O.K, John finally got my coupe ready for me to test drive. Keep in mind that I don't have any experience driving an air cooled engine car with the exception driving John's own speedster when I tried to decide if I want to go ahead with the project. So some of the comments that I made is based on that background
Exterior : The paint is very nice, however, the car was dusty and I was told that the final polishing still needs to be done once the car is finished. The car is not a 21 century perfect, however, I think that is part of the charm. Currently some of the details are still not put on the car
Interior : the headliner is very nice, no wrinkles, the window trim nicely put, not much worse than my 1994 Acura (I did not check if it is easily come off or not), there is still some glue residue on some places which I hope he is going to clean it before the final delivery. Seats are nice, however, the tilt might need to be adjusted a bit as I feel a need for a bit more lower back support. He still need to put a good back seat and seat belt. The glove compartment door still need to be put on, but that is minor. The electric window button operates the opposite sides, again minor corrections. The turn signal is not an auto cancel type which I need to get used to
Driving : wow... the engine is noisy compared to any water cooled engine, but with a 2332 engine, it pulls very nice. The tranny noise is quite loud when you coast from 60 mph, otherwise the tranny noise blends in with the engine & carb sounds. I put a few miles combination of local street and freeway driving. It track straight, it brakes straight, but a little spongy which John said should get a bit better once the brakes seats in. The manual transmission is a bit notchy, again compare to an Acura shifting, it is much sloppier, but once I got used to the movements, it was fine, and I believe it will loosen up a bit with mileage. The air conditioning is nice and cold, I can hardly tell the difference in acceleration with the A/C on or not, but again, I took it gently since the engine is still breaking in. When the engine idles, it reminds me of a Harley Davidson. Although I don't own one, I have seen how it shakes when it idles. When I got back after putting about 25-30 miles with some driving on the freeway up to 70 mph, there were little oil on the tin plates which John attributed to new engine. However, John still needs to sort out what is banging at the back when I go through a dip a bit fast
Overall : This is a fun car, well build, definitely not a refined 21st century car, but it has a lots of "characters". Certainly it is a car that I need to get used to. I am looking forward to get the car finished, however, I emphasize to John numerous times to take his time to get the job done well and not to do it in a hurry. I guess we'll see
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