A blast from the past . . .
Posted: Mon May 20, 2019 11:44 pm
I had all but forgotten about this one until accidentally running across a Youtube clip tonight:
https://youtu.be/UGG8wHcVd-c
It belonged to a friend of mine (Chuck H.) He left it behind when he transferred. He wanted to turn it into a one of a kind outlaw. I stored it for him for a few months and did a little body work on it in 1989. My memory of it is fading, but a a few details I remember about the car (not sure how he came across the Porsche body). The pans had already rusted into oblivion, as most of the rest of the structural part of the body. The chassis was a running driving 1968 VW beetle bare chassis that was used as a runaround cart at a local golf course that he acquired for next to nothing. He positioned the body onto the pan and welded sheet metal strips the at the appropriate places to mate them together. From the exterior, it looked fairly proper and was a somewhat rigid assembly. He had me "French" the taillights. I fabbed oval sheet metal boxes to size and recessed them into the body, using 1950 Buick twin beehive lenses, with the tips flush with the contour of the body. I also cut the sides and bottom edge for a recessed license plate and pushed the rear center inward about 2" and welded a perimeter frame for it. I welded up all the front turn signal and horn vent holes and ground them flush. He had a pair of vintage Rossi style headlights with integrated turn signals in the lower brim. My favorite part was the split window rear window (which Porsche never made). He cut the frame from a 1938 Buick (if I recall correctly) and had new flat glass made for it, no rubber seal, just black butyl caulk to bed them. The fit and contour of the Buick split window looked almost "factory"
If I recall, the gauges were from an Alfa, seats from a 70's vintage Saab. I forget what the steering wheel was from, perhaps original?. It would have been a cool project if taken to completion. Chuck's true love of cars was Studebaker Hawks. I sold him my flatbed trailer and he towed a cherry Golden Hawk back to Maine, and that's the last I saw of him and the Porsche. I regretfully fell out of touch with him and do not know if he still has the Porsche.
https://youtu.be/UGG8wHcVd-c
It belonged to a friend of mine (Chuck H.) He left it behind when he transferred. He wanted to turn it into a one of a kind outlaw. I stored it for him for a few months and did a little body work on it in 1989. My memory of it is fading, but a a few details I remember about the car (not sure how he came across the Porsche body). The pans had already rusted into oblivion, as most of the rest of the structural part of the body. The chassis was a running driving 1968 VW beetle bare chassis that was used as a runaround cart at a local golf course that he acquired for next to nothing. He positioned the body onto the pan and welded sheet metal strips the at the appropriate places to mate them together. From the exterior, it looked fairly proper and was a somewhat rigid assembly. He had me "French" the taillights. I fabbed oval sheet metal boxes to size and recessed them into the body, using 1950 Buick twin beehive lenses, with the tips flush with the contour of the body. I also cut the sides and bottom edge for a recessed license plate and pushed the rear center inward about 2" and welded a perimeter frame for it. I welded up all the front turn signal and horn vent holes and ground them flush. He had a pair of vintage Rossi style headlights with integrated turn signals in the lower brim. My favorite part was the split window rear window (which Porsche never made). He cut the frame from a 1938 Buick (if I recall correctly) and had new flat glass made for it, no rubber seal, just black butyl caulk to bed them. The fit and contour of the Buick split window looked almost "factory"
If I recall, the gauges were from an Alfa, seats from a 70's vintage Saab. I forget what the steering wheel was from, perhaps original?. It would have been a cool project if taken to completion. Chuck's true love of cars was Studebaker Hawks. I sold him my flatbed trailer and he towed a cherry Golden Hawk back to Maine, and that's the last I saw of him and the Porsche. I regretfully fell out of touch with him and do not know if he still has the Porsche.