DDK - Die Deutschen Klassiker

Although the rear rollcage (a copy of the Factory 356 competition cage) had been fabricated/painted & installed, I decided that I wanted to add a horizontal harness bar to provide the best possible angle & anchorage point for the shoulder belts of the 4-point harnesses I planned using.

A suitable length of matching diameter steel tubing was bent to shape & welded onto the roll cage, enabling me to trial-fit the harnesses & take the relevant measurements prior to sending them off to FDTS for re-webbing.

The Speedster seats/frames are now installed & the car is pretty much 'finished' (in terms of KK's input) - it just needs to go for final fine tuning/rolling road set-up.

Once I have the harnesses back I can fit them & bring the car home.

There will still be a lot of things for me to do on the car - some of which I'm undecided on so may well be canvassing the opinions of the DDK collective ...

stretch wrote:That looks lovely Andy. Maybe i might get a lift in this one......!

When I was down at KK's yesterday Paul told me that he's had several enquiries as to whether the car is for sale & could probably have already sold it many times over ...

The plan is to keep/use/improve the car over the next couple of years but plans can always change !

Andy, the car looks amazing in this shot ... I've become a bit of a closet fan over recent years of the later 356's and yours sums up exactly what I'd set out to achieve myself if I'd gone down the 356 route. Love it

Lightweight_911 wrote:
& after lowering (not quite the same camera angle I'm afraid):







...

Thanks Dave/James - always good to hear that others agree with my line of thinking ...

Here's the current rear view with the std engine lid:

Stunning! Love the lowered ride height - looks just right.

Lovely car Andy.

My want-o-meter is bouncing off the redline.

Mmmm, late models. Love 'em

Nice Andy, real nice.

Must say I'm a fan of the non bumper higher ride height but looks cool low down too.


Regards
Mike

Lovely car Andy, lovely colour

You're actually quite good at these projects!

Cheers,

Lovely Andy !!

Haven't forgotten about the little side project Just still abit tied up at the moment....

OK, I suppose it's time to bring this thread up to date.

When I posted last, the car was waiting to go for final engine tuning - although the car started promptly & ran well there was a slight hesitancy when accelerating from low revs. It was discovered that one float had a small puncture so both floats were changed & ignition/carb settings optimised, resulting in a couple of bhp more than Factory specs.

The spare engine lid which I'd bought & had louvres stamped into had been painted along with the fabricated blanking plates for the std exhaust cut-outs so these were fitted.

Here's the comparison of std & louvred engine lids:





& in this shot you can just make out the blanking plates covering the exhaust cut-outs below the bumper:




At this stage it's worth re-iterating my philosophy for this car - I wasn't looking for a fully restored perfect-looking 356 - I wanted a reliable, presentable, car that was subtly modified along Factory competition lines but opted to start off with the std engine & to remove anything superfluous/lighten the car wherever possible.

I'm not usually a 356 fan but that is rather nice Andy.
Well done (dare I say 'as usual')

It's OK (for a Beetle).









OK, I lied. It's F****** great!