TheSamba.com :: View topic

Mon May 08, 2017 4:50 pm

Here is one where the seller is indicating it has a link to the designer:

https://seattle.craigslist.org/oly/cto/6088890741.html

Thu Jun 28, 2018 1:37 pm

I have finally finished the Shalavet.It took about 3 years off and on to complete.

Sat Jul 21, 2018 2:00 pm

Has anyone yet to find one of the long nosed original Shalako "Shala Sport GT's"

I see plenty of the snub noses, but none of the long....with the exception of the one with a bunch of louvers , which someone made to kinda' look like the GT.

I also had a model of the SNUB-nose once... I wish I could have gotten a GT model version... but I don't think they were made … just the buggy style .
maybe by AMC or AMT ????

* Just a note:
>>> "I NOW OWN 'PATRICK CAKEBREADS' ' FIBERFAB AVENGER GT-12" <<< You Tube.. > Patrick cakebreads AVENGER < to see

Plan on doing it up in GULF LIVERY.

Went to Fargo, ND just before eclipse and picked it up and brought it back to Weeki Wachee, FLA. ...Timed it so I could see eclipse on the way.

Till next post............

Sat Jul 21, 2018 6:04 pm

To answer the Shalako question, yes, there was one for sale somewhere in the southeast a couple years ago. It was an unsubstantiated build from Dean and it looked pretty hacked up, but it was definitely a long nose.

Thu Aug 02, 2018 8:42 am

Yup - As Rick said - there was one posted on Craigs - I remember it as it was just after I got married (effectively putting me out of the kit hobby :( ) It was Summer of 2011. Pretty sure that was the one and only one (Same as in the photo with Dicks wife posing). It was only listed for $3,000. I would've grabbed it in a second in my "previous" life. Still smartiung over not grabbing it.

Tue Aug 07, 2018 11:59 am

manxvw, your ShalaVet looks absolutely stunning! I hope Keith has seen it....I think he'd really like it, too.

Great job and I hope you have lots of fun with it!

Mon Feb 25, 2019 8:02 am

Check out this video featuring the "Breadvan". It's that car leading the pack. Especially from the back...this could've been a neat way to go with further development of the Shalako:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BKdtoU_S_E

Fri Mar 22, 2019 8:13 am

I have some Shalako history in my family. When I was a kid my dad bought what had to be one of the prototype Shalakos in San Diego. This was in the mid 1970's. It was not finished but was a roller. It had steel gull wing doors, steel frame, non-vw pan, dual side pod gas tanks, and a roll bar. So it had VW suspension but the rest of the chassis was custom. The interior was super nice and tan colored. I recall it having slot mags and BFG red line tires. When we got it someone had cut out the center of the front hood and were fabricating some pop up headlights out of stainless steel.
If it still exists it would be different from the rest as he filled the hole in the hood and molded the headlights into the top of the fenders. He painted it gold. It had a Monza exhaust that he cut the tips and rotated them up and out. It was a lot more than a kit car. Very solid and a blast to ride in.
About 10 years ago he found a kit and completed it. It was all fiberglass. Someone on this thread posted a picture of it in blue with a white center stripe and chrome rims. That car is currently for sale in the Atlanta area.

The prototype was sold for $1,600 in the early 80's in Diamond Bar, CA. I was just 10 but remember the price! I would love to know what happened to it if anyone knows.

Maybe this will help fill in some blanks in the history of these cars.

Fri Mar 22, 2019 9:23 am

Here's a Shalako racing at El Mirage in the 70's with Porsche power. Clocked at around 87mph if I remember right. A record that stood for 30 years.

brad

Fri Mar 22, 2019 7:28 pm

Very cool, like it a lot. Was it intended as a buggy or more a kit car for street use, ala the Puma and other bodies of that ilk?

Tue Apr 23, 2019 9:05 pm

Possible sshovel-nose in north Jersey, for sale on FB: https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/2325735374382398/

Mon Jul 06, 2020 3:39 am

Just picked up s Shalako projec. Second one I've owned in my life. First one I didn't finish and ended up selling
This time it will be a recreation of the original Dick Dean white Shalako. Can't wait to get started

Mon Jul 06, 2020 5:55 am

Wow - looks completely unmolested. Nice find!

Sat Oct 17, 2020 6:17 pm

Hello Ladies and Gents,
Made my way through the forum here and looked at the many builds, all exciting stuff giving me great ideas - so glad this thread exists.

Just purchased this beauty from a collector in WI, single owner with paperwork and vintage original photos. Was almost never driven with only 240 miles on the clock.
1967 VW base, 1971 AE 1600cc motor, 4 speed manual (original 1980 Goodyear's!)

Very excited to start a restore and will update here. From reading it does not seem that many of these were made so very excited to have it.

Photos below - Cheers!

Wed Oct 21, 2020 7:26 pm

Hi Everyone!

I am new to this forum, and to be frank, I am here to ask the opinion of the experts on my Shala Vette. My father purchased this car about 5 years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it until he passed away about a year ago. I intended on keeping it as it was his "baby", but it isn't exactly a car that I can enjoy with my 1year old son.

Although I really enjoy this car, I need to part with it. I may resort to selling it locally or on an auction site, but given the rarity, there are few people that will recognize this as anything other than a "kit car", I thought I should let you all know that it is going to be for sale.

The car spent its life in southern California until 2013, and then it was purchased by a gentleman in New Jersey. The car was running when he bought it, and did some cosmetic work to it (paint, interior, clear coat). My father purchased it in 2015, and spent considerable time getting the car to its current state. It runs and drives great!

I am in no hurry to sell it, but really want to find someone that knows what it it is and can appreciate it for what it is. I would really appreciate any feedback about the car, and where/how I should go about finding the next owner of this car. I really do NOT want to sell it on craigslist to someone that wants a "poor man's corvette"...

Thanks in advance!

Thu Aug 12, 2021 12:43 pm

Hi all, just purchased and pulled home a new toy. It's a Shala-vette on a '66 vw pan. It appears to be quite complete minus a speedometer and gauges. Looking forward to restoring this car and having fun with it. I'll likely go with the original burnt orange metal flake. Thought you all would be interested that another one of these has surfaced having sat outside in an alley in a very small village in north central Missouri for a few years. I have to say that I am impressed with the completeness of the kit... the panels that cover the wiring under the front hood and the way the dash is well designed and provides a complete look. I have seen a few pics of other 'Shala-like' cars and the edges are not finished and they seem like more of a 'shell' than a complete car. This one is missing the top/ hardware. I will likely have to fabricate.
[/img]

Thu Nov 03, 2022 8:34 pm

Just having fun back in 1976

Sat May 18, 2024 1:02 am

How do you make doors like the original metal bodied Shalakos? You need to see how the originals were done and I found some pictures online. I am waiting for a copy of the February 1969 Rod & Custom to arrive to see if there are better pictures in that issue.

For the fiberglass bodies you first close the half doors to get as a good a seal as you can and then screw the doors to the lower part of the body. Then run tape along the body down to the silver body line, across toward the rear and back up to the top. The inner edge of the tape is your cutting line. After removing both parts use polyester or epoxy resin to bond the seam where they are screwed together. This seam will eventually need to be reinforced to make the two parts one or you can create a new door using steel tube reinforcement and foam with fiberglass. Before putting on the fiberglass and resin sculpt the door along with the sealing edges. If you want to use glass create a mounting surface for the butyl cement that will hold the glass to the body.

Where you cut on the horizontal body line you are going to glue on a 1/2, 3/4 or 1 inch thick rectangular piece of polyurethane foam (insulation) panel with a density of at least 2 lb/cu. ft. It can be denser if you like but you can not use styrofoam, only urethane or polyurethane (polyisocyanurate). This you glue to the existing sanded fiberglass About 1/4 inch below the existing fiberglass edge and then add fiberglass cloth, fiberglass mat and another layer of cloth, all the while getting all the air bubbles out one layer at a time. Do the same at the front and rear to support the ends of the sill you just created. You will need to do the same going from the inside edge of the sill to the floor but only after you have complete the sill and front and rear attachments. Build up the fiber glass until you can sit on the new door sill and it will hold your weight. You can scrape away some of the foam on the underside to increase the thickness of the fiberglass. Do the same to the front and rear where the sill joins the body. This needs to be extra strong because this is where the door latch pins will be located. You can also embed a steel plate in the fiberglass to better hold the pin. The steel plate will need a bunch of holes in it to better bond the plate to the layer of fiberglass and resin.
The following pictures are how you might construct the sealing surfaces and how you might reinforce the gull wing doors. If you do not want bent doors you will need structural reinforcement at the edges of the doors. The same is needed for the rear cover.

I have seen covered hinges that could be used for the gull wing doors but I cannot remember where.

How to create sealing surface

Reinforcement for doors and or roof support

Example of support for a canopy. See how it is embedded

Another example of a sealing surface.

The flat surfaces on the fiberglass can be made with waxed Masonite or another non-stick surface like waxed Formica.
Here are pictures of an original Shalako through the open door and looking at the read mounted engine.

Wed May 22, 2024 1:46 am

One thing I was trying to find out was the wheelbase of the original. It was 85 inches. It did use the VW Beetle front beam but I imagine it could also use the front suspension out of a bus or Kombi. Torsion bars were laid out differently in the bus and the entire beam was a two piece stamping. Rear was the IRS with torsion bars and trans-engine support fork.

With today's tech a 3D-CAD layout of the tube chassis will likely be better strength wise if done with FEM Analysis. The original has a Porsche twin cam motor.

Wed May 22, 2024 7:42 am

No one in their right mind would use a bus beam for the front suspeension. Even a Beetle beam is too stiff for a light buggy, let alone a suspension for a vehicle raated as a 1 ton.

Tube chassis definitrly are superior in many ways including making it easier to mount seats where you want without the big tunnel and the flare at the back that makes it really hard to gwt bigger seats in the car.

I just saw a core Furhmann twin cam up for sale. It was missing ignirion, carbs and a lot of othe parts and it looked like it had sat in a wet barn for 40 years. The asking price was $150,000 and it sold in less than a day. My friends at Blackline dyno tuned one a couple years ago. That one was valued at $250,000.