aero-modding the '73 Beetle

[aerohead]

'was surfing the net and ran across this Cd 0.23-0.196 VW.I'd had a side view photo for years,and now know what I was looking at.
Meet The East German Beetle-Based Supercar With Better Aero Than Tesla

[ennored]

Wow, an East German Bradley GT, who knew?



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradley_Automotive

[freebeard]

Thanks.

Jason Torchinsky is my hero.

In 1990, they modified the Rovomobil with what appears to be just cardboard and tape and tested it in VW's wind tunnel, getting a Cd of 0.196, good enough for a world record.

At that time, with sealed air intake and rear wheelwells. The Volkhart-Sagitta V2 was tested in 2013 at 0.217.

SoCal top-choppers would have sunk that windshield into the cowl to solve that problem. The teardrop top view and the rotisserie shot tell the story. I wonder if they cut the floorpan down to the center tunnel.

Which was the picture you'd had for years?

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by freebeard

Thanks.

Jason Torchinsky is my hero.


At that time, with sealed air intake and rear wheelwells. The Volkhart-Sagitta V2 was tested in 2013 at 0.217.

SoCal top-choppers would have sunk that windshield into the cowl to solve that problem. The teardrop top view and the rotisserie shot tell the story. I wonder if they cut the floorpan down to the center tunnel.

Which was the picture you'd had for years?

The red car in the wind tunnel was all I'd seen until this evening.
Those Eastern Bloc-heads knew what they were doin'!
And the Volkhart-Sagitta ain't too shabby either!

[aerohead]

When we went to North American Rockwell's Palmdale,CA facility for the B-1 Bomber project,something like a Fiberfab Aztec was in their parking lot.
http://cars-pics-db.com/pics/fiberfa...b-aztec-07.jpg
When the Arabs turned the oil off in '73,I thought we'd be seeing a lot more of them.Wrong thinking on my part.

[freebeard]

In 1969 I thought I would be driving the Amanté GT



http://www.forgottenfiberglass.com/fiberglass-car-marques/amante-gt-gazelle/the-1969-gazelle-amante-gt-hebina-plastics-voegele-industries/

The kit was $2895. I got as far as putting F60-15s on 8" wide rim Buick rims on VW centers on my 1957 Beetle. A later incarnation appears in my avatar.

[aerohead]

Nice! Do you think any of these creators survive to this day that we can thank?
My '64 Karmann Ghia would get 41-mpg HWY,compared to 28 in the Beetles. These kits,and some fiberglass work might have pushed that number up a bit.
I found a Valkerie years ago.It belonged to a son who was overseas in combat.The father wasn't going to do a thing with it until time unfolded.

[freebeard]

Since you asked, I looked around a bit. Finally, I went back to the link at Forgotten Fiberglass and read through the comments.

Bill Voegele on March 15, 2015 at 10:47 pm said:

I just discovered this site. I am the Bill Voegele of Voegele Industries. Recently, I was asked to write the story of how The Amante came about and how things ended. I will be glad to share that story with anyone who emails me at bvoegele@extechinc.com. BTW, to answer the question by TN Clint, we made about 150 bodies. Most went to the US but at least one was sent to England, one to Germany, one to the Middle East……I think one or more somewhere in South America. To answer another question by another person (above) the side (door) glass was flat laminated glass and it was cut and polished to the proper contour. It did not come from any production car.

So there you go.

Before I left for The Nam, I had a '58 Beetle convert. The rocker panels had rusted out because the roll-down rear quarter window seals had failed. I found a Baja'd convertible body for $15.00. Knowing I could fix my 'vert kept me going for that year; but when I got home my father had cut it down into a hunting rig. He's long since passed, but I'm still upset about that.