Rare pics of the JaideCar "Meras" 914 and..., why I bought my conversion from them... Options

[neo914-6]

In the early 80's, the Archibald brothers - Jeff and Jim had lots of 914 ideas with their JaideCar company and a VW tranny business called Transform next door. They produced nice stuff like raised spindles and beefed up transaxles for VW sand rails. They wanted to market a modular car with a new body and V8 conversions. They only built two cars and several V8 kits. One of the cars was wrecked and the other is in storage of which Jeff would sell for $20k. He said that was a fraction of what they put into it. They ended these 914 projects and continued to make VW parts now sold through So Cal Imports. The major difference with them and Renegade or Simpson at the time was they had a cast aluminum bellhousing and a Chevy ring gear that allowed use of a stock Chevy starter. (No KEP adapters) Most conversions used a high torque Porsche starter. They also mounted a GM big block water pump to the side but later changed to the typical impeller type. One of the ideas they prototyped was dual rabbit radiators in the engine compartment to eliminate front trunk modifications. They couldn't make that design work so they used a laid down Camaro radiator in the front trunk that exhausted through the bottom. This allowed for a spare tire and retained some luggage space. Some have made that design work but I couldn't. Another unique product they designed for high horsepower engines was a shortened 915 tranny with a patented internally and externally splined intermediate shaft housed in a 3.75" cast housing to use a Chevy clutch.

[neo914-6]

The car was very well made and the design was unique for it's time. Apparently they exhausted the air up the hood on their car. I'm not sure if the headlights raised in the front or lowered at the back. You can see the rounded CanAm type windshield which is expensive to tool. Yes, I asked Jeff what happened to them and he said the tooling was destroyed. Everything on the car has been redesigned except for the side glass and targa top. They didn't appear to do much with the interior either.