1961 Turkis Ragtop Build

[laneven28]

Had a stroke of incredibly good luck and timing this past weekend. Since I decided to travel the okrasa route around a year ago, I've kept my eyes open for an okrasa 40hp crank, knowing they're really tough to come by. One went up on the samba several months ago, and it sold almost immediately - I missed it. With the engine now being built, I figured I'd just have to go without and was perfectly good with using a standard size NOS 40hp crank.

Well this past weekend, the famed Morris Brothers Motorsports held an open house in Salt Lake City to let Porsche & VW enthusiasts come visit the new shop that moved from Seattle, so my boys and I went up to check it out and drool over the Porsches. Beautifully restored 356's were everywhere.

I got talking with Jack Morris and mentioned that I was building a 40hp okrasa motor, and he said he thought he had a 40hp okrasa crank somewhere in his parts stash. I asked if he'd be willing to sell it, and he said yes - come back on Monday. I could barely wait for Monday to roll around, but it eventually did, and I went back.

Jack found the crank fairly quickly and we struck a reasonable deal. I took the crank immediately to Blackline which was only a couple of blocks away. Justin measured it with his dial gauge, and said it was incredibly straight and was at a point that he could still use it without much trouble or delay to the engine build. The timing of this find couldn't have been better - score for me! With this crank, my excitement and anticipation for this engine just went up a significant notch. Here's a few pictures:

_________________
1950 Pearl Grey Hoffman Standard Split Window
1954 Iceland Green Euro 3-Fold Oval
1955 Strato Silver Transitional 3-Fold Oval
1956 Iris Blue Convertible
1958 Pearl White Lowlight KG Convertible
1961 Turkis Ragtop

[Jak3-719]

I just read through the entire thread - GREAT build! My buddy just picked up a '61 rag as well, but we arent certain what the factory color is. It's definitely a project, but it's a very clean start.

The kicker - it's serial 3300001!

Remnance of what was left of the ragtop and interior suggest it may have been the same color as your. How would we be able to tell?

-Jake

[laneven28]

[HBH72]

Hi, what a very fine car you have made - and cool engine !

That VDO tach. I have never seen that. Could you provide any further details on that.. Thanks Henrik

[laneven28]

[laneven28]

Well, end of the story here. Justin finished building, installing, and tuning the okrasa motor just in the nick of time for Wade to take the car to senior prom that night. I picked the car up from him at Blackline around noon that Saturday and Wade was off by 5 for the evening activities. The car was a big hit with his date and all his friends.

Can't thank Justin and Shayla at Blackline enough for all the hard work they did and late nights they endured to make this happen in time for Wade's big night. We've put close to 500 miles on the car since the engine was completed, and couldn't be happier with how it runs & drives.

Here's a few parting shots, including a couple of Wade's senior pictures he had taken with the car.

_________________
1950 Pearl Grey Hoffman Standard Split Window
1954 Iceland Green Euro 3-Fold Oval
1955 Strato Silver Transitional 3-Fold Oval
1956 Iris Blue Convertible
1958 Pearl White Lowlight KG Convertible
1961 Turkis Ragtop

[tigerdyr]

Super cool car 👍

The engine blok You used for your okrasa engine did it have cam bearings?

[laneven28]

Thank you. No cam bearings in that case - the bore & surfaces were all good so no need for them.
_________________
1950 Pearl Grey Hoffman Standard Split Window
1954 Iceland Green Euro 3-Fold Oval
1955 Strato Silver Transitional 3-Fold Oval
1956 Iris Blue Convertible
1958 Pearl White Lowlight KG Convertible
1961 Turkis Ragtop

[VolkFanJefe]

WOW! What an awesome build! You guys did an amazing job.

It has been a few years now since you completed this build, Did you guys ever get that Lowlight done?

[TheDon]

Wow


amazing build. Beautiful color and the wheel combo came out great and this is one of my favorite builds.
_________________

[lazyboy683]

[laneven28]

Wow, it's been a long time since I was swimming in the details of this 61 ragtop. Getting hard to remember everything.

I can't remember the name of the darker green on the door panels (maybe it's hydrate green too?), but the light blue is ice blue - a hard to find color. I found a nice original door card to have the dye mixed up for the replacement door panels and ragtop. The dye was put in spray cans like spray paint, but I did not use it on the steering column, shifter, or ebrake - I had paint mixed for those using a hydrate green part I had.

The coloring of the dye is holding up really well, granted the car has been stored indoors for the past several years.

Hope that helps, good luck with your 61!
_________________
1950 Pearl Grey Hoffman Standard Split Window
1954 Iceland Green Euro 3-Fold Oval
1955 Strato Silver Transitional 3-Fold Oval
1956 Iris Blue Convertible
1958 Pearl White Lowlight KG Convertible
1961 Turkis Ragtop

[lazyboy683]

Hey thanks for going down memory lane for me! That’s a good point I might have to source a og door card and interior piece to get a color match. Hopefully your son is still enjoying that beautiful car. I’m starting a similar one with my two oldest kids (11 and 9). My hopes is it turns out half as good as yours!

[laneven28]

[lazyboy683]

That would be awesome! Let me if you find them I’ll happily buy them from you.

[SLIVER270]

Sent you a PM sir.

))--SLIVER-->

[Buggin1963]

that is awesome.

[laneven28]

Fun and proud update to share

In the summer of 2022, I had Eric Arnold do a photoshoot with the 61 Ragtop as I wanted some great, professional pictures that we could hang up in the house and memorialize the car me and my boys had built together 10 or so years ago.

When we were done, Eric asked if I wanted the pictures submitted to any of the VW magazines and I said no. I've never thought of the 61 as a magazine or show car, just a super cool driver that brought me and my boys together.

Pictures came back a month or two later, and I was beyond happy with them. Eric asked again if I wanted pictures submitted to the magazines. My close buddy, Joe McRae, talked me into submitting them, but I still didn't expect any magazines to publish them.

A few months ago, Eric reached out and let me know VolksWorld was going to do a feature on the 61. I could barely believe it. I'm still in shock, but super proud to see our 61 featured in the pages of the November 2023 edition of Volksworld.

To make it even better, Joe's stunning green 21-window Samba is featured in the same edition.

My sincere thanks to both Eric Arnold, Joe McRae, and VolksWorld Magazine

Cheers

_________________
1950 Pearl Grey Hoffman Standard Split Window
1954 Iceland Green Euro 3-Fold Oval
1955 Strato Silver Transitional 3-Fold Oval
1956 Iris Blue Convertible
1958 Pearl White Lowlight KG Convertible
1961 Turkis Ragtop

[Erik G]

that's great
_________________
Stop dead photo links! Post your photos to The Samba Gallery!