Hi there!

Thought I would say hello and show what I have got locked away in the garage.

Dave Turner prompted me into joing in on the fun - so firstly, thanks Dave for the heads up on the site. Already read pages and pages of interesting stuff and seen some great ideas in action on other cars that might get incorporated in a project currently under way.

The black beast shown is a 1965 1500 'N' Panel Van (M265 option), RHD of course and was my 2nd car, purchased back 18 years ago as an all original ruby red with white roof 1500 single port, 6V 60,000 mile panel van. Not a common car even back then. I daily drove the car for a couple of years and used it as my work car, often loaded up with telecommunications equipment as I started my career. All the while I was driving it, people were telling me I was a bit of a loony driving such a rare car so bearing that in mind and the fact it had some minor rust in the fenders (only), I took the car off the road, had the body chemicaly dipped and began what was to become a 10 year build of the car utilising all NOS parts mostly. My plans obviously for an all original car went south fairly quickly after going out for a spin a mates '56 oval and a couple of other cars fitted with 2+ litre engines. Not sure I would do that now, but that was then, and so while the car was gaining momentum in the NOS and original parts area...

I collected enough parts out of the USA to have a close ratio 4.375 transaxle built based around an AB case, super diff, Weddle side plates, high torque starter, Berg intermediate mount, new bearings, synchro's etc, close 1-4 gearing (from memory 1.5 3rd and 1.25 4th gears- yes it screams in top gear but Christ it gets there rapidly).

The engine started out as a 2110cc based around all new parts including one of the last new AS-21 case's available back then, a Bugpack 82 mm wedgemated, Porsche journal crank, Bugpack 5.5 inch rods, some of the first competition eliminator heads available (sold an Alfa Romeo to buy them (a good swap)), all Berg bits here and there like pushrods, pump cover, cam, cam gears, MSD ignition including billet distributor (which required the engine lid to be altered and then ceramic coated, remote oil cooler (thermo fan actuated via the EMS EFI computer), a custom fuel injection system based around some large Bosch injectors and large single throttle body, 1 3/4 inch merged ceramic coated exhaust, CSP rocca covers etc, hand made stainless steel tin ware, modified original fan housing- no heater outlets and magnesium welded and clearanced to allow for hoses etc. Basicaly its all a 1 off to firstly fit in the engine bay without a single alteration to the original body and secondly to generate as much power at the time with what was realisticaly available and obviously some reliability was in order, hence the thermo fan's, o'Berg oil filter, ceramic coated everything etc. I mentioned it was initialy 2110cc but that changed when I went to purchase vintage South Australian number plates for the car. 2110 was not available, but 2276 was and thus the engine grew to 94 mm bore which suited me as I wanted to run the 46 x 38 valves anyway and thus the registration department dictated to me what my engine size would be (I wont mention that to them however...).

Meanwhile the floorpan was slowly coming together based around a 1970 floorpan but back dated with my original rear sub frame, now with the close box, powder coated of course and new 2 x -8 lines down the tunnel ready for the EFI. I also changed the front suspension out for an extreme low mileage unit I had stashed away and then back dated that with early stub axles and then some CSP disk brakes when they got released. The rear brakes are indeed Porsche 356B drums and the axles are short T1 length to allow for the wheels I had in mind. The wheels on the car (2 of them) were the first pair of Flat 4 BRM's to head to Australia- as soon as I heard about them, I had them on a ship for this car. I have since replaced these with some of the Flat 4 wider units (6 inch?) and these are on the rear. The front wheels are also Flat 4 units (originaly 5 inch or 5.5 (I forget)) and I had them cut down to 4 inch to better suit the car- they look fantastic now with the 145's on them. Almost forgot, I had a custom sway bar made for the front suspension which replaces the original internal sway bar but it's another 5 or so mm larger in diameter. All the suspension mounts, front and rear are now brand new eurothane type material that was made based upon some NOS units I had plus some commercialy available from a friend in Sydney. Obviouly, every nut and bolt is NOS or brand new 316 stainless steel etc.

The body was quite an ordeal. I replaced all the panels on the car with NOS units found here and there over the years however the rear apron proved a bastard to find and thus I jumped on a plane and flew to the UK back in 1997 to stay with Paul Medhurst while I searched for the remaining parts required. This involved much alcohol and a period of drying out when I got home but I did find the elusive rear apron (NOS), plus an original Empi GT wheel for the car (Dave Orozco) along with some nice other bits like Empi GT rocca covers (the real deal), NOS large locking glovebox lock, NOS latches and that sort of guff. It's all these small details which cost the earth but make the car a complete unit. When I got home the body man continued to work his craft and after a while (!) the body was metal finished and then handed to the paint chap. He then did a Standox deep black 2K paint job I can not readily fault. Yes, there is no filler in this car what so ever- all metal finished and black as the ace of spades. I paid dearly for it but that's what it's all about I suppose- do it right once!

Once all the bits were completed, I gathered the people required and screwed the car together fairly quickly. Nothing major caused headaches but I did remake the entire rear cargo area using new materials, utilising the original parts as templates etc. Bumpers and brackets were NOS, altered for a tighter, more even fit and re-chromed, all glass was newly cut, the curved front and rear glass was professionaly polished, the rubbers were all NOS where possible and badges, trim and clips were all NOS.

After I got the sucker running, I then had a good chap I know trim the whole car with some beautiful grey leather (similar colour to original vinyl), doing the entire panels in single pieces each and covering the Scat pro-car seats in it (I also had them altered by removing the head rests and adding map pockets on the back as the doors never had map pockets originaly). The sewing on the doors was done to the original measurements of the heat seaming on the vinyl. Can't get much better than that! A full set of carpets were made better than factory (tighter measurements to make it look just rght). Headliner was completed as per the original panel van which has no material down the pillars, unique to this model in Australia. The GT wheel is present, a Berg shifter, NOS gauges, Autometer gauges, NOS interior lights, NOS switches etc etc. Looks very sharp and was good enough to take out 1st in the interior trophies back in 2000 at the VW Nationals in Sydney. It was unfinished at this show and managed to take home 3 1st place trophies (max 3 per car) out of 200 cars so a good effort.

I have yet to enter the car into any shows sincle completion back in 2001 due to work and other commitments. So far I think I have done maybe 250 odd miles (according to the NOS speedo). I do wish I had time to get the car on the road but I have a few other cars so it just never quite gets there.

I also have my 1st car still, that's an all original (altered engine) 1964 1500 'S' Notchback 312 (RHD) in original velvet green paint. I have rebuilt the engine based around the original crank case but it now sports an NOS 74 mm SPG roller bearing crank mated to NOS 83 mm pistons for a 1602cc displacement. Externaly it's all original to look at (restored perfectly with all correct clips and stuff like that) but internaly it's all Berg etc as I tend to do. This car is an all original beauty and has been the subject of one of the largest NOS parts hunts you could imagine. One day it will be completely blown apart for a tidy up and then it will be fitted with other period parts such as the NOS Maico 5 stud front disks I have for it and hopefuly I can get a hold of some 40 hp Okrasa dual port heads which will find their way, altered, onto this engine. Sort of the most extreme you could have done (within reason) back in the 1960's. Such a nice car, I have had it for 19 years now.

My project car is also a 1964 1500 'S' Notchback 312 (RHD) in original sea blue. This car is at very early stages of body work so i wont rabbit on about it yet. I have lots of work to do just to get it rust free.

My daily driver is a 1976 911 S with electric sun roof. Interestingly, it was 13 cars from the end of production in 1976 so it has the bright aluminium window trim etc but of course, the galv body and narrow fenders etc (pre SC). A nice car. I wont dwell on 911's here obviously, but it's now black (finished this week) and I have gone through the mechanicals front to rear, lowered it, and am about to retrim it. It's a nice tidy daily driver.

I wont even mention my wifes Golf as that would surely be grounds for dismissal?

So there you go. Thanks for your time and no doubt there will be the odd question about the engine in the panel van. It's a remarkable thing when you consider it all fits under the original engine lid. Makes you wonder what people are thinking when they cut their engine bays up...

regards,

Aaron - Adelaide, South Australia