Ludwick's Garage Turns Dilapidated Junk Into Cool Cruisers

Blend the patina of a discarded 70-year old car with the coolest wheels you could imagine and proper modifications to scrape it on the ground, and you've got an idea of what John Ludwick's YouTube channel builds are all about. Some of the strangest and most rare machines on the planet are under the knife, including a whole bunch of stuff that most enthusiasts would have written off as too rusty to be worth saving. Don't let your dreams be dreams, just get out there and fabricate something to make it work. He's owned and built nearly 100 cars at this point, and has plenty more in the barrel. That's why you need to start watching, because it's guaranteed to be entertaining. 

A good friend introduced me to Ludwick's Garage last year and I've been obsessively following the channel's every new video since. There is something about the patina and wear mixed with pristine under-the-hood building that appeals to my inner dirtbag. I love cars with a bit of rust and worn out paint, they just don't make stuff that ages gracefully anymore. Ludwick sees it, I see it, and I hope you do, too. 

That's why we're taking it upon ourselves to highlight some of our favorite underrated builders in a series we're calling Wrenchers You Should Know. This series eschews the big-power high-dollar corporate-backed YouTube slop builds in favor of home-built DIYers. Ludwick is building serious machinery, and the Auto Union even had prime billing at SEMA last year, but he's doing it his way and making things nobody else can. This is less automotive enthusiasm and more artistic endeavor. Some of these solutions are so incredibly creative, I'm always blown away. Check it out! 

As mentioned before, this Auto Union 1000SP made its international debut at the SEMA show last fall. According to Ludwick, only about a dozen of these machines are accounted for in North America, and he found this one in rank shape in rural Ohio. So much of the car was completely unusable. This was a multi-year project, pulled out of a shop where it had been sitting for over thirty years. Parts basically don't exist, so this was always going to be a wild fabrication project, and it seems like nobody else could have done this. 

There's so much rust on this chassis, and it's missing so many components that this was pretty much a start-from-scratch build using little more than the bodywork for the finished result. In order to get it rolling and running, Ludwick chose to build a complete tube frame for the body to sit on, and mated that with a Volkswagen Beetle floorpan, suspension, and engine. Not only does this make the running gear incredibly simple and easy to operate, that suspension and chassis setup is already well proven when it comes to airing it out and dragging it on the ground. 

The front-wheel drive two-stroke engine was removed, which is probably for the better. There aren't many engines that would be less dynamic and engaging than the Volkswagen Type 1, but I'd guess that stock 1960 Auto Union drivetrain would have been quite a lot less fun. It went under the knife for quite a while, and the end result is pretty dang incredible. 

John Ludwick, Jr. didn't begin his Volkswagen pan rebody journey with the Auto Union, instead finding this wildly rusty BMW 700 Sport Coupe several years ago. In order to fit the car on a Volkswagen pan, the pan needed to be shortened by over a foot, which gives you an idea just how small a BMW 700 is. Strangely, the pan even needed to be narrowed pretty significantly in order to keep the wheels inside the stock BMW fenders. Ludwick won't allow any of his builds to be flared or have overfenders bolted on. 

These are the kinds of modern-day rat rods that you can build with a plasma cutter, a welder, and access to some good high-quality air suspension parts. Considering that the BMW 700 was powered by an aircooled flat twin slung out back behind the rear axle, making about 35 horsepower in 1960, the Volkswagen powerplant is probably a solid improvement for the car, and modern airbags, wider wheels, and fresh tires will definitely make it handle and go better than it would have when new. 

If you remember BMW 700s fondly as an enthusiast, you're probably recalling the motorsport-oriented 700RS model, which pushed the brand into racing after World War II. With aircooled twin power, these little beasts shared more in common with the company's motorcycles than any other cars on the road. The standard 700, however, was a slow and staid economy coupe. Considering how far gone this one was, I think it's fair to say that nothing important was lost in the building of this contraption.

You probably won't be surprised to learn that when this channel began as a weird car vlog back in 2018, Ludwick was already going off on weird car tangents, like a bagged Lada 2101, or a variety of airbagged watercooled Volkswagens and BMWs. But the car that started this obsession seems to have been a nicely patinated, chop-top, airbagged, floor pan dragging Chevrolet Corvair. 

This is another one of those long-standing projects that floats around in the background of Ludwick's other videos, but rarely gets a dedicated episode. It's so perfectly executed, and he's been wrenching on it for so long that it doesn't seem to need much these days. I, personally, want to see more of the Corvair. It's just so cool. And it has the license plate "UNSAFE" which makes it even cooler.

If you have suggestions for some lesser known builders on social media, please feel free to drop them in the comments section as well. I'm always on the lookout for folks out there doing cool stuff. It doesn't have to be just cars, either. While I'm well apprised of the car and motorcycles building scenes, I'd love to get deep into the nitty gritty of some more niche topics. Do you follow some cool folks building snowmobiles, jet skis, or DIY fighter jets or something? I want to know about it.

And yes, you're welcome to do some self promotion in the comments as well. Let everyone know where they can follow your build and what you're up to. If it's unique or good, we'll feature it on the blogs.