TheSamba.com :: View topic - Not really a barn find but close...SCCA Rally veteran in NH

Wed Sep 30, 2009 5:33 pm

Rome wrote: Fantastic "provenance" (as they say in the antiques world) with those old photos! Did you notice at least 4 different lic. plates? I wonder if the one person meant a Formula SUPER Vee- spec engine with twin downdraft Webers- Super Vee single-seat race cars used either the 1600 DP engine as basis or even the type 4, and did allow twin carbs. An old acquaintance and colleague of my dad's at Volkswagen of America created the SuperVee class... I'll find out eventually, all signs point to that motor being in NJ. Not only is there 4 different plates, but I have the insurance cards for all of them, just another little thing for the scrap book. Also interesting to note the car was registered his wife's name from 1973 until 1995. I suspect the insurance was cheaper that way.

Quote:
Having studs on the discs/drums made changing wheels much quicker. Didn't hurt strength either.

Quote:
It's not easy to tell, but it seems different front wheels were installed in the various old photos- you can tell the offset difference by how far in or out the hubcap retaining "ring" is in relation to the outer rim/tire junction. I can't remember if I pointed this out when you first got the car, but have you been able to locate the "ET" numbers on all 4 wheels? I'd imagine the front ones are at least ET40 or a higher #, and the rears ET34... I've been told there are 8 complete sets (total of 32) mounted tires and rims in NJ. I'm not familiar with the 'ET' numbers, these stamped some place on the rim? What does the number refer to?

Quote:
Did you know that there's an engine builder in Germany that built a replica engine of the Porsche Salzburg rally Beetle engine, to install into a replica rally Beetle? Even at 1600cc it still made over 130hp! http://www.rbernauer.de/ , kaefer & co. on left, then "typ 1 Motoren", then "Rennmotoren". Very cool! Thanks! I heard from a contact a another Salzburg Beetle has been found and is undergoing restoration, but an earlier one based on a regular 1969 instead of the 1302.

I'm going to pull a caliper and take it with me to Transporterfest and see if I can find a match at the swap meet. Wish me luck.

Tue Oct 06, 2009 3:53 pm

Thought I'd share this as well, this is from a similar thread over on the rally site I frequent and been getting some really great information from. Paul is a former co-driver, Bill and Jimmy are both contemporaries of Al and Paul, all of the are extremely knowledgeable as well as very, very helpful. Here it goes:

Funny you mention that, I started thinking more on the radio since you mentioned it a while back. When Bill was over last night he agreed the radio I got wasn't anything like he remembered in it. 'It had this big dial that you could click around but we usually left it in one spot. Al's played with it, not me.' That, like you say, sounds like a CB. I remember those days...CW McCall and 'Convoy', 'White Line Fever', Kris Kristopherson and that Bellafone lady driving big trucks...Nice thing is I can find a period CB at a yard sale or flea market all day long for under $10! Rallycat66 is sending me some accurate decals and I have a person from another forum whose sister is a vinyl sign maker that is going to reproduce some of the ones I can't get otherwise.

Quote: I trust you noted the amber lights pointed out to light out the edges of the road.
I wish I could claim I did notice that...but I'd be lying. Now that you mention it I do, and it makes sense. Thanks!

Quote: The grids in the trunk should be headlight protectors. There should be little clips mounted to the headlight doors (rims). I found a few of them floating around in the spare well, thought that might be what they were for so glad to have the confirmation.

Paul Jaeger;326400 wrote: I agree that the radio was probably a CB radio although I don't remember it. That definitely is me codriving in the one Pic of #28. I am a big guy with a beard and have an orange helmet. Cool! Ok, so I've figured (ok, Paul figured out) all the #28 pics from Criterium Molson are him.

Checking the records at Rally Racing News, I think might be Paul Bengels, Brooklyn, NY from the 1975 Wonder Happiness is Sunrise. I'm guessing this since I can't find any other time it ran with #33, it is definitely nighttime and it looks ike it is early in the career of the car based on the lack of black hood, and I can vaguely see the Wonder Muffler decals.

The #49s from 1978 POR are Harry Handley, like this one:

#26, possibly the 1980 POR with Randy Graves?

1976 Sunriser 400 FR with Jim Damerell? (the Manta behind it reminds me of my old Opel...I should have kept that car)

This one plus the #41 where it is still a nice new shiny Bug is Bill Todd, I recognize him easily, though I don't know the events.

The other ones, I don't know yet, but I'm aiming to ID them all if I can. I've been in contact with Bill and Paul (of course) as well as Kelvin Dodd and Frank Beyer. I know that Harry Handley is no longer with us and Bruno Kreibich is not well. I'm not sure about the rest, it does appear Rod Hendricksen is still active:

Randy Graves Matawan, NJ
Jim Sweeney Cleveland, OH
Gordon Brown Doylestown, OH
Jim Damerell Bronx, NY
Paul Bengels Brooklyn, NY
Scott Hughes Summerville, NJ
John Bain
Robert Gomez Roslyn Heights, NY
Walter Koper Dallas, TX
Arthur Mendolia Suffern, NJ
Rod A. Hendricksen Clinton, NJ
Jan Beveridge Ft. Worth, TX

Paul Jaeger;325806 wrote: Scott,

I believe all the shots with the number 28 are from the Criterium Molson, which I ran with Al. Note that the first picture with number 28 (the one with the car on the trailer). In that pic the car had an exhaust system with the muffler mounted horizontally behind the bumper. This is the reason for the larger exhaust cutout in one of your first pictures. This didn't work very well on the Criterium, since we had to fix the exhaust in the parc firme in a parking garage in downtown Montreal before we could continue for the second day. I was so hoping you'd post, Paul. Thanks! I kind of figured it might have something to do with the aftermarket exhaust. What threw me off was the quality of the modification. The radius is smooth and the edge rolled just like the factory side. Whoever did it, did a nice job. Since I got the pics I've been sitting there going 'Hmm, now I recognize Bill in this pic (can't miss the beard) but I wonder which one is Paul (or Frank or one of the other co-drivers).' It's been fun, kinda of like a Where's Waldo but with rally pictures:)

Bruce Beauvais;325844 wrote: As Paul noted, the larger cut-up on the left is not factory. I worked for a VW dealer about that time and the cut-out were always symetrical. Paul would be the person to ask about the gutter mount antenna in those shots. My guess is a CB antenna. That would have been about the time of the big CB craze in the states. At least at one time, the rules were different in Canada regarding CB use. Comes from an experience at Canada Customs in the 60's.

Paul Jaeger;326739 wrote: Scott,

Gordon Brown is still a friend of mine. I believe Jim Sweeney passed away several years ago.

jimmy;326744 wrote: Sweeney of Hamilton & Sweeney of SAAB fame? That's my recollection, also.

Scott Hughes is Patty Hughes' dad (Patty co-drove for Gail Truess, and was (is?) one of the pace car drivers, along with Gail, for whatever CART is know as this week). Ran into him a "couple" years ago at a rally.....

press on,

Bruce Beauvais;326851 wrote: I'd agree #26 photo is from a POR. I'm thinking 82 though. Mary Jo Czyzio and the late Gary Hays were co-chairs and got the reflective arrows made up for the event. Kinda of a lime green with a white reflective edge. The arrows survived for a year or two longer. I think nowdays they MIGHT make it through the running of a stage before vanishing into a trunk. I've got 1 and 1/2 salvaged from a later event.
If I remember, the event was Pro-Rally (tm) of the year and Gary and Mary Jo won a trip to the RAC, courtesy of SCCA. That was also the first event in the USA to use Stage Captains.

Paul Jaeger;326919 wrote: Yes, Jim Sweeney of Hamilton/Sweeney/Saab. When I saw the pic of #26, I had the idea it was from an earlier year because of the Cooper Tire Windshield banner. By the late 70's Al was running Pirellis. So unless he had to run the windshield banner because of event sponsorship, I think the 26 pic is from before 1978.

Also the license plate 548 IDP is the same as the Pic with the Bardahl Winshield banner which you say is an early year.

73RallyBeetle;326934 wrote: Thanks for the information. Ok, I'm going to see if I can figure out a rough timeline, I'm having fun! Let me know what you think.

This has to be early and the earliest I have in the collection so far. It just looks NEW. Lights mounted directly on the bumper, no front plate or holes for a front plate, shiny paint, chrome headlight rings, etc.

1975? All the above points still valid, number matches Rally Racing News results and Wonder Muffler decals. YZO 438 plate.

This is the POR in the 70s? Still has body color hood, lights mounted on bumper, etc. Looks like all #49 pics are this event

We know this is the 1977 Criterium Molson because it is Paul. Black hood, lights now have mounts, plate# 330 ENG. Looks like all #28 pics are this event.

note the RALLYE decals now along the bottom of the car, which puts it probably around or after 1980 because of the stripes and because....

This pic, 1980 from Paul. Note black headlight rings, hood, stripes, spats on the leading edge of rear fenders, Pirelli decal. Plate now 158 IDP.

Bill thinks this one is from 84? 85? He thinks it might be from the 24 Houres of Mexico, that is him in the co-driver seat but he forgets the year. Plate is 158 IDP.

This one? Could be early 80s, plate is right, colors are right. Interesting to note Cooper Tires and no Pirelli that I can see. Only pic with this number I have so far.

The last I KNOW the car ran was in 1986 which is when Bill stopped running. The last event I know of is the Alcan in 1986. The last time the car was street legal was 94-95, the safety inspection sticker expires in 95 and the insurance card I found is good through Dec 1995. Currently it still has the 158 IDP plate but has Uniroyal on the sides...the tires (including the spare) are Dunlops.

Also, the significance of the 'FA' on the car at different times? I know Al's wife is Fernie, is it 'F' and 'A' for Fernie and Al or is it for some other reason? It isn't on the car in all the pictures but comes and goes over the years. It is not on the car now.

I'm having fun learning about the history so thanks for all the input\speculation! [/i]

Wed Oct 07, 2009 11:11 am

Awesome Awesome history and story. Glad it is continuing. If you need parts that you can't get from your other sponsors, shoot me an email or call me up. I'll give you as good a deal as I can, as we would love to help out as well.

Subscribed - keep us updated!

800-369-4979
719-748-5240

Greg

Mon Nov 02, 2009 10:31 am

It's been a while so I thought I'd post up some updates. I've been struggling with the flu for the last month so I haven't been able to work in the garage as much as I want. the other day I felt good enough to at least work inside so we dragged the motor I had for my daughter's now-sold 73 Beetle and started to tear it down. It was supposedly locked up because of water down the intakes so I've been putting this off as long as I could. I pulled one side off and surprisingly, it doesn't look bad at all. Some very minor rust in the combustion chamber on one cylinder on one side and piston and cylinder are very clean with no noticeable corrosion. I'll pull the other head tomorrow and see what I've got on that side. If I can save most of it, that would be cool. It's a 1835 with 042 heads, balanced crank and 110 cam. I have intakes for dual Webers (no carbs yet) and a 010 for it.

I went out on Friday for an hour or so, started stripping the dash down. Found some interesting stuff behind the glove box and fuse panel.

Toggle hidden behind the fuse panel switches between the Sapphire and a CB (missing):

Knob under and behind the glove box...but accessible from the right seat if you know where to reach for it. Looks like it was pirated off an early Beetle, works the hood release since the one in the glovebox would involve moving too much stuff to get to.

Under the glove box opening on the bottom of the dash...behind the roll bar. The best direct translation I could find is "Front seat passenger! Hold mouth" which I suspect has something to do with not having the navigator\co-driver tell him how to drive :)

Little red light under the dash that is operated by a toggle in the glovebox, aimed down by the shifter.

One head off the engine I'm starting to rebuild for it. Looks worse than it is, that rust wipes right off and the valves look good.

Piston for that same cylinder. I couldn't get a good shot of the jug but it looks ok as well.

I also got contact by another co-driver of the car. He joined up at the rally forum just because he saw my thread there, pretty cool. He's going to be sending more stuff over to me as his schedule permits but here is the initial communication:

I have been reading the forums for a few years now but only occasionally checked out the Historic section, till I saw the cars picture in the heading. Never had the need to join the forum till I read your 8 pages so far. I navigated alot in the late 70's and 80's, had to give it up in the 90's to pay lawyer bills. Have gotten back into it in the last couple of years working events in the northeast, even got my HAM license (just worked Rally NY event this weekend). There is a guy that shows up to run course opening in a SAAB 96, I'm sure there's a pic of it in the photo section (so that's what you have to shoot for).
Have you been to NJ to pick up the rest of the parts yet? The one-car garage under the appartment is where he did all of the work on the car and it was like a time capsule, the first time I was there I spent an hour just looking at the posters from Europe on the wall. Despite the picture of the car on the trailer out of all the events I saw him at, that car was never on a trailer and was driven to and from the event. For both Missouri and Michigan he stuffed it full of rally tires, spare parts (no back seat) and luggage and we drove it out there. He would have another friend from Ohio who was a mechanic show up to work service and, we would put the spares in that car. Since he and his wife worked for airlines they would fly home (for free) and the navigator would drive the car back to NJ. In fact I think he used to take the car to work at Kennedy airport a lot.
As you can probably tell he stuck very much to VW and Porsche parts, and made frequent trips to Europe so I'm sure he picked up stuff over there. Bruno (his shop) was probably the only other people to work on that car. I saw Bruno at Rally NY a year ago, he was crewing for his son-in-law.
I just can't believe he left that car in NH for so long, talking to one of my old NH rally friends today he tells me that the guy whose house the car was at is a navigating genius. You can add Ed Rachner to the list of co-drivers, he was "Mr. Chronar" so the stickers you have are very appropriate.
To answer some of your questions I saw in the thread: Yes, the 2 posts in the trunk are to mount an extra spare tire / There was a CB radio in the car, driving back from MO. the stickers were still on the car and I could hear the truckers talking about me / In '82 there was a Halda Twinmaster and a Chronar "clock" (I didn't use watches on a clipboard).
Will write more Art

I've been in touch with Ed Rachner and will hopefully be getting some stories and pics soon as well as one of the premier photogs from the era is going to send me some B&W pics when he finds them.

Scott: I followed AJ's Beetle from 1976 to maybe about 1982, and have tons of photos of the car. See the arrow on the steering wheel spoke? AJ mounted the wheel with two spokes at the bottom and the third--with the arrow--pointed straight up. From what I remember, he was an expert at carrying speed through stages and was always finishing in the top ten even when the field had Porsches, BDA Escorts and 510s, Z-cars and even those factory Fiat 131s, all of which probably had 2X the horsepower. I'll start trying to dig up my photos (I think they're all B&W) of the car if you're interested.
-Phil Berg

I did get another vintage pic:

I started working on the interior last night. I pulled the seats and brought them inside so the rodents wouldn't steal any more material for nests over the winter. I'm going to take them to the local auto upholstery shop for a quote this winter, the driver's side needs to be recovered. Is Scheel-Mann still in business? Lifting the cover where the back seat used to be, a little nose peeked out of the tunnel by the shift coupler then ducked quickly back in. Grrr, wonder if I can get a cat to live in this thing for the winter? Too bad that broad-shoulder hawk family has migrated for the winter...

The fire extinguisher was mounted to the front of the seat mount. Interestingly, it still shows as 'GOOD' with a full charge and in the green, the date on it says 1982. Not sure how helpful it would have been in a situation, the top strap holding it in released fine, but the bottom of the extinguisher was zip-tied to the mount :P

How cool is the Samba? A member (bryanbrutherford) along with his sister reproduced these for me, they arrived over the weekend and look FANTASTIC!:

Mon Nov 02, 2009 10:46 am

I'm picturing the garage in NJ like it's some Indiana Jones shrine, laden with VW treasures and archeological finds, surrounded by armed savages and cunning traps. Glad you're feeling better.

Hope your garages are tied down well - minew blew away Saturday. I actually got to watch it take flight, and tear to shreds in midair - hell of a show, followed by a hell of a mess. :shock:

Stray

Mon Nov 02, 2009 11:17 am

Thanks for the update and glad you are feeling better. Keep em coming!

Thu Nov 19, 2009 2:58 pm

Thanks!!
Sean Gallagher was nice enough to send me this pic from the late 70s at the NQP Rally:

He also ID's these two as from that event (or events over the years) because his dad is in the pictures as well:)

I've been playing phone tag with Al's widow since the weekend. She did tell my son she has boxes of stuff that Al saved from his time rallying (Bill said Al kept all his notes and stuff) and that I'm welcome to them as well as anything that she has that goes with the car. Bill remembers from when he was down recently there is the original stock front and rear seats, removed at about 200 miles and the other engine (built by Bruno Kreibech) as well as body parts and other stuff are still there. I'm hoping to work out a time to retrieve these before snow flies. I have a friend in NYC that I want to visit on the same trip if I can do it in the next month, I might try to find Bruno's shop and swing by if I can.

Thu Nov 19, 2009 4:50 pm

"Halt's Maul"- denotes "shut your trap!". Or nicely- "Keep quiet".

I've not forgotten trying to get you a contact for Bruno.

Get better soon; the real winter (with cold season) has yet to arrive.

Mon Nov 30, 2009 6:58 pm

After some phone tag and illness, Ferdie and I finally got to speak on the phone last night. The conversation lasted close to an hour and I enjoyed every minute of it. She is a gem and full of spunk! She has seen the thread over on the rally site I frequent and approves (YAY), she recognizes many of the names and only had good things to say.

She shared several stories and I can't wait to sit with her in person to hear some more. She bought the car new in 1973. She did it on a whim, she wanted her own car and so she went to the dealer and told them she wanted a Beetle, it had to be red and she was paying for it that day. She got home and told Al she bought a car, he asked what kind and she told him a VW Beetle. He told her he'd be right back...and was gone for several hours. When he returned, he said he had them make some 'modifications' to her car:) She said the clutch was so stiff it took 2 feet to depress it. She pretty much resigned it to Al's rally car and 'got a Buick, that was much nicer!' So the car was originally red and not orange.

The Duck: the duck was given to all after one of the AlCan events. He suffered engine failure and was towed by the sweep for a rather long stage. They called him their 'lame duck' and gave him the decal to put on the car.

The FA seen on the car in many shots: those are Ferdie's initials, she sponsored the car as well as rode in the service vehicle. Since the car was supposed to be hers and her name is on the title, I guess she definitely was the main sponsor. She shared a few stories about riding with some Irish journalists as well as a couple of getting assistance from other drivers. I should have been taking notes but I was enjoying the conversation and didn't want to stop the flow to get something to write with. I know one had to do with John Buffum and a hemorrhaging engine (turns out it was the '85 Alcan featured below, they even used that language) in the VW and another was about Bruno but I lost the details already. I'll do better when we talk again.

The car was brought to NH in '94 because they had run out of room. Al was hoping to use the car again but never did. After Al passed, she asked Bill to try and get in touch with me about the car but he wasn't able to make a connection since so much time had passed. We agreed it was destined that I found that email this spring. Al was working on a Golf GTI he got from Bruno's place, it is still stripped down in the garage as he was going to make it into a rally car. It is going to another gentleman to help repair his wife's car.

Speaking of the garage: the motor is there (2.0l? That is what is mentioned in the article) as well as 'boxes of stuff scattered between 2 garages, storage units and places.' Anything that pertains to the VW 'belongs to the Beetle, because that is just the way it is.' She has the Cibie lights still as well as all the door number decals. From the sounds of it, Al kept a lot of stuff from when the car ran and she'd like it to stay with the car. Actually, she is pretty adamant that it stays with the car, I am so thrilled!

I'm very appreciative of the time she spent with me and look forward to going to visit, hopefully before winter hits hard. She is a wonderful, generous lady and I really enjoyed talking to her and hope to keep this new friendship going. She shared many great rally stories as well as some very touching personal stories. I know the loss of Al is crushing to her (and a correction, Al passed away in 2007, not 2008), but she still laughs and can hold those memories fondly. Like I mentioned, she has read the similar thread over on Special Stages and the memories, comments and support this project has already received from everyone not only is great for me, it really means a lot to Ferdie. She is very touched that something close to Al is going to live on and has generated such interest. This is just more incentive to do the job right.
Ferdie got me pointed in the right direction when she mentioned she has the original and I finally found the article I was looking for from Popular Mechanics, coverage of the '85 Alcan that has a pic of the Super Beetle in it, even mentions Al snagged it from his wife:) and the basics of the Schmit\Buffum oil hemorrhage story Ferdie was telling me about. Here it is in all its glory, I hope it reproduces big enough to read. If not, here is the link to the story directly on Google.

http://books.google.com/books?id=dOMDAAAAMBAJ&...mp;f=false

Mon Nov 30, 2009 7:10 pm

hey, beautiful work. i sent a PM

Mon Nov 30, 2009 7:13 pm

This story is incredible and I think it is inspiring me to transform my beetle into a car that looks sort of like this one, I love it !Keep the info coming and thank you.

Fri Dec 18, 2009 8:33 pm

yet another pm. hopfully you get it before noon tomarrow.

Wed Jan 20, 2010 5:54 am

Random update. The weather hasn't been friendly so work on this and my other projects have pretty much stopped. I did get this update from a former co-driver of the car over on another site:

I did 3 rallies with Al in 1982, and I was probably the youngest(25) and least experienced co-driver he had.I don't remember quite how we got hooked up but the first was The Mini Cannonball in February out of Burlington, VT and that year running into Southern Quebec. As referenced earlier YES it was COLD in the car, and I was wearing two layers of long underwear, jeans and ski pants. And Al opening the window to spray de-icer on the windshield at speed every 20 minutes or so didn't help. Our rally ended somewhere in Southern Quebec with the car going off a right hand bend, I was glad I had the ski pants on when I sunk up to my chest in a drift covered ditch bringing the cable to the nearest tree.
Next was 100 Acre Wood which started the way most of Al's rallies did, with us loading the car with his tool boxes, spare parts, tires and luggage and driving the Bug to the rally. After the rally we loaded it all back in again and I got to drive home solo. There was a small glitch on the way from Rolla to the interstate, Al was driving and I had him telling me all about his trip to the Safari rally. We were so engrossed in conversation that Al didn't notice the Stop sign, we hit a local with the right front. We rented a motel room unloaded the parts from the car into the room, jacked up the car and changed the parts he could, reloaded the car and drove to the airport. Al and his wife both worked for airlines so they were always flying to or from events, which saved their vacation time for trips back to Luxembourg (or more rallies).
For Northern Lights Fernie and I drove the car out, with a stop in Ohio to meet up with the guy that was going to do service for us. He did have a higher output engine in the car for this rally, I remember Bruno giving him driving advice on how to handle the higher power. Michigan was very dusty and I remenber him saying that Luxembourg drivers are used to driving in fog so the dust is no problem. He did most of the work on the car in his one car garage under their appartment which was filled with racing and rally posters from Europe. I have few more pics to scan. Good luck with restoration Scott.

I went on Rallyracingnews and found Al in this car did over 30 SCCA/NARA rallies from '74to '85, couldn't find an archive for Canadian events and the NEPRO/NEPRS TSD rallies were almost as tough as pro rallies. And I'm sure the car was driven to most of them.

This is at the 1978 Buffum Rally School at Bryar racetrack Loudon, NH. Al actually won the stage that was setup around the gravel pit behind the track at the end of the school,
A) he had a weight advantage by not having a navigator
B) he was smart enough to go around the giant puddle instead of going through it.
I'm pretty sure any other photos from this school and the 1980 school I gave to Al.

This was the 1979 STPR with Bob Gomez taken after the last stage, which is why Bob's helmet is askew.

The 1982 STPR with Rod Hendricksen at Asaph.

Wed Jan 20, 2010 5:50 pm

By far my favorite thread on the Samba.....excellent find, pictures, and story! 8) x10

Tue Feb 02, 2010 4:26 pm

when I read the word 'free' my jaw literally dropped. amazing find dude.

Wed Feb 03, 2010 12:12 am

Awesome story, this from a guy who found a inspirational vehicle himself. Take care.

Thu Mar 11, 2010 9:16 pm

i just read through this and WOW im amazed, i cant believe you found so much history on it, any updates on what youve done to it in the past few months?

Fri Mar 12, 2010 12:54 am

I have not read all the post, But I did see you are going to restore it back to how it was in its hay day,, Thank you!! there are not to many people in the VW world restoring old race cars. most wont to update them or part them out.. Are you going to find/replace the old stickers(I like the duck)? I would not change A thing A full restore back to it race days would be the best!!!!

I jumped the gun A little,, I see you got the duck.. So cool! this is the first time I have seen this thread, and I well be reading the hole thing, And looking over all the picks.... I love 1960's-70's race cars!!! that's when racing was the best!!!!!!!

Fri Mar 12, 2010 3:19 am

:shock: WOW, Im just now dunn reading all this! Some grate stuff!

Fri Mar 12, 2010 10:57 am

Any recent updates to share? Also, What are the specs on the A/T tires? size/brand? Thx.