'52 Kab

The freezing snowy weather is back, and not too much has been happening in the O.O.C workshop.

So we thought we would show some photo's of R.C.'s '52 kab before and during the bodywork process.

You boy's don't know how lucky you are, being able to work outside in the sun the whole year round ;-)

Frode's Blog

While surfing we found yet another cool Norwegian Blog, Frode Algrøy's Blog.

We do love a Split ;-)

Type 80

We all know the Types 60, 64K10, 166, 82E but what about the Type 80?

This was the vehicle developed to break the land speed record prior to WWII. Although it is a Mercedes-Benz race car, the body is by Porsche, with a target speed of 600 km/h (373 mph).

By late 1939, when the project was finished, the target speed was now an eye watering 750km/h (465mph). The land speed record attempt was planned to take place on German soil and Hitler envisioned the T80 as another propaganda triumph of German technological superiority. The attempt was set for January 1940, although the outbreak of war prevented the T80 run.

By 1939 the T80 was completed at a cost of RM 600,000 and was powered by a massive 44.5 litre, Daimler-Benz DB 603 inverted V12 motor, derived from the DB 601 which powered the Messerschmitt Bf 109. The DB 603 was the third generation prototype and tuned to an amazing 3000hp running on a mixture of methyl alchol (63%), benzene (16%), ethanol (12%), acetone (4.4%), nitrobenzolo (2.2%), avgas (2%) and ether (0.4%) with methanol water injection for charge cooling and boost pressure.

The powerful engine ran the two rear axels for maximum traction, at a weight of 2.7 ton and 8 meters long this is a beast and needed all 3000hp together with the aerodynamics to attain the projected speed of 750 km/h.

The vehicle had been unofficially nicknamed Schwarz Vogel (Black Bird) by Hitler and was to be painted in German nationalistic colours complete with German Adler (Eagle) and Hakenkreuz (Swastika). But with the beginning of WWII the engine was removed and the T80 put into storage.

The T80 survived WWII and now resides in the Mercedes-Benz museum in Stuttgart, so if you plan on visiting the new Porsche Museum, the Mercedes-Benz museum is only a few kms down the road.

While you are there also be sure to check out the 300SLR, another famous Le Mans racer.

On the drawing board

We can see an end to these freezing cold dark days and the Springtime is just around the corner.

Attention is turning again back to thinking about improving our cars and future Oldspeed projects.

Don't try this at home!

We don't recommend that you try this at home

and won't be trying this on our cars ;-)

'54 sunroof welding pt7

After some modification, the heater channel now fits perfectly with the bottom.

There is a story there also;

Having already used one of our sets of NOS heater channel bottoms on the '51 restoration, we were having second thoughts to use the other set we have and at this time only the half section repair was available.

So, we contacted hooky of hooky's panels and sent him our NOS ones as a master for him to start reproducing exact copies.

This way we got to keep our NOS ones and had some exact copies to use also everyone else now had access to perfect replacements.

Three birds with one stone, as they say

Happy Motoring

Should you be driving along in your Split window or Barndoor and need to visit your nearest VW dealer.

Just reach for your Dealer network service map......

Little Bastard

Was Dean really driving the "little Bastard" on that tragic day and was the car cursed?

We are not really into conspiracy theories, but if you wish to watch the whole TV documentary, you can here.

For Mac users, you will need to borrow a PC to view it :-(

Summer dreaming

In these freezing cold, snowy days, we can't wait until the Spring and we can bring our cars out of the garage again........

Together again (nearly)

One of our "Overseas" members just sent us some photo's of the progress on his '52 cab.

The work is progressing very nicely, the pan is finished and the body freshly back from the painters.

The painter in question is no other than Art Himsl, a legend in the Hot Rod world as a custom painter and pin striper, he has painted guitars for Eddie Van Halen and cars for ZZ top.

As you see from the photo's some modifications have been made along the way.

The gearbox is a type 519 (preA) with speedster gearing inside, ZF steering box and 356 A brakes. This will all be driven along by Denzel power :-)

It's such a shame that you live over the other side of the water, we would love to put our L-R-L car up against your Denzel power, we're sure we would give you a good run for your money ;-)

Keep up the good work R.C and we look forward to more photo's of the progress in the near future.

The Clock is ticking

It's 2010, and the clock is ticking for the Le Mans Classic, which has become a perfect stop gap between H.O and B.C.

With only 189 days to go we thought we would wet your appetite with some articles from 1952 Les 24 Heures du Mans, Programme officiel.

After their successful class win in '51 Porsche returned again to the '52 event with three Gmünd SL cars, two entered in the 1100cc class and the third in the 1500cc.

Porsche went on again to win the 1100cc class and 11th overall with the car driven by Auguste Veuillet and Edmond Mouche completing 220 laps.

For the eagle eyed one's among us, you will have spotted the second Gmünd 1100cc car was driven by Huschke Von Hanstein and PeterMax Müller, but unfortunately they never completed the race, retiring after 6 hours with a broken gearbox.

The 1500cc Gmünd also DNF with a crash 5 hours before the end of the race.

As you can also see the track in '52 was the original, before it was altered around Maison Blanc and two chicanes were added to the Mulsanne straight.

See you there ;-)

Cooling Fins

For all those among us with Split's who would like to upgrade their brakes, but stay period correct, our friends over at Karmann Konnection have a solution.

51/52 Aluminium Brake Cooling Rings

A superb accurate copy of the original brake cooling rings ready to fit to VW or Porsche drums. Sold as a set of 4.

A exclusive product made by KK.

Happy Holidays

The OOC would like to wish all our friends & viewers Happy Holidays

Hopefully S.C. will deliver all your Oldspeed wishes.

Also we wish you happy Oldspeed parts hunting for 2010.

'54 sunroof welding pt6

The work carries on...........

AUTOMUSEUM PROTOTYP

If you are in Hamburg you must go to see the PROTOTYP museum

here is a sneak preview

Born to win

Giant Killer

On June 10, 1956, the company now known as Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, Stuttgart, celebrated one of its biggest and most important racing victories. Italian racecar driver Umberto Maglioli was the surprise overall winner in a Porsche 550 A Spyder at what was then the world's longest-standing and most difficult road race, the Targo Florio. The young company Porsche gained worldwide recognition with this victory, as it was the first time that a driver in a smaller racing class vehicle of up to two liters cylinder displacement managed to beat vehicles with a higher cylinder displacement. With an average speed of 90.9 m/h and a lead of nearly 15 minutes on the second place vehicle, Maglioli not only out-classed the competition but also assured the first overall victory for Porsche in the Brand World Championships.

This victory was made all the more surprising because of the fact that the Porsche 550 A Spyder only debuted eleven days before the Targa Florio at a 1,000-kilometer race on the Nürburgring. Spurred on by the victory in this class, Porsche's Head of Racing, Huschke von Hanstein, traveled to Sicily with driver Maglioli and two mechanics to test the open-top Spyder's competitiveness once again. In contrast to other road races of the time, routes were not closed during training, so the drivers always had to be prepared for traffic and obstacles. Furthermore, for the Stuttgart sports car manufacturer, it was the first time they took part in this legendary race as, at the time, the Targo Florio was seen as the territory of large Italian racing stables. Maglioli completed the 720-kilometer route without changing drivers in a time of 7:54.52 hours – and thanks to the reliability of his Porsche, only pulled in to the pit stop to refuel.

OOCRASA manifolds

Today we worked a little more on our OOCRASA heads.

We made some intake flanges and port matched them to the heads, in preparation for making the manifolds.

We have received a few emails about these heads, yes they were 30 hp single port heads to start with before we modified them, look back at the post on the heads and check the part number :-)

To elaborate a little more, 35.5mm and 32mm stainless intake & exhaust, 6mm stems, high rev springs and 12mm spark plugs.

12mm spark plugs are nothing new, we believe CB were the first to do this on their heads..........

Party treats

It's that time of year again, when everyone gets out their VW decorations for the xmas tree.

Here are our split window beetle decorations, made in the former DDR in the early '50's

In all our years of part hunting and collecting we have only ever found these five.

Although I don't think we will be hanging these on the tree, as they are not too child or pet friendly :-)

Xmas came early

After a top tip from our Norwegian friends, we had a 'Special delivery' today.

Now we too have some excellent reading for over the holiday period.

Filled with lots of early VW and Porsche stuff it's well worth a place on our bookshelf.

The only problem is, who gets to read it first........

More Cool Norwegian Blogs

While surfing the net we came across a couple more very cool Norwegian Blogs, be sure to check them out if you haven't already

Norwegian Hammerworks

These are the guy's responsible for 'Der Wiger Coupe' as seen at H.O and in the latest Volksworld magazine, nice work guy's ;-)

Norwegian Hammerworks

The Sechs Volt Garage

Another very cool Norwegian Blog showing what these guy's get up to in their garage with their splits, just what we like :-)

The Sechs Volt Garage

Master of Metal

Longtime friend of the OOC Seppe "Master of Metal" has been working his magic again.......

OOCRASA

Here at the OOC we have been working on one of our Top Secret Projects for a while now and at last it is finished.

Take single port 30ps heads weld them and then machine them and 'voila' a set of dual port OOCRASA heads, although we did scrap a few heads on the way to achieving our goal.

We will run these on our L-R-L car to see how they perform :-)

Another of our re-build's

S90

Due to another day of bad rainy weather, we had some time for more work on the new motor project for our L-R-L car.

now the case accepts an S90 cam nicely.......

Vintage Speed & Classic Racing Spirit

Nice French Blog, Vintage Speed and Classic Racing Spirit, lots of nice photo's of classic race cars, 906, 908, 910's as well as VW's..........

OKRASA info

Over at the Old Speed shack they have been posting some very nice Okrasa period literature, so we thought we would carry that on with some more Okrasa info......

Solex 40's

We've been looking for a set of 40PBIC's for a while now, for the new motor project for our L-R-L car and as I'm sure you know they are not that easy to find, at a reasonable price anyway.

We spotted these a little while ago and 'The Bachelor' worked out a deal so that we could obtain them at a fair price, complete with the correct air-filters.

Nice one 'B' ;-)

They are in real good condition, just very dusty from years of being stood on a shelf somewhere.

A new OG gasket kit and maybe change the standard 117.5 main jet to a 135 and they are ready to go :-)

R & R

After some quality R & R time our batteries are fully charged, ready to begin again on some of our projects.