The Old Speed Shack

Mobil Gas Rally 1958

2012-01-04T14:14:00.002-05:00

One of the more interesting old school racing events would have to be the Australia Mobil Gas Rally from the late 1950. We’ve posted an article or two on this rally in the past and from the evidence its easy to tell that most of the roads were… well not up to modern standards. Ruts or ditches move to mind though they were mostly just dirt. Being in the woods of Vermont we here at the Old Speed Shack understand dirt roads and how much fun they become when you add water. Of course this is in a vehicle that has been prepared for such an environment not a late 50’s sedan with torsion bar front end and limited ground clearance!!

What brings the Mobil Gas Rally to the for front of our minds some 50+ years later is an article don’t by Japanese Nostalgic car on the two Datsun’s entered in the 1958 installment. Almost as incredible as a beetle winning this race in 1957 is these two Datsun 210’s were able to basically go around the continent of Australia and have survived intact till this day!!! As mentioned in the article these little devils were stored until late last year when they were put back to running order and put on display.

Perhaps these little guys surviving the last 50 years is not as impressive as the Prototyp Museum resorting some rust bucket that as been rotting in your dad’s basement for the last 50 years BUT it is up there. So go check out the article as there are some fantastic pictures and more video.

And thanks for enjoying another little odd piece of old school racing with us here at the Old Speed Shack!

Old but lacking the speed: Roadless 109

2011-07-07T15:44:00.008-04:00

Thought not VW related the Roadless 109 "Forest Rover" has to be one of the coolest thing we have ever seen. Seems that the Canadian forestry department was having some problems with there Land Rovers getting stuck on trees, bolder or just in plain old ruts. So Roadless came to the rescue with this sexy on tractor tires.

With a top speed of 30mph this bad boy is lacking the speed part of "old speed" but when you think about it no VW based Baja could go where the Roadless 109 can, at any speed!

Here is a small demonstration of what this beautiful piece of machinery is capable of

Perhaps we will dig deeper into the unknown world of 4x4 land rovers and see what other nifty information we can uncover on the 109.

Almost forgot about Maine!

2011-07-06T14:56:00.002-04:00

For those of us in the North East U.S. or South East Canada our one and only time trial event is being held this weekend in Loring Maine!! As we have mentioned before the old Loring air force base runway has been converted in 1.5 mile time trial track so those who have the need for speed can get it!

If you want some info on the event check it out here.

Oh and if you have never been to Maine you might want to invest in one of these.

They make getting around the rough country quite a bit easier!

Tick, Tock, Tick, Tock

2011-07-06T14:32:00.002-04:00

Only 2 months till World Of Speed out at the flats in Utah!
Here is a little reminder from Burly:

Hi 36hp Challenge and big block VW racers, pit crew members and spectators

Septembers World of Speed and the BIG Volkswagen land speed racer gathering is getting close! Just a touch more than two months to go. If you are planning to join us this year, please email me back and let me know your plans. Will you be bringing a car and how is the project coming along or are you coming to spectate or help one of the racers? Please drop me an email with your plans so I will know to to keep an eye out and make sure to let you know of any last minute salt racing updates. As of now, Utah is experiencing good hot temps and the salt should be dry or close to dry as we speak. I expect the course to be every bit as good as last year and will be attending next months SCTA/BNI Speedweek event. When I return I should have definitive information on the race course and will let everyone know by email.

I am also excited about a couple of visitors who will be joining us on the salt whom most of you will be acquainted with but have probably not met in person. This will be a great opportunity to enjoy a little one on one with these folks who make our hobby possible. And remember, R.K. Smith from Hot VW's is planning on being on the salt with us to cover the event as well. It is gonna be fun!

Again, please let me know how your race plans are coming.

May the Speed be with you..............................

Burly

Progress in Okrasaville!

2011-06-28T09:16:00.004-04:00

So in our absence here at the OSS the Okrasa Special has made some momentous progress. Thought the original concept for the ass didn't work as planned she is now getting a super sexy alloy dress! Check it out!

Dont try this at home!

2011-06-28T08:53:00.003-04:00

Not sure why you would want to try this but it look like it would fucking hurt!

Here is a little video, borrowed from beetlejuice150, that i though you might enjoy.

Some monday fun.

2011-06-27T14:25:00.001-04:00

Just a little something to get you over the Monday hump.

Boys of summer.

2011-06-21T11:06:00.000-04:00

Happy summer from The Old Speed Shack!!
We here at the OSS have been taking a bit of a break from ACVW and vintage speed and focused our efforts on getting our 1974 Toyota Hilux pickup on the road. As you can imagine, having a ½ ton pickup could be very useful for such things as junkyard digging, people hauling and drive in watching. It also serves as Mrs. Old Speeds favorite ride and she has been rocking the truck most days as of late.
Though we do not currently have a vintage speed build, the bastard 61 was sold over the long cold Vermont winter, but we do have lots of printed materials that need to be scanned and up loaded to our blog. We are again starting to follow the land speed races and other old speed activities from around the world. So we will keep you updated as things progress. Hibernation was nice but now that summer is here we plan on getting back into the action.
One final note, the OSS will be moving from… well the shack into a more metropolitan environment in the next month. This will facilitate more long drives for fun and less for work/food/nightlife. It is also causing us to down size our collection of part and books. Thus the OSS is having a summer SALE starting today, the first day of summer. All our Samba ads are OBO, so if you see something you like make an offer.
Here are the ads and have a grand summer!

The race to end all races.

2010-12-21T09:30:00.004-05:00

Pulling ourselves out of our winter hibernation, highs in the 20s, for just a moment to tell you about why the Europeans have MUCH better car show.

Here is the legend of the very special car race.

On cloudy summer day while working in the dark recesses of the Oldtimers OldSpeed club a group of mad scientists come up with the perfect “race” to lead into Bad Camber and they called it the Cannon Ball run. The race was to powerful to be contained by one group, and as any good end of the world movie will tell you, it escaped to infect the rest of Europe. This caused insolent 50s Beetle, 356 and couch built owners to go mad with the desire to race across Germany to see whom could be the first to BC. So the wise Oldtimer Oldspeed club set up a start point of 100km out from the show on some of Germanys pretty back roads for an all out sprint to the finish.

It looks as if there will be multiple classes to allow for cars of different displacements to have a fair fight. . Well as fair as a Beetle Vs a 356 could ever be. So if you are going to be in Germany next summer for BC you HAVE to check out this race. Or even better get off your tush and get that old VW or Porsche in this fantastic race!

The quest for knowledge

2010-10-18T16:59:00.002-04:00

The OSS is currently look for any and all article(net or paper) on the 356 Type 540 America roadster. If you have any interesting links or want to sell/send/scan article for us feel free to contact us at oldspeedshack@gmail.com

52-52 America Roadster Oil Sump

2010-10-12T12:36:00.001-04:00

Okrasa special update.

2010-10-12T12:19:00.002-04:00

In case you have not been following the Okrasa special build use your mouse to scroll down and see the couch build work in progress.

2010-09-30T12:47:00.001-04:00

Thanks to the Monaro Motors Dual SU carburetor kit rebuild last year the OSS has found a fondness for everything old speed-Australian. Through the forum Aussieveedubbers.com we have met a few vintage gear heads and learned about what craziness they are up to over in OZ. There seems to be more than a couple of well made/ DIY kits running dual 28PCI carbs down under. The DIY movement related to these old VWs is what makes this obsession with vantage parts and cars so much fun! . Cut, Weld, Drive… think that is another sites catch faze but that is what many of us are in fact doing. Yes those Okrasa heads are cool and that Abarth muffler is drop dead gorgeous but sometimes the fun in it is getting your hands, face and knees dirty! This is not to say that you need to build your whole motor, hell we here at the OSS are having a short block built by a por. Why you might ask, well because we don’t have enough time to finish the damn beetle let along build another engine! LOL But we digress, so if you have some time check out what our vintage speed brothers are doing over in Australia.

Kustom Karmann

2010-09-21T20:58:00.003-04:00

When it comes right down to it this is the way to go, 356 engine and brakes = so much more potential right out of the box. Of course these days the price tag on one of these little gems is a more than may of us pay for our VWs. But back in the day you had the chance to pick Porsche engine from wrecks here and there. This sadly happen no more.

Only thing we were sad about from this article was the fact that the Ghia had a 3 piece case instead of the much cooler 2 piece case.

Dick Beith 50th anniversary

2010-09-19T15:11:00.007-04:00

1960: Dick & his record setting VW at the entrance to the famed Bonneville Salt Flats (image from the Dick Beith archive)

In 1960 Dick Beith became the first man to set a land speed record in a VW. In 1961 he went back to Bonneville and broke the 100MPH mark with his modified dual carb VW motor. Now 50 year after his first record setting run Dick has returned to the flats to see if he can double his 100+ time!!!

Oh we forgot to mention his 1963 Pepco super charged 36hp lakester that was able to pull 130MPH!!!

This time he has modified a 68 Beetle into a bit more of a streamliner powered by a 1450 36hp monster with fuel injection, Eaton Supercharger and fuel injection. Hell we here at the OSS get excited about dual carbureated 36hp motors so this is like a wet dream.

We will update the OSS with times when we get the heads up on yesterdays runs.

And yes we have posted this before but it is always a good watch.

German VW commercial

2010-09-17T21:57:00.007-04:00

Lorenz from Germany modified this old VW commercial and we love this one!

Wheel part 3

2010-09-15T12:08:00.002-04:00

Rob is almost done with our custom 3 spoke steering wheel. Some more wet sanding and into the beetle it goes!

Rometsch

2010-09-14T20:54:00.004-04:00

Here in the north east USA we don't see to many of these little buggers around, and if we do they tend to be basket cases.

VW Know how

2010-09-12T19:24:00.006-04:00

This article was written by the late Jack Bono hum Raced Beetle and 356 Porsches in Australia. Along with modifying both so that they would handle much better than stock.

Wheel part 2

2010-09-08T21:03:00.003-04:00

More progress on the one off three spoke steering wheel, yes Rob is the man.

Trial of a 36hp motor...

2010-09-06T12:40:00.007-04:00

The Sechs Volt Garage has been one of our favorite VW hot-up publications for the last few years now but our 36hp VW motor has committed a crime against them and theirs, one that we will present today for you.

Exhibit one:

We had no way of knowing that under that beat and battered exterior that this work of German art was almost brand spanking new. How could we!!

Exhibit 2:

This is the generator that came with our $400 36hp motor we picked up off the webernet over a year ago. It seemed innocent at the time and we hold no regrets for our purchase,(she runs like a fucking top!), really how were we suppose to know?? And to that point how many 36hp motors that "some guy" in Florida is selling are equipped in such a way that one would commit such a hanus crime?

So in closing, we ask you the jury, to look past the 14v stamped into our souls and allow our darling 36hp to be one of the gang even if she is an unassuming 12volt motor.

What makes a VW...

2010-09-06T12:32:00.007-04:00

This was a series, we think it was a series any how, from the Australian magazine Modern Motor explaining how our little VW beetles worked. We will go through some of our "back issues" and verify that it was a serialized publication and post our findings!!

Labor Day and some Old Speed for everyone

2010-09-06T12:16:00.005-04:00

Though not a VW, the OSS though that it was more than cool enough to grace our little internet rag. Oh it is air cooled and in 1957 this would have been a FUN car to race. Hell it would be a fun car to race in 2010!

Article from the November 1957 Modern Motor magazine.

Von Dutch's 36er.

2010-09-01T15:51:00.003-04:00

Now i bet that that little 36er got a bit better performance then the ones shoved in the bus...

Wheel part 1

2010-08-31T13:01:00.004-04:00

Pressing on, that is what we here at the OSS have been doing. Trying to get as much done in as little time as possible WHILE still staying sane and enjoying what we are doing. Lately it would seem that nothing is ever as easy as it should be when it comes to these little rascals. We pulled the interim 36hp motor off the engine stand and guess what, the flywheel seal is starting to go. No biggie all and all but sometimes you really just want thing to go smoothly.
There is one project that has been gaining steam, our custom/hand built 3 spoke steering made by our good friend HotRobHeb is nearing completion. All that is left to do on this piece of art is wet and spray some paint of chose.

Spaceball… shit, there goes the planet.

2010-08-20T14:32:00.004-04:00

Today the OSS has picked up a brand spanking new set of seat covers for the bastard 61 beetle. The price was right on the money and the color was our favorite, no not RED, Pea Green! Little things like that make the day much nicer, Oh and this morning we passed an interesting message posted on the side of the road:

Only in Vermont would we have an evacuation plan in case of invasion by Zombies. Guess we should go ahead and purchase the zombie hand book just in case this is not a test…

Changes.

2010-08-19T14:29:00.000-04:00

The OSS has been going through some changes over the last few months, selling off lots of our excess parts, working in a rented garage and coming ‘this close” to finishing the bastard 61 beetle. Some of these were good changes, others had to happed and the latter is fucking great! Now the “garage” we have been using is not a shack persay but it was used as a barn for chickens up until the late 80s, so I think that may count. The concrete floor is an upgrade over the dirt floor in the shack, no more parking on a tarp while we are here. Don’t get us wrong the bug will be back to the shack soon and then off to the warehouse for the deep winter sleep. Oh dirt floor how I have missed you…

With more of the collection sold off we are now focusing on the winter motor build… or it may be a spring motor build. But either way it will be a strocked out 36hp, nothing too wild. No sirE, more of a 50’s inspired cruiser/speed trial car/street drag(though there will be no street racing cause that is stupid!) We do love the “get up and go” that some of these young wiper snappers have shown when modifying the 36hp VW motor and truly we would be bored to tears if we had another stock Wolfsburg West Okrasa build. So what do we do, well as always we follow our own drum, and our little drummer boy is a bit off. More on his craziness some other time though.

Any of you vintage speed guys that want to share your projects with us feel free to get in touch and let us know what is goin’ on!

--boonies--

News from the salt

2010-08-19T12:18:00.002-04:00

Burly has been kind enough to update us on the happenings at speedweek at Bonneville!

So in his words:

just returned from a couple of days at Bonneville for the annual SCTA/BNI Speedweek and the salt was in excellent condition. Speedweek is the BIG event with over 500 entries but is only for high speed racers. Five VW poweredentries competed and while the race is still going on, I thought you might like some news on the event.

Bob Stahls 157 MPH fuel injected Bug had the misfortune of a missed shift at 130 mph plus when his son-in-law was making a licensing pass. Hitting second from third instead of fourth resulted in a blown motor and three spins. Fortunately the car did not hit any salt pockets, did not roll and was undamaged except for the motor.

Keith Pedersen likewise experienced a motor failure in the Manghelli/Pedersen Rabbit Pick-Up but it was while they were going through the speed traps at over 186 miles per hour ! Even with the problem they were elated as this was a twenty mile per hour jump from their record speed set last fall at hte World Finals and indicates more speed to come. Perhaps they will be the first under 2 liter street VW over the 200 mile per hour mark in the near future.

The Burns family came from Tennessee with the Ghia to try out the salt. Talor made a first pass at 121 while spinning through the lights after experiencing handling problems. After adjustments, brothere Zach made runs in the mid-one twenties. Talor returned the nex day to go 133 and then Zach took the Ghia(2.0 big block with dual carbs) to it's top speed of over 142 miles per hour. Needless to say, they enjoyed a great first Bonneville adventure.

The Chilsons, father Bob and son Dan resolved last years transmission problems in the water cooled lakester and at last note had made a pass just a notch over 200 miles per hour. Hopefully the rest of the week will see even greater speed.

Long time racer Larry Monreal was back out on the salt with his sons and Jim Bradshaw attempting to set another VW record with the turbo Rabbit powered Ghia. Larry had been racing at Bonneville for sixty years and was the featured racer in this years Speedweek program with a nice two page article. At eighty four years of age, he is still very active in overseeing the racing operation and was rewarded with a trip to impound and a possible new record. We will have to wait out the rest of the week to see if he was successful.

Closer and closer.

2010-07-09T15:06:00.000-04:00

Not much to update these days as the car is coming along swimmingly. A second tranny had to be obtained and cleaned but that did not seem to warrant a post. Once the rear end is installed, wheels are obtained and new front shock bartered for the car is more or less ready to roll. Of course there are some finishing touches but really we just want to drive the damn thing again! We do have a boat load of cool old ads and article from Australian car mags that we need to scan and share with every one. But we seem to get interrupted by the barley pops and good food.

The Monaro motors/Mr. Motorhead engine is in its initial prep stage but the end of this project seems a long way off.

Well back to the grind!

Well it is done... almost

2010-06-18T20:44:00.002-04:00

Well we here at the OSS have almost finished the restoration of our Monaro Motors Dual SU carburetor kit and if the bastard 61 gets finished any time soon it will be installed on our OG 1958 36hp motor. Not sure how much HP gain this kit will produce, though we did read some where that it jumps up to 41hp!

There is a motor in the works specially built for this kit and will be show cased next spring when the build is complete!

Interesting little Gauge.

2010-06-02T10:33:00.002-04:00

The more we look at the little devil the more we think that this is one of the coolest gauges we have come across in a long time. It's an old rally gauge that tell your cars acceleration and deceleration G's. Not sure how accurate it would be but i looks SWEET!

2010-05-31T10:02:00.002-04:00

On an interesting side not to the 1957 Mobilgas Rally in Australia, article bellow, Lukey Mufflers placed an ad congratulate them on there win! Wonder if they were running a Lukey 4 tip??

VW racing in 1957

2010-05-30T20:35:00.008-04:00

Here is a little article from 1957 that show that the VW Beetle was able to keep up in "some" forms of racing with it counter parts. Enjoy the read!!

Other Vintage Speed Blogs and whats been going on.

2010-05-26T22:12:00.001-04:00

We here at the OSS are getting back in to the swing of things. The bastard 61 beetle is almost drivable, not finished as it may never reach that point, but it will be on the road soon. We have a motor in the works, Aircooled Research is building a to spec: 1300cc 36hp based short block that we will top off with the Monaro Motors Dual SU carb kit(picture of our kit to come). Not to mention all the searching and parts diving we have been up to in the last few months.

What we are looking for today though is links to other vintage speed VW sites, even vintage speed Porsche sites! If you know of any that we don’t have listed submit a link in the comments field under this post.

Thanks

OSS

2010-05-26T21:41:00.001-04:00

A few more pics from the 36hp challenge from down under!!

Modern Motors July 1957

2010-05-23T21:07:00.006-04:00

2010-05-23T12:59:00.004-04:00

We here at the OSS strive to bring you the best in old VW performance articles from Australia, mainly because we have a TON of them sitting around. Don't ask. :)

Monaro Motors and vacation

2010-05-21T21:11:00.005-04:00

We here at the OSS are taking a little journey to the other coast. Though no automotive related we do hope to find time

to get greasy. As always we will be on the look out for interesting VWs and cool old speed parts. If ya know of any old yards in the Oregon area give us a heads up!!

Since we are stuck on an aeroplane for the next few hrs we can start to tell you about our latest project. We were lucky enough to recently purchase a beat ass dual SU carburetor kit for the 25hp/36hp VW motor. This nifty little hop up kit was produced in Australia between the early 1950 till at least into the 1960s, as there is a 40hp variety. Pictures is the kit before it received it's full restoration in the basement off the shack. There our mad scientists stripped the carbs off he manifolds( no small feat as they were rusted on! Aluminum and steel do like to bond!!) at which time they were sent out to the rubbish bin and a pair of suitable replacements were found. These carburetors were decked out to the 9s by a gent named Chester from out west USA. Next our core group of scientists updated the manifolds with stainless studs, a proper cleaning, fresh coat of paint (instead of chrome) and an updated linkage that includes a cross bare made from 5/16 A2 to increase rigidity and decrease the chance of rust. They also replaced the old ball socket linkage with a self aligning ball joint and clevis package to insure smooth acceleration. Though perhaps we should have just pined the a wide open for best results!! Once the one-off custom air cleaners are completed we shall snap a few Polaroid and post them on up for your viewing pleasure.

We also have an article from the December 1955 Modern automotive that gives a little history lesson on the kit and some performance numbers. Sadly the scanner at the shack was acting up so no posting on the tasty treat till vacation is over. At some point we read, in an old ad, that the dual SU carburetor kit could produce up to 41hp. This may be a bit of an exaggeration but we here at the OSS do plan on seeing if we can pump 48hp out of these little fire breathing monsters! After 48hp the H1 SU carbs used will become restrictive and one would need to step up to the H2 carburetor. This would require a different flange and the linkage support bracket would need to be moved forward 1/8". Now you can't say we keep everything a secret here!!

The plan to this point is to build an engine specifically for this dual carburetor kit. Jeff Denham has taken on the head work while we will be choosing either a custom or at least performance cam for the project. This along with a fully merged equal length header and MAYBE a 69.5 stroker crank may be enough to pull the desired 48hp. Research is still under way on the exact set up and the tech will start the build when the weather turns again.

A brief history of the Dual SU carburetor kit and Monaro Motors.

In the early 1950s Monaro Motors started to produce performance parts for most Australian car makes. The best known of these were there dual carburetor kits for the Morris minor, Mini and other SU powered cars. They also produced and install the kit mentioned in this post for Volkswagens of the 25hp, 36hp and 40hp models. It also appears that this or a VERY similar were sold by Automotive Carburetor CO of Sydney and J Bee( whom also made a custom 36hp dual 28PCI carb kit) ** We have been told that Jack Bono at Jay-bee did not make a SU carb kit and the only data we have different comes from the Modern Motor article bellow**. All of these kits seem to advertise the same performance upgrade, which leads us to believe that the same company produced them all and distributed by others in the 1950s and into the 1960s. They are generally receded to as the Monaro Motors carburetor kit, we can only speculate why.

We will post some picture of this kit and more information in the following days.

Modern Motors December 1955

2010-05-21T20:35:00.007-04:00

Here is an article on the Monaro Motors dual carburetor kit from Motors Motor December 1955.

Some pictures from down under 2010

2010-03-22T21:07:00.003-04:00

We recently got the news that Greg Mackie and Stephen Muller were able to break some 36hp records over in Austrilia!! One in a sweet Ghia and the other in one of our favorite beetles we have seen in long time.

Here is the story from the horses mouth... or Greg's :

"Hi,

We have just returned from Lake Gairdner (salt lake) in South Australia, afrer a VERY SUCCESSFUL record meeting.

The two cars - both owned and built by Steve Muller - bettered existing records. Date - Wednesday, 10th March,2010.

Steve clocked 127.5 MPH in his Karmann Ghia - new Australian record.

I drove Steve's '56 Oval ( Stone Stock) to 75.1 MPH - new 36HP World Record (subject to confirmation).

Cheers, Greg"

So congrats go out to both Steve and Greg for there fantastic runs!!

Sale at the Shack!

2010-03-03T15:20:00.006-05:00

Mud season is upon us and we here at the OSS are having a sale in order to push some of the projects forward! So without further ado here are the stars of our show...

#1 Bosch "383" with wire clips. Pretty sure the date on this one is 54. Comes complete with NOS rotor, black flat cap, points and new condenser.

$350 shipped in the lower 48

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#2 BR9 1956-57 356 A distributor. Date code is 8M so August 1956 and it comes with no tune up parts. This unit has the same advace curve as the "383" but uses a standard cap.

$230 shipped in the lower 48.

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#3 Bosch BR25 distributor. This is a proper distributor for a 1960 bastard 40hp bus motor. It has the same curve as the 010 distributor so it would work well on any hot vintage motor!! These come with no tune up parts has been fully rebuilt and i have 3 to choose from so ask for pictures!

$160 shipped in the lower 48

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#4 Bosch 019, fully rebuilt and ready to be put into service on your 36hp or 40hp motor!!

$150 shipped in the lower 48 Last one at this price!!

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#5 Here is a set of New Judson compressor phenolic vanes that came with a Judson compressor that i had. They originally came from Split parts unlimited and are $100+ shipping

$65 shipped in the lower 48.

More to come later on and yes we here at the OSS will ship any of these items international!!

If you wish to make a purchase contact us at theoldspeedshack@hotmail.com

Where has the time gone.

2010-02-13T20:47:00.003-05:00

Been a slow month here at the OSS as work on the rig has come to a screeching halt in the 20 degree weather. With the cold keeping us from getting things done on the car we have been working with Mrs. OSS on the shack, cleaning out some extra "stuff" that has been laying around (that way when its nice in the spring we will have it done!) and planning our May jaunt to Astoria to see one of our dear friends.

On the automotove front we were able to get a nice BR2, mentioned in an eariler post, and have it rebult by the distributor master Ed Fall at Vintage Werks. This guy does not *F* around when it comes to rebuilds. His units are stripped down to the bones, even the badge is removed and riveted back on. TO top off this extreme service Ed also plates all the bobs and bits... not gona get this kind of service from other out there. Gota remember you get what you pay for.

We also spotted a Judson (36hp) hiding out in a rickety old shop and were able to pick it up for a song and dance. This little darling had suffered some damage in its long life and needed particular work done to get her back in serviceable condition. So the OSS enlisted two of our buddies the "tool maker" and the "machinist" to do a little magic on her. In there dark and dungy laboratory these masters were able to make the little judson as good as new.

That is that as far as the OSS goes here are a few pics of the rebuilt BR2 for your viewing enjoyment.

Dick Beith 1961 Bonneville run w/blown 36hp!

2010-01-28T20:03:00.003-05:00

This was just to cool to pass posting up on the OSS. If you like hopped up 36hp or just salt racing take a look at this video and drool.

2 month distributor

2010-01-19T17:54:00.003-05:00

Though this little nut is not a high performance distributor it is a VERY hard to find gem that was hiding across the pond. So after flying a few thousand miles, no we did not take the time measure the distance between Britain and the United States, the VJU4 BR2 is ready to take much shorter trip the the rebuilder. There he will receive a only the best treatment before a new coat of paint is applied and shipped back to the shack.

Nuff said:

Vintage speed modern test

2010-01-15T14:18:00.006-05:00

Here at the OSS we respect what the old timers tell us about vintage VW speed equipment and appreciate all there insight. We also appreciate a good dyno run to tell us EXACTLY what a motor is putting out.

This is a little article that give us a look at a 36hp Judson and Okrasa motor. Not a stroker, which would seem to be the best option if you are going to build a old speed motor, but interesting non the less.

More to come

2010-01-11T09:11:00.004-05:00

After the long OSS holiday we are back but not at full speed. Some sort of sick has infiltrated our ranks and is keeping us from making progress on the project or our blog. Ain't life a bitch. : )

This "down time" has given us a moment to look at some of the old blog posts. While doing this we noticed that christian/MYMEDUSA had commented on our post Blown 36er and it turns out that that little devil was his! In his comments he was nice enought to give us an update on his current project for 2010. You can follow the progress Here.

For our Germany speaking visitors you can follow the build Here.

Another couch built find.

2009-12-28T21:02:00.003-05:00

Here is a find from the bast, a 50s hand built aluminum roadster using VW parts and an Okrasa engine. Check out the post on the samba.

More OZ racing.

2009-12-22T22:20:00.006-05:00

These picture are of ex racer and VW/Porsche mechanic Jack Bono who passed away a few year back. Greg Mackie was nice enough to share these photos and his recollections of Jack and his little 356, which had a motor that makes use here at the OSS drool.

Here are a few of Greg's words:

"The 356 is Jack Bono's race car (pictured above) It had a super-charged (Marshal) 1500 Porshe engine and I made an aluminium bonnet (hood) and engine lid for it, along with other light-weighting mods.

If you look closely you can just make out Jack and I, standing beside Jack's Karman-Ghia tow car - probably engaged in some sort of VW talk! Jack is in white over-alls. The K.G. had a Denzel engine, and did a 15.3 quarter mile! It had Jack's signature number-plate......BON-OOO."

We then had no choose but to ask if the 356 was a 2pcs or 3pcs case and what year the 356 happened to be. This was due to the fact that we were discussing late 50/ early 60 racing and as we all know the 2pcs case ended long before the end of the 50s.

"Porsche was 1954 - from memory - it had a split screen when new. Drum brakes for sure, wheels were Kombi, drilled for cooling. The 1500 was 2 pcs case, to which Jack fitted a Carrera roller crank. The crank, which Jack got for free, had been damaged, so Jack called on his friend , Merv Waggot - a brilliant engineer - to repair it. Hirth said it couldn't be done, but Merv made a special tool to dismantle and assemble the crank. He sleeved the damaged big-end and fitted new rollers, and the motor ran for years. Merv was one of those men who loved to achieve the 'impossible'."

We here at the OSS must thank Greg for this invaluable information and also remind other out there that these pictures are owned by Greg and reproducing them with out his pr omission is forbidden.

Project OZ

2009-12-22T15:06:00.005-05:00

Here is a sneak peak at what the OSS is currently working on. This is pre rebuild and once it is finished it will either go on the back up 36er, in to the treasure chest or up for sale. Cool little items vintage dual carb set up.

Modern Motors Okrasa Hot-up article

2009-12-19T08:58:00.005-05:00

We here at the OSS have been skimming through lots of Australian car magazines from the 50's and early 60s as of late. And while looking for specific articles we have also stubbled upon a few other interesting articles that tell about the different options for making the little VW go faster.

Racing history from down under.

2009-12-15T14:27:00.005-05:00

While talking to a gent about an Amal dual carburetor kit that he had constructed for his little 36hp back in 1960 the subject of VW racing was broached. With the door open an exchange of information and pictures over the interweb was commissioned. Sadly in 1961 the 40hp arrived on the scene and like any good racer, he decided to go for the "more powerful" engine and did awayt with the 36hp! : ) The good news was that some pictures of late 60's VW racing have survived the eraser of time and Greg has been generous enough to allow us to share some of them with you.

Silverdale 1962: Greg set the class and sedan record at this event!

Bathurst 1963

Catilina Park 1963

Here are a few words from the man himself:

"When the 40hp engine was released here I promptly traded my 1960, 36hp beetle in on a 1961 model. In exchange for some body work (my trade)

on Jack Bono's race car - a 356 Porsche - Jack 'worked over' my 40hp engine. He fitted bigger valves, ported & polished the heads, bored barrels

out to 80mm (1300cc), ground cam, fitted bigger oil pump, etc.

I fabricated inlet & exhaust systems, and fitted a pair of 1 3/4" SU carbs. It showed 72 hp on the dyno! It clocked 102 MPH at Bathurst!

That little Beetle gave me excellent service, a few race wins and records, and great pleasure for almost 40,000 miles - it was not only my race car, but my only car!"

The photos in the post were used with permission and can not be replicated for any purpose with out the consent of the proper owner.

Looking for the ark.

2009-12-10T14:49:00.003-05:00

Well perhaps that is a bit of an over statement but we here at the Old Speed Shack have been delightedly searching for information on a dual carb kit that we recently acquired. Now we can't release any of the particulars till we have gathered enough info to put together at least something of a proper history.

But in the mean time we have uncovered some more cool period correct advertisements to entertain and amaze.

Blown 36er...

2009-12-05T19:37:00.003-05:00

Here is a nifty 36hp with a blower, pretty sure it is located in Germany but we have not done enough research to know for sure.

Here are the specs, listed by the owner and borrowed from the interweb:

"first the AMR300 is on a 36HP engine driven 3:1 ..the engine has some modifications but same stuff like stock engine just improved the most parts + a cam grinded to porsche preA dimensions.
29,6mm inlet valves 28 outlet valves.
the engine runs but at the moment way to lean. but it pushes 0,9 bar =13 psi.
the engine has water/methanol injection what is in off position at the moment and i have no heating problems CHT goes to 125°C.
the engine goes like hell and i think it has something between 60-70 DIN PS. if the A/F ratio is perfekt i will go on a dynotest. at the moment the clutch can't hold the power."

And if that has wetted your whistle then check out this video of the little beast running down the highway.

Busy Busy

2009-12-02T20:44:00.003-05:00

The beginning of winter is a busy time at the OSS as we have to stash away all the rides that have been living out side for the warm season. This keeps us from posting as often as we would like so we have decided to post up some ads that we have collected for those that check back often.

Thanksgiving is over, BACK to work.

2009-11-30T10:29:00.001-05:00

With the holiday over the OSS is not back at it and working harder then ever. The new motor is in the works and our dual carbs are headed this way.

We also put some new items up for sale on theIndustrial Surplus site so go check them out!

Here is a quick peak:

2000 hits and counting.

2009-11-27T21:16:00.006-05:00

For our 2000 hit we here at the OSS have decided to post a couple of picture of something almost as beautiful as our 1000 hit model.

36hp challenge get press.

2009-11-27T15:57:00.002-05:00

This information was sent over by Burly and we though that i would be good to disseminate it.

From Burly:

"Friends of the Challenge

Just thought I would send you information on two recent publications and a web-link that have posted results and information on our recent 36hp Challenge activities.

As always, VWMA (VolksWagen Magazine Austrailia) has given your efforts a nice write-up in their issue #24, Nov 09 - Jan 10. Thanks Craig for your interest and support.

The attachment above is from Street VW's, a longtime Japanese VW magazine which I know you will not be able to read but which shows the story written about the 36hp Challenge, Mike Manghellis Rabbit pick-up at Bonneville and Jeremy Freedmans fast 208 MPH Golf at the TEXAS Mile. Thanks Dai for sharing the 36hp Challenge and VW land speed racing with our fellow Vdubbers in Japan."