It’s interesting how some visions transcend time. Lance Reventlow, the son of Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton, was a rich young man when he conceived of the Scarab, one of the most notable sports racing cars ever built in America.

 According to Preston Lerner’s book, Scarab, Reventlow reportedly inherited $25 million when he turned 21. He lived in Hollywood Hills, dated starlets and eventually married actress Jill St. John.

 The late 1950s were a time when sports-car racing was coming of age in Southern California and Reventlow was attracted. After racing in Europe, Reventlow returned to California in late 1957 and assembled a team of hot rodders to design and build a car that could humble the popular Ferrari and Maserati racers of the day. Dick Troutman and Tom Barnes constructed the Scarab. Eighteen-year-old design student Chuck Pelly drew up the body, and Von Dutch, the hot-rod painter, laid down the beautiful metallic blue paint and white scallops. Recently deceased Chuck Daigh played a key role as a driver and mechanic.

 Only three front-engined Scarab sports cars were built and they were winners immediately. Chassis No. 2, now owned by Augie Pabst Jr. of Oconomowoc, Wis., won the marque’s last victory in 1963.

 Reventlow walked away from racing after five years but his cars continued to win in the hands of private owners. Reventlow was killed in a plane crash near Aspen, Colorado, in 1972.

 To sports-car fans, Reventlow’s cars have an unrivaled magnetism amplified by the fact that so few were built.

 That magnetism has gripped Dick Kitzmiller of Prairie Village and Beth Schmidt of Roeland Park. They formed Scarab Motorsports LLC and began the arduous chore of recreating the Scarab. Kitzmiller is a car enthusiast who has completed a number of ground-up restorations but Schmidt is a relative newcomer to automobiles. She and Kitzmiller work together, and his enthusiastic conversations about the car piqued her interest. She began to do intensive research and the Scarab bug bit her as well. In 2003, she and Kitzmiller embarked on the dream that is just now coming to fruition. Their patience has resulted in a near-perfect copy of the original, albeit one that uses many state-of-the-art components.   

 Even though the new Scarab is built to race-car standards, it is intended for street use.

 Norm Kitzmiller, Dick’s brother from Scottsdale, Ariz., joined forces with them along with Don Devine, one of the original Scarab drivers from Chicago, and Pete Hinkel, of Phoenix.

 Kitzmiller and Schmidt initially tried hand-forming an aluminum body in Kitzmiller’s garage, but in the end they chose to have bodies manufactured by craftsmen in Poland. The truss-style frame is constructed like the original with 4130 chrome-moly tubing. Scarab Motorsports produces a a rolling chasiss, but Kevin Clark and Mark Richardson of KC Fabrications in Belton can assemble a complete car for customers.

 While the Scarab is sold without an engine, the one in the prototype is a fuel-injected Chevrolet V-8 like that in the original. Buyers can have the car in any color, and they must supply their own engine.

 Kansas might seem like an unlikely spot for the rekindling of Lance Reventlow’s vision, but years of work and the unrelenting enthusiasm of Kitzmiller and Schmidt has paid off. They plan to build a handful of cars each year. For information, call 913-262-6794.