I thought you guys might be interested in a car I bought last year. It’s an English “special” built between 1958 and May 1961, comprising Porsche/VW mechanicals in a spaceframe chassis to Porsche 550 Spyder dimensions, with a mid-engined Okrasa engine. I bought it because quite apart from being rare as an English built car using German parts in post-war Britain, when the opportunity presented itself to create rather than restore something it proved irresistible. The car was built by a chap called David Small, who owned the Farnham Porsche and VW dealership in Surrey up until the late ‘70’s. It was driven up Oulton road in Farnham in May 1961 in this state for shakedown testing, easily seeing 100mph before being pushed into the back of the dealership workshop where it then sat for the next 46 years! Keith Seume bought it about five years ago and then sold it onto me last year.
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I managed to track David down this time last year and was privileged to be able to speak with the designer and builder of the car. Despite being in his eighties he instantly remembered the car and reeled off specifications and various parts he had used. He was amazed that the car still existed and touched that someone had tracked him down to research the car in order to finish it. David built eight previous specials prior to this one and raced against Colin Chapman in the 1950’s - he was also a qualified mechanical engineer and a gifted guy who patently knew what he was doing as he built this car from scratch. As you can see from the photos the heart of the car is a square tube space-frame chassis with aircraft-style aluminium panelling, housing all the major components (engine, gearbox, petrol tank, etc) within the wheelbase of the car. David was clear that it was built as a road-going sportscar, but it has many obvious race car influences such as the right hand gear-change, adjustable engine cooling flap on the underside of the car, etc.
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The engine, a brand new Okrasa TSV-1300 unit was imported from Germany in 1958: the engine comprises a new 69.5mm forged crank, Okrasa’s own twin port heads of similar specification to Porsche, twin Solex carbs on tall manifolds, higher compression, remote oil cooling, and a new cam to assist in making the most of the package, almost doubling the VW output to 55hp, which should prove useful in a car weighing about 500 kg’s as it currently stands.
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David used all new parts in building the car as he had access to an inventory of stock in the dealership and the shakedown tests put a total of 46 miles on the car, effectively meaning the car is brand new, even down to the Okrasa engine and original Michelin X tyres which are now unfortunately rock hard and unusable. The car has been built to the dimensions and wheelbase of the Porsche 550 Spyder and I intend to finish a job started 48 years ago by clothing the car in aluminium bodywork.
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I’ll post photos as the car progresses and thought I would open up its development to the combined expertise that exists on the forum. If you have ideas or views on what I should change, leave, or design I’d love to know what you think.

Cheers, Steve

A 40 mile Okrasa engine, wow! 😎

Please keep the photos coming. :wink:

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Nice to see some pics of it Steve! How's things with you?

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What an amazing discovery! Do you know what its supposed to look like? Are there any drawings showing the design? Please keep the pictures coming.

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Thanks for the kind words guys. Hi Rich, hope you're well. I'm hoping to get the '52 on it's original wheels shortly and start driving that so it would be great to do a road trip with you. The Okrasa Special doesn't have a radio apeture, but I'm sure something slung under the dash wouldn't go amiss:lol:

JD, the builder/designer never made drawings unfortunately but did everything "by eye" building up the chassis and aluminium panelling as he went. However the dimensions, from wheelbase to chassis pick up points are all Porsche 550 Spyder dimensions, so it's obvious where his thinking lay. Having said that, given it's an English car then Lotus might be the inspiration, especially given he raced against Colin Chapman. The other alternative is to go Italian given the Ghia designed roof. Abarth and late '50s Ferrari maybe...?

54 Gertie, I'll post pictures of the first service and drive next week. we got some awesome shots into the bowels of the motor and it's amazing. everything is fresh and as though it's only just been put together. I guess we're going to have to run it in as new! Hadn't thought about that...

Cheers,
Steve

We serviced the Special recently and it was more like an archaeological investigation! First up was a check of all the wiring, plugs and fuel lines. Most turned out to be okay, with very little corrosion, although for obvious reasons we changed all the fuel and brake lines. The original sparkk plugs had a lot of corrosion on the tops so they were changed, while we did a visual inspection of the carbs to ensure nothing had dropped down them. Engine and gearbox oil were next - both were wonderfully clean and honey coloured. While the oil was viscous when we unscrewed the sump plug, when we took the cover off the remaining oil wobbled on the strainer like jelly. We pumped plenty of new fluid through the brake system to flush out the old fluid, and tried both pedals expecting neither to work. To our surprise the seals in the slave and master cylinders held up well. We checked the tappets which were all fine, did a visual inspection with a torch into the crankcase to check for corrosion as best we could and found this
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Looks like it's just been screwed together rather than done almost five decades ago.

I had an old six volt battery with plenty of life still in it so we hooked that up in the front of the car, and the petrol tank hasn't yet been connected properly so we rigged up a fuel container in the engine compartment. We unhooked the distributor lead from the coil and turned the key the first step... and I must admit I was a little surprised when the two main warning lights blinked into operation on the dash. Then with a twist of the key we cranked the engine over to build oil pressure and pump petrol through the carbs. The oil pressure light went out quickly so we primed the carbs with engine starter, crossed our fingers and turned the key again. After a few coughs and splutters the engine roared into life - I held the throttle at a high idle for a minute or so then gently eased off the pedal. Unbelievably the engine sat happily idling as though it had run yesterday!
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The exhaust was a lot quieter than I expected, with the twin silencers off a Tatra apparently. They do a great job of damping the exhaust, probably too good a job if I'm honest. There's significant rust on them as neither look like they have ever been painted, so I think I'll use that as an excuse to have a Porsche Sebring style set up made to fit the custom headers. Then it was a case of getting in and driving it! Getting in requires the race car style of entry: bum first, then swing the legs in. I pushed the clutch pedal in and gingerly eased it into first, not knowing if the clutch worked or not, then slowly lifted it and all of a sudden we were driving! A few passes up and down the workshop yard saw no problems so we took a few tools and a mobile phone and set off up the road. The engine noise in the cabin is tremendous as it's two inches from your ear, so as Graham highlighted earlier a engine cover or firewall will definitely be required. Everything worked fine so with confidence building I gave the car a decent amount of right pedal up a series of hilly corners. Of course the sense of speed is exaggerated by the noise of the engine and being exposed at the moment with no doors, but being featerweight and with 95% of the mass contained between the wheels the car is tremendously agile and should be a proper period giant killer on tight, twisty circuits an hill climbs. I really must thank Ian Clark of WPS for helping one the day. I know he enjoyed himself but nonetheless it would have been a heck of a job without his help and knowledge.
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Next installment will be with fibreglass 550 Spyder mocked up on the chassis. Cheers, Steve

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Man, this picture shows how tiny it really is!

Will go definatelly quick!

Wonderful! I love this car and I remember it from when Keith found it... very cool. A very "late" and hence quite refined and advanced VW-racer. A lot for potential. I like your approcah to the project...preservation, yet the abilisty to create something of your own.

I look forward to the next phase...550 fiberglass mock up. I would love to be a PhotoShop wizard, but unfortunately not... this was just my attempt of correctly scaling a sideview of a 550 and then a powerpoint overlay with your car...it looks like the proportions of the roof might work very very well... I imagined the Ghis roof to be too "long" for the 550 design, but it seems not so.. Keep up the good work!

Hi SplitPersonality - my photoshop skills aren't much better unfortunately but I was also surprised when I did a similar sketch overlaying the 550 bodywork to find the roof worked quite well. I expected, as you did, that it would be way to long, but I've now mocked up the fibreglass bodywork so I'll post pictures shortly of that. The key thing I think is going to be blending the lines of the 550 body with the roof line, but also adding enough personal touches to the car to ensure it doesn't just look like a 550 with a roof! thanks for taking the time to do the mock up of the bodywork, if you have any further ideas or thoughts I'd love to hear them. cheers, Steve

So, it will be a little bit like a 550 Coupé with some bigger windows and a different back...

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When we serviced the Special last year it provided a good opportunity to become familiar with the car and chassis in particular. The original builder knew his beans, for example the rear suspension is completely hand crafted and one-off: the VW torsion bars have been done away with and the spaceframe mounts Porsche RSK inspired adjustable coilover springs with long, custom-made trailing arms mounted to the chassis well down to lower the centre of gravity. At the front the VW centre tunnel has been cut and re-welded at an angle to drop the front suspension height, effectively lowering the car without effecting camber, toe, ride height, etc.
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The front end doesn’t have an anti-roll bar but as they were fitted to VW’s and Porsche in period we can have a play with different ones to improve the handling if required. At the rear I’ll leave things as they are until we test drive the car properly with some shakedown tests on the road and track to judge whether the rear swing axle suspension needs to be tied down better with a period camber compensator bar from Speedwell. The front has also had a few torsion leaves removed to soften the front which was the right thing to do given the car weighs significantly less than the original. This means we can get away with pretty stiff roll bars and dampers if need be, as the springs won’t also be massively stiff, making the car bone jangling and skittish on the road. Obviously the rear is adjustable so we should be able to play around a bit there. Irrespective, it’s great to have something with a bit of adjustability in it and to have the challenge of chassis set up ahead of us. I might regret that last statement when it handles like a pig and we can’t get it to go round a bend! The only concern I have on the suspension is the amount of rust on the springs – does anyone have any views on whether these are good to use or whether I should try and refurbish or replace them?
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Anyway moving on, the chassis was built utilising the conventional Formula 1 wisdom of day (late 50’s) as used on the Cooper, with their (relatively) heavy tube chassis and it was obviously designed to be strong and rigid without a roof. Adding the roof has increased weight but as it’s a stressed panel in its own right and has been tied securely into the chassis it should make for a really rigid structure. I must admit I also like the thought of something over my head – I’ve never personally been a fan of open top cars, in the sense of racing one myself. The car doesn’t have a rollbar, but it would be the one concession I would make today, tying something into the equivalent of the b-pillar that is used for the petrol tank/seat support. The side bar is the least pleasing aspect of the chassis design, as it’s not conducive to getting in and out, but it makes the chassis tremendously strong and affords some degree of side impact protection.
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The underside of the car is almost completely flat, which should clean up airflow under the car. I know I’m not going to be travelling fast enough nor would it be period correct to think about ground effects but it’s lovely to see so much thought put into making the car as clean and slippery through the air on the underside as I hope it will be on top. On the downside the flat floor is typical of Specials of the era in that there are no indentations or curves in the floor, meaning you can’t stand on it, but there are enough supports off the main spine to get in and out effectively.

The one real fly in the ointment is that after servicing the engine we suddenly realised – how do you remove the engine? Two hooks on the crankcase attest to the only design flaw I have so far come across. The roof was put on afterwards and the rear chassis tubes mean it can’t come out beneath or horizontally. So the only way will be to remove the rear screen and lift it out on a hoist or via a pulley in the roof. I spent ages searching for a solution (removable section of spaceframe, etc) but none of the ideas really grabbed me. Besides once you reconcile yourself with the idiosyncrasy then it just means putting in a pulley!
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Next update will be with the 550 Sypder bodywork mocked up. Cheers, Steve

Here´s my shot at it. If you re-cut the doors - which you´re more or less going to have to - you could use Ghia side glass. I wonder if you could hinge the rear window and part of the roof to make engine removal easier?

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hey JD, i like the idea. very delicate and period looking. I had bounced around the idea of somehow hinging the rear bodywork but I'm not sure if I'm brave enough to cut the rear of the roof! As well there's a rear bar that is part of the subframe that would need to be bolt-in rather than welded, so it's getting to be a lot of work. I think installing a pulley in the workshop roof and getting a couple of mates over whenever the engine has to come out will be less work :lol: Like the treatment of the doors and using the Ghia B-pillar too.

Ghia side glass would certainly make life easier from a construction point of view, though I doubt the door windows could be made to wind down very far, as the glass is actually quite a lot deeper than just the part you can see. Still, if you could wind them down six inches or so, it´d be better than a poke in the eye! I wonder if you could in fact get some Ghia A and B pillars and some rusty doors to cut down and use as a decently solid metal inner structure for your door, even if the skins would be glass? It would give you a nice solid feeling door, rather than a floppy bit of glassfibre.

If you cut these parts (coloured sections) from a scrapper, and sectioned some vertical height out of them, it could make life a lot easier.



Does the motor "breathe" from under the car, or will you need some cooling intakes too?

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Hi JD. I'm planning to complete the car in aluminium, but taking a couple of doors plus the A & B pillar from a scrapper sounds like a good idea - at least that way i have something to work from. I was planning to put sliders into perspex for the windows, much like the 911R windows. The engine does need vents for inflow: i was planning to put something in, probably ahead of the rear arch, but up high on the body, as there is spaceframe in the way lower down. the other alternative would be in the quarterlight window like the 550 coupe but it does spoil the lines. again, ideas and thoughts from pre-67 members appreciated.

Aluminiun eh? Wow!

Here´s a slightly improved version with some air gills.

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wow, intersting how they change the look of the car. unfortunately the spacefame is in the way so I don't know where the air inlet is going to go. probably need to put it on the top of the rear wheel arch?

Ah, I see what you mean. Hmmm... bit of a round the houses way to do it from the arches, or? Still, i suppose with some ducting it´s no bother. But then, what the hell do I know!:lol:

I´ll have another shot later on.

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the roof was added late, hence before it wouldn't have been an issue as air would've entered from top. the moment he put the roof on the problem was created. I was thinking Ferrari 250LM style ducts in with some VW heating hose then attached and directed towards the engine bay?

My thoughts exactly.

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