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The
Dio:
historical
background
In 1960 two
grassroots amateur racers named Bill Ames and Dewey Brohaugh
collaborated to build a modified racer from their TR-3 race car.
They started by fashioning a plaster plug that resembled a cross
between a Lister Jag and "Birdcage" Maserati (so labeled
because of the resemblance of the monocoque chassis to a typical
birdcage). These cars were well known and popular at that time
but were affordable only by a few wealthy racers.
Since
Bill and Dewey knew little about fiberglass they contacted Jim
Carter in Minneapolis (Minnesota, USA); at first Jim didn't lunge
for the opportunity, since Bill and Dewey at that time didn't
have the wherewithal to fund the project.
But
Carter eventually concluded "What the hell" and built
the mold for them, and the first few body kits. Bill and Dewey
built and raced the first car, built on their Triumph TR-3 chassis.
At last the first "Ambro" was born. Forty or fifty
body kits followed; the finished cars were built on everything
from a modified '55 Chevy chassis to a VW Beetle pan. Bill and
Dewey then sold the molds to Jerry Scrabeck. Scrabeck sold several
more bodies, one shipped to the Rock of Gibraltar on the Iberian
Peninsula. He eventually sold the molds to an unknown individual
who inadvertently destroyed them when he attempted to make a
body from them. The saga of the Dio could have ended right there.
Bill
Bonadio Jr. had located car number one after it had traded hands
several times in the early 1970s. Wanting it badly but unable
to afford it, he kept track of it until it reached the hands
of a friend of his. Bill's friend thought that it was a real
Birdcage Maserati because one of the previous owners referred
to the car as his "Maser(ati)". After discovering it
was an Ambro, he began a long search to find Bill Ames. Ames
was located in Elizabethtown, New York and was advised that his
first car was located intact. You would've thought he just found
his long-lost brother. Bill Ames wanted to buy the car back but
was unable to afford his now-collectable vintage race car. So
Ames began his search for one of his other cars and came across
an original body that had been stashed away in a farmer's barn
in Minnesota for some 30-odd years. Ames thought he would fix
the old shell and make a mold from it and market the kits again.
But at his age, now in his 60s, he lacked the energy and finances
to undertake such a project. Bill Bonadio Jr. had been keeping
in touch with Ames, hoping to be a dealer. When Ames decided
to not proceed with his plans, Bonadio tackled the project himself,
with Ames becoming his dealer. Now renamed "The Dio,"
Bonadio paid a royalty to Ames. After Bonadio built the mold
he sent the original shell back to Ames, who completed a replica
of his first car, using the original shell and an early Triumph
chassis.
In
January of 1990 the first car out of the new mold was built on
a full-tube chassis using hand-built front control arms, a 4-link
9" Ford live-axle in the rear with coilovers and disc stoppers
on all four corners. The car has a basically-stock 302"
Ford small-block V8 outputting about 250 hp, a C4 automatic
and a 3:50 Posi rear. It has run mid-12s in the quarter mile
with street rubber and closed exhaust, clocking 0-60 in 4.5 seconds.
With nitrous oxide the car has run 10.9s at 126 mph! Bonadio
and his company Classic Antique Replicar Specialist (CARS) is
offering the Dio-Ambro once again. Body kits start at only $2495.
You can build your Dio on your choice of several existing production-car
chassis (for a sampling of your chassis choices, see the Jack
Ashcraft line drawings on the chassis page) for as little five
or six thousand dollars, or you can opt for a CARS custom-tube-chassis
model and spend a total of from $10k to $20k. Several clubs have
approved the cars for vintage and wheel-to-wheel racing. And
of course the car makes a great solo car. The car can also be
used as a street car but is appropriate only for sunny weather
since it has no top. Bill Ames and Bill Bonadio had a great relationship
until Ames was overcome from cancer and passed away. Bill Bonadio
and his company now own all the rights to the Ambro name and
are marketing this beautiful driving machine under the "Dio"
logo.
The
Type 61 boasts marvelous coachwork. But wait 'til you examine
the lineup of available underpinnings. The hot-linked 3D Jack
Ashcraft chassis drawing below will accelerate you to a page
that displays and describes a sampling of your choices of chassis
and drivetrains for your Dio.
and
a show-winner Dio
by Roberto Costa...
Above: frontal
view of "Best-of-Show" award (Knott's Berry Farm Show,
1999). This seductive show-winner was represents the craftsmanship
of Roberto Costa of Las Vegas, Nevada. Roberto built his Dio
upon his own "Costa-designed" chassis, fitted with
a Mazda Rotary powerplant and drivetrain. It's a screamer, as
well as a Best-of-Show award winner. If you've ever built a street
rod, a race car or a kit car from the ground up, you'll find
building your Dio a cinch! Roberto built this beauty for a little
over $7500 invested, including the basic body kit!
 The
Dio Tipo chassis & price list page
...We make
seductive bodies and one sassy chassis...
Classic
Antique Replicar Specialist
10712-D
North May Avenue
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73120 USA
(405)
755-5522
email:
tipo61@aol.com
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