Just so I understand, you still don't have your car but others that contracted after you are having cars delivered? If so can I ask what their excuse or explanation is?
Amazingly the coupe I know of was contracted at the exact same time and now finished. Mine is beginning to come along. I have no idea on any timing on other peoples contracts. No gossip at this point.
The completed car I saw was very nice. ...TBC.
Is it a serial shop? Meaning that they essentially do one at a time because of limited resources?
I seem to remember that at one time it was just Steele and maybe one or two others - that would limit throughput.
Yes small employee count.
My experience with JPS was about 5 years ago. At that time there were 5 or 6 employees including the owner. Also at that time, if I remember correctly, the owner experienced some health and personal problems. It may be the owner's problems have passed and the focus is back on car building.
The build process was very annoying, and being generous, JPS was less than standup during the build. In short, I would not do business again with, or recommend them to anyone.
Here's the sad part, JPS does a pretty good job building cars. Mine is now 5 years old and I've enjoyed it. Keeping in mind the price point, I feel the car was worth the money, excluding the unnecessary lack of truthfulness and some minor tweaking.
Perhaps my expectations were too high, but I do my damndest to ensure people who do stuff for me get paid promptly and I expect to get what I pay for when promised. Obviously, stuff happens, so if parts don't come in, people get sick, delays happen and the person paying for the build deserves the truth. I always remember those who respect and disrespect my time.
I would not get into any dealings with JPS that ship has sailed. However, if any SOCer has a chance to buy an already built JPS car, enlist help from one of our SOC heavyweights to check the car out, it may be a good bet. I like mine.
As I mentioned in another thread, I ordered a JPS Speedster through Patrick. It’s due in May. I’ve had several pics sent to me along the way like he said he would do. I had a chance to meet with a newly delivered owner and was nice enough to let me drive her car. Nice build. Shifter a bit sloppy for my taste but my trans will be a bit different with shorter shift. ( I knew going in it wasn’t going to shift like my 11 Year old 997! I had lots of questions and Patrick always responds in a timely manner. Good experience so far. I opted for the 2332 motor can’t wait to bring her home.
You can have perfect shifting by having a CSP shifter sent directly to your builder to install in your car. Can't praise it enough plus you don't have to push down on the stick to get reverse. CSP makes great stuff--I believe it's all made in Germany. I know you are excited about getting your new Speedster---good luck with it!
Thank you !
@9971 happy to see everything is working out for you. Could you share some of the photos from your build. I’m sure I’m not in the minority here by saying how much this group loves build photos. I look forward to seeing @arajani, @edsnova, @aircooled’s builds along with the new 356 coupe being developed by special edition (to name a few).
Sure.. at the moment only have initial pic of painted body and door panels / seats. He sent a pic of front of tub with top on. Car should arrive in San Marcos end of April. I’ll head down and take lots of pics believe me lmao. I live 30 mins from the shop.
Ha. I have similar pictures sent to me of a pretty painted roller etc. I wonder what color it is today and who is driving it?
After breaching contract we adhered to faithfully well over a year ago, Steele refuses to refund money or deliver car. Lots of interesting stuff has come to light. Some will listen and some will not. All I can say is John Steele and JPS is red hot right now.
Just sayin'
Sorry you’ve had bad experience. I’ve been dealing with Patrick not John. Looking forward to my build. Nothing in my experience so far makes me concerned..at all. Look forward to sharing pics of my 2332.
Good to hear. My 2332 is a killer. I think you will find it plenty fast/dependable enough. Patrick is not John Steele. Speedsters are not Coupes. Only issue Patrick has is selecting good partners. Ha.
You are dealing with a different car, a different builder, and you are in California. Big difference. All the best to you.
Thank you. Good to hear your 2333 is what you’ve expected it to be. I knew it would be quick but concerned at the expense of reliability/durability. Sounds like you’re a happy dude w it.
I attribute the 2332 reliability aspect to a mild cam and 8:1 compression along with adequate cooling and oil. At 10:1 it would likely do wheelies. It is the largest displacement etc I would consider for street use. Couple that with good suspension and rubber, a well modified tranny, proper fuel system, and careful setup (timing jetting etc) and you should have a killer rig. Only thing I could improve upon now is a smoother shifter and I'm working on that. Otherwise I have been a happy camper for better than a year now. And it's not hard on the eyes either. I think you will be happy. Just stay clear of Ol John Boy. You don't want to get any of that on you. Not one of mankind's greatest accomplishment.
4Banger posted:Just stay clear of Ol John Boy. You don't want to get any of that on you. Not one of mankind's greatest accomplishment.
That's our John!
John [jän]
Websters:
Haaa. Breath. Choke. More Haaa. Wipe tears. Repeat. The Doctor is in. Thanks for making my day.
As usual, Stan & Alan are on point!
Speedsters are going out the door, quickly. Coupes are not.
Patrick builds Speedsters. John builds coupes. See the correlation?
Just looking at the coupes recently and although I don’t regret my upcoming speedster build by any stretch.. I would imagine less looky loos with a coupe. 356s look good in any guise. Although I’ve never been a “look at me “ dude, I know speedy will get more attention than I want. Part of the deal I suppose lmao
That is like telling a beautiful lady she won't be noticed 
Come to think of it sometimes it will feel like there are flies all over.
Patience is a virtue. My coupe is built and I will take delivery soon.
I spread good karma.
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Successful delivery from vendors are always welcome and for sure nice to spread good karma to those still waiting @MaxMartens👍🤙👀 nice car and enjoy the many years of fun.
@4Banger, @9971- would either of you care to share engine specs- specifically, what cam/rocker combo and heads/compression ratio your engines are/will be?
4Banger- I'd love to see some shots of your car, and my apologies if you already have, but have you posted any pics? My mind is drawing a blank here. Al
@MaxMartens- please post pics when you take possession! Any details on how your car is being outfitted?
@MaxMartens Very nice looking coupe....be sure to go completely through every part of the build and let us know your thoughts once you have had some seat time.
Al. I don't think 4Banger is very happy with John. As I recall, he had pretty much given up on ever getting a car from him and was more focus on getting his money back.
MaxMartens: If not already on your front burner, get solid commitments for the documents needed to register and show ownership of your car.
Car looks sweet. As you already know, not wise to exhale until that piece of art is in your garage and you have paperwork showing you own it.
Also, and this is important from what we’ve seen in the past on other builds from him, do an inspection of the car based on this checklist:
https://www.speedsterowners.co...acceptance-checklist
Always best to check the car out before it leaves his shop so you can get sub-par stuff fixed before it ships, but if you already have it then this list will give you a really good idea of what’s up to snuff and what needs attention. Pay particular attention to safety-related items for obvious reasons but it’s a pretty thorough list from what we’ve seen on other people’s cars.
Wish you the best of luck and many happy miles with your new car!
Gordon
I'll say more upon receipt of car. And thanks gents... She's a looker and outlaw all the way.
I love the color and the blackout handles, rims, and other moldings. Too bad he couldn't have done the front window molding in black as well. A clear front turn signal would look nice too. The car has a Rod Emory-ish sort of look to it. Very nice.
Funny background story - When he showed up at Carlisle with his first coupe, years ago, he had not yet figured out how to source the bright metal molding for the windshield frame (or any of the windows, really) and just left the black rubber molding naked.
The general consensus at the show was that it didn't look very good and we all said so (it's always fun to get Steele agitated, and it happens so easily - Merklin is pretty good at it, mostly by asking simple questions).
He went off in a huff, but a couple of cars later the bright molding started showing up. If you don't like it, it just has a tab that fits into a slot in the rubber and is easily removed.
As another aside, that coupe looks a lot like Tom Marantz's JPS Suby-Coupe, which I was fortunate enough to ride around in at Carlisle for three days a couple of years back. IIRC, Tom has a Non-turbo EFI Suby 2.5 with the Suby 5-speed and the Aussie flipped ring and pinion. It is very, very quick and although I spent all my time in the passenger seat (I don't ask a lot of other people to let me drive their cars) I did notice that the torque curve came on seemingly right off idle and was strong up past 5 Grand (we got on it a couple of times getting onto the interstates - WOW!). Very impressive.
Also impressive was the level of workmanship. WAY better than Tom DeWalt's early coupe (which was, by all accounts, pretty much a disaster) with a high level of fit and finish inside and out. Tom said he had a few minor things to sort out after delivery, but they were Meh. My single complaint was that it was pretty loud (like needing earplugs loud) but that's what the owner asked for and he was happy with it. That's also easy to change over time, so no big deal.
Tom's build was in the middle of Steele's last(?) health crisis (Heart Attack) so that delayed everything for a while, but Tom, being a Cardiologist, understood what was happening and gave him the slack he needed to recover. I suspect that it has been difficult for him coming out on this side of the heart issues which might explain some of the changes we've heard of, but I simply don't know. I'm just happy that he is fulfilling his contracts to deliver some coupes to happy new owners. Hell, I ended up in hospital with stress burn-out for a while once, so who am I to comment? I just admire that he's back building cars.
Gordon is right about a bunch of stuff, my Rancho transaxle is one example. I hope he's right about this. Having recently had some health problems myself, it hit me upside my head with the realization that any day may be the last day.
Hopefully, those health problems are under control and JPS is moving forward with positive changes.
Gordon Nichols posted:Funny background story - When he showed up at Carlisle with his first coupe, years ago, he had not yet figured out how to source the bright metal molding for the windshield frame (or any of the windows, really) and just left the black rubber molding naked.
The general consensus at the show was that it didn't look very good and we all said so (it's always fun to get Steele agitated, and it happens so easily - Merklin is pretty good at it, mostly by asking simple questions).
He went off in a huff, but a couple of cars later the bright molding started showing up. If you don't like it, it just has a tab that fits into a slot in the rubber and is easily removed.
Where do you get the bright metal moulding and window rubber for a coupe, besides Stoddard and others so priced?
I don’t know. You’d have to ask Steele.
But remember that there is a big difference between a metal car and a fiberglass car in thickness of material where the rubber gasket is fitted to the body, so an original 356 window rubber probably won’t fit, I don’t know.
That is among the many reasons that building replica coupes means sourcing a lot of esoteric parts, like glass rubber and trim and those pesky little latches on the rear quarter windows. It takes time to find cost effective parts or get them tooled and built custom. “Stoddards” may not be the answer.
My car will have black trim window rubber. So we're good there. More to come.
Got mine delivered a few months ago .. 2332 with pro street trans and shotgun A-1 Exhaust. If anyone interested yeah I’ll post pics it’s a good build I had a good experience w Patrick and John. Blast to drive.
There’s only one problem... I made the mistake of driving the new 992. It’s amazing. Speedster and 997 will go to make room. Love my JPS speedster good quality build.
Gordon Nichols posted:I don’t know. You’d have to ask Steele.
But remember that there is a big difference between a metal car and a fiberglass car in thickness of material where the rubber gasket is fitted to the body, so an original 356 window rubber probably won’t fit, I don’t know.
That is among the many reasons that building replica coupes means sourcing a lot of esoteric parts, like glass rubber and trim and those pesky little latches on the rear quarter windows. It takes time to find cost effective parts or get them tooled and built custom. “Stoddards” may not be the answer.
I imagine that's why Special Edition is going with glue-in glass on the Beck Coupe. On an outlaw like mine it should look perfectly acceptable. I'll have to see on a stock-looking car. The prototype had thick black paint on the back side of the glass where the glue was, but production models will have a less noticeable line.
9971 posted:Got mine delivered a few months ago .. 2332 with pro street trans and shotgun A-1 Exhaust. If anyone interested yeah I’ll post pics it’s a good build I had a good experience w Patrick and John. Blast to drive.
There’s only one problem... I made the mistake of driving the new 992. It’s amazing. Speedster and 997 will go to make room. Love my JPS speedster good quality build.
Looks like that decision has been made! Keep the Speedie in a "Mama don't know" storage space ...