1957 LaDawri Sebring - #4

[didget69]

Looks like a LaDawri Quest QT, or LaDawri Sebring. Check the body measurements against this list.

http://www.forgottenfiberglass.com/wp-content/uploads/scan_0121.jpg

bnc
_________________
I never found the need to impress people with any mechanic certifications, trophies or track wins... unless it was for Mom to post on the refrigerator door.

[0nebadbug]

[monomanx]

Alex,
I'll take Miscellaneous for $7.76, please.

This is very cool. THis just really screams to have it completely restored as a vintage kit...36HP and bias ply tires. THe only upgrade I would make is type 3 rear brakes and later model front brakes. The 57 and prior stuff is pricey.

Really cool!

[didget69]

Del Mar...

http://www.forgottenfiberglass.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/17340/23.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8202/8249224172_904f7ef7e7.jpg

Those metal braces may have been added by builder, as no LaDawri's were built exactly alike.

bnc
_________________
I never found the need to impress people with any mechanic certifications, trophies or track wins... unless it was for Mom to post on the refrigerator door.

[0nebadbug]

[didget69]

Play it safe & tow it home -

bnc
_________________
I never found the need to impress people with any mechanic certifications, trophies or track wins... unless it was for Mom to post on the refrigerator door.

[GPM]

[VOLKSWAGNUT]

[0nebadbug]

And now I have officially gone blind from trying to hunt for information on these La Dawri's.. But did manage to find a little more about them..

During Ladawri's factory lifetime the total of larger bodies produced thru their duration they only shipped 210+/- full size Conquest packages across their existence. The mainstay of their "coach kits" seem to be the Conquest model of which seems maybe less than 20 are known of and all on American made V8 drive-trains. And the rest are probably sitting in fields, barns or being neglected into obscurity. The majority of them were built off the old school "Henry J" style chassis from the mid-late 50's thru the mid 60's that helped fuel the emerging American rally muscle scene. The majority of them being home built soon after being featured in road & track in July 1957. In some further reading it sounds like what may have brought the California based shop down was a factory fire that either destroyed or damaged the majority of the original molds somewhere in the early to mid 60's (I'm still hunting facts on this)

The import chassis models on the other hand, the Quest QT & Sebring? There are even less known of that percentage and can't really find out even a guesstimate of how many were made and seem way more scarce than their American V8 counterparts. In an extremely obscure reference in a UK forum that I can't seem to find twice now there are only 3 known Sebrings, and all of them are built on Porsche platforms 1 in the US and 2 in the UK. And cannot seem to find any information on the import sized Del Mar as to possible numbers built either, yet.

Wow maybe we will trailer this home...

This is the Sebring done on a Porsche platform (sorry no detail specs)

A heavily modified Conquest QT done on a Ghia platform... link to album

_________________
::: Slowoval ::: LaDawri Sebring ::: '61 Creampuff ::: Dust Storm '66 :::

[didget69]

I looked at the video & photos on the Conquest QT on 'Ghia' platform... my friend termed the construction to be a bit 'skeevie', as a lot of this car appears to have been haphazardly bodged together.

But I'd take the body from it & start anew...

bnc
_________________
I never found the need to impress people with any mechanic certifications, trophies or track wins... unless it was for Mom to post on the refrigerator door.

[VOLKSWAGNUT]

[0nebadbug]

Yeah that's the notion... Get the brakes squared away, polish her up a bit, slap the tags and come up with a simple wrap around interior figured up & fabbed and put it in to sit on ASAP, I imagine this won't be too difficult at all. Then there are a few local shows we're going to do over the next few weeks. Maybe we'll get a "WTF is that thing" award... I'm sure it's gonna get some hard long looks that's for damn sure! : )=

Also as soon as we get it home we're going to unbolt the doors too and try and figure out what we can do to get door latches in them to make them actually operate because hopping and sliding into and out of that thing really sucks! Hoping we can use similar to what hot rod shops might use like maybe Autoloc Bear Claw setups but not sure how they might adapt them to plastic body though. We'll see I guess...
_________________
::: Slowoval ::: LaDawri Sebring ::: '61 Creampuff ::: Dust Storm '66 :::

[slalombuggy]

I know it's a bit late for this comment, but I too would trailer it home. I flat towed a 58 across town on tires that looked great (old bias plies) I got on the freeway for the 10 minute trip and the 2 rear ones blew apart even though they looked great and held air from the day before. They were dry rotted and simply fell apart at freeway speeds. You have a super cool car, would be a tragedy to loose it for they sake of saying you drove it home.

Looking forward to seeing what's under the body, great find!!!!!

brad

[0nebadbug]

Yeah after weighing the pros & cons? I came to the exact same conclusions you encountered Brad...
So we trailered her at 8:00 am this morning to keep on the safe side...

...more to come...
_________________
::: Slowoval ::: LaDawri Sebring ::: '61 Creampuff ::: Dust Storm '66 :::

[RedBaronofRedBud]

The 1965 SIUC sticker in the window is so cool! I hope it can be saved in your work on it! It looks better 45+ years later than mine did after one year at SIU!

Great find and cant wait to see more pics and vids!

RBofRB

[0nebadbug]

Hey I'm off the trailer and at my new home!

Bled the brakes and slapped on some spare hubcaps we had laying around and she looks AWSOME!!!

Wow what a day yesterday was... When we showed up in the morning the person we bought it from was waiting for us and when we went into the storage space everything was out of it except this one. Just the other day he still had tons of stuff to move as he had to have everything out by the end of Tuesday. And he was nice enough to offer to deliver it for us free of charge and my sons house was only 4 miles away and in the direction he was going.

So we got there unloaded and had had a look at our VW stuff for a bit and went on his merry way. So there it was sitting in the driveway. We fired her right up and immediately moved it to the back garage and started bleeding all the brakes and while we were almost positive that something was going to be dried or cracked, be clogged, rusted out or leaking to no end.. To our amazement as soon as we started inspecting the brake system they all had all newer lines both metal & rubber as well all had new bleeders and even still had the little rubber caps on all but one and to make it even more of a pleasure it also looks like all of the slave cylinders look to have been quite new as well as shoes all the way around!

Grabbed a full can of DOT3, clear tubing and a glass jar and made the way around. I poured, my youngest son pumped and my oldest ran around opening and closing the bleeders and in about 20 minutes of bleeding we had all of the air out & all of the junk out we have full pressure at the brake pedal! As far as we can tell right now there seems to be no leaking anywhere yet.

The only leak that we have found though is at the bottom of the fuel tank we hoped it was only the line from being dry maybe so we cut an inch or two from the end, added a fuel filter as the tank itself is a a bit dirty but in the end the lines are fine it turns out that the on/off/reserve petcock is dripping... Seals probably dried up from sitting so we'll order up 2 rebuild kits seeing as my oval's tank leaks has the exact same issue.

After that we slapped some extra hubcaps we had laying around and it was now only the matter of "OK who wants to be the sacrificial guinea-pig"... of which was me... so I took a short lap and started smelling burning rubber figuring it was maybe the belt so I stopped, my son opened the trunk to find the battery had slid over and was rubbing on the belt, we forgot to through a bungee on it (DOH). We dug one out the garage and solved that problem. The little wood tray that was built for the battery is a bit tired so this will have ton be fixed up right away. But once this problem was solved? We all took turns driving it a endless laps around the neighborhood without any issues this thing runs and drive awesome! But the old bias plys tires are going to have to go as they really ride like crap even more so because of their age but we will keep them on it until one of them craps out.

THE MATH CONFIRMS IT, SHE IS THE SEBRING MODEL!

And more doors all open, hinges are in perfect condition and have never been fitted with latches, ever!

Heck even all of the lights work, but we need a new brake switch and also we need to pickup a new flasher relay.
It also has a pair of monster sized horns in the front grill but we will have to trouble-shoot those as to if they work or not

Can anyone tell me about things you can see in these pics that I might be missing?
Never seen a coil like that before...?
The foot control extenders look almost as if they were actually made for VW's only...
And whats up with the billet tank on top of the master cylinder? Off road application maybe?

Yeah I know, Nice hair, but convertibles will do that I suppose.
I look like Bozo the clown... LOL

and here's a vid of just having some fun... it's a little long but hey... it was fun as hell! And towards the end you can see where there was a patch applied to the spot in the trunk-lid where the Judson Supercharger originally poked though the hood.

Ride along and ENJOY!

Link

edited for the new video which is way much more fun to watch
_________________
::: Slowoval ::: LaDawri Sebring ::: '61 Creampuff ::: Dust Storm '66 :::

[Letterman7]

Those pedals are f**ked up, no other way to put it. The builder couldn't be bothered to move the cluster back? Really? I'd ditch the whole thing as that's just an accident waiting to happen, IMHO. Put in a set of hydraulics if you want since you've got the room in front of that firewall, or just relocate the pedals. That would eliminate all that clutter on the tunnel.

If that plywood isn't structural under the dash, pull that, too, and gain back some legroom...

[0nebadbug]

[Letterman7]

So the plywood is structural, then? Wow... hmmm.. well, so are Morgans. Yeah, definitely enjoy it for the remainder of the season and start your reconstruction over the winter. I'm jealous - it really is a neat little car!

[0nebadbug]