Can This Volksrod Thread be revived?

Sleeze by Billy Belmont.

 

I think it would be interesting to build a T bucket with a small engine in front with the dimensions of a volksrod and a louvered pickup box to fool old guys who remember these cars.

 

Sounds like a job for a 13B!

 

Most of the ones I remember seeing had that weird rear axle placement that made the back of the car look heavy. Somebody did one as a truck, can’t remember now if it was a van or stakebody, but they shortened the engine by running the exhaust forward and out in front of the tires, and they also extended the nose a bit to balance the side view.

 

Definitely could use some different wheels and tires!

 

Apparently not, but I’ll try to keep it on life support!

 

Never say never.

 

Yellow one is(was owned) by Walt Leatherman, I believe he's passed, sadly. He was quite the machinist. He n his kid built a handful of acvw/'vair powered rods, incl a 'vair powered chopped/channeled '34PU. The Yellow T was one of the few VolksRods built by Kent Fuller. Walt found it in disrepair, & redid it, had a website(now gone) showing the progress, the blower is(iirc) a Dick Landy mini(gmc-style) & seriously woke up the little acvw mill. The T got featured in StreetScene, maybe one other rodding mag.
Marcus...

 

Yep, the yellow one has great proportions!

 

Hey, A Boner;
Don't remember the red flamed one. Might be a V-23 from Speedway, which was Fullers' old patterns/jigs. Otherwise it's a real close copy of Fullers' chassis(at least from the rad-shell -> near-back-of-body. Other than wheel/tires, all that thing needs is an appropriate-length bed, or a turtledeck, maybe lose the rollbar. Proportions aren't all that bad on that one. Got anymore pics/info?
TIA.
Marcus...

 

Here is a link to the original thread in post #1:
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/fuller-brizio-speedway-volksrod.124343/

 

Good old Rod & Custom Magazine!

 

Wasn't this from an ad in popular hot rodding in the 70's?

 

That looks suspiciously like Speedways' VX23T ad.
Marcus...

 

Yep…looks sort of familiar.
Wonder if the jigs/stuff for the “kit” are still in a Speedway Motors Warehouse?

 

Or is this a Speedway Motors Kit?

 

The headlight bars looks like Brizio InstantT.
W/o seeing the frame, & maybe the flooring, it's kinda hard to tell. I'd guess not-Speedway/VX23T.
Marcus...

 

Sure a simple looking chassis!

 

That straight-railed trapezoidal chassis was done by(iirc) Tex Smith & Tom Medley, looks very similar to the plans in ~'67 R&C. Which was copied - by prior agreement - by Dode Martin for his VolksRod chassis/kits. Plans gave a few options, none of it rocket-science.
AFAIK, Brizio used Dodes' chassis, or at least the layout from R&C. Fuller(& therefore Speedway) chassis followed the body nicely. Looked better, & gave more room 'twixt the 'rails for a dropped floor.
But there were quite a few homebuilt - well, at least started, anyways...
Marcus...

 

Always liked this example from the U.K.!

 

This one is turning out nicely

 

Any pics of the frame from underneath or a body-off shot?
Know who the builder was?
Marcus...

 

I did borrow a frame pic - it's from a Scott on an "unfinished hot rods" FB group that I cannot seem to find now. (edit, looks like A Boner posted the same frame from a different angle above)

 

That's the R&C-style V-Rod chassis in the plans. See post #15 & #23.
Still nice looking chassis & V-Rod.
Marcus...

 

I can’t say I ever knew about VW rods, they look like fun.

 

1st showed up in R&C, June '67.

Straight trapezoidal frame has pros n cons, as does Fullers' body-contour-following frame. The straight frame is easier to build, but you lose ~ 6" footroom on both insides of body, if as usual, body is channeled, & floor is dropped 'twixt the rails, so you gain depth, but still lose the width. The curved rails are harder to do as they need to be carefully bent to a pattern & when channeled only lose about the dia of the rails. So you can gain both depth & lose very little width. In this case, if using recommended chrome-moly, ~ 1.5"(+ floorboard thickness). Mine will be done the hard way. .

Hard to build heavy, biggest "issue" is very light front end. Wheelie-city if not careful. Even w/a screamin' single-port 40hp stocker. Some guys used the Type IV(read: expensive, but near-bullet-proof if done correctly), some even used the 'Vair mill/transaxle. As usual, I'm planning a hard(er) version, a "Type V" concoction. May as well run turbos, w/efi, et-al. Not sure what to do for heads anymore, since a 4" bore is planned. Major sticking point right now. Phooey...

Bo Bertillison(sp?) had probably one of the nicest. The Instant-T V-rod for Andy Brizios' wife was also really nice. Walt Leathermans' is also very well done(rebuild of a mess). & a few others featured in various mags. But I don't think you could have more fun in anything else. Unless it's maybe a 427 Cobra or a DOHC-Indy-engined GT40. & that'd be only in the mid->top end.

Best part is that women n kids love 'em, on the other hand; streetrodders/hotrodders hate 'em 'cause it's got a vee-wee mill, & the Volks-folks hate 'em 'cause it's got a "ford"(read: *not* vw) body. What else in the world can you do to have so much fun in, fairly cheaply, get a permanent smile, & still piss-off so many other people w/o even trying... . & then point out that some of the "names" of streetrod industry had them as personal cars? Last I heard, Kent Fuller still has his, drives it alot.(Paint is white now). The man who built record-setting rails n funnies, over what - 50+yrs(?), keeps his V-Rod which he had before 1967. Gotta say n mean something... .
Marcus...