Long forgotten kit - the Aquila

[letterman7]

I've been wanting one of these for years and they've always been on the "wrong" side of the country when they do rise up for sale. So, found this one with an owner that was willing to transport it to the east coast for little money and a low asking price, so I couldn't pass it up!
(low res from the sales ad)
(low res from the sales ad)



Of course, the previous owner didn't tell me that he was going to pull the seats... and the steering wheel... and the ignition... and the dashboard... so it's going to be a slow rebuild as I gather parts to do it. From a couple other owners that I've talked with, there are few of these around - maybe 23 altogether. This one is #12, right before the body change to allow a larger engine in the rear. One of my orders of business here is to find seats that fit - these cars have a dropped fiberglass floorpan with a maximum width of 16" that tapers to 15" at the front (over a distance of 30"). Even some of the fiberglass seats I've seen are too wide, so if someone has a source for low profile seats, I'd appreciate it!

Rick

[Ol'fogasaurus]

Never heard of one before; pretty cool! Great score even with the missing parts. Lee

[letterman7]

These were built in the mid '80's at the end of the VW era based kit cars. I'll have to roll it out into the sun to get some fresh photos; it was raining when it got delivered and I put it immediately in the garage. A buddy of mine has his for sale - it was the cover car of Kit Car Builder a few years ago. It's running a Ford v6 in the back and is finished really well: http://www.replicarclassifieds.com/ShowAd.aspx?id=42

His asking price is well within reason for such a rare beast!

[dfhtrhjn]

cool kit! what kind of engine do you have/are putting in it?

[letterman7]

Right now it's engineless. I'm suspicious of the transaxle, too, but that's ok - I have spares. I haven't quite decided yet what I'm going to do with it, but I'm thinking Corvair just to be a little different. I'd like to do a Suby engine like 55Beetle did in the conversion threads, but the frontal area of the car (and space behind) doesn't allow for a radiator.

[didget69]

*cough-cough*... VR6 & Porsche 912/914 5-speed transaxle... *cough*... Boxster S triple radiator setup... and fly like an Eagle!

I haven't seen an Aquila since a car show in the Eighties - and of course, I saw it in magazines as well. Would it be possible to do a bit of creative fiberglass cosmetic work in the nose to allow radiators?

bnc

[letterman7]

*cough-cough*... VR6 & Porsche 912/914 5-speed transaxle... *cough*... Boxster S triple radiator setup... and fly like an Eagle!

bnc

Oh, anything's possible with the right size wallet. I'm still very much in the R&D stage seeing how things are put together on the car. For simplicity sake I'd rather keep it as close to "stock" as possible, since there are so few of these around parts are made of unobtanium. Don't want to start cutting on stuff I can't replace!

[Arthur@ArtsBugHouse]

Howdy,
I think Bond had one of these cars. As for the seats I'm thinking it will be a lot faster & easier to build your own seats. Looks like u have 3 levels to work with not counting the door jam. The idea thing would be to build the mounting frame to fit the floors & be able to use stock VW seats. Up to '67 T1 low-back seats r pretty narrow

[letterman7]

That's what I'm thinkin' Arthur (for the seats). I'd like to keep them adjustable, but having a separate seat section from the back section may work, if I can figure out the geometry to attach them together. Bond who? James Bond? Nah, never a kit car for him