One of one, this Porsche-powered classic tells the story of a burgeoning kit car industry in post-war California
July 2, 2023 at 06:17
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The classic kit car renaissance continues, and this Porsche-VW LaDawri Special tells a fascinating story of North America’s fiberglass sports car industry. Long thought lost to time, the one-off is now being offered for sale in the UK.
The car is a brand mishmash in more senses than one, and is a fascinating product of its time. First and foremost, there are the underpinnings, which combine a Volkswagen Beetle pan with the running gear from a Porsche 356, which lends it a certain amount of provenance.
The stamping on the engine case suggests that the engine came out of a Porsche 356 1600 S model, meaning that it was good for 74 hp (55 kW/75 PS) from the factory. Although the engine is connected to a VW transmission, the brakes, suspension and the 15-inch wheels are from Porsche, meaning that this should be a handy little car to drive.
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Meanwhile, the rather handsome body comes from a company called LaDawri, which has the honor of having produced Canada’s first-ever fiberglass-bodied car, per Silodrome. The company’s name comes from the names of its founders Leslie Albert Dawes (who provided the LADA) and his associate Don Wright (who provided the Wri).
The company was founded in British Columbia, Canada, in 1956, but by 1957, it had moved south to California. At the time, the state was at the heart of the fiberglass kit car boom, and LaDawri eventually became the company that offered the widest variety of bodies in the industry.
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In 1961, the company bought the molds and rights to vehicles produced by Victress after the company’s other commitments (namely, contracting for the government and making the rings for the 1960 Olympics) meant that it couldn’t produce kit cars anymore.
As part of the sale, LaDawri got the rights to the C2, to which this example is extremely closely connected. However, as the only example ever built and sold by the formerly Canadian company, it has a charm all its own.
Although it is not known precisely when the LaDawri Special was built, it was likely some time between 1961 and 1965, when the company folded. A victim of the growing market for affordable factory sports cars, the car is a relic of a time when smaller companies were chopping up cars and putting their own bodies on them for America’s young drivers.
Now that these cars have become classics, and that time has led many to disappear altogether, they’re becoming collector’s items in their own right. In fact, this car is being sold by the owner of one of England’s premier car collections.
Offered for sale on Collecting Cars, the LaDawri special has just 469 miles (755 km) on the odometer, and is in reasonably good aesthetic condition. Unfortunately, the seller says that it will have to be recommissioned by the new buyer, and that means dealing with Porsche specialists, which is unlikely to be cheap. However, if you’re feeling brave, and want something totally unique, the auction ends on Tuesday, July 4.
