What the heck is this? I’ve looked at a lot of kit cars in my time, and I don’t ever remember seeing a body like this, but I think that has to be what this is. It’s located in Vernon, Texas and is offered for sale here on eBay. Bidding is starting at $3,800 with no reserve.
You sure can’t call this a replica of anything, can you? I know the windshield is from an MGB, but other than that I can’t place anything on this car (other than the Volkswagen Beetle drive train, of course). What were these folks thinking of? Is this a one-off? It certainly seems to be done to a higher standard than most if it is, but I still can’t believe someone finished a one-off out of fiberglass to this standard.
I’m not sure what the pop up lights are from, or how exactly they work–where did the covers go? And what’s the idea with the black sort of stripe on the hood? The turn signal lights in the front look like they are from something much more modern, but anything I thought it might be didn’t pan out after a bunch of Google searches.
Badged in the rear as a Porsche “Wannabe”, it’s obvious that whomever finished it off had a good sense of humor as well! I would really like to know the story behind this one! Are those Chevrolet tail lights?
The seller tells us the interior could stand to be redone, and I’d certainly want to understand what appears to be a tilt away steering wheel. That being said, it doesn’t look that bad to me. Weird, yes, but not bad.
The engine appears to be nothing particularly special, but the owner claims to have driven it around their town. I’m asking seriously–would you drive this car? And have any of you seen or heard of this before? What’s it really called?
Porsche wannabe? More like a 356 that’s melted in the front and back after someone left it all day in the sun.
I would love to drive this especially after I put in a hopped up Suburu motor in there!
The headlight covers are laying against the back of the headlights and he did such a nice job they almost disappear when closed.
Not bad, especially with the headlights closed. I’ve seen a LOT worse kit car design.
Is there part of an inverted boat hull grafted in?
MG Midget windshield
Very different looking but, seems to be done well.
Very well done whatever it is, for sure, but with those headlights up it looks like a fish. Think I’d just drive it in the day light so I wouldn’t have to use them.
It looks like a sectioned VW to me.
Yeah I agree vince and I like it.
MGB windshield and vent windows.
Obviously VW kit car, but I have never seen anything like it. I wonder what’s between the front seat and the motor. It seems like they could have sectioned the pan , and made it shorter. The headlights are amazing, nice work, I just don’t get it.
With the headlights closed you can’t tell whether it is coming or going.
Putting something on to fill the wheel wells would be the first improvement…
Wonder what size motor is that ?
Or did l just over read the size of it ?
“It may be strange,but it sure id weird”.
I think with some wider low profile rubber and some real chrome rims instead of those cheap hubcaps over steelies, it could actually look pretty classy. That back end beats the heck out of any Bradley GT kit car that’s for sure.
But the perfectionist side of me is annoyed that there is a big air scoop on the passenger side in front of the rear tire, most likely functional for that engine, but nothing on the driver’s side. What the heck? Why not put in another one even if it’s not functional.
Some nice appearing woodwork, at least in the photos.
The swing-away steering wheel is a nice touch.
This is certainly different!
Why not ask the guy who’s selling it?
Front turn signals out of a 240Z.
Thank you! I knew I had seen them somewhere!
It’s weird but it’s not wrong. The more I look at it the more I like it.
That puts the f in fugly.
Who ever created this ” Thing ” has an extremely high level of skill and talent in fusing together so many various components. It’s like they used a VW frame and drive train and partial body to anchor everything to after they cut away the areas they didn’t need. They also had to design the actual fiberglass body over lay. So what I am wondering is was the person who came up with this one of those guys who sculpts a body out of clay. Then sprays a hardened coat over it so they can create the molds required to produce it. Perhaps it was a school of design project created by a team and this is the end result. Executed with limited resources and tooling. Truly a mystery at this point. I admire the skill required to make it just not the end result of the final product. Did you notice the rear passenger side air scoop to provide cooling for the engine? That is almost an aerospace feature. Then the wood panels on the interior are boat tech as well as the lines in the body. It reminds me of an upside down speed boat hull with an air boat nose. LMAO.
I know a guy who grafted a Porsche 914 rear to a Honda Gold Wing to make a trike. Looked great till you opened the engine cover. Then the magic was GONE! Terrible craftsmanship. But he rode it everywhere. And made a second one with a Karmann Ghia. He also had a big old Mercedes on a Chrysler frame with big block. He was weird. He’d look out into the yard and wonder “what if” a lot. A friend bought his shoptruck – 59 Apache on a 70’s (?) New Yorker frame and drivetrain. With Honda Accord seats (ugh). It’s a nightmare to figure out complnents but then gets easy at the parts counter.
The headlight mechanisms are very likely from a ’80s RX7. Immediately reminded me of the ones on my ’83. Car looked really fabulous with them “off” (down), sort of frog like with “on” (up). You could also raise them to clean them or replace the sealed beam light. Also there was a hand-crank built into the side of the mechanism if there was a “glitch” in the system or one was frozen. Lots of engineering money to get around the then silly headlight and headlight height laws. Back to car…”bustle” looks Bentley-esk, front sort-of RX7ish, sans bumper. Neither worst, nor best VW “custom” I’ve seen.
Beautiful,not fugly. Would love to see roof on it. There are snaps on rear deck for same. Any idea what vintage dub engine inside.
1. I suspect the passenger area is in fact a basic MGB, not just windshield & vent windows, but MGB cowl, doors & side panels, all mounted to the VW chassis.
2. In looking at the swooping interior dash paneling, I suspect that it’s not real wood, but a fiberglass panel that has either had a woodgrain pattern created, or they used the same technique & materials as used on 1960’s & 70’s wagons [I believe it was called Di-Noc plastic sheeting]
This car was built in 1986 by Ward O. Curtis, Florida.
It’s been offered for sale on Craigslist in 2012 and ebay in 2014.
I like it! Sure beats the earlier faux 930.