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JeffL
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Joined: September 04, 2004
Posts: 1370
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JeffL
Samba Member
Joined: September 04, 2004
Posts: 1370
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 Posted: Sat Apr 19, 2014 4:20 pm Post subject: |
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Got to work on the body today after finishing most of the chassis.
The hinges are 55-57 Chevy and I ordered new hinge pins and bushings. I wanted to mount the doors to see how much work there is around the hinges to glass them in nice. There was some extra cut out around them.
After mounting the doors I went to fit them which was a real chore. The only way to fit them was to sand the door so that I could pull the bottom of the door out. The top seemed fine. I had each door on and off at least 6 times as I didn't want to grind too much off and then need a shim. It all worked out OK.
In the one picture inside the door you can see a small pulley. This pulles is used to run a cable down to the latch and open the door.
The big holes in the door are so that you can get your arm in there for the bolts, they needed to be a little bigger.......
I intensionally left some paint on each door as a reference of the original color.
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0nebadbug
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Joined: October 01, 2009
Posts: 1087
Location: Rockford, Illinois
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JeffL
Samba Member
Joined: September 04, 2004
Posts: 1370
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| Posted: Sun Apr 20, 2014 6:26 pm Post subject: |
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| 0nebadbug wrote: |
Never realized the Alken were suicide! Very nice. 
What's your plan on the door latches? |
The latches were from a 56 T Bird and I have them replated and found NOS in the box Ford striker plates.
There is a pull rope on the door from a 51 Shoe Box Ford. It was the rope on the rear of the seat. When you pull on the front it is fixed and closes the door. When you pull on the back the cable goes around the pulley and up to the latch at the front opening the door.
Here are some original pictures. You can see the strap on the door and the cable runs through the strap.
I spent hours on Ebay researching pictures to find out what the heck everything came from. The pull ropes were the hardest. I need the chrome ends as 3 were missing and I still had one as a reference.
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JeffL
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Joined: September 04, 2004
Posts: 1370
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| Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2014 7:35 pm Post subject: |
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Came across some great Vintage photos of my car. I believe these look like they were from the photo shoot for the 1958 Road and Track article on the Alken.
I'm trying to see if there is a reasonable way to buy copies.
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JeffL
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Joined: September 04, 2004
Posts: 1370
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| Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2014 1:56 pm Post subject: |
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Worked on sound deadening today. I bought a roll of tart paper and used some 1/8 foam underlayment in place of the original styrofoam
I put one layer of tar, one foam, and then two tar. I seems to work just fine.
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luvtheeluvbug
Samba Member
Joined: January 06, 2013
Posts: 288
Location: Sonora, Ca
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| Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2014 9:02 pm Post subject: |
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Those are the best vintage pictures you have shown us yet! You should try and get license plates built to match those. Still coming along nicely.
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Fahrvergnugen/ far-fair-gnu-ghen/ Description of a pleasurable sensation experienced when a car and it's driver are in mutual harmony; A unique driving experience; Pleasure; Satisfaction; A feeling experienced by Volkswagen drivers. |
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JeffL
Samba Member
Joined: September 04, 2004
Posts: 1370
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| Posted: Thu May 01, 2014 6:48 pm Post subject: |
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Worked through the door latches the last few days.
The Ford latches are pulled by a cable. The cable goes to the rear of the doors, goes around a pulley, out through the door panel and through a rubber cord. The cable is anchored on one end but movable on the other (rear). You can see the cable through the one hole running from the latch to pulley.
This was the rope rail on the back seat of a 50 Flat Head Shoe Box Ford. I spend months trying to figure out where/what the chrome ends were from. I was missing three of the chrome pieces. Once I understood what there were it only took a month to purchase the missing ones. Quite simple.
The last photo shows the cleaned and plated hardware.
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JeffL
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Joined: September 04, 2004
Posts: 1370
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| Posted: Wed May 07, 2014 6:29 pm Post subject: |
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I stopped to do a little more research, May 7, 2014. I have two nice stories to share on my research of my Alken. Here is the first.
The story starts with an ad which appeared in the August, 1960 issue of Road and Track. It showed that an owner, Ray Beggs, was selling his Alken in Pacific Palisades, CA. Pacific Palisades is about 7 miles from where the Alken was developed in Venice.
After some research on line I found an 81 year Raymond Beggs at this address, could he still live there? I called the number but got the answering machine so I left a message. After not getting a response I called back a week later and Beatrice picked up the phone. When I introduced myself she cut me off and said “Oh Jeff the guy with the Alken, let me get Ray”. We had a great conversation that lasted about 20 minutes.
Ray came home from the war and wanted a car. He heard about the Alken and liked it so much he and his brother decided to convert a 56 VW to the Alken body. This was in about 1959. Ray took up automotive engineering so he certainly enjoyed cars. Ray remembers the car being a light blue and a base model without windows and a roof because he didn’t have much money to put into it. The Alken body was listed as $1295.
Beatrice added that they had a brochure of the Alken that showed their car. To get some money back Ray agreed to make the brochure to help advertise the Alken. The Beggs indicated it was the first Alken sold and why it was needed for the brochure. They are going to scan a photo of the brochure and send it to me. I offered to send a few photos of my project and that suited them well.
It was a very nice conversation where Ray got to share some memories and become the first person that I know who actually owned and Alken back in the day. How amazing that they live at the same area!
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Jacks
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Joined: July 15, 2006
Posts: 2348
Location: San Clemente, Ca.
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| Posted: Wed May 07, 2014 8:56 pm Post subject: |
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Amazing
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Jack Staggs
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camit34
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Joined: January 14, 2006
Posts: 1567
Location: Commerce City CO
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| Posted: Mon May 12, 2014 2:39 am Post subject: |
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Just awesome! great work!
Grew up helping my father with his fiberglass Lotus projects. Bring back some cool memories.
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In search of a Vanagon
1971 Westy (SOLD)
1971 Deluxe (SOLD)
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JeffL
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Joined: September 04, 2004
Posts: 1370
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| Posted: Mon May 26, 2014 6:46 pm Post subject: |
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Here I did get ahold of Ray who had the Alken for sale in 1960. His Alken was used for photos for the standard Blue,White and Black Alken brochure. He had a couple in the drawer so he send me one. The remaining 4 surviving Alkens do not include his car....... maybe there is another out there.
I worked a lot on documentation the past few weeks and have uploaded about everything unique that I have. If anyone has something not on the page please let me know.
http://karmannghias.org/GAlken/
Here is one of my Alken in a newspaper shown when it was converted to and electric car by NicLSilver.
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Stock Steve
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Joined: April 10, 2005
Posts: 1963
Location: My Left Nutmeg State
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JeffL
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Joined: September 04, 2004
Posts: 1370
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| Posted: Sat May 31, 2014 6:57 am Post subject: |
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| JeffL wrote: |
I stopped to do a little more research, May 7, 2014. I have two nice stories to share on my research of my Alken. Here is the first.
The story starts with an ad which appeared in the August, 1960 issue of Road and Track. It showed that an owner, Ray Beggs, was selling his Alken in Pacific Palisades, CA. Pacific Palisades is about 7 miles from where the Alken was developed in Venice.
After some research on line I found an 81 year Raymond Beggs at this address, could he still live there? I called the number but got the answering machine so I left a message. After not getting a response I called back a week later and Beatrice picked up the phone. When I introduced myself she cut me off and said “Oh Jeff the guy with the Alken, let me get Ray”. We had a great conversation that lasted about 20 minutes.
Ray came home from the war and wanted a car. He heard about the Alken and liked it so much he and his brother decided to convert a 56 VW to the Alken body. This was in about 1959. Ray took up automotive engineering so he certainly enjoyed cars. Ray remembers the car being a light blue and a base model without windows and a roof because he didn’t have much money to put into it. The Alken body was listed as $1295.
Beatrice added that they had a brochure of the Alken that showed their car. To get some money back Ray agreed to make the brochure to help advertise the Alken. The Beggs indicated it was the first Alken sold and why it was needed for the brochure. They are going to scan a photo of the brochure and send it to me. I offered to send a few photos of my project and that suited them well.
It was a very nice conversation where Ray got to share some memories and become the first person that I know who actually owned and Alken back in the day. How amazing that they live at the same area!
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Last week in the mail I got a note from Ray. It included one of the original Alken brochures. He explained that his car was used for the photos to make the brochure. He still had a few of the original brochures so he sent me one. How cool it that, he kept those around for over 35 years and passed one on to me.
I noticed that the back license frame was different than the front but he could not remember why? Also, he didn't know the lady sitting in the car for the one photo.
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JeffL
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Joined: September 04, 2004
Posts: 1370
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| Posted: Sat May 31, 2014 8:00 am Post subject: |
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If you read some of the last posts you know that:
Dr. Allan White was Presidnet of the Alken Corp
John McNamara was the engineer at the Alken Corp
2100 Zeno Place, Venice, CA was the address of the Alken factory
John A Wills who was famous with fiberglass at the time designed the fiberglass construction and molds, I have one of his books
William F. Pierson desinged the body and filed the pattent
Ray Beggs buys an Alken in 1958 and it is used for the Brochure
Bob D'Olivo takes B&W photos for Motor Trend in 1958
Wayne Thoms is sitting in the Alken and was the editior for the Motor Trend 1958 photo shoot
Bill Friedauer races an Alken at Riverside on June 29, 1958 for promotional reasons
Los Angeles 31st Pomona fair Sep 12-28, 1958 - Alken is shown to the public
Nov 58 R&T my red Alken is used for the pictures
George Lippincott bought two Alkens to help start his electic car business at NicLSilver
Frank Kurtis was responsible for the chassis
Victress was responsible for the body design
Merrill Powell was at Victress who designed the Pioneer Electric, I talked with him too!
Bill Quirk - at Victress additional Pioneer Electric car photos
Victress Mfg. 11823 Sherman Way, North Hollywood, CA
Los Angeles 32nd Pomona fair Sep 18-Oct 4, 1959 - Pioneer Electric is shown to the public
NicLSilver sells out to FDI in about 1966
FDI sells the electric cars from storage in 1978
White and McNamara used my Alken for photos and promotions and then sold if to NicLSilver as one of their two Alken electric test mules.
NicLSilver wanted their own line of cars so they got with Kurtis and Victress to make the chassis and body (both top notch groups at the time). There were 3 electric cars sold as a lot from NicLSilver/FDI so it is likley this "Pioneer Electric" still exists.
If anyone is good with DMV connections maybe the license plates and VINs listed on the invoice can be found?
It gets better...... I got an email from one of the gradsons of NicLSilver who is a Samba member, Brent. We talked for a while and he is trying to pull some family history togeterh and the Pioneer Electric is part of it.
From Brent I learned that the triangle L in the NicLSilver logo was for Geroge Lippincott's family logo, L for Lippincott. They also went on to make surfboards (which he would love to find one called a Dyno) and skateboards (which he has a few of). Below is an article on the skate boards and pioneer electric.
http://karmannghias.org/GAlken/slides/AlkenSaleFDI.jpg
http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1075354_vanish...battery-co
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Last edited by JeffL on Tue Jun 03, 2014 4:59 pm; edited 3 times in total |
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Rome
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Joined: June 02, 2004
Posts: 9651
Location: Pearl River, NY
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| Posted: Sat May 31, 2014 9:30 am Post subject: |
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Jeff, amazing that Mr. Beggs is still there, and you were able to correspond with him!
My parents moved to Pacific Palisades in early 1960 (from Wolfsburg where I was born ), and we lived only about 6 blocks up from Mr. Beggs' house! But I was just a baby at the time the car was gone. But there was a Goggomobil 2 blocks away owned by some friends of my parents.
Hartzell St. ends up at Sunset Blvd, directly across the street from where my wife grew up. |
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JeffL
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Joined: September 04, 2004
Posts: 1370
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| Posted: Sat May 31, 2014 9:41 am Post subject: |
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| Rome wrote: |
Jeff, amazing that Mr. Beggs is still there, and you were able to correspond with him!
My parents moved to Pacific Palisades in early 1960 (from Wolfsburg where I was born ), and we lived only about 6 blocks up from Mr. Beggs' house! But I was just a baby at the time the car was gone. But there was a Goggomobil 2 blocks away owned by some friends of my parents.
Hartzell St. ends up at Sunset Blvd, directly across the street from where my wife grew up. |
Yes I talked with him live, some news about that above and he sent me one of his original Alken brochures where his car was used for the photos.
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JeffL
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Posts: 1370
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| Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2014 4:52 pm Post subject: |
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More great vintage photos. While these are not VW related they are related to the Alken through the Pioneer Electric. This was built by the fiberglass specialist group Victress that were commissioned to build the Pioneer Electric that never fully launched by George Lippincott at NicLSilver.
In looking closer, one can see that a VW front axle was used for the Pioneer Electric so there is a little VW in this car too! I guess from the Alken test mules they liked the simple VW front end and steering.
If anyone has seen this car let me know!
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SBD
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Joined: October 24, 2012
Posts: 3269
Location: SOUTH DAKOTA
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| Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2014 12:10 pm Post subject: |
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Just read this from start to finish. Love the work you're doing on the car. You'll have something you can really be proud of when it's finished. Also like the color you have picked. Lots better than the usual (and original) red. The one thing that strikes me about the car is how much the front end styling resembles the Ford Escort EXP from the early 1980's. I think somebody at Ford must have been looking at some old magazines or something...  |
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JeffL
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Posts: 1370
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| Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2014 2:33 pm Post subject: |
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| SBD wrote: |
| Just read this from start to finish. Love the work you're doing on the car. You'll have something you can really be proud of when it's finished. Also like the color you have picked. Lots better than the usual (and original) red. The one thing that strikes me about the car is how much the front end styling resembles the Ford Escort EXP from the early 1980's. I think somebody at Ford must have been looking at some old magazines or something... |
Thanks for the great comment.
More detials after being off the project for about a month while working on documentation.
The hinge holes were cut too big so I had to spend time rebuilding the openign and then gently cutting back out to just the right size. These are 55-57 Chevy hinges.
With the hinge fully open like in the second picture you need the hinges to rest on the hinge body and not the fiberglass or the paint and glass will centainly crack and fail.
Also to get the doors more flush you have to grind on the door and this lets it move out further.
Trying to locate a bar for under the front of the back seat just like in a Beetle. The width is about 44.5 inches so I'm hoping a stock one will work. It is the last area to fabricate before going to work on the body for prime and paint!
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