Built by Drauz in Heilbronn this car is the rarest of the production Porsche 356 models ever manufactured for a full year. The Convertible D was meant to be a “weekend racer” and was built with a removable windshield among other significant differences from the Speedster.
Talk about a complex paint job. This will be a replica of the graphics that BMW puts on their bikes with vinyl stickers but done in the paint for a much better finish.
The key differences between the Speedster and the Convertible D are the windscreen, rear window, rear cowl, side windows, door pockets, seats, convertible top and boot, and badging.
The father of the Lloyd was Carl Borgward, one of Germany’s more ambitious automotive entrepreneurs. His company now known as the Borgward Group produced cars of four brands, which were sold to a diversified international customer base: Borgward, Hansa, Goliath and Lloyd.
The Lloyd Alexander featuring a four-speed gear-box was offered, in parallel with the Lloyd 600, between 1957 and 1961. One difference visible from the outside was that the Lloyd Alexander included an opening hatch into the rear luggage locker, whereas drivers of the Lloyd 600 had to reach behind the rear seat in order to access the luggage locker.
This shortened design of BMW’s New Class Sedans has become a cult classic and is still as well regarded as when it was released. This example has sat dormant in the state of Hawaii until it was brought to mainland and is now starting a restoration.
What is cooler than an air-cooled Porsche 356! Seeing the freshly rebuilt original numbers matching engine going back into the 1959 Porsche 356 A 1600 Convertible D by Drauz is very cool. It is a 1,582 cc OHV air-cooled horizontally opposed four-cylinder 1600S engine with dual Solex carburetors.
One of just 473 built this special Porsche 356 succeeded the Drauz built Porsche Convertible Ds. Founded in 1805 D’Ieteren is still in the automotive business today.
Now painted back to the original Ravenna Green color this Ghia shows off the body lines well. Needing just about all of sheetmetal replaced from the doors down this car has been rescued to live on for many more years.
Removing the racing seats and installing a set of plaid buckets into this 1980 Porsche 911 makes all the difference in the interior. It is now not only functional but stylish.
The engine for the 1966 Volkswagen Beetle has finally arrived from GEX International and this extra power from the dual port heads should be a huge improvement. GEX offers a 36 month warranty on this engine and claim they have run them all on the bench before shipping.
Before: 1973 Volkswagen Karmann Ghia. Ran when parked but that was 30 years ago! Although rust has taken hold of this car it is complete and has the very rare dealer installed air conditioning. Look for faster than normal progress on this one as we have a deadline.
We have had the DynoJet for just shy of a year now and by the end of the year it will have seen a fair share of interesting makes and models. The DynoJet is great for much more than just finding out how much power or torque a car makes. You can analyze the fuel to air mixture, ignition condition, finding leaks, engine break-in, and even aero dynamic effects on gearing.
With the fab shop shut down for the holiday it is a good time to share a glimpse of what we are doing in there. Media blasting, powder coating, metal forming, and welding all happen in this room. We stock around fifty colors of powder and will do from a single part for a walk-in customer to supply production parts for machine shops and manufacturers.
The parts have been rolling in for the Beetle and it is easy to see changes day by day now. The new black cloth interior is going to compliment the orange paint job completing the great look on this Volkswagen.
Porsche had the early cars built by various coach companies for them. In this picture Porsches built by Reutter Karosserie, Drauz Karosserie, Karmann, and Porsche AG in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen are all represented.
Built by Drauz in Heilbronn this car is the rarest of the production Porsche 356 models ever manufactured for a full year. The Convertible D was meant to be a “weekend racer” and was built with a removable windshield among other significant differences from the Speedster.
After a lot of work the engine is rebuilt in the Porsche 911 and it is ready for many more miles of driving. Broken head studs were the first indication the engine needed to come apart on this one. 1987 was the first year the 911 got the Getrag G50 unit with improved synchromesh.
Today a new crate engine arrived from JCS Volks Machine for a 1969 Volkswagen Beetle that we have sorting out. The engine arrives almost complete, just add an air cleaner and exhaust, mount your clutch and then bolt it up!
There are parts of a project car that can be a mystery. The owner of this Buggy got the car most of the way and we worked out the last bits to make it stop and go.
