1996 Reynard 96I

Offered by Mecum | Monterey, California | August 17-29, 2023

This is what race cars are supposed to look like. Team Rahal Reynards. The main chassis producers for the 1996 Champ Car season were Reynard and Lola. Team Rahal ran Reynard 96Is for Bobby Rahal and Bryan Herta, the latter of whom drove the Shell-liveried car you see here.

Back in the day, these were powered by a Mercedes/Ilmor 2.7-liter V8. This one is currently engineless. Unfortunately no competition history is provided for this chassis, but the catalog insinuates (a bit disingenuously) that this was the car involved in “The Pass” by Alex Zanardi at Laguna Seca.

Anyway, even without an engine this remains a fine example of the glory days of Champ Car. It has an estimate of $50,000-$80,000, and you can find out more about it here.