Alluminium Sliding Windows for Speedster

[sdudum]

Hi all, knowing full well that there are people on this site that are good with fabrication and thinking creatively. I ask for help in creating what I think will be a very practical solution to my speedsters side curtains issue. They do not work...I am wondering if someone is willing on working with me in creating an aluminium frame that would have two pieces of Perspex that can slide past each other to give an opening window ability. The fact that this would be an aluminium frame give more scope for also curving with the windscreen frame to close off the leaky areas in the corners.

Is there somebody who can help in such a project ? or point me in the right direction to get this done ?

Regards

[vw59beetle]

That was the reason that Porsche made the Convertible D in 1959. It is a Speedster with side windows. You can give my friend Anton Dekker a call . He made the perspex windows on my 356. You can check out his work on http://www.aircooledwonders.com/feature ... -identity/ or visit his site at http://www.exclusiveconversion.co.za/
Wernher

[flatfourfan]

You're looking at doing this?





Here was my first attempt with some cheap ally that I picked up at builders.





Very do-able, I still have all the frame stuff. But I realised quickly that the top of the speedster would have to be changed to allow the extra width of the ally before making a frame because the seal is not that wow as the local tops were designed to work with the slim windows.

I can vouch for Anton Dekker though, very nice guy who's immensly talented and he's local to me. I got my gauges from him a while back.

[sdudum]

You're looking at doing this?





Here was my first attempt with some cheap ally that I picked up at builders.





Very do-able, I still have all the frame stuff. But I realised quickly that the top of the speedster would have to be changed to allow the extra width of the ally before making a frame because the seal is not that wow as the local tops were designed to work with the slim windows.

I can vouch for Anton Dekker though, very nice guy who's immensly talented and he's local to me. I got my gauges from him a while back.

Hi FFF, this is exactly what I am looking at achieving with a bit of a twist though...So I will engage Anton....

[sdudum]

How about this solution ....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6DPlQHf ... mTn_SiWKA=

[vw59beetle]

There are many ways to kill a fly. My personnel opinion is, that the Speedster was meant to be a race car. It does not look good with the roof up. All the real Speedster owners that I know , never drive with the roof up. It is probably the best looking car when the roof is down. If I was you, I would drive it the way it is now.

[flatfourfan]

Amen on that.......My roof has been up 3 times in the period that I have owned it (5 years). If it's cold, get some driving gloves and a beanie. I will however fab a new set of curtain windows that can be put up in an emergency, but they will probably never ever get used.

[sdudum]

Guys I hear you and understand the stance being taken here, but there is also a practicality here we need to take into consideration, aesthetics aside, I need to enjoy my car in various weather conditions, otherwise what is the point ...so I take it from this view where if I can help improve without being rude the enjoyment and practical value of the car ...why not.

Purists will shoot me, but I do not race with the car, I love the look, the lines the stance of the car, I love the period design, but I also live in a different era, with different requirements. So the windows are a must for me, the last thing my Girlfriend will enjoy is freezing from here to Durban...If I can have a solution that allows me to drive my joy and enjoy it with my other joy well why not...yet again, without breaking with the essence of the car....which brings me to another topic...

I am considering taking the Porsche badges off my car and replacing them with just speedster...I feel it is an affront on real Porsche owners and real Speedster owner to have a replica carry the same badges...your thoughts....

[flatfourfan]

I hear you, on all accounts, but the badge issue. What's nice about replicas is you will probably never find two that are alike. They are done to the personal taste of the owner. The way that I see it, is that it's my car and I can pretty much do to it what I want and that is the way that you should feel about it as well, if you dig flares keep the flares, if you like big wheels, keep the big wheels. I've got a lot of flack for going watercooled from aircooled on my speedster and chopping it up, but at the end of the day, it's a replica. I just want a few modern touches without the aircooled hassles.

I honestly could not give a toss about the purists and also real porsche owners and neither should you. I'm pretty much sure that they feel the same about us driving bath tubs as well. No real porsche owner is going to buy the fact that ours are originals anyway.

If you feel that you're offending porsche owners by driving a replica then drive a beetle..........lol.

[sdudum]

I will be in a beetle sometime next year...LoL for now though, I am toying with the idea of removing the badges...also, I am tired of explaining to people about the fact that it is a replica...I am tired of getting comments like wow, you must have a lot of money...driving a Porsche and all...maybe if I remove the badges then I do not have to go through the explanations.

[sdudum]

I will be in a beetle sometime next year...LoL for now though, I am toying with the idea of removing the badges...also, I am tired of explaining to people about the fact that it is a replica...I am tired of getting comments like wow, you must have a lot of money...driving a Porsche and all...maybe if I remove the badges then I do not have to go through the explanations.

[retrovan]

There is a company Called Alwin Windows, http://www.alwin.co.za they will make any window with alum. frame, as they have been doing it for years for canopy's.
They make all my window frames for my trailers, so they are the right guys,
OMO
Herman

[vw59beetle]

I do not think that by removing the badges , that anything will change. I agree that you need to do what makes you happy. Who cares what the rest think. We all own these cars, cause they make us happy. I am a owner of a real Speedster and have no problem with replicas and neither do any of the other real Speedster owners that I know. The only thing that annoys me is when someone with a replica advertise it as , let's say, a 1956 Porsche Speedster. It's not and it doesn't matter. Go out and enjoy your car, with or without badges.

[sdudum]

I do not think that by removing the badges , that anything will change. I agree that you need to do what makes you happy. Who cares what the rest think. We all own these cars, cause they make us happy. I am a owner of a real Speedster and have no problem with replicas and neither do any of the other real Speedster owners that I know. The only thing that annoys me is when someone with a replica advertise it as , let's say, a 1956 Porsche Speedster. It's not and it doesn't matter. Go out and enjoy your car, with or without badges.

......drooling, you have a real Speedster ? hhhhmmmm drrooooling again....must see it one day, how regularly do you take it out ?

[Bugger]

There is a company Called Alwin Windows, http://www.alwin.co.za they will make any window with alum. frame, as they have been doing it for years for canopy's.
They make all my window frames for my trailers, so they are the right guys,
OMO
Herman

Old Fanie is just a Bit slow sometimes
They actually made my Dokas sliding windows and it is a mission from day one so I still need to get them to rectify the problem for mine and Beetle fanatics