Have you always dreamed of owning a supercar, say something like a Ford GT40, but can’t justify spending several million dollars on one? Well, this Fiberfab Valkyrie might not be exactly like a GT40, but considering it’s just $7,500 and looks just as radical, it might be the perfect option! It’s riding on a Fiberfab built tubular chassis with a mid-mounted V8 with a 4-speed manual. There’s definitely some work to be done to make it an exceptional car, but it looks like it could a fun machine to have! It’s currently in Rochester, New York and comes with a clean New York title. If you’re interested in giving it a new home, be sure to contact Bill via the form below.
Fiberfab introduced the Valkyrie in 1967, but this body was made in 1971. It wasn’t finished until 1978, which is quite common in the kit car world, and so it is registered as a ’78 rather than a ’71. The early Valkyries were a bit shorter and look in my opinion more like the GT40, but the added length should make for a more comfortable car to drive (well at least one that’s easier to get in and out of). And this one has an interesting feature that I’ve never seen on a Valkyrie before. Bill claims that the rear Lexan window and louvers are a prototype design. I can’t really weigh in on that, as there isn’t a lot of documentation out there, but it definitely gives the car a cool look! Bill emailed to clarify what he meant by prototype for the rear window and louvers. They are his own design and creation, rather than a prototype created by Fiberfab. That being said, they really do look great and give the car a very distinct look!
If you lift up the rear panels, you’ll find a Chevrolet 350 V8 and components from a Corvair. Besides using the transaxle, the builder of this one also used the front suspension from a Corvair. Bill included scans of old photos from when the body was last off of the chassis. You can see, someone spent a lot of time making sure this was well put together. The 350 is said to be stock, but there’s no word on what it originally came of out. Being one of the most common V8s ever built means it won’t be difficult to get more power out of it.
Bill has been driving this each summer for the past 10 years or so and it’s still running great! He feels that there are two areas holding this car back though and that’s the paint and the interior. As you can see, the interior is pretty basic but if you want to have an experience even remotely similar to a GT40, it’s going to need lots of work. Even just installing a new steering wheel, some new black carpet and some different seats would work wonders. I’d be tempted to rework the entire dash, simply to get rid of the center console and the peak in the center. And I can’t help but wonder how a set of Porsche 914 seats would fit in here?
Initially, I’d leave the paint and body alone. Once I had the interior sorted and the rest of the driving experience dialed in, I’d set about the task of cleaning up the door gaps and any imperfections in the fiberglass. Painting it white would probably be the easiest option and it does give it more of that GT40 vibe, but since it’s a custom car, you might as well make it your own! So, what all would you do with this Valkyrie?
List your car here on Barn Finds for only $50!
Looks like a great deal to me. I had an Avenger GT with the Fiberfab chassis set up with Corvair engine, trans and suspension front and rear. It ran great and handled very well also. I imagine this one would put the one I had to shame performance wise. Mine was black with SaltFlat Special wheels. Never should have sold it.
At any rate, someone is getting a fun toy here!!
Looks cool and not a bad price for a rebodied corvair!! It would probably be a lot of fun to drive!!
Probably sounds pretty good with a short exhaust on the 350
@TimM
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This is no ” rebodied” anything, and it is not on a Corvair chassis.
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This is a custom mid-engine chassis designed for the body, which is similar, but different wheelbase than the rear engined Corvair Aztec GT15., Body and chassis are designed to take the Chev V8. Most used 327’s. The ” transaxle ” assembly is mostly Crown specialty .. using a Saginaw 4 speed and the Corvair differential case. A similar drivetrain is what Crown offered to make the Gen2 Vair V8.
I’ve had 4 or 5 of these, once sorted , the performance is excellent.
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The two we restored , we changed to Audi5000 transaxles to gain some much needed room in the cockpit.. This is a very small cockpit
@Dave at old school-Can you replace the Saginaw with a Muncie??? I never had good luck with the Saginaw kept replacing gears???
TimM,
The Saginaw in the ’66 and later Corvairs was sourced from the smaller front-engined GM cars, and was good enough for the small blocks. Typically, what can’t handle V-8 power in Corv-8 type installations is the differential. Those can be beefed up a bit, by going with 4 spyder gears instead of the stock two, and there were custom billet clutch-pack carriers made too.
The Saginaw can handle HP, but big torque and hard shifts will do one in.
I have dealt with a few of these but I owned and built a Fiberfab Jamaican that was set up for an Austin Healey 3000 chassis. These are some of the better kits that were made during the time but there are critical problems that show up that you will not find in production cars.
Sealing of doors and getting them positioned correctly, including locks, hinges and most especially windows. Figure the time it should take and then multiply by a factor of 10 and you might be close. Sound insulation is another problem. Ventilation, defroster and air flow can drive you crazy if you try to meet the standards of a production car. Wipers might seem simple but getting the right angle so they do not lift is more difficult than you might expect.
When finished properly they can be amazing and the quality of the bodies is far better then you might expect. But as Tim previously noted these tend to me more like total custom cars. The assembly can vary greatly and caution needs to be given before purchase.
Last comment about the color. These are very small cars and very low cars. A bright color is suggested up to and including ARREST ME YELLOW or RED. There is not the structure protection for the passenger compartment you might get in a passenger car so assume every other car is out to kill you and you will have a fighting chance. I have a Lotus Europa and it suffers a similar problem. However where ever you go, when ever you gas up everybody will wonder what it is. Great way to meet people.
Of note the rear window should be from a 1965 Mustang GT fast back including all the trim. That is what it was designed for and I think would be better looking. If you need engine bay ventilation There are better ways as you have limited visibility as designed and the system shown will only make that worse.
Bravo! Dave@Old School Restorations,
Very nice build. The positive comments from the readership here, acknowledge the amount of effort and work you have executed. I too am a fan of these humble Fiberfab bodies. I have the first generation 1967 Avenger one piece body. I stayed with the air-cooled theme. I run a 2300cc, stroked V.W. engine mated to a 4-speed 1971 I.R.S. transaxle. I left the interior spartan and the driving chores are strictly analog for that “engaged” driving experience. I think your asking price is quite a deal…People in the know, realize the exceptional performance you can achieve with these cool garage builds…👍🏼✌🏼
How do you post a pic here?
It’s been some time since this was posted I would like to know if this is still available