Is that one of those kit cars?

And....a whole lot of fabricating too, ask me why I know this to be so

Okay, Alan. I'll ask.

Why?

"fabricating?" Its definately not a Revelle plastic model kit. Lots of cutting/grinding to do but to do stock build (per instruction book) only normal home garage tools are needed (other than for the shortening of the chassis and the axel height adjuster - if used.)

Their original CMC advertising states "Forty Hours To Build" A less than truthful statement ..More than 50% of the old CMC kit's components needs to be upgraded to make the car safe and reliable. Rear body section has four pop rivets on either side that is suppose to secure the entire rear section. Yet to see a set of doors that fit corectly with out a lot of man hours making them close correctly and have a flush fit....the list goes on.

Then we have the new and improved...
"Drum Roll Please" ...........Street Beasts Speedster with their own special box frame. Same company with same henchmen at the helm ...usual shorted kit components that took this cars ( Al S.) owner many phone calls and letter or two to make then see the light and ship what is suppose to be in a speedster kit.

Nothing, absolutely nothing fits any of their jig fabricated mounts or predrilled holes. A donor VW Beetle pedal assembly should, bolt up to the chassis, I now have 4 plus hours in refabrication the pedal mounting point and pedal stops to make it function correctly. Axle beam didn;t fit the ir factory frame head mounting cups add another three hours die grinding to correct this fault. Bolting a steering damper from the axle beam mount to the tie rod should not have to include 1 1/2 hours of cutting, fabricating and rewelding the top section of a axle beam vertical support for clearance. ok I feel better now:)

MODERATOR COMMENTS
I split this topic from the original at
https://www.speedsterowners.com/forum/readmsg.asp?t=6947&c=7
-=theron
----

"one of those kit cars?" - None of the Fiberfab or CMC Sppedsters were factory built --- all were kits. So finish depends entirely on skill/time of the builder. They came with couple stages of being finished. The more complete stage had the doors hung and steel perimeter subframe installed. This was called the pre-assembly package. You still had to cut out for stop/turn lights, mount trunk/hood and door handles.

Alan,
I find your comments really interesting. I know you have considerable experience in building cars from different manufacturers. Can you list which speedster kits you have built?

I can spot which car is made by which manufacturer from a distance, but I have no knowledge of the build difficulties with each.
-=theron

I did most on an unfinished cmc kit. Everything seemed to fit well there. Never got to the rear section on that one. Last car was a fiberfab, alreadt=y assembled but had to fix the rear section thing. $100 and 4 or 5 hard hours fixed that. Current is a widebody FF. Looks to be profesionally built. So far it has mostly age issues.

i bought my cmc used(very used). it has a 1983 title, intermechanica
hinges blah blah blah. But I think it was "built" by the factory.
Wolfgang you said above none were but do you know this as fact.
my car has as id plate on the door jam saying (if memory serves)
"special custom speedster manufactured for customer #XXXX by cmc"
or something similar. i remember seeing these cars in airports
and other public areas so they had to be built at least for display
and sales. Also my title says the previous owner was the original owner with me second. It doesn't matter to me but i say your
no factory build info and was wondering. can anyone shed some light.

Other than numerous hours on the windshield mounting (and still not satisfied with it) no real fabricating req'd on my CMC. I do want to address the rivets before they cause a problem. Doors dont' fit Toyota perfect but as well as a '57 Chevy. Would not say parts supplied were safety concern. I just didn't like the Vintage gauges they valued at $325 or the $1.99 cassette radio they supplied --- all other parts were ok. Did spent hours sanding and polishing the cast alloy engine grill too. Building the car is hobby (supposedly stress relief --- save for the windshield!) Seems all have problems with the windshield. CMC instructions said drill holes where the dimples in the fiberglass are --- of course there were none so they faxed me a rough template (you can imagine how accurate that is!)

Who said "Never say Never?" Guess what I should have said was to my knowledge they never build complete cars for the consumer market and in at least 1986 and up literature (glossy advert catalog and price lists) complete assembly was not an offered option. If they could have constucted them in 40 hours as advertised and doubled their price they would have made millions more! I guess a delivered car with "item backordered" tags all over it would be a safety issue though. I too remember the airport displays and suspect they greatly influenced my eventual purchase. I especially like the following 2001 editorial on the "Sunny Slick" shenanigans.

http://www.cobracountry.com/editorials/predatorsANDeditors/home.html

Mine has both a fiberfab plate with # bla bla and the special VIN tag. Looking at it I would say it is factory or at least specialty built. Interestingly enough, it had a sticker in the trunk that said "quality assurance CMC".

Theron ,

I also emailed you directly...

CMC /Fiberfabs, one VS rear hit accident victim and the currect older IM bodied street rod version and currently reinventing the Street Beasts project, somewhere around sixteen or so to date.

Actually CMC did produce a "turnkey" vehicle in the speedster. I remember reading it and talking to one of the salesmen about it. I also currently own a prototype that CMC used to trial rotary engines in the 359 series. It was owned before me by a gentleman in Tamarac Florida who was linked to CMC before its demise and he received the car as a partial payment for services rendered. (or at least, thats his story)

Michael

The airport displayed Speedsters gave me the fever too. I recall looking at one at Dallas Love Field many times. Thanks for sharing the info guys.