The
Speedsterreplica is probably the most similar car compared to
its predecessor you
could
build . It has always been one of my favourite cars with its odd look, almost
like an egghalf or a bathtub . When a dusty Speedster appeared in the movie
"48
hours" and was brutally driven in "Top Gun" I couldn´t resist building my own
headturner . My
youngest brother owned a Beach Buggy a couple of years for which I´ve built an
engine to . Otherwise I had no prior experience in Vw:s and how to build cars .
In
autumn 1993 I found a 1300s –70 donor and a
Swedish supplier of bodywork . The
supplier "Roadline" also offers a replica of the Porsche 718 spyder and Lotus super 7 .
The donor was a disaster leaving nothing to spare except the tunnelframe and
identitynumber . The chassi was shortened 273 mm followed with new
floorpans and framehead . Every part was sandblasted, flamesprayed with zinc, and
painted . All other wearparts were bought new . The front suspension is
adjustable . Stock shockabsorbers mounted in front and gasshocks rear . I use the old narrow
drivingaxles and 5 bolt Vw drums flamesprayed with aluminium . Tires are Michelin
165 XZX 15 giving both an authentic look and a good perceiving feeling when
driving offensive .
After
two years of sporadic work in the
evenings I
collected the bodywork . It came with prehinged doors and hoods and
a fitted windscreen . I placed the body in the garden upside
down to make adjustments from under ,trimming edges ,moulding electrical tubes for
wiring etc . Neighbours stopped by and asked questions like “Have you bought a
boat” ? .
The
bodywork
was then bolted onto the chassi . A completely new electrical system was drawn
using a 6 volt scheme with 12 volt adjustments . All wiring were covered with
schrinktube .
Early
on I decided to build the ”late look” using teardrop taillights ,shineup
platelight and three large gauges
on the dashboard . After studying hundreds of photos showing both
original and replicas with different trimwork and appearances I was pretty
confused . I decided to pay attention only to photos showing absolutely original
cars with no modifications . Original Porsche parts would have been expensive
and hard to get hold of . Therefore I used as much Vw parts as possible true to the
timeperiod . Most details are
actually similar looking on both VW:s and Porsche in the 50:s .
The
interior was bought partly finished .
Seats are in leather upholstrey and doorpanels, dashboard upholstery are in vinyl .
During
winter 1998 a friend of mine who´s familiar with building raceengines and gearboxes completed a
1600 engine and a renovated gearbox
. The original Porsche 1600 super produced 75 hp, therefore the goal was to build
an engine nearby this performance . The engine is balanced with dual Solex
Kadron carburettors ,stock engineheads, Three angle valvejob, compression 8.9,
009 Bosch distributor and magnetoignitor
. Camshaft
is a Engle W110. The result was 80 hp . Pretty sufficient to 700 kg car .
The
gearbox came from a 1303s and its ratios are very close to the Speedster . All
gears has stockratios except 3:rd gear . 1,32 was used as of early 60:s
instead of later 1,26 ratio .
All replicas with tuned engines I´ve seen share
a common problem , missing a suitable exhaustsystem and a good groundclearance
. Therefore I replicated an original 356
muffler using stainless steel and
chromed endtipcovers .
The car was completed in spring 1999 and is a delight to drive . I´ve had the opportunity to try it on a racetrack and was surprised with how great the road-holding capabilities were even compared to modern cars . It gives great value to the money invested . A replica is also more userfriendly than the original . During the time of building the car I´ve got to know several replicaowners and suppliers . It´s a reward in every respect .
