Period Perfect – ’56 Oval Gasser

It'll come as no surprise to anyone with more than a passing interest in vintage VW racecars to hear that this car was saved from a lifetime of ignominy by Russell ‘Gasser Garage' Ritchie, arch collector and purveyor of original VW Gassers. Here he explains how this particular car came to be part of his impressive collection: "I bought this car off American eBay in 2007, after the liquidators had been called in to sell off Bill Krutz's estate." Krutz ran a garage and recovery business in Charleroi, Pennsylvania but, after returning from the Vietnam War, suffered from the devastating effects of Agent Orange, the chemical weapon used by the United States in its war on the South East Asian nation. When he became too ill to run his business any more, the US government stepped in and put his assets up for sale. Among them was a 1956 Volkswagen racecar. "It was one of the most original racecars I had ever come across," continues Russell. "Because it was an East Coast car it wasn't a well known car but it was a genuine one-owner car and had never had anything done to it since it was last raced."
Originally raced in both M/Gas and the more popular I/Gas class (11lb and up per cubic inch), had Der Express been a West Coast car it would almost certainly have raced against more well known cars such as Inch Pincher and Tar Babe, and undoubtedly would have received more recognition in magazines of the day such as Hot Rod, Popular Hot Rodding and Dune Buggies and Hot VWs that covered the heyday of VW drag racing in the early to mid-'70s. Though it was extensively lightened to make it competitive, Bill Krutz, who both built it and drove it, chose to retain a full weight steel bodyshell and floorpan, a steel VW front beam and didn't chop it. "When I got the car it was just as it last raced," explained Russell, "right down to the original beam, which had just been hacksawed through either side of the top pinch bolt, turned by half an inch and put back in. You could see how much the beam flexed just by looking at it."

For the full story on this car make sure you pick up a copy of the August  2010 issue of VolksWorld

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