Two Cool '57 Oval Sunroof Hot Rods

[John P]

OK, not Cal-Look, but still a hot rod using period parts...

Blue '57 Oval Sunroof



1957 Porsche 356 A Motor
Sport Muffler
Porsche 356 B brakes
Porsche 356 5.5" rims on Pirelli CN36 Tires on long studs with rear spacers

[John P]

Silver '57 Oval Sunroof

'57 356 Normal motor
Sport Muffler
356 wheels & brakes
Carrera-type louvers in rear decklid

[fiatdude]

I see nothing but red X's

[eduardocastrejon]

The exhaust in the 356 is beautiful , like carrera engine exhaust

the 356 drums and wheels in the beetle looks great, these are the dunlop drums ?

[ALB]

Red X's here too....

[John P]

Red X's here too....

I don't get why you're not seeing the images - anyone else having that problem? You don't have to be logged into the site where they are hosted to view them.

The exhaust in the 356 is beautiful , like carrera engine exhaust

the 356 drums and wheels in the beetle looks great, these are the dunlop drums ?

By "Dunlop drums" do you mean tires?

[Kathy Lachance Post]

Red X

[garyj]

I see 'em....But I have a question (with all due respect).

[John P]

Resized for those having trouble seeing them...

(Click directly on images to see larger versions.)

[John P]

More of the car above...

[John P]

Resized of the second car...

[nifty57]

Very cool!

[eduardocastrejon]

the car is beautiful !

By "Dunlop drums" do you mean tires?

Dunlop was the brand of racing brake drums used in 550 spyder and 356 before they swicth to ate disc brake

Porsche was one of the last, if not the last, European sports car maker to adopt disk brakes for its street models. The 1963 356B Carrera 2 featured four-wheel disks, simultaneous with the 6-cylinder 1963 901/911 (with 4-wheel disks) which was already in production. The 1964 356C's (last of the 356's) were disks all around.

Even the Porsche factory racer, the 550 and 550A's were drums all around, until the 1962 RSK's  got four-wheel disks. By comparison, Jaguars had introduced disk brakes on their racing C-Types in 1953, and the 1961 street E-Type was all disk.

Porsche had a reason for delaying intro of disk brakes. The big finned dunlop aluminum drums stopped the cars just fine even from racing speeds, they were lighter than the common commercial Dunlop-made ATE-design disks, and the rear drum handbrake system was simple and efficient. Plus, Porsche had its own disk brake design it thought superior to the ATE brakes, but the reality check was it was best to use ATE disks for parts compatibility and servicing.

[John P]

Yep, you know your Porsche history.

And I have no idea the actual manufacturer of the specific brakes on the two cars above. Thankfully, someone is now reproducing the drums, as originals were getting sketchy and $$$$.

There was an

Porsche was one of the last, if not the last, European sports car maker to adopt disk brakes for its street models.

Let's not forget Ferrari, who lagged (literally) behind the competition in switching to disc brakes. One of the memorable quotes attributed to Mr. Ferrari was a result of his race engineers pleading with him to adapt to disc brakes, because Jag, Aston Martin, etc. were kicking their butts in the braking department. Mr. Ferrari reportedly replied, "I make my cars to go; not to stop!"

 

[eduardocastrejon]

Let's not forget Ferrari,

1959 was the first year of ferrari (250tr)with disc brakes (dunlop disc brakes)

1960 250gt was the first street ferrari with discbrakes

[John P]

More

I remember when Stephan did a feature on this car for Ultra VW Magazine.

$100K engine in a $10K car. It makes no sense, and I love it.





LOVE the Vintage Tires

[eduardocastrejon]

I love this carrera engine (Fuhrmann), is a dream !

first 1500 carrera engine (100hp) have have 1 distribuitor per side in camshaft (4cams)

later, have 2 the distribuitor at crank like this one.
 Probably came from a carrera 2 356 (best 356)  2 liter engine. (130hp)

I never know about the carbs, what kind ? or model of weber are ? or solex ?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zu4TC4zoZL8&feature=related

[John P]

Yeah, I have been fascinated by 4 cams for 25 years. It is the most over-the-top, complicated way to get 25%-ish more horsepower out of the original Beetle-based 356 engine. Ernst Fuhrmann was a mad scientist.

From Wikipedia:

"Dr Ernst Fuhrmann (born Vienna 21 October 1918, died Teufenbach 6 February 1995) was the chairman of Porsche AG between 1972 and 1980. He was a German citizen.

Fuhrmann’s attended primary school in Vienna before progressing to a Grammar school. Between 1936 and 1941 he attended a technical high school. During the war he undertook his military service before returning to civilian life. Already in 1947 he was working for Porsche, initially at the Gmünd facility in Austria, relocating subsequently to Stuttgart.[1] In 1950, the year in which he married his wife Elfriede, he received his Doctorate of Machine Construction (des Maschinenbaus) for a study on valve trains in high-speed internal combustion engines.

In 1952/53 he provided significant input to the development of the 547 engine which became known as the Fuhrmann engine. The is a four cylinder boxer engine with two overhead camshafts, driven by bevel gears, for each of the two cylinder banks.

In 1956 Fuhrmann left Porsche and took over responsibility for development with the car parts company Goetze, where in 1962 he joined the board of directors.[1]

He returned to Porsche in 1971 initially as Technical Director, and between 1972 and 1980 as Chairman of the board at Porsche AG which by then had become a Share-holder owned company.[1] In 1977 he was grantted an Honorary Professorship by the Vienna University of Technology.[2] Joachim Zahn having been similarly honoured in 1973 by the regional government of Baden-Württemberg, this meant that both of Stuttgart's leading auto-makers were now headed up by professors.[2]

He was succeeded at Porsche by a German-American called Peter W. Schutz."





I'm not sure what specific carbs are the Beetle: I've seen these engines with Solex 40 PIIs and 44 PIIs, Weber 46 IDMs and 48 IDAs, and even Zeniths.

[eduardocastrejon]

Last 4 cylinder 904 engine have more than 180 hp

[Eric Harris]

Very cool!

Thank you for posting this.

Eric

[jgerock]

I've always been fascinated by the 4-cam Carrera engine.  Here is a nice example at the San Diego Auto Museum in 2009 (Balboa Park)

[eduardocastrejon]

Yeah, I have been fascinated by 4 cams for 25 years. It is the most over-the-top, complicated way to get 25%-ish more horsepower out of the original Beetle-based 356 engine. Ernst Fuhrmann was a mad scientist.

I always believe that this engines came in 1500 and 2 liter but I'm wrong
came in 1098,1300,1498,1500,1587,1678, 1708,1760 and 1966cc

Impresive the 1962 1587cc  66 x87.5  165hp at 7800 rpm, more than 100 hp per liter in 1962 !
An the last one 1964 in porsche elva  1966cc  74 x 92 185hp at 7200rpm

the rare carbs that I wondering what type are ? , was weber DCM









My personal favorite is the 356 c 1965 carrera 2 with sunroof

[lawrence]

John I dig the changes you have made to your car. The cars you posted above are very cool. The blue oval especially. I really like road race/rally type beetles, but I am not a huge fan of the fog lights, headlight grills and whatnot because it's almost trying too hard to be porsche. I suppose all the race cars in those days had those accessories, but I make an effort not to stray too far from the VW charm. I modified my car similar to these when I got tired of the big and little tire combo. My vintage parts are 356 lemmerz, everything else is newer stuff that looks old. I love my 1914, but sometimes I think about ditching it for a nicely detailed 1641 or Wolfsburg West Okrasa kit. Some speedster seats would be nice too because they are vintage and hold the driver much more firmly when compared to stock beetle seats. Anyways, cool thread...

[John P]

Lawrence,

Sounds cool - post some pics of your ride.

Yeah, your point is well taken, as there is a difference between emulating period rally/race cars and pretending that you have a Porsche. I've trying to be inspired by the former, although I can appreciate the later.

I've been thinking about putting an aluminum Speedster driver's seat in my car, but it would be tricky to match the original interior (see pic).



I think that Speedster seat with brown vinyl sides and the cloth pattern insert would look sweet. BTW, VW called this combination Gazelle Brown. It makes me laugh, the work gazelle being associated with a stock VW.  

[javabug]

Nice brown floor mat. My car had Gazelle interior originally, but the carpets and mat were gone by the time I got it.

Now I feel like I HAVE TO have a brown mat!

[John P]

Nice brown floor mat. My car had Gazelle interior originally, but the carpets and mat were gone by the time I got it.

Now I feel like I HAVE TO have a brown mat!

Brown is the new sexy! 

One reason that the interior has held up so well over the last 44 years is that the original owner ran seat covers and floor mats over the floor mats. Total OCD, and I thank her every time I clean the interior. 

I would love to find a swatch of original (NOS or good used) gazelle brown that I could use on a Speedster seat.