57/58 Alken Fiberglass Coachbuilt Project

[JeffL]

Information on the Alken is still being found.

I am trying to get some of the information I saw posted on the original Alken R&T photo shoot. It was a copy of the original Alken Press Kit. Many photos are of my car.

Here Alan and Kenneth White were the founders and Alken and the name Alken is derived from their first names! Breaking news today.

There was a first design where the a scale model was created. It was scrapped and then the next design, likely D2 designation was born.

Sandra, a famous Los Angeles model, is wearing a Afternoon Coat Dress designed by Germaine Galzin inspired by the Alken. Maybe we can find some information on her. She also looks like the girl with the raised hand driving in the Alken in the official Alken brochure.

The race car Alken was driven from William Friedauer who was a racing enthusiast and the sales person for Alken. His bio was listed. One photo is at the start of the race and the one included here crossing the finished line.

About 50 pages of new material.


https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/nn936qw6336
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http://karmannghias.org/
https://karmannghias.org/GAlken/index.html

[slow36hp]

https://www.hemmings.com/blog/2018/12/24/hemmings-find-of-the-day-1958-volkswagen-alken-d2-roadster/
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1958 custom camper
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=483656
1957 oval
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=426468&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0
1957 dd kombi
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=186478&highlight=

[joey1320]

[JeffL]

I had some time today to do a little more research.

The Alken was raced by Bill Friedauer on June 29, 1958. I have a few pictures of screen shots from the Racing Sports Cars website.

In the recently uncovered R&T data from the original photo shoot, there is a page of notes. These notes became the statistics used in the R&T Road Test report. I put them side by side on one picture.

The Alken finished #14 with a time of 3.09 minutes for 3.127 miles. Winner was Jack MacAfee.

The notes add information to show that Bill Friedauer drove the Alken for the Road Test. It has him listed and his weight as 184 lbs. Another driver "JB" weighed 140 lbs. Who was "JB"? I opened the cover of the Nov 11, 1958 R&T magaine and on the 1st page is "Publisher & Technical Editor John R Brown". Our JB was Mr. John R. Brown. He must have been present to validate results.

June 29, 1958 --- Bill Friedauer races at Riverside
July 23, 1958 --- R&T initial test with John R Brown
August 12, 1958 --- R&T follow up test by JRB initials, maybe they had Alken 2 weeks
November 1958 --- Our Alken appears in Nov 1958 Issue of R&T
November 2018 --- 60 years later Volksworld shows the Alken again


From the Alken Press Release:

"William Friedauer – William L. Friedauer, a popular Southern California sports car driver and sales engineer, is sales manager of the Alken Corporation. Friedauer has held similar positions with other Southern California automotive firms, has been an ardent amateur sports car driver for nine years, and is a member of the Southern California Sports Car Club. He is 38, married and lives in Glendale."

I wonder if JB or Bill are still around for an interview! Maybe Jack's team is around with some other race photo's of the day?

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

[JeffL]

Fashion Design

This is also from the press release. Sandra Glazin is the model and designer of the dress Germaine Galzin. I wonder if they are together but last name is not the same, likely it was an error with "la" reversed? If anyone has fashion connections let me know. It says "Miss" so maybe it was Germaine's daughter? I have not found anything on the model or designer.

Also, this is the same Alken raced by Bill in the prior post. I believe the Alken Corp made 3 launch/splash cars. All had the aluminum bright work on the molded in bumpers. The license is the same and this car also has a windshield squirter nozzle drilled into the front hood. My Alken has wipers where the mount was altered to fit under the dash but no misting nozzle.

Updated: I noticed that Sandra's dress is different in the picture captured in Dan Posts "Volkswagen Nine Lives Later"

Does the picture on the brochure look like Sandra? Maybe, it appears to be the same car but the mirror might be different.


"Sandra, well known Los Angeles fashion model is shown with the Alken D-2. Sandra is wearing an exclusive afternoon coat dress designed by internationally famous designer Germaine Galzin. The dress was inspired by the D-2. Miss Glazin’s gowns are featured at such shops as Nieman-Marcus and I. Magnin."

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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/

[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

[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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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]

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

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

[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

[msjulie]

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

[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

[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

[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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[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]

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