Reconstruction of the 1937 W30/26

[sweden]

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Me and my sons cars Typ1 -49 -50 -51 -52 -52 -53 -53 -54 -55 -55 -56 -56 -57 -58 cab -64 cab
T3 TriStar airride with Audi 1,8T engine and Porsche 996 gearbox.

[oldovaldriver]

Some of the early histories, maybe including the book "Small Wonder," recounted a VW30 test car hitting a deer and limping back to base. The incident was sometimes cited to point out an advantage of the rear engine.

[oldovaldriver]

Small Wonder, Walter Henry Nelson
Copyright 1965, 1967, 1970

page 55:

"One [VW30 test car] ran into a truck, another into a motorcyclist, and once a car hit a large deer at full speed going down the autobahn. The collision knocked out a headlight and demolished the front bodywork. "In this case," Vorwig [Wilhelm Vorwig, liaison between the Porsche Bureau and the German auto manufacturers' trade association, RDA] remembers, "the results weren't entirely negative. The crew of the vehicle tossed the stag into the rear seat, its four legs sticking out a window, and raced back home at full speed, to get it there before it began to stink. We had a feast of venison and the accident further proved that a rear-engine vehicle can drive away from a collision."

[allsidius]

[Undis]

[Undis]

As for the indecent with the stag, here is an interesting tidbit on that.

This is an invitation addressed to Karl Lerner for the closing celebration of the 50,000 Kilometre test drive (that’s 50,000 each) of the V3 cars. The date is Monday 21st December 1936 at the Pilsner Urquell restaurant, Kronprinz Strasse 12, Stuttgart. (just about 10 minute walk from the Porsche office in Kronen Strasse).
By this time all three cars had reached the 50,000 Km target and the test drive was to be officially concluded the following day on the 22nd December. Seems the Porsche team had quite a nice party on that day with entertainment and drinks including a film showing.

The drawings on this invitation are fascinating. At the top we see a man closely resembling Ferdinand Porsche himself dressed in a coat and a Homburg hat talking to guards. Behind him we see the three V3 cars all wearing their covers with Roman numerals I, II and III secured with massive padlocks! Further down we see a man (Ferdinand Porsche again?) dictating a letter to his secretary.

Further down one of the V3s is getting a lot of attention from the mechanics. This sight must have been quite common at the Villa and on the road.

Further down the V3/3 chasing itself and lower still the V3/3 being filled up at the fuel pump set up in the Porsche Villa courtyard. Notice the Shell fuel drums. Further down is what appears to be the V3/1 or 2 chasing some rabbits and at the bottom is the (in)famous accident scene between the V3/3 and a stag. This crash of course left the car seriously damaged and it looks like the occupants of the car are taking a walk home.
Wouldn’t it be nice to a fly on the wall at this party?

I wonder who the lucky guy Karl Lerner was.

[allsidius]

I cannot wait for your book, Undis! I am totally in line with your theory that V1 body was reused for V3/3. I guess this is your montage?

Here's V3/3 without the bulge. Judging from the dented fender, this is probably after the repair following "stag night"? Or is it before the fitting of the centre light, but after some road wear? Bodyrepair men had good times working for Porsche in those days.

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1973 1303S w sunroof Click to view image
1978 1303 convertible (sold)Click to view image
1966 1300 RIPClick to view image

Stop dead photo links! Post your photos to The Samba Gallery!

[Undis]

[IIIA-0426]

Let's do a new thread then, Undis!

It's about time I think. My views on the early history have also been re-formed somewhat by our critical review of evidence.
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1971 Alfa Romeo Giulia Super

[Rome]

Young man on the right looks alot like Hans Klauser, who would stay with Porsche until his retirement.

Klauser is seen here in the foreground at the 1956 LeMans race. Ferry Porsche is crouching behind him, with Ferry's son Wolfgang lying down at left.

[Undis]

[Undis]

[IIIA-0426]

[Jack O'Neill]

[Undis]

Just getting back to the W30, I had a bit of fun and superimposed two of the original technical drawings Sk 1779 chassis design and side view drawing from the V3 report. Surprisingly they line up perfectly. I used the wheelbase of 2400 mm as my scale constant and played around on the photocopier until I got both right. I shaded in the trunk area and the engine/transmission area to get a better understanding of the different zones of the body. The trunk area of the W30 body is entirely different to that of a regular Type 1. The small front hood only has access to the spare tire and the fuel tank with just a small amount of additional storage. Gauge pod and wiring is accessible from inside the car as underneath of the dashboard is open.

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[Undis]

Here’s an update on the reconstruction of the 1937 W30/26 being carried out by the Hessisch Oldendorf team. The body buck that was used to build the Autostadt W30 replica was deemed unusable by the Hessisch Oldendorf team so brand new buck had to be constructed. The reason for this is that the Autostadt buck has wrong dimensions derived from a regular Beetle body. The original W30 bodies were more narrow. The only way forward was to build a new one from scratch using all correct measurements.

The building of the entire new body has been entrusted to René Große Restaurierungen GmbH & Co.KG at Wusterwitz, Germany (www.rene-grosse.com). A top-notch specialist was needed to recreate a complete new body by hand. The methods used here would be the same as used by the Daimler Benz body builders back in 1937.

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[Undis]

Once the wooden buck is finished the main lines are sketched in on it using soft copper tubing.

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Check out my Facebook page: Volkswagen Prototypes.

[Undis]

The starting point of the construction has been chosen to be the windscreen and the roof fold lines.

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Check out my Facebook page: Volkswagen Prototypes.

[Undis]

Pieces of sheet steel are then rolled and attached to the fold lines.
Just look how bulbous that roof looks. Nothing like a regular Beetle.

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[nshaddox]

So sweet. I want to build something off a wooden buck someday. How is the copper pipe adhered to the buck? Big staples? Any detail shots of buck construction? Do most people build bucks with cnc routers now or what?