The opposite of pizza pans

[kach22i]

Originally Posted by Varn

The sidewalls of a street tire (you are thinking of doing this for the street?) are thin. It would be prudent to stay away from them. Think about a flat tire at night in freezing conditions.

Yes, people who have had the pizza pan covers touching the sidewall rubber have reported rubbing and premature wear and now warn against doing this.

Originally Posted by freebeard

Lately I've headed into a different direction—the Very Light Volkswagen (VLVW), inspired in part by the Edison 2 VLC. I've been struggling in 3d and in 1/32 scale plastic. I should lower my standards and scan a pen and pencil sketch. Want to see it?

A second yes!

[Xist]

Originally Posted by freebeard

Want to see it?

Um... No...

[freebeard]

We begin with the '58 Canadian Beetle in the barn; notice:

• The inner cowl structure of the Beetle body
• The straight-edge is to show the centerline of the new windshield
• the way 1/2 of the fender wells are concaved into the shape of the body

Photochopped to show:

• The extended wheelbase (8" forward) and track (6" front and back).
• The outline of the new windscreen. If required by the DMV or racing class, this could be a polycarbonate overlay on the stock cowl and windshield, or the whole dash could be cut out and a lower, deeper one fabricated.

The sketch:

• The headlight would be under the bottom of the windscreen
• The rear would extend to a vertical edge
• The pontoon fenders are complex. The outer surface would sweep out in the front and back in in the rear, while the inner surface would mimic the contour of the inner wheel well.

Not shown aluminum front axle beam (sand buggy part) and Polycarbonate, flush side windows. I know—interference drag, frontal area, blah, blah, blah... I'm not saying it's a great idea.

Xist -- Oops!

[Tango Charlie]

May as well go ahead and move the rear wheels inboard so it's more tadpole-ish. Like your avatar.

[Xist]

This

means

war!

[freebeard]

It's a little sketchy...

The idea is that the outsides of the pontoons conform to The Template and the insides to the body cavities. With a break so the door will open.

But, OK.

Xist -- I'm getting a mixed message.

[kach22i]

Wouldn't an unmolested 1958 VW Beetle be worth some money? I know it's not a split rear window, but it is a classic in it's own way.

A guy over at the Pelican Parts and Samba forum saved a rusting hulk of a 1958 Karmann Ghia from the crusher, and did a wonderful job. Restored the original low powered engine and everything.

[Xist]

I apologize. Please disregard my randomness.

[Sven7]

Originally Posted by kach22i

Wouldn't an unmolested 1958 VW Beetle be worth some money? I know it's not a split rear window, but it is a classic in it's own way.

Unmolested? It's got no front end and half of it is painted hot pink!!

Why not drop it on its balls and move the wheels in, turning the thing into one huge teardrop?

[freebeard]

Wouldn't an unmolested 1958 VW Beetle be worth some money? I know it's not a split rear window, but it is a classic in it's own way.
Unmolested? It's got no front end and half of it is painted hot pink!!

And it has white 'Hawaiian' rubber window molding.

The '58 Canadian will probably sell to finance something else (probably the panel van) because while not un-molested, it is rare. Canadian Beetles that year came with the big back window, but semaphore turn signal pockets in the door posts. The problem is the PO baja'd it and welded "reinforcement" cr@p all over the 1971 chassis. It needs to be dropped on a restored, titled '58 pan.

Xist -- Apologize? A little chaos never hurts anything. You draw attention away from my own lack of normality.

Why not drop it on its balls and move the wheels in, turning the thing into one huge teardrop?

There are more ideas than VWs and money. I could see it. The lowering counteracts the loss of track. The stock front fenders can have fender skirts. Narrow the rear more than the 'easy' 3 inches, and give it a tadpole shape, like Tango Charlie says. If I can figure out how to shave the rear fenders off my 3D model, I'll definitely do a rendering of that.

Here's a photochop I posted once before: