Goodbye Old Friend

[Dusty]

Had to say goodbye to an old friend last Thursday. It's been cluttering up the garage for the last few years and waking babies every time we fired it up.

Dusty

[bossel]

What car is this?

[KevinBarrett]

It is a "kit car" in the likeness of a Porsche 917 (one of the hansomest race cars in history). What it is based on remains a question, however, I suspect it is a VW Beetle. Dusty, am I right?

[Dusty]

Kevin, you're right. Here's the story behind that car.

When I was a teen, the Porsche 917 was the fastest and winningest car in the world. A few years later, Elite Enterprises offered a kit car that looked like it. Take a VW Beetle, strip off the body and put on the fiberglass body. It was a lot of work, as the new body wasn't an exact slip-on, and there was a lot of cutting and fitting of panels and parts. I bought the manual - $35 in 1980 - with the thoughts of someday getting one. Instead, in 1981, I went to Brazil for a couple of years. When I returned, I was too busy doing other things, and the book sat in a corner.

Fast Forward 2 decades - a friend adopts 6 kids from Romania. One of the boys wants to be a mechanic, and I agree to tutor him, as I was a good one, but had switched careers. We start with a Ford Escort, but it's boring to him. I find my old book mildewing in the basement and talk to his Dad. We look on-line, and find that there are still unfinished kits available from those who never completed one, but the company is out of business. I find a BARGAIN priced on in Pennsylvania, and happen to be going that way soon.

I look at it and make an immediate deal. The original owner thought the VW motor too tame, so he swapped in a Buick V-6. The guy who we bought it from thought that too tame, so he had one of the race motor manufacturers build a Grand National racing V-6. The problem was, he still had the original V-6's radiator in it, and it would overheat after only 15 minutes. About that time he also married, and it sat for 7 years in a barn.

The radiator you see hanging on the back is a custom $800 all aluminum racing job, built to handle 800 HP. With shielding and ducting from the body scoops, it keeps things cool. That's my custom welded frame to mount it and get it to fit the tight area. After several years hosting it in my basement, and trying to get the kids to work on it, Mom and dad split, along w/ the funds to keep going, and the need to re-coop the investment for other needs.

Too bad, as all we really needed to do was just a bit of body work, new seats and wiring, and he could sell it for 2 -3 times what it will bring otherwise.

At least now my garage has room for the riding mower!

Dusty