Historic Car Brands
Ascort
The Ascort was a sports coupe manufactured by Continental Coachwork of Sydney, from 1958 to 1960.
Ascort at the 2008 South Australian Volkfest – Ferenghi
Designated as the Ascort-TSV-1300 GT, it utilised a mildly modified Volkswagen chassis fitted with a four-seat coupé body after the style of the Volkswagen Karmann Ghia coupé, although significantly different in appearance.
The fibreglass bodywork consisted of a prestressed double shell with a bonded-in light steel tubular frame and was mounted on a large rubber seal.
The 1.3-litre Volkswagen flat-four engine was modified using Okrasa and Porsche components to produce 54hp at 4300 rpm.
The vehicle’s total weight was 670kg – around a third less than that of a standard Volkswagen Beetle sedan.The Ascort had a top speed of 96mph and could accelerate from zero to 50mph in 12 seconds.
Fewer than 20 cars were built before production was terminated.
Although there were plans to offer the car with a 70hp, 1500cc engine, which would have given the car a top speed of well over 100 mph, this variant was never produced
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