Chavik Indy Roadster - Czech-built hot rod, taking So-Cal by storm

Walking around the car, Chavik exudes the maker’s pride of an Old-World guildsman. ‘I make the frame, I make the wheels, I make the intake, I make the linkages, I make the exhaust, I make everything.’ Under the centre-hinged bonnet, four polished Stromberg carburettors – where the hell did he get four Strombergs in the Czech Republic? – sit in a neat row where once the factory single-barrelCarterWD0did the asthmatic breathing. The gleaming Strombergs look like the sucker-shaped dorade boxes that bring air to the lower decks of a steam ship. Chavik rebuilt the engine himself (of course) and figures it makes around 200bhp, enough to give the 2000lb (c900kg) car real squirt.