For your consideration is the opportunity to purchase one of my aluminum bodied "coachbuilt" racers known as the "Frankfurt Flyer" in Spyder and also, now in Coupe' configuration. The Coupe roof is removable and can be transformed into Targa configuration or an open top Spyder with lowcut "Competition" windscreen. The cars are inspired by the post WWII "Aircraft Racers" of Germany, like the early Hanomag, VW and Porsche Glockler Handbuilt racers.
Photo Alex Bellus
This auction is for the commissioned build of chassis #FF004. My cars are built specifically around the driver and his/her driving style, height/weight and personal preferences. The layout of the car offers 2 seat configuration. Power comes from a mid engine 1915CC VW powerplant with upright Porsche style fan shroud (optional Porsche 912 engine available at additional cost.) The engine is warrantied, dyno tested and produces 125HP at the wheels. This is mated to a custom heavy duty 4 speed transaxle with hydraulic clutch. Wilwood HP brakes and stainless brake lines are standard. VW Wide 5 wheels are utilized with optional aluminum wheels available at additional cost. Bilstein adjustable coil suspension at rear and our own Bilstein custom struts up front with adjustable VW Front Beam. The chassis is entirely custom built on my own jig with wheelbase varying for drivers size. The body is hand hammered and wheeled Aluminum shaped over a wooden buck.
The "23" car (chassis #001) has had publicity in AutoWeek (http://www.autoweek.com/article/20140122/CARNEWS01/140109838), 9 Magazine, MSN Cars UK, RS Magazine, Hoonivers Car of the Year Nominee, MegaDeluxe, Featured on Bring A Trailer and many more. If you're into the late 40's and early 50's racers this car is the ticket. You'll never see another car like yours and this work of art is just as fascinating sitting still as it is climbing inside and hearing the engine roar. The cars are a blast on the track as well. The car is delivered with title, bill of sale and in more stringent State/Country cases I am flexible to accommodate buyers with titling/registration. Being that the running gear is comprised of early VW and Porsche parts, Frankfurt Flyer Chassis #001 (23 car) has been invited to several historic events both in the US and abroad as well as a recent invite to a significant Porsche event in Monterey this coming June.
Please only serious inquiries. Build time for a basic package starts at 6 months. I am booking my winter/spring build projects now so yours will be ready for Summer of 2014. Also note that I offer custom buck building and coachwork for other automobiles or custom one-off projects as well. (Including Nacelle Cowlings or Hoods for your 550 Replica.) I will assist in design, buck building and custom coachwork and panel shaping. Inquire for pricing and info.
More Info: I am a one man shop located in Minnesota. All work is done in house by me from fabrication to paint. Note: The Wooden buck pictured is used for shaping the alloy panels. It is replaced with structural bulkhead supports on the finished car. Please inquire for more information.
Photo Alex Bellus
Photo Alex Bellus
Photo Alex Bellus
Photo Travis Lang
Photo Alex Bellus
Chassis FF#002 shown here being built in 2 seat configuration.
Here's an updated look at chassis #002 as of December 11, 2013. The panels have been wheeled and hammered into shape and temporarily mounted for fitment on the chassis.
Chassis #003 is pending sale and #004-005 are still available. Thank you to everyone who has contacted me, viewed and shared my listing.
One more look for those who've requested to see #002. Thanks again for all the compliments and constructive input. As I've told many who have inquired. The Frankfurt Flyer design is one of 15 I have currently drawn up. Each of the 15 cars I have designed will be built in progression over the next couple decades in limited quantities.
Testing windscreen shapes with #002. As mentioned, the car is hand-built here in Minnesota.
Almost two years ago we wrote about the 12-Gauge Garage Jack Olsen built to house his multifarious Porsche 911 - its 1972 bodywork hides four decades of Porsche parts, like the transaxle from a 1977 911 and the engine from 1995 911, for example. It weighs 2,400 pounds and has 272 horsepower, and Olsen uses it daily driving and for track days, the latter excursions featuring homemade, bolt-on aero parts. German magazine Auto Bild stopped by Olsen's house to look in on the Porsche called "Black Beauty II," and we get a few more details about the mods he's made, like swapping out for fiberglass body panels and welding Fuchs wheel centers to wider Corvette barrels so he could run different tires. Most importantly, though, Olsen divulges his passion for lowering his lap time at Willow Springs. Randy Pobst set the lap record for a production car around the 2.5-mile Big Willow track in a Porsche 918 Spyder at 1:23.54 during a Motor Trend test (the outright record, according to Willow Springs, is held by Michael Andretti at 1:06.050 in a CART car). Further down the list, Steve Millen drove a 415-hp 911 GT3 RS around the same track in 1:33.14 - a car 600 pounds heavier than Olsen's. Over the past 14 years of tinkering with his car, Olsen says his data shows his lap time is now down to 1:26.88, achieved on the day of filming the Auto Bild video. That time would put him in between the 1:26 flat posted by Dominik Farnbacher in a 608-hp Dodge Viper SRT-10 ACR and the 1:28.93 put up by Pobst in a 400-hp, 991-series 911. You can hear Olsen tell it in his own words in the video.
The 82nd running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans is on. Audi has won 12 of the last 15 events, the scion of Auto Union is trying to make it 13 this year. To do so, it will have to overcome a situation faced only three other times during its dominance of La Sarthe: underdog status. Toyota has won the first two races of the year and claimed pole for this race, the rumor being that this year it's Toyota's race to lose. And then there's Porsche. It's been 16 years since the Stuttgart brand raced on the top rung at Le Mans, three years years since it announced its return, just a year since it acquired Mark Webber in a signing that wasn't subtle and a few months since we got eyes on the 919 Hybrid.
"Because" might be a good response to our headline, but as a vintage (purists might call 'proper') Porsche 911 is hardly cheap, we suspect you'll need a better explanation than that. Enter Drive editor Mike Spinelli. Spinelli sits down with Zac Moseley and Mick Prichinello from Classic Car Club Manhattan to first explain why the market for old, air-cooled 911s has gotten so hot over the past few years, and to discuss if it's a bubble that's about to burst. Following that, this video is really is just three guys sitting around talking about old Porsches for 35 minutes. Which, you know, we're pretty onboard with. Scroll down and have a look at the latest episode of After/Drive, from Drive.