Long-time SAOCA members will remember John Wheeler (aka afssanders) and the incredible hot rod SII he built. I always felt like John added something valuable to our group and decided to try to reach out to him a few days ago. Sadly, I discovered that he had passed away two years ago at the age of 49. Here is a link to his obituary: https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/twincities/obituary.aspx?n=john-william-wheeler&pid=189595433
What isn’t in his obituary, is John’s incredible Alpine adventure. John had a turbocharged 2.0L ZETEC engine he wanted to install in his SII. The engine was too wide to fit, so he made the car wider. He split it in half, then cut 6” (as I recall) out of the center of another SII and put them together.
John was a real craftsman who extensively documented his work on our site. Unfortunately, the site he used to host most of his photos is no longer active, so his posts are pretty uninspiring without the photos. (You can see all of John’s postings, minus most of the photos, here: http://forum.sunbeamalpine.org/index.php?search/3168400/) Here are some photos I found online, which give you an idea of what he did and where ended up:
I only knew John though his posts on our forum but feel like the classic car world is a poorer place without him and I would like to keep his memory alive, at least in our little corner of the internet. Besides the photos of his work, John also posted a series of instructional videos for us as he went. The videos were really a masterclass in bodywork and restoration but, like his photographs, are no longer available on the web. Fortunately, I had downloaded most of John’s videos as he went and still have 11 of them. With Greggers help, and as a tribute to John, six of them are once again available for SAOCA members to watch. We’re having some problems with the five remaining ones but will keep at it and post here if we find a way to make them available. I confess that I haven’t watched all of them again yet, but I intend to now. Please enjoy them and say a little ‘thanks’ to Jon for his contributions during his brief time with us.
What isn’t in his obituary, is John’s incredible Alpine adventure. John had a turbocharged 2.0L ZETEC engine he wanted to install in his SII. The engine was too wide to fit, so he made the car wider. He split it in half, then cut 6” (as I recall) out of the center of another SII and put them together.
John was a real craftsman who extensively documented his work on our site. Unfortunately, the site he used to host most of his photos is no longer active, so his posts are pretty uninspiring without the photos. (You can see all of John’s postings, minus most of the photos, here: http://forum.sunbeamalpine.org/index.php?search/3168400/) Here are some photos I found online, which give you an idea of what he did and where ended up:
I only knew John though his posts on our forum but feel like the classic car world is a poorer place without him and I would like to keep his memory alive, at least in our little corner of the internet. Besides the photos of his work, John also posted a series of instructional videos for us as he went. The videos were really a masterclass in bodywork and restoration but, like his photographs, are no longer available on the web. Fortunately, I had downloaded most of John’s videos as he went and still have 11 of them. With Greggers help, and as a tribute to John, six of them are once again available for SAOCA members to watch. We’re having some problems with the five remaining ones but will keep at it and post here if we find a way to make them available. I confess that I haven’t watched all of them again yet, but I intend to now. Please enjoy them and say a little ‘thanks’ to Jon for his contributions during his brief time with us.
