The X---- Porsche cars

[356]

Thoughts about this one Gerard?
~Vance

[Trevor]

The answer is in the pic. D&S Coupe.

[Porschinelle]

[Porschinelle]

Sorry I post too fast
D and S cars deserve their own story so promise I will write their story quickly
Before that some pics








Although that originally all the D and S cars were fitted with straight forward mere 25 HP VW engines (

I found pic of one off the 20 surviving cars who had been fitted with a Porsche 65 HP engine

[Porschinelle]

The straight forward VW engine pic who did not post above

[Porschinelle]

My sailing campaign is now over until end of next January and I have now some available time to write for you the story of a great German Porsche pilot (and only Porsche as he never raced for another make) who will eternely be remembered not only for his numerous victories with firstly 356 Carrera's (I think he owe 3 off) and then Abarth Carrera GTL (he also owe 3 off the 20 built cars : 1002/1006 and 1020)but also as the guy who was the first to enter a 1950 VW split powered by a Porsche engine into the 1954 Mille Miglia race
His name : Paul Ernst Strahle
Paul Ernst Strahle was born September 20th 1927 in the small town of Schondorf close to Stuttgart (how surprising he became a Porsche pilot)
He was the son of Paul Strahle who after mechanical studies became one of the most famous German plane pilot during the First World War
After the end of the war Paul Strahle bought ex-German army planes and settled one of the first Aviation Company specialized not only in passengers transport but also in pictures from the sky

[Porschinelle]

Paul Strahle aircraft company survive until the arrival of the nazis at the German government ie around 1936/37
Paul Strahle then created an automobile business in his Schondorf city
His son Paul Ernst (born in 1927) completed college and then move to mechanic studies working part time in his father garage and to the university (very common pratic in Germany Jurgen Barth son of the famous Porsche pilot Edgar Barth, did the same after the 2nd WW alterning work in the Porsche plant and University to finish head of the Porsche racing dept)
Paul Ernst was 13 in 1940 and 18th in 1945 at the end of 2nd WW
His biography did not tell if he had to join the Nazi army as did many of the young German boys at the end of the war (Adults were on the Russian front, yougsters and old guys were in France mainly on the Normandy coast facing England, where the US debarqment took place)
Anyway Paul Ernst grew in an automobile environment and very quickly thought to built his own racing car
When you are a young guy in Germany after the 2nd WW, willing to start a race career and with not so much money allowing you to buy Italian or English sport cars you build your own racing car starting from a VW Beetle
If you had read all the stories in this topic you certainly remember that many as Merkel, Sauter, Glockler, Denzel, Beutler etc only kept the VW beetle chassis and fitted it with an home made body
Paul Ernst stayed at a lower level and starting from 1951, to enter in local German rallyes a straight forward VW 1950 split beetle of course with many mechanical improvements as we will see thereafter
He called his car DAPFPERLE that we may translate in English as BRAVE

[Porschinelle]

Now a small disgression to explain how I had the idea of this chapter
All these past months I collect many many documents on Paul Ernst Strahle with no idea of what I will do of them
I did start that only because Paul Ernst Strahle and Robert Buchet were great friends and that I had the idea to write something on them
They won together many races including the 1959 Liege Rome Liege

and Robert Buchet bought his Abarth Carrera GTL 1002 and 1006 from Paul Ernst Strahle but recently a pic posted by Vance in the Carrera topic

give me the idea of writing first the story of Dapfperle
The above pic represent the last Paul Ernst Stahle 356 Carrera.
He gave that car to the Stuttgart Porsche museum long before he died in 2010 and frequently he was asked by Porsche to drive this ca

[Porschinelle]

Sorry wrong manoeuver again and post before I finish
I was saying that frequently Porsche museum aske Paul Ernst to drive his 356 Carrera in historical races mainly in Germany such as the Solitude Revival, or the Nurburgring Revival, or the Einstahl Classic
As don't know at which one this pic was taken but if you look behind the Carrera you may see a mustard green beetle with a white start number 347
This VW is a replica of Dapfperle who is displayed in many events such as Hessich Oldendorp and Bad Camberg etc

[Henk Vasmel]

This number is a reference to its finest hour(s). It was entered in the Mille Miglia 1954 and finished 43rd. Originally entered in the TSS1.3 class with start number 007, it was moved into the S1.5 class which started a few hours later. Co-driver was originally a certain Mr. Wird, later replaced by Victor Spingler for the race.

[Porschinelle]

Hi Henk

All you say is right but you have revealed the end of the story before I started it
Nevermind I will go back to early 1951
Paul Ernst Strahle bought an early "de Luxe" 1950 VW beetle in order to convert it in a race car
The front boot is replaced by a pre 49 boot with a L handle allowing to open the boot from the exterior to have access to the spare wheel and the fuel tank
Additionnal aircoling for the drum brakes
Beam grills to prevent stone breakage
No more back seat and carpet to decrease the weight
2 off hood handles are bolted on each side of the engine cooling grill as very often done in these years on rallye VW beetle in order to allow the co-pilot to get off the car to stand on the back of the car (feet on the bumper, hands in the handle) in order to increase the weight on the drive train in muddy conditions
Power of the 1200 VW engine increased from 25 BHP to around 40 BHP by a special camshaft and 2 carburators
This car will remain unchanged from 1951 to end 1953
During these 3 years, the only Porsche parts are the Sudrad 4.5 x 16 wheels
Paul Ernst Sytrahle enter this car in numerous local rallyes, hill climb races, grass and sand races etc
The only pics I found were taken during the 1952 and 1953 Ostereich Alpenfahrt rallye
Dapferle seen below at the rallye start with race number 25



Aand during the race

[Porschinelle]

Sorry I made a mistake
Indeed above Dapferle pics were taken during the 1953 Ostereich Alpenfahrt

The other pic I found of the original Dapferle is the one below taken in 1952 during a local rallye in Schondorf (the city where Paul Ernst was born and live) called Schondorfalpenfahrt

[Porschinelle]

To be complete Paul Ernst biography state that Paul Ernst Strahle won the Adria Alpen rallye (in the old Yugoslavia Alps I think Estonia to day) twice
A first time in 1953 with Dapferle
A second time in 1956 with a 356 Carrera
I found no pics of this victory in 1953
If somebody has one please post it

No back to Dapferle
It is only by end 1953/early 1954 that Paul Ernst Strahle decide to improve drastically the performances of his car by introducing several Porsche components in order to enter the May 1954 Mille Miglia race.
Origial VW brakes replaced by Porsche Pre A brakes with aluminium drums
Sudrad Porsche 4.5 x 16 wheels kept 5.00 x 16 tyres
Due to a rallye crash, the 2 original 1950 wings had been replaced by 1953 Oval wings
2 off long distance beams were fitted on the front bumper to replace the 2 off "klaxson" horns vraisembly distroy during the crash
Major change :
The original "prepared" 1200 cc VW engine replaced by a 1300 cc Porsche Pre A
engine delivering 65 HP

To improve cooling the original engine lid replaced by a VW Cab one and as you may see on the above pic the back bumper was taken off to allow more room to fit the Porsche engine

[Porschinelle]

Originaly Dapferle got the start number 007
When Paul Ersnt Strahle arrived in Brescia he was told that other competitors did not agree that his car was accepted as a "series" car has it had had too much modifications
Luckily Alfred Neubauer the head of Mercedes racing

was there too in order to prepare the 1955 race for Mercedes
Indeed he did a good job as the 1955 Mille Miglia were won by a 300 SL gullwing driven by Moss/Jenkinson the first time since 1940 that the MM had not been won by an Italian car

He had the idea to ask the race director to accept Paul Ernst beetle in the 1.5 Liter sport class what he accepted
Consequently the race number was changed from 007 to 347

[Porschinelle]

On this pic taken before the race start, it is clearly visible that the 3 and 4 numbers are not at the same height than the seven
Original race number 007 had already been painted
Strahle had to wash it to paint the final number 347 and to do it quickly kept the 7 wash off the double 0 and paint back the 3 and 4