Autodynamics Deserter GS/GT

Are Jim Pettengill and me the only ones who remember the Deserter GS/GT kits originating in the late 60s? The cars were designed by Alex Dearborn and produced by Autodynamics in Marblehead, MA. The GT was a VW-based kit like the Meyers Manx. The GS was a tube frame mid-engined version sort of like a 2-person Formula Vee (i.e., the Autodynamics connection). Here's an interesting history of one particular GS:

Deserter GS

Video

There's a Deserter Owner's Club somewhere out there, and original designer Alex Dearborn has a web site where he talks about them.

Alex Dearborn's Site

I had a brief involvement with Deserters back in the mid-70s when I bought the molds and other tooling from Formula Automotive (successor to Autodynamics) and sold parts as a hobby. But I sold everything off to a guy in Ohio in the 80s. Interesting thing I found when I was going through all the documentation was a blueprint for the Z-Bar drawn by none-other-than Reeves Callaway when he was a kid moonlighting for Ray Caldwell at Autodynamics in the late 60s. I remember calling him once to ask what material to use (AISI 1144 Modified steel bar stock called "StressProof" from Niagara LaSalle Steel Products). That was long before his supercharger kits and Callaway Corvettes. I also remember meeting with Alex Dearborn in his first Mercedes resto shop on Pond Street in Marblehead to ask if I could use the Deserter name, which he owned and still does. After I sold everything in the 80s I don't know what happened to the molds and tooling. But a few years ago I heard that Reeves Callaway still has a GS and is seen blasting around Laguna Beach or at Cars Coffee Irvine with it occasionally. And Alex Dearborn built up a nice Deserter GT a few years ago from an NOS kit from a former Autodynamics dealer in NJ. I saw that car at Lime Rock a couple years ago at the Autodynamics reunion.

Wow, great info. I only discovered these a few years back, didn't realize the difference between the GS and GT. At the time, the idea that a kit car had been built for and marketed to auto crossers struck me as being so different than today.

I'd love to find a GS tucked away in a garage someday...

What I'd really like to see is a story on the Autodynamics Hustler (if I'm remembering the name right), which was a kit car that looked a lot like a Lotus Elan. Anybody remember those? Ray Caldwell's outfit did a lot of interesting things, from the FVs (both Autodynamics and Caldwells), to Formula fords, to a DeDion-suspended CanAm car for Sam Posey, to the kits, to the Challenger TransAm car. The Callaway connection is cool, too - gives me a way to talk cars with my friends who are golfers and use Callaway clubs and have no idea about Reeves' motorsport background, or his Corvette business.

Jim, I remember the Hustler. Very nice kit car, although they didn't sell too many. It was based on a VW pan shortened to an 84" wheelbase (as the Deserter GT was). All the dune buggies of that era were on VW pans shortened to an 80" wheelbase. The extra 4" did wonders for road handling. What I was told is that Autodynamics did that to replicate the 84" wheelbase of the Porsche Speedster. When I was negotiating to purchase the Deserter molds and tooling I met a guy named David Kaplan. David had been retained by Formula Automotive to sell off some of the old Autodynamics stuff. David had been with Autodynamics during the glory days and had seen it all, and had some great stories as a result. His story concerning the Hustler was that they had a demo car, maybe the prototype, with a very hot VW engine. The whole crew including Ray Caldwell and Sam Posey were in Marblehead for a meeting and were preparing to do some testing at Lime Rock, 150 miles or so away. I don't recall if it was the Caldwell D7 they were testing but that would have been around the right time. Anyway, the story is that Ray Caldwell was going to fly in a small Cessna or something from the nearby Beverly, MA airport. Sam Posey and David were going to drive the Hustler on the Mass Pike across the entire state, and then south on Route 7 down to Lime Rock). They made a race of it and left 2 Barnard Way in Marblehead at the same time. The Hustler with Sam driving beat the airplane.

Forum member Woody posted this back in 2009:

Woody's thread

Hi there, I'm a little late to this post. But I own a 69 Deserter GS which I brought to the Autodynamics Reunion.

I have a page where you can see the car at http://loumash.com/

Thanks for the photo - gorgeous!

Yes, I'll second that. Beautifully done early body style Deserter GS!

In one of the photo streams on your site you show a picture of the trailing arms after blasting and you commented on the nice welds. It's actually a high temp/ high strength brazing process using a torch and nickel chromium rod, and that was a signature feature of all Autodynamics Formula Vees as well as the Deserter GS frames they built. Bruno Milani was their "welder extraordinaire" and was a master of that brazing process. Even though TIG welding was an option in those days, the contemporary 60s era thinking was that the joints would become dangerously brittle with age, hence the high strength brazing, which didn't melt the tubing. Joints had to be perfectly prepared for brazing, however, with no excessive gaps (and they were perfect).

Gary, I love to hear more from you, see - www.deserterownersgroup.org - and the History Page, I'm a little weak on information during your ownership.

Bob Elliott www.deserterownersgroup.org bimelliott(email at)comcast.net

http://bimelliott.shutterfly.com/654