Value of EMPI fiberglass hood with tach pod? ***NEW PICS***

[rick m]

Wow, the body work on the small wonder looks pretty sad.  Very rough.

RM

[Flipper_1938]

Wow, the body work on the small wonder looks pretty sad.  Very rough.

RM

A lot of race cars were rough back in the day.  Money went towards going faster instead of looking prettier.

Build quality/fit & finish in modern race cars is a lot nicer.

[Russell]

Flipper
I will pm you tomorrow, are you close to stanton, ca or Houston, tx

[Flipper_1938]

Flipper
I will pm you tomorrow, are you close to stanton, ca or Houston, tx

The hood has already been sold to Richard Roth.  We just need to meet up and finish the transactiion.

If for some reason, the sale cannot be completed, I'll contact you.

[Wünderwolff]

Wow, the body work on the small wonder looks pretty sad.  Very rough.

RM

I doubt it's actually that rough. Fabian is constantly pulling filters over his images, boosting contrast and what not. So every small imperfection is bound to be in your face. The downside of out of control photoshopping 

[speedwell]

Wow, the body work on the small wonder looks pretty sad.  Very rough.

RM

I doubt it's actually that rough. Fabian is constantly pulling filters over his images, boosting contrast and what not. So every small imperfection is bound to be in your face. The downside of out of control photoshopping 

correct tim so here's the original picture
 

[madfrog]

Wow, the body work on the small wonder looks pretty sad.  Very rough.

RM

Actually Rick IMHO the bodywork on Small Wonder  has a nice patina that suit the car well.

Same kind of patina on the Vallero's 912

I wouldn't change anything if I owned it 

madfrog

[.]

That is not the way Small Wonder looked in the past !
It was painted Apricot METALFLAKE !
The paint on it now is a very hastily applied coat of Datsun metallic with very little bodywork ,done by the previous owner for a quick sell.
:-(

[speedwell]

richard any pictures of the original one 

[.]

I have an hour long video of the day the previous owner brought it home.
I am actually in the video !
But I have no way of transferring the video into my computer.
:-(

I found this picture elswhere on this forum.
You can see the remnants of some of the Metalflake paint.
Some of the bodywork has been started as evidence by the red primer.
Also notice how the previous owner changed the door lettering.
 

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the car !
Just hate the way it was altered to give it a fake history so it could be sold for more $.

[Nostalgiavw67]

Sure the bodywork is not the best ever made... just have a look on the roof where it was top choped, seems there's many bondo!

But I think it's the way they were made back in the days... Build to go, not to show 

As said before to Richard, I'd be please to get some pics of the car before it was redone. On the only pics I have, the color seems to be quite the same!

To Richard:
is it possible to get a copy???
are you still in contact with Troy?

[.]

Sure I can make a copy and send it to you.
It is on VHS.
What I meant about the bodywork was that the current coat of non authentic paint was sprayed over the Metalflake.
That is why it is so rough.
When you see the video, you will also see how the quarter windows have been reshaped by Troy.
I have the original plexiglas windows from that car.
Troy burned his bridges with just about everyone I know.
No one is in contact with him anymore.

[Russell]

Oh Thats a pity..... Congrats Richard.

Its a pity that it cant be used to complete a car, i realise that there are many parts collectors like richard and its great for the hobby, but its a real pain when the cars that represent our VW Hobby history cant be completed to the most accurate detail as these parts hoarders keep the good stuff hidden away, hope they dont all sell it on ebay ! Ps this is not a dig at Richard just a frustration of all the good parts in collections that would help complete some old race cars......

[Kaferdog]

I agree with Russell....these parts should be enjoyed not stored away in the dark !

[Worm]

I agree with both points, BUT..... if it was'nt for garage hoarding NONE of this stuff would even exist.  It would ALL be gone.  Just like the baseball cards your Momma threw out when she cleaned your room.  There was a time years ago that I thought about throwing away the Bug In plaque I have, but now I enjoy having it.  Twenty years ago who would'a thought anyone would give a sh*t about that stuff.  Things come in and out of vogue.

Too bad Richard and Russell can't make some kind of deal.  I am sure Russell has a goodie or two stashed away that Mr. Roth may want in trade eh?  Maybe some seat time in one of Russell's rides??

In the words of Gordon Gecko..... "Greed is Good".  hah  Bad example probably

Make something happen guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Lee.C]

Anybody want a steel one made??

Cough cough

[rick m]

The comments about the cars back in the day did not apply to all of them.  Some were as nicely done as they were fast.  The Babe was one of them, the Inch Pincher Too, the Chopped Lightning Bug, Super Bug, just to name a few, were all as nice looking as they were fast. Granted, a lot of the early cars were home builts with some rougher than others.  Bill mitchells cars were always pretty rough but then they were incredibly fast. So, to each his own.  Havings seen most of them in their original form, I appreciate the ones that had detail in looks and horsepower.

Rick M

[Jon]

Some were as nicely done as they were fast. 

On the outside at least. Perfect bodywork in and out... haven't seen that yet.

I agree with Russel, parts belong on cars.   

[HERB]

Well, opening up an old topic, but I just joined the forum after lurking for quite a while. Yes, Richard Roth is quite correct about the Small Wonder, it is totally the wrong paint, the wrong windows, the wheels are wrong, and the gas tank is in the wrong spot. Something that many people do not know is that the rectangular steel outlining the floor pan is not original and was done in 1984-1986 ( I may be wrong about the years but close) in Waterford, Ct. by a guy named Frank, can't remember his first name now, it's been a long time.

[.]

Actually Troy, the guy who sold it to Jerome replaced those pieces with U channel pieces from a bed frame.
 

[HERB]

Do you mean Troy replaced the nice tig welded frame Frank had installed? When I first saw the car in '80-'81 it had a modified stock VW pan. The Gosselins sold the car to my buddy John (rip) who pulled the engine and trans and some other parts and installed them in his street bug. Now the engine as built early on, before the Gosselins owned it, was a 82x 88 slipper skirt. They decided to up it to a 92mm bore- I wish I had those p&c's that they THREW OUT! . This was back before John and I knew very much about performance parts, so when he disassembled the engine, we found some cracks between the valve seats and decided to sell those heads along with the cam (specs unknown) at a VW swap meet at the now defunct Colchester dragstrip. John replaced the heads with some 40x35 ported heads from SCS and the cam with GB equivalent of an FK87. He ran the engine this way for awhile until it broke one of the original Empi 1.4 rocker arms at which time he replaced them with some Sig Erson 1.5's. Around this same time he sold the body to his friend who I've referred to as "Frank". Frank was a professional pipe welder by trade and his plan was to make up a steel tube chassis and eventually integrate a better cage. The last time I saw the floor pan setup he had finished the tubing portion of the pan and added a partial aluminum pan. I think it was at this point he lost interest in the project and it was put up for sale at another auto swap meet. I "think" at this point a guy named Clay Smith got involved and the car somehow ended up with Troy. Some time had passed at this point and John decided to become a full time photographer and ended up selling the engine and trans to Troy to fund his new business and equipment. There are, as you have noted, changes to the car from its original state, most noteably the paint ( now hideous) as it was a really nice flake job, the pan as I've mentioned, the original chromed forged pedals and handbrake handle- that are still in MY car- the gas tank which was located up front, and the wheels, I'm not sure what were on it originally, but when I saw it while the Gosselins were the owners it had chromed stock style wheels. This does all go back quite a few years at this point, but those are the details I can provide from here on the east coast. By the way, that engine ran like crap when the Gosselins owned it since they didn't know how to tune IDA's, but the best time on the strip in John's '70  full steel body bug, with a spare tire, leaving the line at 5000 rpm's, shifting at 7000, with slicks and no fan belt, was a 14.2.

[speedwell]

HERB here's the car 

[speedwell]

more 

[speedwell]

 

[speedwell]

 

[HERB]

Nice pics! They really bring back some good memories. I would like to see it in it's original heavy metal flake paint though- it's a '70's thing, I guess.

[speedwell]

the problem is  ,we haven't found any pictures from the car back in the days and jerome the new owner had some trouble with the admisnistration in france to registered the car ,because he doesn't have any infos/race results  about the car , but tomorrow i will see it at ebi , and will said that you're on the lounge , i know him , and he will asked you about the car  ,i know he still looking for info about  the car
thx in advance for him
fabs

ps , have you own the car??

[HERB]

No, never owned it, just sat in it at a local strip, and then at my friend John's house. I just own the pedals and brake handle from it.

[.]

I own the original windows from it.
I believe now it has a traditional brake pedal instead of the dragster type brake handle.
I was friends with the previous owner when he first bought it.
from then he continued to try and spin a web of it being a famous Empi built and sponsored car (notice the re-painted doors) to con someone into paying more money for it.
He also bought the NHRA stickers on e-bay to try and give it more fake provenance.
Sad, it's a great car, just would like to see it returned to the way it really was including the glorious Apricot metalflake paint.

[HERB]

Shortly after I found it had been sold to Troy I sent him a letter with all the details I could remember about the car but he never got back to me. I'm not sure if John's wife could find the pics he has of the car when he purchased it, but I'll start digging.