VW Single Cab - Race Car Transporter

Hi guys,

New to the forum - first post - hi!

I am seeking information on specs required for a few things - all in the purpose of building a ute, like the ones back in the 50's and 60's where race cars were put on the back of a single cab kombi - most famously, Porsche.

I have an early Porsche 911 motor (2.7 litre) to put in the back to give some extra hp for pulling.

Ideally looking to find a car that has already been done, or if anyone has had experience in what to do/not do, and what is the best year (if any) to start with.

Any info for me to start my project would be greatly appreciated.

I currently have a 1955 F100 hotrod that I use as my race car transporter, and looking to sell that and replace it with the VW.

Thanks in advance 🙂

I like your thinking.
Will be interested to see what information emerges.
I have a SC and will soon have a race car. It would be my preferred transport option.

Never used it to transport a car myself, but I used to own a Kombi that had been set up for transporting race cars.

Bought it from an old racer named Ted Proctor basically just for the engine (1640 with a warmer cam)

It was a Kombi 1600 (pretty sure a lowlight) that had been damaged at the rear. Ted had just chopped behind the front seats to make it like an SC, then built a custom body behind it...all space frame and ally sheet tek-screwed/riveted onto it.

The back part of the body work from just forward of the fan shroud (T1 upright motor) sort of ramped downwards, extending about a foot or so longer than the normal Kombi would've been.

Then it just had two ramps that fitted on to get down to ground level.

I did get a beetle up on top of it once just to prove to myself it could be done... it would actually have been long enough to fit a Kombi on !!!

I currently have a 1955 F100 hotrod that I use as my race car transporter,


Ant photos????? Sounds like what im after!!!!!

Sides wrote:Never used it to transport a car myself, but I used to own a Kombi that had been set up for transporting race cars.

Bought it from an old racer named Ted Proctor basically just for the engine (1640 with a warmer cam)

It was a Kombi 1600 (pretty sure a lowlight) that had been damaged at the rear. Ted had just chopped behind the front seats to make it like an SC, then built a custom body behind it...all space frame and ally sheet tek-screwed/riveted onto it.

The back part of the body work from just forward of the fan shroud (T1 upright motor) sort of ramped downwards, extending about a foot or so longer than the normal Kombi would've been.

Then it just had two ramps that fitted on to get down to ground level.

I did get a beetle up on top of it once just to prove to myself it could be done... it would actually have been long enough to fit a Kombi on !!!

A bit off-topic, Sides, but I had a talk to Ted Proctor a couple of weeks back. He is fit and well, and has gone back to being an artist [quite famous], and lives in Bellingen. He drives a T5 camper!

@ whathaveidone - email me at aewebster @ me dot com and I will send some through! It is not cheap but it one he'll of a ride and is the talk of every race meet.

I will try and get some pics up to show what I mean but it should not be too hard to do. Might need to chop and lengthen the tray to fit the car on. What are the standard dimensions of a SC tray? Anyone?'

Awesome

Awesome

Awesome please make one

This was in the july 2011 issue of ultra VW I looked online but couldnt find shit so I took some pics with my phone and posted it hope this helps now please show me a build thread

I had a 2.2 Porsche 6 powered kombi dual cab that I towed with a few times. It towed like crap. I had better results with the next motor, a 1970 cc Kombi motor with 914 heads and efi with a hot cam. The Porsche had more power but no torque. Had to rev it's ring off towing and still was a pain. The increased torque in the 2.7 will definately make a better tow rig, but I'd think the F truck may be more up to the task. The 911 engine will fit into 72 and later busses easiest. The ones with the biggest til lights. Also they fit the later T3 bus fairly easily, and these are cheaper and handle better and are way less rusty.....
Engine mounts, tinware mods and dry sump tank mounting are too easy in a bus, feel free to call if you need more info.

Awesome, the pics of the Mascow Mule as almost exactly what I want to create!

@ Dubai - did it have a contact for the guys who made/own it? website?

@ matberry - a 2.2 will lack torque and need revving to produce any hp. Hence the 2.7! Also was thikning a torquey Typ4 motor.

Okay so now I need to find a suitable 72+ or T3 - scouts are out 🙂

Email sent

on the number plate is the web site its old-car.ru I looked and couldnt find shit call the number on the back of the gate either way keep this post updated I want to see one made.

Here are dimensions for a '61; all split pickups will have the same dimensions.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/info/data3_4_150dpi.jpg

hth

Thanks Peter - great info to have.

@ Dubai - on their site now and will email them.

HappyDaze wrote:A bit off-topic, Sides, but I had a talk to Ted Proctor a couple of weeks back. He is fit and well, and has gone back to being an artist [quite famous], and lives in Bellingen. He drives a T5 camper!

Ahh, cool - good to hear he's driving a VW again... and amazing how small the world is at times !!!

Back on topic - here's a pic of Ted's setup... courtesy of oldtub356 on another thread. Not as flash as the Moscow Mule, but still pretty neat I reckon.

Here are the basic dimensions for a bay SC:

hth

How about this set up!

Anyone got a spare SC lying around???

🙄

Love that last photo

Luftmeister, that photo is fantastic. Surely the transporter has been stretched though? It looks at least a metre longer in the wheelbase than a standard single-cab. I don't think there's any way that you would fit a car neatly onto a normal single cab VW.

A split single, looks pretty much stock to me in regards to tray length etc. I think it's a 356 on the back? Could be something smaller though.

For the record, the Inch Pincher SC ran a Corvair flat-6 motor. I can understand the issues with the 2.2 litre Porsche motor being un-torque. You'd need to change the cam and the compression.

Done some more research on the whole extension and running gear.

You are right in that we need a car with the wider chassis rails.

Mark Poole in SA has had plenty of experience with the fitment of the 911 motors, and suggests the 2.7l will be good but thirsty - I am used to thirty with the F100 as it has a 464 big block in it!! Anything has to be better than that 🙂

Still looking for a suitable car - so anyone that has a 1800cc built single or twin cab, please let me know. Consider any condition but prefer a runner.

I have been carrying many many many morris & leyland minis around in the back of our single-cab splittys over the last 30 odd years

this ute was our 2nd mini carrying ute, & the mini in the back of it is a turbo charged alloy V8 east-west mounted, front wheel drive car



& we carried this mini all the wat to the Targa Tasmania rally , & back, in the back of that same splitty


this was our original mini carrying splitty ute, , with P76 Alloy V8 power,,, it carried absolutely anything, absolutely anywhere :-)



But i suppose i`ve been cheating really, because there`s no need to lengthen a single cab to fit a mini in,,, they fit straight in like they were meant to :-)

Now we carry this thing -->


around to the race tracks in the back of this duel-cab Bay kombi,,, oh & yes it also has an Alloy V8 powering it, but a lexus quad cam :-)

I can get u a lowlight sc but needs work

Klaus wrote:I can get u a lowlight sc but needs work

Tell us more

whats your budget for a starter project 🙂

open to anything at this stage!

This is why i want a Tempo Matador! 👍

damned if i'd be so lucky to find one haha.
Although i did find a traction engine and thought that would have been harder to track.

u should be able to get one with rego for about 5 grand, the ones i know of might be a little $$ for starter projects if you dont have spares to make them complete

Circa 1971 I remember as a young bloke an orange single cab that was used to transport race go karts to the old Leppington and Granville kart tracks. From memory the colour matched the two karts and it was decked out with a mini tyre rack against the headboard and sported a lovely exhaust note thanks to a a beell mouthed extractor!!!! Pretty impressive rig in the day.

bump - still looking!

well,,, if it were me, i`d be buying a duel -cab & stretching that,,, because then you could actually have some people go with you to the race tracks

the single cab splittys that we used were a bit,,, er,,, "Snug" for 3 people, but obviously with a duel-cab you can have at least 4 people in comfort, & 6 at a stretch if you had to

i always found it a bit hard when we needed a few more crew for the race meetings & obviously needed to use another car to transport everything & everyone, a stretched duel-cab fixes that problem

Yep, I often thought that would be the perfect rig. My old dual cab was great, but we had to pull a trailer. Mind you, the van and trailer combo works well for me now, the bed in the van is great to sleep in enroute or at an event.

yeah, i`m setting up a roof-top camper ontop of the duely, that way i can have the race car on the trailer, all the spares & tools in the back of the ute & the cab for the crew, & the top for rooting , er, ah, i mean "Sleeping"

:-)

Just in case you're still looking.

Here's one in Russia. Looks good for the money. http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=1313518

^^^ Awesome, what a trip to bring that home 🙂

that was the one that got me thinking about the whole idea in the first place - the problem with that one is that it only has a 1600 cc motor and therefore with a car on the back - it has asthma!

Still would love to it - just gotta find the time and extra cash now 🙂

heres a cool one

Some random photos....

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This arrangement is apparently quite common in Japan, allowing access to very low cars...

hth

Back in the late 70's I was looking at using a SC kombi as a race car transporter for a Lotus 7 which weighed in at about 500kg. I could just get it on the tray ,nose first so that most of the car weight would be between front and rear wheels for good weight distribution.I didn't need the tray extension pieces you can see in the second photo from modulus above. Add another 100kg for wets, tools , jack etc and all up weight to haul was 600kg plus 2 bods up front, an easy job for a kombi when you consider it was all tucked in behind the cab so no additional wind resistance.
I was going to get it on with lightweight ramps: on the tray hinged at the rear and lifted at the front just behind the cab by means of a screw jack arrangement to lift the front of the car about 9 inches for clearance on and off the tray. Ramps from ground to tray were to be a 2 piece folding arrangement that would be stored under the car when not in use. In 3rd photo they use timber ramps, a definite no no. Car would be winched on and off from the side of the kombi using trailer winch with extension piece
An alternative to liftable ramps on the tray would be to drive the front up onto car ramps to get a bit more angle for getting car clearance on and off. The Inch Pincher has about twice as much ground clearance as my Lotus and Mini Man's Mini has a lot shorter wheelbase so no clearance problems there?
I never got around to building my kombi transporter as they changed the regulations soon after but as you can see from posts/ photos from Mini Man and Modulus it's a good idea. Go for it.
On a slightly different tack, one of the best race car transporters I have seen was the one that used by Australian Porsche distributor Alan Hamilton to move his Porsche 934 around. This was a double cab kombi with a turntable on the tray to which was attached a double axle fifth wheel car trailer. It was a really impressive rig, with a 2.7 litre Porsche engine fitted(?) I was sitting on about 110 kph going home from a meeting at Hume Weir and it just went past me like I was standing still. I was surprised the mechanics didn't run me off the road as I had given the 934 a little tap in the rear during the race!

Spotted these in Germany in December - All alloy & work on T4 & 5 single & double cabs - if anyone is shipping a container in from DE - let me know!

Almost forgot - there's this one on display in the Stiftung Automuseum in Wolfsburg....