Weird and Wonderful - Special Bodies

In the return of the weird and wonderful VWs series we are continuing with the various sporty coupes that have been built on the VW chassis over the years. Starting at the beginning with the very first sporty VW. Not happy with the plain old Beetle, many individuals and firms have adapted the Type 1 to look like a completely different car, but retaining the VWs trusty mechanics and reliability. Readers may note that the Enzmann Coupe (now back in production) and the oddball Aussie Ascort coupe have already been featured in Wheelspin.

The 1939 KDF 60K10

Many would assume that the Porsche 356 (1948 onwards) was the first 2 seater sports car to come from the Porsche Werk, but you would be wrong. The first 2 seater sports coupe was adapted from the 1938 KDF Wagen, and built on Ferdinand Porsche's long experience building single seat sports cars for Austro Daimler and Auto Union in the 20s and 30s.

The Peoples car was set to go into production in 1939, and with the KDF project ready to run itself Porsche shifted attention to a sports model and began developing the idea of a sports KDF in 1938; without the support of the Volkswagen factory; run by KDF; the Nazi Workers organisation. Only when Nazi officials began to play with the idea of a Berlin to Rome race did the state take an interest in the Porsche idea, since they would want to win a race to show the new German states technical prowess.

Otto Mahn racing the 60K10

The 60K10 went ahead; to be ready for the race, set for September 1939. It would have the People Car's floorpan, torsion arm suspension and a rear mounted air-cooled V10 powerplant. The streamlined aluminium body tapered up into an aircraft style cockpit, seating two in tandem. It was designed to run at 95 miles per hour, not that fast but it was engineered to maintain this speed for long periods.

By early 1939, 3 cars were ready and being tested and the vehicle was ready to race in September 1939. Unfortunately in that same month the Germans invaded Poland and precipitated war with France and Britain. The race was put on hold; no doubt for the short period the Germans were led to believe Hitler would conduct the war. Alas the race was never to happen, at least for the lifetime of the 60K10; in many ways the first true Porsche; even if it never wore the badge.

Of the 3 that were built, all spent the war in use by Porsche management; including Ferdinand himself. One was crashed and written off during the war in Austria. A second as driven to an early death by joyriding US troops after the war. The only survivor was sold off by Porsche to the racing driver Otto Mathe, and I believe is still preserved today

Although it never got to race it did provide a basis for Porsche's post war revival, starting with the 356 in 1948, a year that also saw the beginnings of other aircooled sports models.

The Drews Cabriolet

Despite the sorry state of post war Germany, and its split in 1947 between Soviet East Germany and West Germany; both the western powers and the Germans themselves were determined to get back to work; and leave the past to historians. It was in this setting that Volkswagen emerged from the ashes with a peoples car nobody else wanted, but found a ready market. With prosperity slowly increasing, by 1948 many firms were looking to producing sports cars to meet limited; but growing demand.

The Drews 4 seater

Of course, if you had the cash then the Porsche was new on the market in 1948, but that didn't stop many coach-building firms doing their own models; and what better basis than an easily adaptable and relatively cheap car like the Beetle to use as a base.

The firm of Drews, based in Wuppertal in the Ruhr was one of the most notable firms to start VW based sports cars, (except the most famous; Karmann; but they require whole book to themselves).

The firm had concentrated on repairing whatever was at hand in the post war period; including an ex military Kafer; converted to the firm's pick-up truck. But by 1948 the firm began production of what is one of the most attractive VWs ever produced. Only 150 hand built Drews cabriolets were produced between 1948 and 1951. Drews did not share the advantage that Karmann and Hebmüller enjoyed; receiving Beetle chassis direct from Volkswagen. They had to buy complete cars new and second hand as a basis for its cars.

The Drews cabriolet was longer and squarer that the bug, but sat on an unmodified beetle chassis. The body was aluminium over a steel frame, totally hand built; but retained some details like the beetle glove box. It came with Beetle seats, and a lot of heavy aluminium trim.

Note the kidney steering wheel inside the Drews - courtesy www.kdf-wagen.de

The steering wheel was a custom item and the drivers view was somewhat obscured by a heavy central pillar in the front windscreen. The car sat four, but room in the back was a bit tight. Some cars were custom built; a Swedish customer demanded less trim a and a one piece windscreen, while another opted for both a one piece windscreen and Porsche engine.

The firm of Drews is still in existence; but no longer builds sports cars; only one Drews cabriolet survives today, on the continent.

Yes, we'll have one please - courtesy www.kdf-wagen.de

Next month we continue this series with the Denzel coupe, and the Internet has provided me with such cars still preserved and raced over in the States.