DDK - Die Deutschen Klassiker

oh hold on........I have just worked something out

Have you got this at Gary's place??? Gary Yates, in Romsey by me?? if so .. then this is the Uncle of a good Friend of ours... small bloody world.. Did the Autounion car.. top class work. I'll have to pop down and take a look..

well it's only taken you 8 months to work this out! yes Vic Mouland and Gary Yates of Auto Union fame... feel free

So, hen are we getting a progress report, Steve?

Al

well here we are then! another solid couple of weeks effort from the fantastic and highly talented lads and Mouland and Yates. One of the things that's never apparent from photos of part-completed or finished bodywork and fabrication is the amount of planning and thinking time that goes into design before any metal is shaped. When Ian, Alex, Andy and I made the visit in mid-December we spent almost 6 hours discussing various things. Here's the email sent afterwards summarising what we all agreed:

- Oil cooler to vent between trailing edge of front clamshell and scuttle. Maximum height of upswept lip (full width of clamshell) to aid aerodynamics over wipers to be 20mm, and to be slightly forward of wipers rather than hard up against windscreen

- Period Dzus fasteners to be used front bonnet and rear clamshell (Ian to supply from his mate who restores old aeroplanes), six in front bonnet as per Porsche RSK, four in rear clamshell (2 either side). I think we should also use the same Dzus fasteners for the fixing in the rear window….

- Front bonnet size and shape as per line tape. Slight indent in front bodywork to accommodate flush sitting, single skin bonnet

- Oil cooler opening as per final brown template taped to car. A second to be constructed with smaller ‘land speed record’ inlet

- FIA towing eyes to be fitted front and rear: front to be fitted in centre of oil cooler aperture to avoid fouling bodywork when towed on an angle, well inside aperture via front structure (steve to supply towing eye and threaded mounts)

- Doors to be opened via supplied press-button latches, with finger indentations as per Jefferey’s mock up to avoid needing to use a handle, to keep frag to minimum but also comply with FIA requirement to be able to open door from outside

- Petrol cap to exit as per drawing/markings on rear quarter panel, not from inside door jam as originally planned due to concerns with fuel ingress into cabin of car and risk of fire. Petrol cap neck to have 16mm outlet with right angle joint pointing to rear of car for breather hose. Petrol cap itself to lie horizontally (i.e. with flange parallel to ground) to reduce drag

- Door windows to be supported with already fabricated angle riveted to upper door, and with n-shaped frame around upper edges of Plexiglas to stop pressure build up in cabin blowing unframed window out as many race cars seem to do

- Rear quarter windows to be supported by bung or clamp installed by Ian to optimise airflow into engine bay: sufficient for engine but as little as possible to reduce drag

- Rear opening in tail size and shape as per drawing/marking on rear bodywork. Mesh not to be fitted but six aluminium threaded studs to be welded to inside lip of opening for later possible fitment of mesh so we have freedom of space for constructing the exhaust. Licence plate to be painted on somewhere

- Internal liners to be fitted in front and rear wheel arches in thin gauge aluminium to reduce pressure build up and reduce lift at high speed

- Insides of doors to be cut-out as per drawing/markings to give elbow room when you need to flail arms wildly to keep control!

- Cut lightening holes into top of sill in door opening area to further reduce weight and provide access fro oil lines, electrics, etc.

- Headlight position to be determined by creating ‘tube’ for headlamp and installing tube via rear of wing

- No flare to be added to wheel arch lip front or rear as wheel liner will create rigidity and wheels on full lock clear bodywork....

Anyway, onto the photos....

"No flare to be added to wheel arch lip front or rear" - absolutely! think S1 v S3 E type. My artistic sensibilities would be all out of whack. :0)

Lets see the photies then

Al

So, first up is the headlamp construction. This is one of the tricky jobs as the lads only get one shot at cutting a hole in the lovely front wing. First up they made a headlight bucket to take the headlamp, but not trim it....


We've used Karmann Ghia headlamp mounts and adjustment units as this would've been easily obtainable in period...




Then the smart bit. Vic and Gary turned off the workshop lights, and shone a high intensity lamp with a small beam at the front wing, creating the exact shape on the wing, to enable the headlamp bucket to be trimmed perfectly...



This then allowed them to draw the headlight opening on the wing...



Before making up headlight covers.... Now before you freak out like Ian and I did, the covers are oversize so perspex covers can be made...



Next up is the construction of the scuttle. If you recall the car was left with the NOS Karmann Ghia roof welded in place including the front scuttle which is trimmed up when welded to the rest of the steel bodywork. In our case this has to be trimmed to suit the front aluminium bodywork, and allow for the front of the car to be attached. Vic and Gary very wisely suggested the front bodywork be bolted in place not welded to the sills, so if we need to, the front can be removed...







Here you can see the huge amount of fabrication required to make everything (A-post, scuttle, inner wheel arch, door mechanism, etc.) work...


Next up is the construction of the front subframe. This looks like it was the last thing David Small constructed given it's unfinished state. Given we're putting the oil cooler in the nose of the car we've combined Chapman-style the oil cooler mounts, the supports for the bodywork, and the mounting required for the towing eye all into one lightweight sub-frame...



In this one you can see the new ally panel being fitted to keep water out the front hood area...



And here's the oil cooler fitted in-situ on the sub-frame. It's probably bigger than we need but Ian would rather be conservative on this given the compression we're running and the heat that will inevitably be generated when we super-charge the engine...



Next up are the wheel arch liners. Ian insisted these were installed to reduce air pressure in the wheel arch, a common source of aerodynamic lift which we obviously want to avoid. We'll be adding wheel spats for speed events and we have a few other tricks we will employ to keep air from getting under the car, but one good way of reducing the drag and pressure in the wheel arch is for it not be to able to build up anywhere. This is one of my favourite photos from the month, with Vic and one of the lads discussing the construction of the second front wheel liner...



These will be trimmed to match the wing once they're ready to be installed...



Notice how the liner has been trimmed beautifully to fit tight against the torsion bar mount so as to minimise the air getting past into the front bulkhead...



I also love this photo - the talent and experience to create this kind of shape is just rare!



And then finally, the front back together with over-sized headlamp covers and the untrimmed bonnet laid on top of the nose, as well as the large oil cooler aperture mocked up. A smaller one will be used for speed events...



Final photo for the day... In this you can see the slight flair that will force air up and over the windscreen, and also allow for hot air from the oil cooler to vent over the body, rather than under the car creating lift...

Beautiful work. Really something

Breathtaking. Superb work from all concerned. And hats off to the guy that writes the cheques...

Jaw dropping work

Absolutely loving this. I can't wait for Chateaux Impney!

To true!
Lovely to see this kind of work in detail, fascinating.
Will the wiper arms be hidden under the scuttle flare?

Hi Andy, yes the wiper will be hidden under the scuttle flare. we're trying to do everything possible to make the car as slippery as possible through the air. the car featured a full length flat floor; in 1958! just amazing innovation and engineering so we're trying to emulate this as much as we can. plus we've only got the fixed pedestal 1,500cc motor to play with, so every hp and every bit of reduced drag helps!

Thanks Paul, yes the cheques are coming thick and fast now! This was the car I forgot to tell my wife I had bought. It was a busy period in life, I'd bought a couple of other cars, it went straight into the workshop... blah, blah, blah, and I genuinely forgot. Of course I'd mentioned it to a couple of petrolhead mates, one of whom we visited a couple of months later. When his wife came out to great us (we were in another of my old Porsches) she exclaimed 'oh is this the new car you've bought!?'. At which point my beloved uttered those immortal words: 'What new car?!'. Even though I drove home with the heaters on full that evening, it was a frosty journey inside that old car! That was 10 years ago and she still finds it hard to get enthusiastic about the Special. Even more so now - she definitely can't get her head around bashing aluminium into a shape costing that much!

They say the eyes are the window on the soul, and when it comes to cars they make or break the look of the thing. So it was with some trepidation that I opened this weeks email update from Vic and Gary at Mouland & Yates because I knew this was the big one. The best I hope for each time the car has more work done to it is that it hasn't taken us backwards: that we've at least maintained what we had in terms of design and overall aesthetic.

So, the first step was for the lads to offer up the headlamp bowl to the outside to give them the exact shape to cut...



And then check it and check again...



Then, they dived in with the cutter. This shot is a long way on from the first cut as they've created the back of the headlamp bucket, welded it to the tube, welded that to the wing, and recessed the outer rim to take the Plexiglas cover...



You can also see the front beginning to take shape now Jefferey (the chap doing most of the work) has welded the headlight assembly into the wing and the wing together with the front nose panel. This shot also gives a view of the shape of the front detachable panel, a simple single skin affair that will sit on a recessed lip and be held with period correct Dzus fasteners that Ian has managed to acquire from a friend who restores WWII aeroplanes for a living.... The lip of the panel will be wire rolled to give it some stiffness....



Now for the money shots. I'll let you decide whether the latest work detracts or moves the design forward. To my mind it's definitely the latter... Enjoy.

Well, they certainly seem to know what they are doing......




Al