probably dig it out if anyone is interested

Both scans would be very welcome to see, thank you.

On 12/21/2021 at 10:44 PM, JFranklin said:

Both scans would be very welcome to see, thank you.

 

I cannot figure lout how to attach the photos. Can you help? Could attach to e-mail if I had address.

6 hours ago, Don Kueny said:

I cannot figure lout how to attach the photos. Can you help? Could attach to e-mail if I had address.

If you have the photo up in a folder, just click and hold on the photo in the photo and drag it to the blue box below your text.