Most enthusiasts of early American sports car racing know the name Bill Devin. Like Carroll Shelby and other legends of the era, he was both a race car driver, engineer, and car builder. In the late 1950s he designed a sports car called the Devin D. It was a small rear engine car like the Porsche Speedster. Except it was lighter and had a more modern rear suspension. It was a success on race tracks back then and even today in vintage racing. It gave the Porsche race cars such a fit on the track that Ferdinand Porsche ordered Porsche dealers to quit selling engines to Devin. Or so the oft told story goes!
This car is a Devin D powered by a Porsche 1600 Super engine. The engine is a date correct 1959 Super engine with all the correct parts. All three pieces of the engine case match. The Zenith PO2 carbs are correct for this engine and marked L&R for both engine sides. Original Knecht air cleaners. Bosch VJR4BR18 distributor. The engine does not run and doesn’t turn with a wrench. We have the cylinders soaking and consider this engine an excellent candidate for a rebuild. It has Porsche 356B brakes installed on the front. A set of 356B brakes are included for the rear. Genuine Porsche KPZ wheels on all four corners. The dash has a full array of instruments including a rare and valuable Empi tachometer by Farina. A stock VW speedometer, temp gauge by Stork, ammeter by SW, and fuel by VDO round out the dash instruments.
The car sits on the original Devin chassis with some modifications. It looks like perhaps the car was involved in a racing shunt early in its life. I would love to discover this car’s racing history! It you look closely on the inside of the front body you could see an old fiberglass repair from underneath. Not a typical street accident. The factory Devin built perimeter frame and rear frame including the factory trailing arms and coilover shocks are all intact. The front round tube crossmember and front torsion cradle has been replaced with a square tube and a factory VW center tunnel has been grafted down the middle. The work was done to a high quality . For a survivor class driver car, this repair could continue to work great as it did in decades past. For a concourse restoration, a few hundred dollars in steel tubing and time with a welder would get it back to factory. I like to joke that this is the car used in the famous Devin D advertisement in which a Devin car is flying thru the air! What happened when it landed?? (Although with just over 50 D’s built, there is a decent chance it could be this car!) Lots of other factory Devin details. This car has all its Devin cast metal door and trunk hinges. It appears to have the factory windshield frame and a convertible top frame is also included. Factory Devin hood badge. The car has a clear title as a 1959 Devin D.
Price: Auction
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Seller's other items: 109scuppernongwine
Location: Saint Augustine, Florida, United States
