It isn’t every day that you come across something so unusual and rare that you just want it, no matter if it makes sense to take on. This Devin body might just be one of those finds that’s going to be costly to restore, but it’s just so interesting that you want to undertake the job purely to uncover the mystery behind it. The seller purchased it about 20 years ago with plans of putting it back on the road but never completed the task. It’s still waiting to be restored and reinstalled on a Corvette or similar chassis. There are a ton of fascinating features here that makes me think it could be an SS or some other type of Devin Special. We will dive into that more shortly, but you can find it here on eBay in Redondo Beach, California with a $5,500 BIN.
Devin Enterprises’ main focus was building fiberglass bodies, although they did build a few complete cars. The majority of the bodies they built were meant to be installed on an affordable donor chassis, like a VW Beetle, but people managed to fit Devin bodies to a wide range of frames. This one was supposedly mounted to a Corvette chassis, which was a popular choice for those planning on using a Chevrolet powertrain. Unfortunately, the lack of chassis makes it hard to figure out the car’s full history. The seller believes the body is factory correct, with the double bubble hood to fit a Blueflame inline-6. Someone also merged a Corvette bulkhead, floor, and trunk with the Devin body and the work does look to have been done to a high level.
One of the more interesting features I noticed is around back, where you find that someone has added 1960 Corvette tail lights. Having looked at a lot of Devins, I’ve never seen another with tail lights quite like this. One side appears to be damaged, but someone who is skilled with fiberglass could repair it. There are likely to be lots of other fiberglass repairs needed, so you’ll either want to learn how to work with fiberglass or find someone who does.
Complete Devins, especially V8-powered examples, can fetch serious money these days. Of course, knowing the car’s full history can have a huge impact on value, so it would be worthwhile doing some serious investigation. Restoring it won’t be a simple task, but in the end, you’ll have a truly special and interesting vehicle!
Devin’s can be very cool.
Devin is alive and well in Pennsylvania, https://devinsportscarsllc.com/
being managed by Kevin Callahan.
Those look like’53-4 Corvette taillights…
Joshua, this is a Devin Special, because ALL Devins are special! But it is NOT an SS. No tubular frame, no DeDion rear suspension, no small Chevy V8.
This appears to have been one of the many varieties of shells Devin sold, which differed mainly in the wheelbase of the chassis they were intended for. The Corvette taillights weren’t factory original, and I suspect the bulged hood wasn’t either.
But those things can be rectified, a suitable frame and powertrain can be found, and this can be turned into a head-turner with a lot of elbow grease applied.
Thanks for the info Ray!
I’ve come so close to building something like the Devin all my life but other cars got into the way, all 72 of them. Hate that I missed out but someone is going to enjoy putting this one together.
A friend in high school had a Devin Corvette w/327 power. Needles to say, it was quick. One thing I did not care for was the old Ford 3 speed floor shifter transmission and the lack of a tight fitting easy to operate convertable top.
I’ll never forget being in San Diego about 40 years ago and finding a Devin sitting on what I believe was a Triumph chassis. It was behind an antique mall covered with a tarp. The owner said it belonged to one of the sellers so I asked if they would contact me. I bugged him for more than a year before he told me he decided to try to put the body on VW chassis and make it a dune buggy! What a waste, I’m sure he hacked it up big time.
Buy it and use it to make molds off of.
That’s where the money is at.
Actually, I’m pretty sure the original molds still exist, and you can order bodies made. Don’t know if they still have the tooling for the “SS” parts like the differential case, etc.
I met Bill Devin around 40 years ago, after he had moved out to CA’s High Desert. He had a shop at home and was in the process of building a new SS for a customer. He said he had all the molds, jigs and fixtures to build bodies, complete SSes and Devin “D” (VW-powered) and “C” (Corvair-powered) cars.
I am about to put my two year Devin effort on the road. It sits on a Crosley chassis and I’ve fitted a MG Midget motor and tranny. The car came to me as a “Virgin” out of 70+ year storage. One of the prettiest roadsters I’ve ever seen. …….Jim.