beautiful coupe for sale

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/PORSCHE-Carrera-Panamerica-GT-1956-coupe-reproduction-/130590056197?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item1e67c61f05#v4-35

That is a nice looking coupe. Does anyone know more details of this car?

Very nice! I'm anxious to her who built it>

I'm pretty sure it's a JPS. When I met John Steele this summer at a car show in California, I was admiring one of his cars and noticed that instead of separate carb return springs, he uses one long one at the center attached back at the decklid latch. The engine compartment shot of this car has that. I thought that that seemed like a pretty good idea, btw.

Yup. The lack of drip rails is a JPS coupe characteristic, and the recessed treatment of the driving lights is one of his trademarks. Very nice looking car. I absolutely LOVE the color.

florida car and CA plate?

You will find a lot of cars that stay in Florida that have other states plates on them....most likely a result of many people who only "winter" in Florida and have a permanent address in other places. And I too really like the car, would love to own it, price seems too low IMO....hence the question, is it a real deal or a scam, and I guess that goes to the questions about the plates...

The contact phone number is a Woburn,Massachusetts number.

I can tell why it doesn't have FL Tags! Last July they changed FL vehicle registration fee. First you go to a local tax collection office to register and get tags (not DMV)! That should be a tip. There's a $225 first "initial" registration fee on top of title, tags and taxes. No sales tax on cars you've owned over 6 months but the bill for one car still pushes $400! In addition, the yearly fee expires on the 1st day of your birth month and it isn't pro rated! If you register your car in July and your birthday is August - you get to pay a full year for that month and then pay again on your birthday.

Antique cars get a 50% cut in the "initial" registration but in FL a car isn't an antique until its 30 years old (not the normal 25 years! I have old '85 Yota PU that would cost more to register there then its worth!

Kind of nice of them to send you all your motor vehicle renewals on your birthday! Plus I discovered that car insurance is higher in FL (Ft Walton Beach) than in metro DC (land of uninsured motorists). They claim due to number of law suits filed in FL. Argh.

Greg, FL is a no fault insurance State for auto insurance. Premiums are always higher in these States. Plus, we frequent South FL often and coming from a big city with lots of traffic my wife does not dare drive down there. It looks like you live in a less densely populated area but you still get whacked for problems with the remainder of the State. Look at the bright side, you can get a PT job and pay no State income tax and now your closer to the Mountain Madness run in the Smokies.

The plates are not real, real yellow plates have 3 letters and 3 numbers, but the tub is very nice....

So, GERD, ye of JPS coupe ownership. Does this sound like a fair/good price?

DEFINITELY JPS
I BELIEVE ITS THIS ONE THAT WAS NOT YET FINISHED AT JOHNS SHOP
ALSO I THOUGHT SOMEONE BOUGHT IT AT THE LAST CARLISLE SHOW VIA JPS FROM THE FIRST OWNER

SEEMS ON THE HIGH SIDE FOR THE SIZE ENGINE IT HAS

Sure looks like my JPS coupe but it is not the one that was for sale at Carlisle.

From the seller: It is a JPS car.

I'd say the price is in the right ballpark. The car would probably go for over $30K OTD if you had it built.

Gerd, yes we bought the car you have pictured at Carlisle in May. It is my wife's, a great companion for our Speedster.The one that is listed on ebay looks exactly like ours, I would also say it is a JPS.
Curiously, the first owner had it built witout a heater. John provided us with the parts and we've had it installed. Not that we intend to drive it during the cold weather, but we wanted it to have defrosters for the ocassions where we might get caught in the rain.

When did John start installing pop-out rear quarter windows?

I thought his cars had them fixed (gasketed) in place.

Might make a nifty long-distance cruiser with a Suby and A/C installed...

Gordon--that's exactly what I was thinking. Not that I'm unhappy with my set up, but it's not hard to see what the future holds for Speedsters, coupes and such.

HAS ALWAYS HAD THEM AS FAR AS I KNOW
IVE GOT A/C AND HAVE DRIVEN TO ARIZONA AND BACK
ITS A FUN CRUISE

Nope, the silver coupe at Carlisle (one of his first) had non-moveable back seat windows just gasketed in. I don't know about Tom DeWalt's car, but I think those didn't move, either.

I remember both John and Carey telling me that the problem was finding the proper latches (if that's the right word) for the rear of the window where it closed. Carey had given up on finding decent true Porsche period pieces or reproductions, and John was thinking (at that time) of going with VW sedan pieces (similar, but slightly different from Porsche. Guess he did.

hmmmmmmm...............

Anybody want to buy a NEW Speedster with a 1776 and freeway flyer? I could sell the Red one I'm building and maybe, finally, get a coupe!

TOM DEFINITELY HAD THEM AND I THINK HE WAS COUPE #2
SCROLL THRU HIS PICS AND U WILL SEE THEM OPEN

You can see the window latches in several pictures of the Green Coupe on the JPS site.

I could be wrong but I bet a search (or a call to John S.) will show that the problem wasn't the latches---it was the bright metal window surround that made the use of the gasket material necessary.

A coupe with ac is tempting.

I came very close to buying a new 356 coupe at a porsche dealer in Greenville in 1962. That love affair has never diminished either. What a great art deco shape!

Thanks, guys - couldn't remember about Tom's coupe or not - besides, it rained like hell that weekend and nobody opened up any moveable windows anyway!

BTW: I think the seller lurks on here. GERD mentioned that he thought the $21K price too low and, zippo! "Buy It Now" shoots up to $31K

I was sort-of considering it until now........

Yup, you're right! I remember that now! Because most of the "real" trim rusted out and it's tough to find replacements so they're $$$$$$$$$$.

Pop-out latches?
http://www.jbugs.com/category/PopOutWindows.html
http://www.wolfgangint.com/Parts/Side+Popout+Window+Frame+Latches/Type+2/ (Type2)

Isn't raising your BIN price in the middle of the auction cheating?
Never knew that could be done.

Gordon the price was 26k and I said that was on the High side
For the engine it has for 31 k I could have john deck one out with a much bigger engine and ac

GERD:

I totally agree. His price increase put me out of the bidding.

The JPS website offers a base build for about $26k and an IRS with 2110 eng. and more for $29k,
http://www.jps-motorsports.com/Coupes.html

Chuck Martin might be able to post a photo of his window latches (if he has them).

Rich,

As long as there aren't bids the pricing can be changed in ebay auctions.

Reserve prices and buy-it-now prices can be lowered after a bid is placed in a normal auction.

But this one's not an auction - it's a set price sale and it looks like ebay allows sellers to raise their price if nobody has bought at the first price. So it's not cheating but IMO it's sleazy and gives a bad taste in the mouths of any interested prospective buyers. This guy probably should have closed his auction and waited a week before starting over at his new greedier price. Ebay buyers tend to have short memories.

It is Buy it Now / Make Offer. Looks like he has turned down 3 offers so far. His asking price is like going fishing, I suspect he will take less as the auction gets closer to ending, or renegotiate afterwards. After it ends you can see what the offers that he turned down were.

Gordon,

Should you ever decide to go for a fiberglass coupe, be SURE to give me a call, OK? Got loads of original 356 Coupe stuff left over here, things that seem to be eliminated from those coupes due to difficulty/scarcity/prices/etc.

You need, I got.

TC

Here are a couple of pics of JPS coupe vent window latch

Looks like the ones used on the Karmann Ghias that fastened through a hole in the glass. The 356 has a chromed window frame and the latch attaches to that.

Thanks for posting the pics, Rob.