The Volkswagen Beetle, with its simple design philosophy, lent itself well to the aftermarket coachbuilding and racing scene. Ferdinand Porsche modified a Beetle to make his famous sportscar, albeit extensively modified. Today we have a truly interesting modified Beetle for sale in Switzerland. Only about 100 made, they seldom come up for sale. There’s no model year listed, but in one of the pictures the year 1961 is visible, and this model is said to have been owned by its namesake since 1976. I’m going to hazard a guess and say this is a 1961 model year, and the seller says they provide documentation of its history, so if you were so inclined to buy this, you’ll have its full history. You can find this Enzmann 506 here on TheSamba for CHF 225,000, about $250,000 USD. Special thanks to Scott L for letting us know about this.
Powered by the sought-after Okrasa-tuned Volkswagen flat-four, it looks like there’s nothing on the outside of the engine to determine if it’s the TS-1200 or the TS-1300 model; the latter using upgraded internals and upping the power from 36 horsepower to 48. Both of the Okrasa kits included dual-port heads, upgraded from Volkswagen’s single-port heads, dual Solex 32PBIC carburetors from the Porsche 356, and supporting respiratory mods like carb linkages, filters, et cetera. This air-cooled boxer is mated to a manual gearbox; I’m guessing the stock Volkswagen unit, but with a car as rare and unique as this, information is sparse.
Inside looks spectacular. Tan leather bucket seats are complemented by a black leather dashboard and Nardi steering wheel, an excellent pairing in a car like this. A very Ferris Bueller Ferrari look in a rear-engine air-cooled roadster. It doesn’t look like there are doors on the handmade fiberglass body, which is an interesting way to make a car. Enzmann experimented with a canopy-style opening, but the engineering of the seals proved to be difficult. It’s easier just to make an open-top cruiser than reinvent the wheel, and going topless is more fun, anyway.
The 506 nomenclature simply comes from the booth number at the 1957 Frankfurt motor show where this car made its debut, it has nothing to do with anything about the car itself. This Enzmann 506, once owned by Enzmann himself, is the ultimate in Volkswagen history. A fun weekend runabout or the holy grail for any Volkswagen collection, if you’re in Switzerland you should totally buy this instead of some chocolate and a watch.
Someone must have been rally racing, there is a map bungeed to the dash. Secondly the black primer streaks on the paint really look like a poor attempt at rat rodding a car.
🤔
You need a better computer screen. The black primer you see is a reflection. Before satellite navigation, people used maps.
So you have to stand on the seats to get in and out of the car?
Yes, it was necessary to put one’s shoes on the seats to get in/out. The indents on the exterior sides were where you put your feet getting in & out. To balance I held onto the windshield frame.
I looked at a silver version for sale in Germany back in 1975, it was damn near impossible for me to get in and out of the driver’s seat due to the steering wheel not coming off to aid in getting in or out. [And I was a very fit US serviceman!]
In addition to there being no doors, there was no top, toneau cover, or side curtains. There was a very large area behind the seats, but since the seats wouldn’t move more than a couple of inches forward or back, this made that area basically inaccessible.
The guy was asking 1,000DM [about $400], but as I had no place inside to park the car, and also because it was still only a VW 1200 with a fiberglass body, I passed. I’ve never seen another one since [until now].
I see an Alfa Sprint in that body.
Thanks for the great info about this car, Ben.
Learn something every day! Never heard of these. Wonder what the hp. is with the modifications.
Interesting that Peugeot made Porsche change from 901/902 to 911/912- having a trademark on three digit model designations with zero in the middle, but let this one stand.
That´s as lot of money and not much car……but I know someone who insured a particularly rare VW Postvan for a similar amount so maybe it´s not my world. Interesting find and thanks for featuring it.
Cute but not 250K worth of cute!
It only takes one person to think it’s worth it…and as much as I love obscure models, there isn’t enough obscurity for me even if I had the budget to buy a $250,000 toy, I could buy several equally entertaining toys for that much.
Karmann Ghia, VW Beattle, Porsche 356 put into a blender and a car made from the ingredients. The DNA is certainly there. Nice looking car.
All-important passenger side airbag map makes it worth an easy 1/4 mil.
Yes different and rare, but that kind of money will get so much more!!
Not as good looking as a Denzel though.
BS pure and simple, try harder.
hmmm?
New one on me.
No doors? No top?
Weber ICT vedub carbs (yes? no?).
Boy, those Swiss sure knew how ta have fun in ’61, eh?
The car is located in Bern, Switzerland and has a Swiss registration
$250k for a plastic-bodied Beetle-based kit car? Bargain! Rare doesn’t mean valuable. Sadly, these two terms are far too often conflated in the “Collector Car Dealer” world!
The worst offences come with the dealer tick sheets for all the 60’s and 70’s vehicles, which dealers and auction houses have pounced on to make out that some mass produced car is incredibly rare…..”It’s one of three hundred with this specification”. Fair enough, but they did make over 500,000 Mustangs that year, so the fact somebody chose that particular radio and that transmission is really of very little consequebce. It’s just snake oil my friends!
Rumour has it, they’ve turned down offers…
If a standard Beetle ragtop makes $20-40k, then $100k doesn’t sound expensive for a rare classic
These were well ahead of their time.