Wendler, Drews and other specials overview · International Vintage Volkswagen Forums

pbaptist
pre67vw Junkie Topic Starter

14 years ago

Following my Rometsch Lawrence overview I was wandering how many of the other coachbuilds are still alive.

Who has additions on this list?

2* Wendler

1 * Thonfeld This car is a one-off

1 * Drews

1* ghia aigle

Fischer pick-up

Waibel

Stoll Coupe

Kaiserlauteren
Style-1 (pictures over the years)

Style-2 (pictures over the years)

Edited by moderator a year ago | Reason: Not specified

zelensis61
pre67vw Junkie

14 years ago

#2

Ok, I like it.

Thonefeld is a one off. The builder wanted a 356 porsche but could not buy it in the former DDR...so he built one himself. That is all I know on that one. There is only 1 made.

Wendler made a few as Drews but there is on the drews side only one left.
Greets Peter

ZELENSIS, coachbuilt body from the 50's on a vw platform made in Belgium. Peter the heb detective

pbaptist
pre67vw Junkie Topic Starter

14 years ago

#3

Ok, I like it.

Thonefeld is a one off. The builder wanted a 356 porsche but could not buy it in the former DDR...so he built one himself. That is all I know on that one. There is only 1 made.

Wendler made a few as Drews but there is on the drews side only one left.
Greets Peter

zelensis61 wrote:

Hi Peter

So, what shell we do??
I agree that the thonefeld is a one-off and therefor doens't really belong to a sort of coachbuild registry. Same goes for the Stoll Coupe and the Waibel.

But what about the ghia aigle, was that a one-off or were there two VW based ghia aigle build?

And how do you feel about Ascort, APAL coupe, Enzmann, Zelensis, Is is interesting to list these as well?

regards
Patrick

JD
pre67vw Junkie

14 years ago

#4

Leave the one off cars in - it makes it interesting.

What about Denzel cars?

"John, you need to get a grip and STOP MOANING AT EVERYTHING. ThumbDown "

pbaptist
pre67vw Junkie Topic Starter

14 years ago

#5

Leave the one off cars in - it makes it interesting.

What about Denzel cars?

JD wrote:

yes, I will keep the one-off's in for this overview.
I will also add the Stoll Coupe, the weibel and the other still existing one-off build on VW chassis (as far as I know them)

But, still have to deside about enzmann, zelensis, Apal coupe, ascort. Are these considered coachbuild or kitkar?

I think the Denzel deserved a registry of his own. (I will make a start after the weekend)

Patrick

zelensis61
pre67vw Junkie

14 years ago

#6

For zelensis you are too late:wink: ....All the cars are here
https://users.skynet.be/zelensis/

for other cars you can look here:
https://www.bugland.be/Verschillende_Vw-types_Coachbuilt.html#ABR

Edited by user 14 years ago | Reason: Not specified

ZELENSIS, coachbuilt body from the 50's on a vw platform made in Belgium. Peter the heb detective

SplitPersonality
pre67vw Junkie

14 years ago

#7

Good job Patrik,
What about the green fenderskirt "protoype Porsche"...built by Wendler. That was restored in the USA and tried to sell at a big name auction a few years ago. It has been debated on many sites..

pbaptist
pre67vw Junkie Topic Starter

14 years ago

#8

Good job Patrik,
What about the green fenderskirt "protoype Porsche"...built by Wendler. That was restored in the USA and tried to sell at a big name auction a few years ago. It has been debated on many sites..

SplitPersonality wrote:

That one is the Waibel.
I need to add that one, together with the Stoll Coupe and some others. Will do that this week.

pbaptist
pre67vw Junkie Topic Starter

14 years ago

#9

Leave the one off cars in - it makes it interesting.

What about Denzel cars?

JD wrote:

I think I will leave the Denzel cars to somebody else.
Why don't you start with some pictures?

Patrick

SplitPersonality
pre67vw Junkie

14 years ago

#10

Patrik - did you want to include homebuilt one-offs also in this list? I guess such a "one-off"-listing can never be complete... but it is really a cool exercise to try to list as many of them in one place as possible. there are the "company built one-offs" (like the Stoll for example)....and then endless "homebuilt one-offs". I know many could contribute with VW-based, period correct, steel or alu one-offs - let us see them.

Three suggestions from myself:

Form this site (compnay or homebuilt?):
https://forums.pre67vw.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=16368&p=1

One-of-hundreds that Bjorn know of:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/706769.jpg

The Swedish PlexiTopSpecial:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=431872

My own, the HPD-Special:
https://screwdriversnorway.blogspot.com/2010/05/new-oldspeed-project-in-screwdrivers.html

The unknown-origin car at the PROTOTYP:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/517597.jpg

....wow...I guess the list is endless. Would be cool if we could all pitch in and try to grow a "company one-off" and "homebuilt one-off" listing here on our favorite forum..

zelensis61
pre67vw Junkie

14 years ago

#11

Patrik - did you want to include homebuilt one-offs also in this list? I guess such a "one-off"-listing can never be complete... but it is really a cool exercise to try to list as many of them in one place as possible. there are the "company built one-offs" (like the Stoll for example)....and then endless "homebuilt one-offs". I know many could contribute with VW-based, period correct, steel or alu one-offs - let us see them.

Three suggestions from myself:

Form this site (compnay or homebuilt?):
https://forums.pre67vw.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=16368&p=1

SplitPersonality wrote:

THis one will be for sale soon....sadly without the original floorpan as it is now in a Museum but with an oval floorpan or just the body itself.
The body however was cut in 2 in the sills and will come up for sale. If you want info on the sale, mail me. Due to time limits I can not go on with it.:(

ZELENSIS, coachbuilt body from the 50's on a vw platform made in Belgium. Peter the heb detective

ascort
pre67vw Junkie

13 years ago

#12

yes, I will keep the one-off's in for this overview.
I will also add the Stoll Coupe, the weibel and the other still existing one-off build on VW chassis (as far as I know them)

But, still have to deside about enzmann, zelensis, Apal coupe, ascort. Are these considered coachbuild or kitkar?

I think the Denzel deserved a registry of his own. (I will make a start after the weekend)

Patrick

pbaptist wrote:

The Ascort was not a kitcar. It was sold as a fully complete car and it was not a cheap item, being priced not much lower than a Porsche 356 and about twice the price of the locally produced Holden sedan. The Okrasa TSV 1300 also provided it with quite reasonable performance for its day.

High hopes were held for the success of the car and some of the cars were purchased by high profile identities such as local TV personality Elaine McKenna and Sydney speedway identity Kevin Young.

Contemporary reviews of the car compared it favorably against the KG and other european cars, which was quite a compliment in Australia in its day. It has been said that the Ascort had one of the best fibreglass bodies ever built for a VW platform, both in quality of design and build and also in its attention to detail.

Although the cars were sold complete, when the project folded in 1961, the last 6 bodies were sold in unfinished condition for the owners to complete. A bill of sale that still exists, which was provided with one of these bodies describes it as a "reject". 3 of these bodies are known to still exist in unfinished condition.

If wanted I will add a post with photos of the known remaining 13 cars.
Is there 14? It has been reorted that the Californian Car's body still existed 10 years ago.

Completed new car in 1960. This car was exported to New Zealand and much later returned to Australia in derelict condition.

Mark - Owner of 2 under restoration Australian coachbuilt Ascorts.

pre67vw
Administration

13 years ago

#13

If wanted I will add a post with photos of the known remaining 13 cars.
Is there 14? It has been reorted that the Californian Car's body still existed 10 years ago.

ascort wrote:

Sounds like you're the perfect guy for the job! If you compile the list in a similar format I'll make it sticky. :thumbup:

Rob Amos
Happiness is a stock VW

JD
pre67vw Junkie

13 years ago

#14

Forgot about this steel bodied one off that I spotted outside of a bodyshop a few years ago. The guy told me a long list of panels that it was made from, but I remember the rear window was from a 911.

"John, you need to get a grip and STOP MOANING AT EVERYTHING. ThumbDown "

ascort
pre67vw Junkie

13 years ago

#15

Sounds like you're the perfect guy for the job! If you compile the list in a similar format I'll make it sticky. :thumbup:

pre67vw wrote:

OK I can do that for you. I will provide some of the very basic details on each car.

(Unfortunately most still require restoration, but at least they are now owned by people that recognize their historic value.)

Mark - Owner of 2 under restoration Australian coachbuilt Ascorts.

AW
pre67vw Junkie

13 years ago

#16

Any one know what thay are ????????????????? The first looks like a toy pedal car to me Andy W c2092.jpg You have insufficient rights to see the content. Colain GT BJ 1965.jpg You have insufficient rights to see the content.

Edited by user 13 years ago | Reason: Not specified

zelensis61
pre67vw Junkie

13 years ago

#17

I think the red one is a Colani from Germany. Not sure but it looks like it.
The other I have seen also somewhere in a book . Need to search a bit.
Peter

ZELENSIS, coachbuilt body from the 50's on a vw platform made in Belgium. Peter the heb detective

ascort
pre67vw Junkie

13 years ago

#18

While you are adding other coachbuilt pics. Here is another one for the record.

The Proctor was another Australian coachbuilt from the late 1950s. I do not know much about it, but I understand that there were only 4 built.

One of the Victorian Ascort owners also owns a Proctor and postings on other forums would indicate that at least another still exists.

I have scans of the internal pages of the magazine, but am not sure if that creates copywrite issues.

Mark - Owner of 2 under restoration Australian coachbuilt Ascorts.

pbaptist
pre67vw Junkie Topic Starter

13 years ago

#19

While you are adding other coachbuilt pics. Here is another one for the record.

The Proctor was another Australian coachbuilt from the late 1950s. I do not know much about it, but I understand that there were only 4 built.

One of the Victorian Ascort owners also owns a Proctor and postings on other forums would indicate that at least another still exists.

I have scans of the internal pages of the magazine, but am not sure if that creates copywrite issues.

ascort wrote:

Hi ascort:
I read on the aussieveedubbers forum that:

Ted Proctor only made 3 of these, plus a fourth with a 25 cm shorter wheelbase specifically for hill climbing, they were a fair bit faster than a beetle, being 125kg lighter 12.5cm lower & very aerodynamic, they were not built on a VW pan, they had a ladder type chassis designed to take the beetle front & rear suspension. The Hillclimb car had a porsche motor, I don't know how many still exist, but there is at least one

If the proctor is not build on a VW pan, it can't be considered as a coachbuild VW, but more as a seperate brand.

Have you found more info?

regards
patrick

AW
pre67vw Junkie

13 years ago

#20

I found this in an old mag hope it is of intrest.

Andy W 777.jpg You have insufficient rights to see the content. ac t.jpg You have insufficient rights to see the content.

Edited by user 13 years ago | Reason: Not specified

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