57/58 Alken Fiberglass Coachbuilt Project

[JeffL]

The 58 Alken now resides up at my son’s place in Ohio on Lake Erie. Maybe you will see it and post some pictures. Still running great at 1400 lb and stock 1600N it is quick.

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http://karmannghias.org/
https://karmannghias.org/GAlken/index.html

[JeffL]

[Loren]

Glad to hear you made it safely through the hurricane and that the Alken is back on the road. How is the Ghia coming along?

[JeffL]

After getting through hurricane helene we rebuilt the carbs and the Alken runs
Fantastic.

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http://karmannghias.org/
https://karmannghias.org/GAlken/index.html

[JeffL]

We are excited that the Alken was accepted to the annual Amelia Island
Concours this year with the show on March 3rd. That’s a big honor on the East Coast as they only select 275 cars. There is a driving event we will attend.

Thanks for all of the support on the Samba during the restoration.

There are some other Alkens out there under restoration!

At the Festivals of Speed in Tampa last weekend we picked up a top judges award. It was 34 degrees on the hr drive down! I think the heater boxes helped …..

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http://karmannghias.org/
https://karmannghias.org/GAlken/index.html

[JeffL]

In looking at some of my files on the first 3 Alkens that were finished in the Alken shops, it seems this one used an early 50s chassis with the heater knob behind the hand brake. We have not uncovered this car yet.

The one photo seems to have an early Covette in the background.

One pair of Alken seats, as shown here, still exist in the Blue NicLSilver car.

Also I have not found out how the doors open. These doors are like mine for a Alken that just has cover, no windows, but they don’t have the pull cord on the door? Magic.

Finally, I was not able to reinstall the chrome trim in mine. This car #3 is missing the chrome trim too!

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http://karmannghias.org/
https://karmannghias.org/GAlken/index.html

[JeffL]

Calling Jacks

Driving the Alken much more now that I am in Florida.

With the 1958 Porche trans in the Beetle chassis the shifting pattern is real wide.

Is the throw left to right different “mechanically” in the 356 to the beetle?

A short shifter might be the first trial.

Thanks
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https://karmannghias.org/GAlken/index.html

[JeffL]

I have compiled information from the:

Alken Press Release with additional period B&W photos
Motor Trend B&W photos
Nic-L-Silver Pioneer Electric Information
Nov 1958 Road and Track article
Nov 2018 VolksWorld article.

It is a large file loaded on my website but it seems to pull up fine.

Let's hope another Alken is found and the new owners can use this to restore their Alken.

Over time, if any other information is uncovered, please pass it along to me and I will update the story.


https://karmannghias.org/AlkenD2History.pdf
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https://karmannghias.org/GAlken/index.html

[JeffL]

While waiting for the Ghia to be painted, I was organizing all of the Alken data I have found over the years.

This newspaper article from Dec 10, 1958 documents the Alken Corp sending a car to Europe. I just noticed that the box being loaded into the trailer is stamped with "ALKEN".

They talked about building bodies in Europe, South America and Brazil.

The car in the picture is our car with the wide whitewalls and aluminum bumper spear.

The trucking name is almost visible on the trailer.

I have never seen pictures of White or McNamara. It would be nice to find this photo.

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https://karmannghias.org/GAlken/index.html

[ZENVWDRIVER]

1958 Alken

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5/50, pastel green 11G - SOLD
8/50, gray 11A Beetle
6/52, pastel green 11C - SOLD
11/4/52, black Zwitter - SOLD to my little bro.
1954 Porsche, pre A, with VW 36 horse- SOLD
1/54, black 11C Beetle - TRADED
2/55 Iceland green Beetle, on a 1965 pan
3/55 113 Beetle, stratos silver
1955 Messerschmitt KR175 - SOLD, sadly
1960 single cab
1962 SO33, with SO 42 interior
9/63 Pacific blue, Ghia
'87 Toyota MR2
'02 WestFORDia E-150, GAVE TO OUR SON

All super-heroes, wear a MASK

[msjulie]

Found the thread from the for-sale page; really amazing work, and fun to read. Good luck with the sale

[ZENVWDRIVER]

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5/50, pastel green 11G - SOLD
8/50, gray 11A Beetle
6/52, pastel green 11C - SOLD
11/4/52, black Zwitter - SOLD to my little bro.
1954 Porsche, pre A, with VW 36 horse- SOLD
1/54, black 11C Beetle - TRADED
2/55 Iceland green Beetle, on a 1965 pan
3/55 113 Beetle, stratos silver
1955 Messerschmitt KR175 - SOLD, sadly
1960 single cab
1962 SO33, with SO 42 interior
9/63 Pacific blue, Ghia
'87 Toyota MR2
'02 WestFORDia E-150, GAVE TO OUR SON

All super-heroes, wear a MASK

[JeffL]

Had some fun. The local college with a wire fed 3D printer did the Alken. About 1/20 scale as a comparison to the Franklin Mint Ghia

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http://karmannghias.org/
https://karmannghias.org/GAlken/index.html

[JeffL]

Finally getting someone to play with the Alken digital files

The files were done for about 1/16 so these 1/43 are pretty coarse but a great start.

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http://karmannghias.org/
https://karmannghias.org/GAlken/index.html

[JeffL]

Ok the build will now move to the 1956 Ghia. We had had her 25 years with only 65k miles on her from the original owner. We brought the pan home today while they start the Ghia after the Super Bird (95 pct all original parts from town I grew up in, I saw it sitting in a field). This crew painted the Alken.

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http://karmannghias.org/
https://karmannghias.org/GAlken/index.html

[JeffL]

Forgotten Fiberglass and Undiscovered Classics

Geoff Hacker has a site I hope everyone is familiar with called Forgotten Fiberglass and Undiscovered Classics. He brings cars and stories to light of people trying to bring their own creations to mainstream motorama.

He just launched an article on the Alken. Together we have found hundreds of pages and photos on the formation of the Alken. Two sites, Stanford and Perterson, get the credit for keeping original B&W photos around for over 50 years of our Alken.

Visit his site and see some of the other cars like the Zelensis. I think he could use some information on the Ascort GT!


https://www.undiscoveredclassics.com/chassis/meet-1958-alken/

https://www.undiscoveredclassics.com/foreign-handc...-zelensis/

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http://karmannghias.org/
https://karmannghias.org/GAlken/index.html

[52brezelfenster]

Great job Jeff on the Alken. Can't wait to see the ghia get some tlc.

Take it easy,

Dustin

[JeffL]

The Alken is up for sale on the Samba. I have went to about 6 concours shows on the East Coast and everyone loved it. I need to now restore my 56 Ghia I have had for 25 years. If you are interested in the Alken make me an offer. This has been a great piece of American VW history to restore and share.

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http://karmannghias.org/
https://karmannghias.org/GAlken/index.html

[JeffL]

Geoff is a great guy to meet for anyone interested in the age of fiberglass

To finish his notes D2 comes from Design 2. When they built the first body they didn’t like it scaled up. No cars were made from this design. They reworked it and came up with the D2 which is the Alken we see today.

Also we found out that Alken is the combination of two brothers names Allen and Kenneth White. Pretty simple.
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https://karmannghias.org/GAlken/index.html

[BarryL]

I didn't read every page so I hope this isn't a repost.
https://www.undiscoveredclassics.com/forgotten-fib...this-1958/