Project VW based Devin Special

Description for Other Makes Devin Specail 1957

Up for sale is my 1957 VW Devin Special . In the 1950s Bill Devin was building his own fiberglass. lightweight car bodies which could be installed on a variety of different chassis by different makes; MGs. Triumphs. GM. VWs. and even a very famous Ferrari which once sold on ebay as a Devin. As sports car racing was taking off in America this gave many entrepreneurial sorts the chance to build their own racing fiberglass 'specials'. The car you are looking at here is a fiberglass Devin Special built on top of a 1957 Volkswagen beetle pan. The car appears to have been very well built originally and sports a beefy tube frame tying the fiberglass body to the VW pan. The car appears to have had a top at one time. there are bunch of button clips around the cockpit and on the windshield frame that was originally on the car. This Devin even has a heater. This all leads me to believe that the car may have seen street driving duty at one time. Here's the history of the car that I know of to this point. The car seems to have spent most of its life in California. There is an ID tag affixed to the chassis which appears to have been issued by the state of California. I also have a registration and the remnants of a burnt title to the car from the state of California. The VIN # (DMV16976CA ) listed on both documents match the ID tag on the chassis. This is a not a Volkswagen VIN . in fact both documents have the make and type as 'SPCNS Roadster'. Likely most of these cars did not receive their own VINs. further enhancing the provenance of this particular Special. ***Please note that I have no idea what would be involved with titling this vehicle with the current state of the title. *** The registration and title have the address of an owner in Anaheim. CA and date back to the mid 70s. I was told by the previous owner that the last use of the car was as an autocross car with a Porsche air cooled 911 6 cylinder motor!. hence the likely reason why the bodywork was cut off in the back at one time and the addition of fender flares to house bigger rubber to better harness that power to weight ratio. which I have never seen before on a Devin. If anybody has any more leads as to the history of the car please let me know and I will pass them on to the next owner. The mileage on the odometer is shows 60. 57. I have no idea how accurate or inaccurate that may be. As to the condition of the car. The car is obviously a project. It needs the obvious fiberglass work. and the suspension. brakes. steering. ect will likely need work prior to her being road worthy. The good news is that all of this fare is readily available and affordable Volkswagen parts for a VW beetle. The seats pictured are not mounted to the car but are part of the sale. They appear to be recently recovered and I believe are either MG or Triump. The gas tank was rusted out and I removed it when I got the car. I had a smaller aluminum tank fabricated that I was going to mount over the front axle beam to help out weight distribution which is also part of the sale. The new tank still needs fittings fabbed up and then to be mounted. The old tank. which sat behind the driver. can be included as well for mock-up purposes if needed. The chassis is strong and virtually rust free. The only area of rust on the car is in the front side of the passenger floor pan. this is actually the original location of the battery. I was going to relocate the battery to the front. again to help with weight distribution. The rest of the pan and tube frame are all solid. The driver side floor pan has been modified to fit the driver seat further down into the chassis. The car does not have a windshield. I removed the windshield that was on the car and was going to opt for a pleixglass/lexan type windscreen. I can include the original windshield frame that was on the car. which appears to may be from an old Alpha. I was told it could be worth a good bit. but I doubt it as it has a bunch of the aforementioned button clips for the assumed top the car had at one time. I believe the transmission is a VW swing axle. It appears that the rear tail lights are from a Porsche 356. The car does not have a motor. but for an extra $1500 I have a VW type 1 1915cc motor I can include with the sale. The motor was recently rebuilt. it does need a generator/alternator and cooling fan. This was the motor that I was going to use for the car and should be a good amount of fun with in such a lightweight vehicle. ***Again the actual auction price does include this motor. do not include this with your bid. If interested in the motor please let me know. I reserve the right to end the auction early. $500 deposit due within 24 hours of the close of auction. I can assist with the loading up of the car if it needs to be shipped to her new home. Zero feedback buyers place contact me prior to bidding. Thanks for looking. and happy bidding!