If you can honestly tell me you’ve ever heard or seen this car in person, I will gladly buy you a drink if our paths ever cross. This is a one-of-one 1965 Mayan Magnum, a custom creation straight from the cerebellum of one man who saw the potential to create a sports racer using Volkswagen and Porsche-sourced components along with a Chevrolet Corvair powerplant. In a way, it looks curiously like some of the more extreme Porsche factory race cars of the 1960s, and if you had told me this was from the Porsche museum in Germany, I likely would have believed you. The Magnum has supposedly remained in the care of the family of its creator since new, and is now offered here on eBay with bids to over $12,000 and the reserve unmet.
The Magnum was seen previously on another auction site where it was a no-sale with bids stopping at just under $12,000. I’m honestly not sure how you assign a value to a car like this as it is truly alone in its category. While it uses a Volkswagen floor pan, the rest of the car is essentially unrecognizable, aside from the Corvair engine. The Magnum was the brainchild of one Dean Ing, a science fiction novelist and aerospace engineer, who purportedly had 3,000 hours invested in the custom bodywork alone. His background makes complete sense considering how the Magnum looks like a cross between a futuristic jetfighter and alien spacecraft.
Though you can see some shades of air-cooled VW inside at least from a proportions standpoint, it’s incredible how detailed Ing’s work was. He didn’t want this to reek of yet another VW-based kit car where the outside gets you excited and the inside leaves you crying. The dashboard is customized as are the door panels, and while some of it is rudimentary, it also reminds me of a 60s or 70s-era Cessna or Beechcraft inside, a feeling I’m sure Ing was shooting for given his aerospace background. The Magnum is certain to have rough edges here and there (the gullwing doors don’t stay up, for example), but overall, it’s incredibly well done for one man.
The Corvair engine isn’t exotic but it works. That also serves as a reminder that Ing wasn’t setting out to create a rival to a Porsche Speedster; it was more an exercise in creating what he believed represented an optimal design study. The engine does run and benefits from recent tune up parts, and breathes through dual carburetors. The engine uses a Holley electric fuel pump and may need further servicing, per the description. The brakes have also been serviced in preparation for the sale, and the seller notes there is some cracking in the finish, along with paint chips and scratches, but it otherwise seemingly presents well. A true space age oddity and one-off creation, it deserves every penny it can get.
Seems every penny it can get stops coming in around the $12,000 mark.
It has interesting albeit busy lines but I wouldn’t object to owning and driving. Of course I would need to drive before I bought BC a mix of suspension and power train bits can be a good thing if it was well thought out. However a lot of these creations can be a real love hate relationship.
Very similar to the Plymouth Platypus, but that didn’t sell either…
Ing clearly put a lot of work into this only to fall short on the last hurdle of color selection. Pale greige, as popular as it was on the much crisper production sedans of the years leading up to ’65, does this car’s form no favors.
Bright red would make its’ looks much more “Italian racing prototype” and less “blobfish”.
I think Ing was under the influence of exotic mushrooms when it came to styling this car.
And you would have to be on mushrooms to even want it.
I thought surely a car that ugly would have some rip-ums…. Nope… a Corvair engine.
Nice to see one of these again….can’t be many left as most ended up shooting thru guardrails in flames in feeble attempts to run down Speed Racer.
It’s a one off…
…except in cartoons. Lotsa o’them in the ‘toons.
It’s an engorged tick on wheels!
I think the color seals the deal on your comment. Thanks for the much needed laugh!
I was going to say too, looks like an allergic reaction to a bee sting. I’m sure it’s a blast to drive, I just can’t get past it’s appearance. And to think someone put their heart and soul into this abomination.
Nickname – Lumpy…
I hate to ridicule some ones hard work but any Rambler looks like a sports car compared to this:-)
Today, when crusty VW vans sell for $20K, this unique piece of automotive art is worth $12K +. Imagine pulling into a Cars & Coffee. That pristine 70 Chevelle SS would be yesterdays news. Check the price of a Picasso and lighten up!
This is what you get when you inflate an Opel GT to 100 psi.
PORSCHE by PICASSO.
Weirder isn´t possible. It is difficult to hate it or to love it. Is it beautiful or butt f-ck ugly? A real toss up here. The Corvair engine — weren´t they known to be incurable oil-drippers of the first order?
College Wind Tunnel creation gone wild! OR The first modern 24 Hours of Lemans race car prior to wind tunnels. Its interesting and I would love to see it!
I have heard of this car, and only seen a front picture years ago, to see it now it reminds me of the Johnny Cash song one piece at a time ( Google it if you never heard it) the front reminds me of other Volkswagen kits you could get in the 70’s
Call me nuts..but I would love to have this..but I also own a “Thing” so go figure. I love oddballs and they dont come more oddball than this but, IMHO, it does have some intersting features..and gullwing doors! Beam me up Scotty!
Okay, you’re nuts,, just kidding pal, and remember the original Star Trek mission, “to boldly go where no man has gone before”,,
Notice the roof design. The first production car that had that aero design to direct air flow to the middle and then to the rear spoiler was my 1993 Mazda RX-7. Then I thing GM had on the Corvette. The guy was ahead of his times. That just one of a few aero and cooling designs on the car.
The designer of this body appears to have taken cool design cues from many cars and integrated them into one vehicle, missing the mark in every aspect. It’s quite a remarkable accomplishment to do everything wrong so well..
For all of you with harsh comments on this guy’s design, let’s see the cars you’ve made out of fiberglass. Last year I tried to shape a rain rail out of fiberglass for my truck, I found it incredibly challenging. This guy put major hours in and finished the job to a high standard regardless of what you think of the design. My hat’s off to him.
Located in:
Lake Oswego, Oregon
An insult to Corvair owners everywhere.
That is one of the ugliest cars I’ve ever seen. I wish the seller luck.
My Uncle had a ’57’ Cameo pickup truck. That windshield looks a lot like the windshield that was in his truck.
Anybody see that resemblance ?
MattR: Right on! Needs being said more often.
Car was on Bring-a-Trailer recently but didn’t meet reserve, having a hard time finding a new home…
I would have left it to some Automobile Design college or a auto museum. I hope the new owner doesn’t destroy it. Bid is up to $15.6K
I took my hat off to the guy too. I had to barf in it!
Best one so far,,,I know we shouldn’t pick on this stuff, as Matt sez, working with fiberglass is a lost art, and I’m sure the builder faced many challenges. So many times, the dreams of these builders don’t match the rest of the world, and their only hope, is someone with bottomless pockets to think “it’s neat” for a toy.
If you have ever watched an old SNL digital clip, this is Ace and Gary’s dream car. If only the hood were a little bit longer and pointier.
I remember the Magnum was featured back in the day in Road and Track or one of the other auto mags, back when car rags seemed more technical and less consumer oriented. The only other domestic ones that come to mind are Sports Car Graphic and Car and Driver..and Hot Rod…..Motor Trend, not! The article was pretty technical, as was the car. I didn’t realize that Dean Ing built it: in addition to being an engineer and car builder, he was a pretty dang good sci-fi adventure writer. His books are great. The car is very technical….I remember in the article the discussion of body shape to limit drag and lift and Ing’s use of fiberglass “squish rivets” that he made. The high state of finish and detail speak volumes. A special effort.
It is one more ugly “heifer” but well done . . The Corvair engine hits a nostalgic note as I had one hanging off the back of a shortened VW floor pan back in the early 70’s . .
Well, I 1st saw this and met Mr Ing in the mid-sixties when I was employed at a car repair shop AND involved with Fiberfab, both near Moffit Field, where, as I recall, Dean worked. It was highly revered when he dropped by the shop, all of us in wonderment of his abilities, and reasons for the shapes and design. He was, as we were at F-Fab, held back from finding a wind-screen to use that fit our design wishes. His choice would not have been mine, but, in my opinion, the design struggled when this piece of glass was chosen. The Van Kesteren family was friends of the Ing’s. So, do I win a lunch, Jeff ?
Dean was pretty good writer, and I’d bet this was a blast to drive.
Wow! Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but ugly cuts to the bone!
Someone left it in the microwave far too long!