"Frankfurt Flyer" Project
 

Just a few pictures of my latest brainchild... This is just a hobby for me, I don't claim to be any type of draftsman, craftsman, panel beater, etc... This is all done from scratch.

It started with a vintage Formula Vee Chassis. The chassis can run VW or Porsche 4 cylinder engines... Here is a rough fitment of my floor pans/rockers.
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...e30/floors.jpg

Next I level/balance the car and begin scratch building a buck.
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...ye30/buck3.jpg

I pencil out the wheel to wheel profile of this mid-engined "Special" from my minds-eye.
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...ye30/buck2.jpg

I now fit and refit to determine the exact height, width and rake. I build the opposing side at the same time and screw the two together for a final shaping and sanding.

Now its time to start giving some shape to the side side to side profile.
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...lgooglecom.jpg

My next step is to shape the nose and then work my way back to the tail.
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...0/IMAG0203.jpg

I cut the nose, determine the high and low points (or inner and outer) and build stringers off of them to give my front end the shape I'm looking for.
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...0/IMAG0206.jpg

I do the same with the tail and then determine the rake of each of the high and low lines and tie them together.
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...0/IMAG0209.jpg

Finally one half of the car is a mirror image of the other so the body is taking shape. There is still fine shaping to be done but I am very pleased with the look so far. View from the front.
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1.../buckfront.jpg

Rear View
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...0/glockler.jpg

I began a rough fit of my panels.
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...0/buckskin.jpg

Thanks for looking and Happy Motoring~
Chris

Nice. That should be a fun project.

wow, cool project sub'ing

Here's a picture of one of many inspirations.
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1.../glockler1.jpg

I've been following this on another site, and it is a pretty amazing process. Please post here more often!!

Hey Thanks Eric! You're not too far away so if you ever get up toward Alexandria you should send me a message and stop by if you'd like.

Chris

Sweet Mother of God! :eek:

There is a LOT of work there and tons more to come.
You Sir are one ambitious Dude.

Best with the "Frankfurt Flyer"
Les

Very cool.

Love the way it's turning out.

Don't let Tim see this, he might get ideas.

You have some unbelievable fabrication skills!

+1

+1 Looks like an awesome project. I would love to hear how you are shaping the panels.... I assume you are hammering and then wheeling them out of sheet stock then while occasionally checking them by holding them over the wood buck?

D@mn... my dirt race car body panels will be child's play compared to what you are accomplishing!

Please keep updating the project here!

Too late! The damage has been done :D

Wow, spectacular. I'd love to have something like that.

More pics, more info!!

Incredibly cool!

Hi Tim,
You're on the right track with how things work. The buck was built for fitting my body panels and determining the shapes and placement of the support structure (this may be backwards in regard to how the original "specials" were built). Once I get the body shaped I will use the buck to make structural templates and then shape those out of aluminum as well with some steel reinforcements/framing.

First I make a paper template and lay that out on sheet aluminum.
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...0/IMAG0255.jpg

I then cut my rough shape out of aluminum.
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...0/IMAG0256.jpg

On the seat I used my knees, elbows and anything in the barn that had a shape resembling what I wanted (i.e. pipes, workbench corners, etc) to shape the piece of aluminum. Here is a rough idea, you can see the bends are not symmetrical but everything comes into shape as you work the metal.
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...0/IMAG0258.jpg

Then I use the wheel to create my crown for the seat area and give the backrest and bolsters some character. This seat will have a simple tube framing, reminiscent of what they used in this era (late 40's early 50's). The seat has been further cut down and shaped out more since this picture.
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...0/IMAG0298.jpg

Here are a few pictures of a rare Rometsch racer from the same era.
http://www.prototyp-hamburg.de/Pix/Rometsch22.JPG

http://www.prototyp-hamburg.de/Pix/Rometsch20.JPG

http://www.prototyp-hamburg.de/Pix/Rometsch27.JPG

This shows more of the way things are constructed.
http://www.prototyp-hamburg.de/Pix/Rometsch34.JPG

http://images.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/654709.jpg

That is KILLER!

I have been dreaming about a similar project for years. I can't imagine pulling it off however. My hat is off to you. Love it.

Larry

Subscribing.

A quick update. I've worked my way down the right side of the racer and now begun welding a couple panels in place. As I mentioned (maybe too many times) this is new to me and I basically have a few books and videos and a big dream...

The pictures were taken with my phone. I will have much better ones later...

Here you can see the panels are taking shape.
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...0/IMAG0429.jpg

And I now I have welded my first seam on the car (my first seam ever...) and begun to dress the seam.
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...0/IMAG0440.jpg

Here I have wheeled the front fender into a general shape and tacked a seam.
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...ooglecom-1.jpg

I've been taking my time as I go. The planning is almost as time consuming as the fabrication. I've thrown out a few pieces as I learn to wheel and I've been able to save a few that I thought were too far out of whack. It's really one of the best things I've done for "me" in a long time. Definitely therapeutic!

Chris

Nice work ... very impressive ! Keep the updates coming.

Incredible project!!

very cool project!! Nice work!

I am impressed with your compound tortured bends !

Thanks afterburn, definitely learning a lot as I go. I shaped the front fenders from the inside to the outer wheel arch. I now learned that shaping from the wheel arch inward is way easier...

I also had an old friend tell me an interesting story about Ferry Porsche. As he was watching the panel beaters and metal shapers he realized that if he assigned right handed workers to the left hand side of a car and left handed workers to the right side of the car the workmen were able complete skinning a car much more efficiently and accurately to the buck. Not sure if it's true about Ferry Porsche, but it started to make sense as I am working on this project. Now I'm trying to be ambidextrous...

That might be the coolest project I've evr seen. Good luck!

Yes, I'm very jealous. I think the shape of the old sports cars and sports racers is fantastic and is something that I miss in modern cars. I've always thought that it would be great to be able to build my own (since I'm unlikely to spend the coin necessary to purchase one). I've always thought that having to build a good handling chassis and a body to wrap around it would be a nightmare. It seems like a really great idea to take an existing vehicle like the formula Vee and build a body for it.

You're an inspiration.

"interesting" project? understatement of the year! subscribed as well!

Chris,

Thanks for the link to the other site. It answered a basic question about how you will mount the body to the chassis.

When you are done, I'm guessing the body will be two major components with the front 2/3 affixed to bulkheads and structures and the back 1/3 removable for engine access?

Thanks again for sharing this.
I suspect if you lived next door to Tim Hancock the world would have another custom vehicle fabrication works. SmileWavy
Impressive.

Les

Hi Les,
You're on the right track with Bulkhead and structural supports for the body. Similar to the vintage Rometsch cars there are longitudal structural supports with outriggers off of them supporting the body. There will be a bulkhead support forward of the dash and a firewall just behind the drivers seat. The rear end will open similar to the 550 Spyder and will be completely removable as well. All templates are based off of the Buck. The Buck guides all the panels and structural supports. Of course all of this is in my head, no blueprints here.

As of now the front fender/nose clip is going to be removable but I really don't like the seams on top of my fenders... I am thinking to make a removable front trunk/smugglers hole to access the pedal cluster and steering box area.

Here's a recent picture after welding several of the nose seams. It's slowly becoming one piece.
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...IMAG0619-1.jpg

Chris

Looking great! I applaud your tenacity for taking on such awesome DIY project. I have very limited aluminum forming skills but have always been intrigued by the art. This thread may result in me building an english wheel and a planisher. ;):D I previously built some some aluminum aircraft fuel tanks and kind of got the hang of hammer forming using an oak corking tool to form parts around wood forming bocks, but it is child's play compared to beating out large free form shapes such as you have done. Please keep posting progress updates!

WOW SIR!!!

(I wish I had as little talent as you do!!!)

WIFEY IS IMPRESSED!!!!! (She wants me to build her one now, like I have any skills....)

That is too cool! I shall not show it to our Son or he will get ideas I can't do nor afford!!!

Very impressive!

Incredible!!! You should keep it in bare aluminum when its finished!

Wow! That is incredible work! Please keep us posted on your progress.

Will this be a street car or a track car when your done?

I watched a hero panel beater recreate a RS 60 on a wooden buck just like yours. The car took a year to complete and it cost the owner a huge amount. Later the car sold for 750K. Other that the fact that these guys started with real RS 60 bones and a Carrera cammer motor, it was nothing more than what you have there.

Thanks again for all the compliments everyone. To answer a couple questions...

@MJHANNA- The car will be street legal when done. Although my original intention was to do it for hill climbs, club track days and Bonneville Landspeed Challenge 36hp VW class.

The mid-engine FV chassis that I used was originally bought and registered for the street! One thing I've done with almost all my vintage cars over the past 5 years is take each on a road trip from Minnesota to Florida or reverse order. I've mentioned it to my wife to do it with this car, she didn't say no...

@ZEKE- I've also seen some insane numbers on alloy cars. This is the very reason I'm building this. Not for resale but 1. for the fact that I could never afford a 550 Spyder, RSK or an original Glockler and 2. If I'm going to have an alloy bodied, streamline "special" I wouldn't want a "replica" of one that has already been produced. 3. I've always been fascinated with the 36hp VW Cases and vintage speed upgrades (Read book "Making the Volkswagen Go") 4. I have toyed with the idea of building a couple of cars per year like this to keep in my barn and drive occasionally. I have a really neat sketch of another body design I plan to start next fall. I'm making my contribution to the ultimate barn find of 2060!

Here are a couple more pictures as I work down the car. Most of my seams are now welded and I haven't used any type of filler anywhere. There are several imperfections but I'm slowly working them out... I'm now laying out the rear which will clamshell like the 550 spyder.

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...r/DSC_0021.jpg

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...lockler1-1.jpg

Been watching this develope on Crack Book...BTW, where are you guys located?

Absolutely amazing............

Awesome project - incredible craftsmanship!!