What kind of engine do I have?

[356AAAAAAAA]

Hi Grady I purchased a 57 Speedster out of Colorado the title shows the owner as Oleh E Kostuik & the seller as Vistor L Vaile date of purchase 1970 sold 1986 load of service records from the Porsche factory in 4944 Pearl street Boulder Colorado 80301 phone 4435686 this work was carried out between 1978 to 1985 all done in the name of Pat Frazer The car was originally white then yellow then black.can you shed any light on this car or any of your friends my e-mail is tomfitzsimmons@fsmail.net thanks & looking forward to hearing from you . Tom

[Rufblackbird]

simply amazing. thanks for the update Grady!

[Grady Clay]

Yesterday I helped Pelicans ‘uber’ and ‘alles’ sort through some of their late dad’s Porsche stuff.

There are some important pieces.


What are these silly things?

More to come.



I also found two nameplates, one still mounted on a piece of aluminum bodywork.

They read:
“KAROSSERIE [FR logo] F.ROMETSCH,
BERLIN - HALENSEE,
NESTORSTR. 41 T.977029”





Googled:
F.ROMETSCH BERLIN HALENSEE

Clearly this is from an aluminum bodied car.
Possibly a VW convertible?
Possibly a VW 4-door? I can’t tell if the taxis they built could have been aluminum.
Then there is the “Lawrence Romero” cars (200-250 built).

So … the questions are:
What car did these badges come from?
Could it have been ‘Porsche’?
What happened to the rest of the car?
Could the remains still be in a NJ junk yard?

It should be fun to chase this ‘lead’.



Best,
Grady

[Wil Ferch]

Grady...look at picture #15 here-->

Karosseriebauer Rometsch - Blech-Bananen aus West-Berlin - Klassik - autobild.de

same body builder for a special VW based sports car before the Karmann-Ghia got into full swing.

[daepp]

This Rometsch was in Palos Verdes last month:

[Wil Ferch]

There is also this Rometsch link to early Porsche spyders....perhaps pre-dating 550. Might make closer sense to the label being affixed to aluminum body panels in such a case, ....as the VW beetle taxi's they built or even the roadsters may have been steel? --->

File:Porsche Spyder Rometsch - Harry Merkel - 1954.jpg - Wikimedia Commons

[Grady Clay]

Wil,
Yes, I saw that article.

Is it possible these could have been attached to 550-0073?
I think not.

If so, the only (remote) possibility is Romero (or someone associated with Rometsch) had something to do with ‘uber’s’ dad’s 550-0073 and ‘badged’ it.

We can see the relationship in the link:
File:Porsche Spyder Rometsch - Harry Merkel - 1954.jpg - Wikimedia Commons

‘uber’‘s dad might have removed it when ‘cleaning-up’ the Spyder.




More likely, there was a VW-based ‘special’.
The question is: What was it? Where is it today?



For perspective, there is a 1959 Lawrence Romero Coupe in VW’s Wolfsburg Museum. Valuable history.

Best,
Grady

[Wil Ferch]

Grady:

You and I posted the same link.... and my rough and obviously bad translation from the Italian subtext reads---->

The pilot Harry Merkel, guided the Porsche-Rometsch spyder 1,1 (prototype of the Porsche 550 Spyder) on the race of the Square Run Berlin-Halensee, and class winner of " Sandbahnrennen" ( sandhighway race), carried out on the 25th April 1954 on the Krieau speedway circuit, near Vienna.

However badly I mangled the translation, the implication is clear, that this body by Rometsch on a 1.1 liter car.... was somehow a forerunnner of the factory 550's ....much like the Gloeckler spyders were forerunners of the 550. So...in this context, it may make sense that the label was affixed to an aluminum body panel. How rare would that be to get your hands on a pre-550 private prototype?

[Wil Ferch]

Grady... what 'bout this ? --->

TheSamba.com :: View topic - Sensational find! - Rometsch Porsche Race Car

...as to the link to the pre-550 Rometsch-spyder we both posted as links? You really need to slowly go through all 7 pages and links....fantastic !

[Grady Clay]

Originally Posted by Wil Ferch

How rare would that be to get your hands on a pre-550 private prototype?

Not for me. I already have more simple projects than I will ever finish.
Just not having something important rot away is worth the effort.
If it helps the family’s next generation, the dad’s (granddad’s) legacy will prevail.
He owned and raced the 550 and an Elva-Porsche so anything is possible.

Best,
Grady

[Wil Ferch]

A bit more--> : : PROTOTYP - PERSONEN. KRAFT. WAGEN. 41 3 : :

[daepp]

Sorry to hijack - but the link took me to this:



Was there a 12 cylinder 4-Cam?

[Grady Clay]

That is a Hurth 12-cylinder roller crank & rods.

Just like the 4-cam Carrera, only longer and two rods per throw.

Best,
Grady

(I too saved that image)

[Wil Ferch]

The 12 cyl may have been part of the Porsche type 360 Cisitalia GP car after WWII-->

Porsche 360 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[daepp]

What car or engine was it from?

[Wil Ferch]

DAEpperson---> your answer overlapped in real time to my post immediately preceding yours, as a possible car this came from.

[daepp]

Sorry Will - I missed your post. I know very little about the history or these engines, but I read that the Cisitalia was supercharged - would it have such high domed pistons.

[Wil Ferch]

I can't speak to the dome shape...... but the postwar timing makes me think this was the only small displacement 12 cyl Porsche did at the time. I can't think of another 12 cyl project of the time. Cisitalia was a 1.5 liter, 12 cyl motor.

[911Freak]

Wow! And just when we thought this thread couldn't get any better!
It does!!!

Beautiful, all of it...


Great pictures guys, thank you!

[Wil Ferch]

Update:

My business took me recently to Hamburg, Germany which allowed me to visit the Prototyp museum--->

: : PROTOTYP - PERSONEN. KRAFT. WAGEN. 0 3 : :

I also had the opportunity to then see the Rometsch Spyder....the forerunner to Porsche's own 550, and as was discussed here---->

: : PROTOTYP - PERSONEN. KRAFT. WAGEN. 41 2 : :

Here are some photos taken personally of the car behind the glass-workshop ( no one was working on the car on the Sunday that I was there), as well as photos of an authentic wooden buck used to hand-form the Auto-Union Type "C" pre-war racers! Fantastic!--->