TEEN'S DREAM KEEPS COMING TRUE; 1957 JAGUAR COZZI SPECIAL.(NEWS)

Byline: LARRY EDSALL

NOW RETIRED AFTER a successful engineering career, Dan Cozzi dreamed as a teen of building his own race car, one of the so-called road-racing specials that would take part in West Coast sports-car competition.

Cozzi's interest in things mechanical started early. Years before the term "mountain bike was coined, Cozzi was equipping his 12-speed with knobby tires to make it more versatile. Next, he dissected a motor scooter. At 13, he rode in neighbor Bill Nielson's Model A hi-boy hot rod and started bugging his father about building one of his own.

Cozzi's father persuaded him to hone his skills first, so Cozzi found a Ford flathead V8 in a junkyard, took it apart and rebuilt it to running condition.

As he reached driving age, Nielson bought a used MG TC and invited Cozzi to help modify it. With money saved from part-time jobs, Cozzi bought his own TC and then a 1941 Ford Business Coupe.

But his dream was unfulfilled until, at age 18, he talked his parents into letting him take a one-term sabbatical from college to build his car. Nielson suggested using mechanicals from a Jaguar XK120. Cozzi found a wrecked Jag coupe with the more powerful 180-hp M engine.

Nielson drew out a tubular chassis with an X-frame support, and Cozzi went to work on construction. He completed a rolling chassis before he had to return to class. Nielson persuaded well-known California coachbuilder Jack Hagemann to hand-form aluminum body panels for the teen's special.