OK, I know this is sheer heresy, but due to a disability I'm unable to drive a standard. Does anyone know of a builder of 356s that offers an automatic trans? Appreciate any info!
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I imagine either of the reputable builders (Beck/Special Edition and Vintage Motorcars) would be able to help you out, particularly if you went with a water-cooled drivetrain.
@Lane Anderson posted:I imagine either of the reputable builders (Beck/Special Edition and Vintage Motorcars) would be able to help you out, particularly if you went with a water-cooled drivetrain.
I doubt Vintage Motorcars would entertain this idea. I say this based on the fact that Greg has tried to streamline his business and is no longer taking on Suby builds. These one off style builds derail his production.
I forgot about that. I know Beck builds an automatic version of their Super Coupe. They can probably figure something out for a Speedster if you want an open car.
if i remember correctly.....when i first put down my 1st down payment with Dr. Jekyll in 2016....he had a automatic speedster at his north hollywood shop where my car began it's construction .....been a while....i could be mistaken ..not that in ANY way am i steering business to the lair of Mr. Hyde 
It's not heresy. You do what works for you!
@Panhandle Bob posted:It's not heresy. You do what works for you!
X2. Giving up is the only heresy I can think of here. As long as you're still wanting to mix it up, it's 100% cool.
The Transmission to use is a VW bus , late bay window or Vanagon .
I think there is some offroad series that uses them ,
But like everything custom its not cheap.
Henry form Intermeccanica could have done it for you, but that's in the past. He has been sharpening his cooking skills these days. Molto Bene.
@Marty Grzynkowicz posted:Henry form Intermeccanica could have done it for you, but that's in the past. He has been sharpening his cooking skills these days. Molto Bene.
Nice, U10 scallops with lemon, garlic, butter risotto !! Killer !!!
Oh dang!!! Now I'm hungry again.
Probably not the best transmission to use, but wouldn’t an AutoStick go right in? Kind of rare but they’re out there.
I know Carey is doing Subaru 5 speed manual transmissions in his Subaru powered cars. I’m not sure he’s ever done an auto but maybe that’s because no one has asked. I bet he’d do it. Call Carey at Beck.
@dlearl476 posted:Probably not the best transmission to use, but wouldn’t an AutoStick go right in? Kind of rare but they’re out there.
An autostick will not support 100 hp. Years ago some guys were running VW 003 automatic transmissions from type 3’s in drag cars. These transmissions used a borg Warner design and could hold a lot of power.
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Yes an automatic from a Fastback or Squarebqck from 1968 to 70 would work well. They were made by Borg Warner. They are scarce and expensive. A shop out in Socal in the LA area services them.
Next would be a Subaru trans. Coupled with a Subaru motor, you would have a superior set-up. Plus all the inputs to and from the ECU would be available and working. This would make a really nice daily driver.........Bruce
I don't remember anybody ever producing anything to beef up the autostick, and as @LI-Rick mentioned, they didn't last under much power at all. These days, if you can find an autostick, all people want them for is the 2.25 2nd gear, and only some of them have it.
And I remember in the late '70's and into the '80's the Type 3 auto being used in drag racing. I couldn't tell you who figured out/did the modifications to make them live with big power, but being designed (and built?) by Borg Warner, I wasn't surprised they could be re-worked.
I've done it in our coupe, 4EAT Subaru, not a big deal, and we are watching the reversed 4EAT development and sorting of the teething issues to see what happens for rear engine applications. As of right now there have been several reversed Suby failures that have me leery of them, BUT they have also been in heavily modded Busses ant 3-4x the weight of a Speedster.
I have not found anyone confident in rebuilding the T3 autos, including Rancho, siting no parts availability at all. There is a shop that advertises they rebuild the 090 aircooled Bus auto, so in theory that its a possibility but they do not supply boxes, just rebuild, and I'm certain there'd be a heavy amount of fab work from chassis mods to make it fit, down to custom axles, vacuum system, etc...
Porsche used Sportomatics in the 911 , which is basically the same as the VW Auto Stickshift from a Bug or Ghia,
Both these are basically stick shift gearboxes with a torque converter ,
@chines1 posted:I've done it in our coupe, 4EAT Subaru, not a big deal, and we are watching the reversed 4EAT development and sorting of the teething issues to see what happens for rear engine applications. As of right now there have been several reversed Suby failures that have me leery of them, BUT they have also been in heavily modded Busses ant 3-4x the weight of a Speedster.
I have not found anyone confident in rebuilding the T3 autos, including Rancho, siting no parts availability at all. There is a shop that advertises they rebuild the 090 aircooled Bus auto, so in theory that its a possibility but they do not supply boxes, just rebuild, and I'm certain there'd be a heavy amount of fab work from chassis mods to make it fit, down to custom axles, vacuum system, etc...
The failures you speak about in the suby are they all automatics ?
I know IM had used bus trannies in a few cars, but hey what do I know. 
Yes, the early Subaru manuals had their share of failures too, and they still have a few issues "here and there", but have largely been sorted out. There is a lot of debate about the ring gear hardness, but we've found that in our light weight cars it has been a non-issue, and it seems to be isolated to either super high HP builds, off road, and heavy busses.
The failures I was speaking of above are in the automatics and the 2 different ways they have been designed. Neither of them is perfected yet and I'm juts not confident in them enough to "pull the trigger" but wait with baited breath...
There was a SOC member @Nolan-Tennessee who had a beautiful SAS (Specialty Auto Sport) Cabriolet with an automatic. He eventually sold due to health issues. He may respond to this notice with more details. NOTE: SAS has a rather notorious reputation (may even be out of business) that you can review through a 'Search' on the tool bar above.
There was also another SOC member (a long time ago) who had a Speedster with an automatic (VW I assume). I can't remember his name but he also had a disability that prevented his ability to drive a manual transmission. IIRC he had an 1835cc motor and had that car for quite a while without transmission issues. Some other SOC members with better memory may chime in.
So, yes, there have been Speedster replicas built with automatic transmissions, but they are a rare breed.
IM built a few and there is one in CANADA. for sale right now using a bus auto trans.