I heard that Beck Special Edition, Inc. is making a mid engine 356 Coupe. It's in the works and a Speedster is down the road a year and a half or so. All you guys that are thinking about SAS deposits, put you money back in you pocket. This is exciting, can't wait to see a Beck design.
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Who told you this?
I may have missed it but I've not seen any info on the website. I hope it's true!
Are there still people sending SAS money? How do we stop this??
As for a mid-engine Speedster, why not? Could be done, obviously, but I kinda like the back seat for storage. The cold beer is never more than an arm's reach.
Frazoo, that's what the right seat is for...
Mid engine coupe has always been on my wish list!
Right seat is for side-kick -- need somebody to open the beer, dontcha know?? Engine hanging out the back is OK by me, although I do appreciate the handling bonus that comes with mid-engine schemes, lower polar moment of inertia, and all of that.
Al W posted:... All you guys that are thinking about SAS deposits, put you money back in you pocket...
I don't think you have to worry about anyone here, Al...
Art, the chassis mentioned by Lane in that link was form when we did a BMW Mini Coopered powered Speedster with a transverse gearbox and DeDion rear suspension. It was a "fun" project, but wasn't something we wanted to pursue so it was scrapped.
So... I guess the cat is out of the bag.
I came back from lunch to a 1/2 dozen mid-engine coupe interest e-mails and one from a forum member that said "it wasn't me" LOL. That "unnamed forum member" will be taking delivery of the first production car. The initial plan was Carlisle this year, but we'll be lucky to have the tested prototype there... I have a LONG list of interested parties and, literally, 10-12 that have tried to give me a deposit to secure a position. We will NOT be taking ANY deposits until the prototype is finished, tested,and the production tooling has my final approval. My hope is that we'll be ready to officially launch by Fall.
Anyway, this has been a project we've been playing with, in various forms, for the past 3-4 years. It wasn't until this past Fall that I was able to put Chuck on it full time.
The final prototype car is on it's wheels and Chuck and my father are doing final fitment of all the glass this week. Read testing should start very soon. There are still several areas that are crude and won't be "cleaned up" until we finalize production tooling.
I'll post a few details for now, and update info here (and add some to our website) as we finalize the prototype and make any desired changes before the final production tooling is completed.
The body is the T-6 B/C coupe. Tube chassis. Dual a-arm front suspension with custom spindles to accept your basic VW or conversion VW (Wildwood et al.) brakes. Bottom mounted a-arm rear suspension with parallel trailing arms. Adjustable coil overs all around. The overall suspension design is much like our current production GTS, which was all derived form the Chevron B-16. Manual rack and pinion steering. All trim items are sourced from Porsche Classic Parts and considered OEM restoration parts. It uses all original glass. Steel reinforced windshield frame... and we just finished a custom die so we can extrude a drip rail... :-)
The chassis was built in such a way that we have multiple engine cradles in both mid and rear engine configurations. The prototype and first production cars will all be slated for mid engine Subaru. But the coolest thing is the way Chuck designed the multi-use chassis. Simple change of the engine cradle allows for 6 cyl 911, 356, ACVW, Subaru. A different set of inner panels and change the rear trunk panels to engine bay panels and it is rear engine with 901, 915, reversed Suby or VW IRS gearboxes...
That's all for now. There are a few forum members that have some "spy" photos and I'll let them know what they can share since I can't figure out how to post friggin pictures...
Mighty cool :-)
Carey, Sorry for letting that slip, after talking to you last night I got so excited I couldn't contain myself. Can't wait to see this car. Al
Congratulations! The multi-use chassis sounds brilliant.
Carey, that sounds great.
Al, No problem. I am surprised it took this long to slip out anyway.
Thanks everyone, I am excited to see it come together myself. With all the coupe replicas that have popped up in the last few years I really wanted ours to be something special... We are on target to meet my goals.
Sounds spectacular! Great to see a high quality manufacturer moving forward with fresh innovations.
Ahem... I know something y'all don't know.
Really sounds fantastic Carey. I know I kind of bust your balls about limited suspension options. This one is going to be special. Or should I say Special Edition! 
I've been sitting on this for what, 14 months?
I'm glad it's happening. Good for you, Carey!
Yeah, been hard to keep quiet. But I STILL know something y'all don't know.
email me the pictures and I'll see that they get posted
This is very exciting!
And now we know the new guy can't keep a secret...Just kidding. Al, am glad we are not reading about a deposit given to SAS!
I'm glad as well.
Lane Anderson posted:Yeah, been hard to keep quiet. But I STILL know something y'all don't know.
Care to share? You're not investing in something new are you? If you are, Danny and I need to have a conversation with you regarding our inheritance!
SAS = Stupid A$$ Suckers
Why whatever do you mean, Paul? It's not like I've already picked out colors or anything - or is it?
Lane Anderson posted:Yeah, been hard to keep quiet. But I STILL know something y'all don't know.
Lane, you know lots of things I don't know, bout 'puters 'n stuff.
But, I'm putting two and two together. You're Coupe #1, aren't you (you clever fella')?
Lane, another Carlisle build?
No more lost brass thingies for Lane!
This one won't be a Carlisle build as Carey and Co. will be doing their absolute best to ensure that the first one lives up to their reputation. As the #1 production car they will probably be moving a bit more slowly. This process actually started at last year's Carlisle when Carey and I started discussing the possibility. It'll be hard to part with the Carlisle build car given all of the friends it's brought to me, but this coupe will ease the pain I think. Right now the plan is for them to take the Speedster back with them when they deliver the coupe but if someone buys it beforehand that'll work as well.
Lane Anderson posted:Why whatever do you mean, Paul? It's not like I've already picked out colors or anything - or is it?
Non-metallic slate gray with tobacco interior is my vote :-)
Lane, You Dog !...
Good on you, I am truly very happy for you as #1 going to the right person ! ~Alan
Rather than take over someone else's thread I'll start another one about the build of my car. It'll be in the Vendors forum.
Lane rules!
This is so awesome.
Carey rules. I benefit.
Congrats Lane. Very exciting.
"something special" -- indeed. Not sure I followed everything Carey described here, but saw enough to know this will be a coupe done right. Anybody talking about the price point??
It's going to take a while to get used to Lane without a Speedster. One thing: he'll use less sunscreen. And of course I'm supposing there will be air conditioning. You must be getting old and soft, eh Laner??
A sliding rag top would be cool!
AS a new member of this forum and not being biased by driving previous generations of speedsters and frame configurations, I think its prudent that you take a deposit from me for a mid engine 6 Cyl. configuration speedster so I can test it thoroughly! Worth a try anyway!!
Nd.
Will a Subbie 6 cylinder fit in the back seat area? Seems the 4 cyl 2.5 SOHC is now most popular.
I would expect that the length of the 6-cyl would seriously compromise leg room.
