1961 Devin Volkswagen like a Porsche 356 SCCA race car

1961 Other Makes Description

If you're an enthusiast of early American road racing and hot rodding then the name Bill Devin is one that you have most likely heard. The so called Enzo Ferrari of the Okie Flats was a racing enthusiast and entrepreneur who was one of the first to utilize fiberglass for car bodies. If you flipped thru an early Road and Track or other sports car magazine of the time then you would almost always see an ad for his car bodies. For $295 you could buy a car body that looked like a Ferrari....just add a frame, ngine, ransmission, auges, eats, heels and tires, tc, These bodies came in many sizes from very small H-Mod division racers with Crosley, anhard, nd Fiat motors up to Corvette sized bodies. Devin also built a turn key V8 road racer called the SS that predated the AC Cobra by many years. He also built a Devin C powered by Corvair and D powered by Volkswagen or Porsche motors. Most of the Devins that you see today are specials that reflect the taste and talent of their builders.
This Devin is one such special. It was built on a Volkswagen chassis. I bought this Devin from a gentleman who had bought it from the estate of a long time owner. I was told it was built in the early 1960s and that the owner drove the car from Florida up the east coast and that it was rumored to have raced in some SCCA events although I havn't verified that. This car was restored and updated a number of years ago but when I got the car it had been sitting for a number of years. I took the engine out and did a number of repairs including rebuilding the Weber carbs, ebuilding the drum brakes, tc. This car runs great and the engine runs very strong. It is a 1776cc engine with larger intake and exhaust valves, ightened flywheel, eber 40 carbs, ree flow exhaust, nd a number of other performance mods. Yes, his little car is fast! With its light weight and powerful motor this little car would be much faster than any stock Porsche 356. This would be a great car for road rallies or with some safety mods you could vintage race it.
A lot of period accessories were kept with this car thru the years. It has the very rare Empi simulated knock offs like a Rudge wheel, arly Blaupunkt radio, uperior 500 steering wheel, arly short shifter, 961 Wolfsburg emblem, nd Austin Healey Bugeye seats from the 1950s.
This is a very cool Devin that is ready to enjoy. Rather than spending years on a project you can get in and drive this one today. This car came with a 1961 Volkswagen title and a it has brass plaque under the hood that says 1961 Devin Volkswagen. It has working lights, ipers, nd a soft top.
If you're a fan of sports cars such as Abarth, lfa Romeo, ustin Healey, iat,healey, otus, organ, arcos, ancia, enault, unbeam and Triumph and into SCCA racing, oad racing, intage racing, ot rods, cta, onneville salt flats, nd fiberglass specials then check this car out...
On Feb-28-16 at 13:57:10 PST, eller added the following information:

Just to be clear, his car is a 4 speed manual transmission car with a standard clutch . The transmission shifts well and the clutch works great. The T handle shifter is a 1960s era short throw shifter with a reverse lockout button. Also, he brakes were just redone and work well. They are standard Volkswagen drum brakes.

On Mar-01-16 at 06:37:05 PST, eller added the following information:

I've had several questions on the year of the pan itself. It appears to be an amalgamation of several years. This car has the wide five pattern hubs-the last year of those was in 1967. It also has a ball joint front end. The first year of that was 1966. It has the fully independent rear suspension-first year was 1968. I believe that this car has been updated at least once in its life, he last time when it was restored back in the 80s. No real rust on the chassis itself (perhaps some surface rust if you look hard enough) The pans were replaced with lighter sheet metal floors and the rocker panels were bonded to the pans for a rigid unibody.