This Hustler is not an unsavory men’s magazine, nor is it Jackie Gleason playing a pool shark, nor a con artist, or even a hot Lotus Elan for that matter. The Hustler does look sexy like a Lotus Elan on steroids, and it moves right along as a sports car should, so this is no con job. The Hustler is a now scarce American-created sports car built by Ray Caldwell and his legendary race car company Autodynamics.
Today, vintage racer Bob Webber of Fairfield, Connecticut, own’s one of the few surviving Hustlers. Webber’s lemon-yellow Hustler has an interesting tale to tell.
At one time Autodynamics was the largest builders of race cars in the U.S. Sadly, today Autodynamics no longer exists except in vintage racing grids for Formula Vees and Formula Fords.
In 1963, the Sports Car Club of America had the bright idea that the ubiquitous and inexpensive pre-1963 Volkswagen Beetle would be a great basis for a low-cost, open-wheel racing class. Ray Caldwell was attracted. He designed and built his own Formula Vee. In 1964, he was named SCCA Rookie of the Year thanks to his success in this FVee. Based on interest from fellow racers in that same year, Caldwell set up shop in Marblehead, MA., to sell versions of his car.
Between 1964 and 1970 Autodynamics made its reputation building highly successful Formula Vees and Formula Fords. In all, Caldwell built more than 800 Formula Vees, mostly as kits, and more than 100 Formula Fords. In 1970, Skip Barber won the SCCA President’s Cup in an Autodynamics-built Caldwell Formula Ford.
Of course, the best-known driver associated with Autodynamics was a young Sam Posey. Fairly early in his storied career Posey linked up with Caldwell and Autodynamics as perhaps their best customer. Their partnership led to Posey racing in Can-Am with a unique Caldwell designed live axle racer (D-7) and then to the Trans-Am series with factory supported Dodge Challengers.
Over time Autodynamics developed an expertise in building fiberglass bodies, mainly for the formula cars but also manufacturing an East Coast dune buggy called the Deserter. Because of their proficiency in creating fiberglass bodies, Autodynamics was picked by Lotus to provide replacement Lotus Elan panels in the U.S.
With all these parts in place it is no surprise that Caldwell, with an investment from Posey, decided to build a kit sports car based on those Elan panels and the VW platform. The VW chassis was shortened to the Deserter’s 84-inch length. It was 5 inches wider than the Lotus Elan, so it took some work to mold a proper body from the original Elan panels, giving the Hustler that oversized Elan look. The Hustler was designed to use VW or Porsche engines but there was speculation it could take something bigger like a Corvair engine.
With guidance from Chief Engineer Del Trott and drawings by Posey, the first Hustler was constructed by the late Bill Woodward, aided by a young David Kaplan. They produced the first model while Kaplan developed the information needed to sell the Hustler as a kit car through the Autodynamics catalog. The Porsche 1600 Super engined prototype they built is the yellow car now owned by Bob Webber.
Unfortunately, with an active racing schedule Autodynamcs had little time to do a proper job of marketing the Hustler. In 1968, Posey told Car and Driver magazine, “You see the thing is that we’re all racers really…So my group 7 car gets priority and after that we have to keep production of the Formula Vee cars on schedule.” He also told the magazine, “So the Hustler suffered in consequence. We introduced (the Hustler) at the New York Show in 1967 and the reaction was tremendous, but it’s only now that we’ve hired a full-time marketing specialist to set up dealers and all that sort of thing.”
Posey did help with the marketing effort, posing for photos with the Hustler and an attractive stewardess who lived in an apartment complex near the Autodynamics shop.
Would the Hustler ever become more than a kit car? Ray Caldwell told Car and Driver, “Our plant here just isn’t designed as an assembly line. We’re building one all the time to make sure that no bugs creep into the kit car but it’s just not practical or economical for us to do more than that.”
The Deserter designer, Alex Dearborn points out that constructing a kit sports car is “way more difficult than building a kit dune buggy”. A road car needs a hood, rear deck, doors, windows, and a roof plus lots more hardware like door handles, a full dashboard and real seats. Unlike the relatively straight forward Deserter, the Hustler arrived in 25 pieces, and you still needed to buy an engine.
In its sales material, Autodynamics makes clear the Hustler is different from most kit cars of the times. The copy says, “…its uniqueness lies in its being at once a kit simple and complete for you to assemble yourself and a finished automobile, a fully engineered two-seater sports car ready for all weather and all roads.” There is also a warning, “Building a Hustler is not a one weekend job!” It cautions building the Hustler will take between 100 and 150 hours. According to the sales brochure, you could buy a completed car for $2600 or as kit for $1300. Of course, you had to supply the engine so it could be anything that fit from a VW to a Corvair engine…although there is no record of a Corvair-powered version. It claims, thanks to a wind tunnel test, to be an “aerodynamically stable” body; the Hustler could hit speeds of 150 mph with the optional spoiler. There is no indication of which engine could deliver this performance. Oh, you would also have to provide a Corvette windshield.
Ultimately, David Kaplan says some 43 Hustlers were produced before production ended in 1969. This number pales in comparison to the 1200 Deserter dune buggies built.
When Chrysler abruptly pulled out of Trans-Am racing in 1969, Autodynamics was in trouble and was forced into bankruptcy. At that point, any hope for the Hustler was long gone.
The prototype yellow Hustler found a home in Sharon, Connecticut, since it belonged to Posey, and so it was registered to Sam’s mother, but it served as a daily driver for his brother Nick. That is until Nick bought a Porsche 356 and went on to become a racing driver himself. The Hustler prototype was relegated to a barn on the family’s Sharon, Connecticut, property where it sat gathering dust and dirt for decades.
Enter Tullio Ferri, the man who saved this rare reminder of the nation’s largest race car manufacturer. Ferri is now semi-retired but still involved with his Ash Creek auto body and repair shop in Bridgeport, Connecticut. His passion is repairing air-cooled Volkswagen and Porsche engines, so he was a natural for saving this nearly forgotten piece of Autodynamics history. Some 10 years ago, he purchased the Hustler and pulled it out of the barn, put it on a trailer and took the vehicle to his shop. He cleaned up the Hustler and under the dust and muck found a rust-free chassis. Unfortunately, the Porsche engine was frozen and required a complete rebuild by Ferri, the perfect man for the job.
Ferri took the Hustler on a trip to Lime Rock Park and described the trip as truly scary compared to driving a more modern sports car. So, in 2019 he put the car up for sale in front of his shop. That’s where a friend of Webber’s saw the car and told him about it. Webber already races a 1964 Autodynamics Formula Vee with the Vintage Sport Car Club of America (VSCCA) so he has an affinity for the race cars from Marblehead.
Webber bought the Hustler and for the last two seasons he has driven his Hustler in the new Preservation class during the VSCCA Fall Finale at Lime Rock Park. This is a class designed to allow owners with rare and valuable cars like a pre-war BMW 328, 1940s era HRGs or a rare Hustler to experience their original, unrestored cars at speed. Passing is only allowed on the straights and fittingly, the main straight at Lime Rock Park is named in honor of the local favorite, Sam Posey. Webber says this is the perfect way to exercise his special Hustler. With a lightweight fiberglass body and a Porsche 1600 Super engine the Hustler can still Hustle.
