The Summer of 2010 we began work on a project dubbed “The Frankfurt Flyer”. Through a crash course of learning, spending unnecessarily and wasting a whole bunch of time. I am happy to now say we are making progress, again!

The biggest change we are making is to the running gear. Originally we had planned to use a shortened mid 50′s VW chassis and running gear similar to the early Romesch race car below which is also shown at Prototyp Museum.

This turned out to be quite a challenge in tracking down compatible parts with the combination of using my personal finances to fund the project!

In researching the late 40′s and early 50′s Streamliners I’ve found the Mercedes W196R Streamliner so beautiful and the idea of a center cockpit streamliner really turned my crank.

When looking at the 196R Shown above I realized there was a much more affordable and quicker way to achieve my goal of driving an Alloy bodied, VW 36 Horsepowered Streamliner on the Bonneville Salt Flats! Formula Vee.

The F-Vee Chassis design is nearly identical in wheelbase and geometry to what I have been wanting to build. In addition it uses the “Wide 5″ VW Bolt pattern and most importantly, is center cockpit for perfect weight distribution. This is going to be the foundation of my build. In some ways you might think it’s a short cut and you’re right. One of my primary concerns with the VW Chassis used was safety and the F-Vee Set up meets my concerns. Also, they are readily available for substantially less money. Ultimately we want to get this project on the road and by utilizing an F Vee Chassis it will allow for more R&D as we hope to build a couple more cars for interested parties.

Progress is still being made on the Motor. A 1958 VW 36HP case is being used with a combination of Porsche Internals. We have a 1967, 912 Crank taken down to fit the VW mains, an Iske Cam (The actual cam that set records in the late 60′s at Bonneville!) and a Wolfsburg West “Okrasa” head and dual carb setup. In theory this should get us where we want to be which is 100mph or more in Bonneville.

During our search we’ve also come across several more photo’s of the early Glockler Porsche 51 race car. I wonder where it is today?  The 51 car is what our design will be based on however keep in mind now using a center chassis cockpit. This should be interesting!

Click to enlarge.

This photo really shows the beginnings of the Porsche 550. Looks like something from an episode of “Before They Were Spyders”!

They were winners too!

Tags | Glockler, Homebuilt, Porsche, Streamliner, VW