CMC DIY kit in KS $8500

If Al Merklin was still in the game, he'd talk this guy down to about $249, and get a set of pipes for a panhead HD and a vintage Commodore 64 thrown in. He'd sell the parts and computer for $2500, then build a beautiful black custom out of this pile of fiberglass parts. He'd have about $4500 total in the whole deal.

I however, am not Al Merklin.

I'd give this guy his $8500, pay $1500 to get it towed back, spend the next 10 years building it, spend $5000 for paint, $10,000 for a righteous motor, $3000 or so for a transaxle, $5000 for an interior with good seats, and $10,000 to have Carey Hines bolt it together for me once I'm too crippled to do it myself any more. I'd have $50,000 in an old CMC.

Your mileage may vary.

I fat fingered price - its $8050.  Stan you quoted story of my CMC adventure.  The hardtop is worth at least $1-2k.  Someone near by might want to take a look and try to buy the hard top.  The $8K is about what the raw kit cost in 1989 - with no VW parts (pan, wheels, etc).

UGH!!! Talk about flash backs! That's just what mine looked like in 2007 when I picked it up. For me the very hardest part was lining up the inner and outer door skin to have them fit the shape of the car.  

CMC bonded mine and hung doors.  I will have to cut part of their bonding to get smooth profile and doors to align.  So even the "deluxe" assembly didn't help there.

Stan Galat, '05 IM, 2276, Nowhere, USA posted:

If Al Merklin was still in the game, he'd talk this guy down to about $249, and get a set of pipes for a panhead HD and a vintage Commodore 64 thrown in. He'd sell the parts and computer for $2500, then build a beautiful black custom out of this pile of fiberglass parts. He'd have about $4500 total in the whole deal.

I however, am not Al Merklin.

I'd give this guy his $8500, pay $1500 to get it towed back, spend the next 10 years building it, spend $5000 for paint, $10,000 for a righteous motor, $3000 or so for a transaxle, $5000 for an interior with good seats, and $10,000 to have Carey Hines bolt it together for me once I'm too crippled to do it myself any more. I'd have $50,000 in an old CMC.

Your mileage may vary.

Been there...just done that... 

Wait, Wait... @Alan Merklin not in the game???  I think I've heard that for the last 10 years.  Alan's always in it for the right price, it's in his blood.  He has the virus, there is no cure.
-=theron

 Yeah, but now he has to build it at Ed's house

 I did check this speedster out online this afternoon , ran some figures  and it is possible if bought at the right price to be all in for $15,000 if you ( y -o -u ) not me ... do most of the work yourself, that is as far as my interest goes on this or any future project that pops up. 

With that in mind , I Alan Merklin aka  "Drclock"  with countless years, 43 speedster projects, many additional misc projects  and with no regrets whatsoever, declare with somewhat sound body and mind ...I am officially speedster retired.  

The shop is entirely empty with a lonely few rattle cans standing guard over my two small hand held tool boxes. The house is under contract, we have acquired a beautiful ground level townhouse in Elkins, West Virginia that is awaiting new furniture and our arrival on or about 8/31. What will I do with my idle time ? Ride my cruiser bike along the most beautiful mountains,  volunteer with Habitat for Humanity, help with the local church as well as look into volunteering at the WV State Orphanage in town. I will keep an eye on my extended family herein and chime in now and then,  I'm honored to be a part of this great group and will continue being at Carlisle for years to come.  

@Theron : There is a "cure" it's, West Virginia...... While in the Army,  I remember driving home to NJ late one night from Ft Jackson, SC when john Denver came on the radio singing " Take me home to a place I belong ...West Virginia" That was and is along with my beautiful wife Connie , my calling. 

Did a lot of Lotus Europa and Motorcycle driving the roads from DC to Seneca almost every free weekend to go climbing and flying the hang glider off North Mt and Spruce Knob. I have to agree with Alan beautiful country. The only problem was and still is there's no good pizza to be found.

Pete

You forgot all the SNOW and road paved only down the middle (so you get to put a wheel down so 2 cars can pass).  Argh - I still own property in WV till new owner pays it off it another 8 years!

Ahh the Gorge Bridge . Just 200" of snow annually .....

Yes in Fayettevile WV.  Once a year on Bridge Day you can bungee, base jump, or reppel off the 900 ft tall bridge to the New River Gorge below.  No alcohol required.  Several have made the leap and gone splat on the rocks below. 400 base jumpers do it  each year.  Its the world's 3rd longest steel suspension bridge at 3000 feet.  This is PO across street from 'my" property. Before they added the addition it had to be one of US smallest free standing POs.

https://officialbridgeday.com/...e-day-history-facts/

That Post Office is huge !

Theron posted:

Wait, Wait... @Alan Merklin not in the game???  I think I've heard that for the last 10 years.  Alan's always in it for the right price, it's in his blood.  He has the virus, there is no cure.
-=theron

When a guy gets rid of his shop and tools not too mention changes his avatar... it's a pretty clear indication he's done.

We need to take a collection and buy him this bus so he can start travelling the country side doing on site build assists! Lots of room for Connie and tools.

Would the front trunk be easily bonded to the body to have a flush finish?

If it didn't say it was a CMC - I would have thought another make.  All the CMC/FF I've seen have the trunk interior as integral part of the front section and the piece where the gas tank goes cut out. Looks like it should be put under body and bonded there.  Fiberglass is very easy to bond and work with so couple hours to bond the liner in.  Even the back of the door openings are different than other CMCs as that piece is integral to body not an add on piece.

WOLFGANG posted:

If it didn't say it was a CMC - I would have thought another make.  All the CMC/FF I've seen have the trunk interior as integral part of the front section and the piece where the gas tank goes cut out. Looks like it should be put under body and bonded there.  Fiberglass is very easy to bond and work with so couple hours to bond the liner in.  Even the back of the door openings are different than other CMCs as that piece is integral to body not an add on piece.

 

It may or may not be a CMC. We only know what the seller has said. He may not even know what he really has. Chances are he got it from someone else and they told him it was a CMC because telling him it was a kit from a one-off company may not have seem appealing.

IMHO I'll suggest anyone that does not have mad fiberglass skills, walk far away from bonding , hoods deck lids doors etc. It's not for the first time novice only to have issues after the body has been painted.

That is NOT a CMC.  I've never heard of a CMC or Fiberfab getting shipped to a "customer" (read that victim) without the doors and hoods bonded together.  Don't know what it is, but it's NOT a CMC and he's just giving CMC an even badder name (if that were even possible).

That said, that whole mess is worth around $1,500, TOPS, in my opinion.

Alan (aka Dr. Clock) wrote: "I remember driving home to NJ late one night from Ft Jackson, SC when John Denver (bless his heart) came on the radio singing " Take me home, to a place I belong ...West Virginia"

Well, I, too, remember........Lying in bed, awake, at about 4:30am with my trusty, 2-transistor radio (complete with old-fashioned earplug, since it didn't have enough poop to drive a speaker) somewhere around 1957, and I heard the booming signal from WWVA, 1170 AM, that 50,000 watt, clear-channel powerhouse in Wheeling West-By-God Virginia.  

Back then, in-between early-morning Country songs from Sonny James and Ferlin Husky (totally foreign and exciting to a kid from Massachusetts), and when they weren't talking to truckers on their newly-licensed citizen's band radio (on the air), was this other voice....  Not the dulcet tones of John Denver (still trying to get through Junior High in Alabama, back then) or even their usual Back-Home-Country-sounding Disk Jockey, but a voice from hundreds of Southern Revival meetings, kind of like "Brother Love's Travelin' Salvation Show".    One where he was trying to SAVE YOUR SOUL and give you everlastin' redemption when he told us to:  "Git yur own, Walkin,' Talkin Jesus!  He recites tha Lord's Prayer AND tha 23'rd psalm!  Comes in four colors for ALL of our friends, list'ners and Believahs".  Just send yo $19.95 (plus shippin' and handlin') to............"    And about that time the station would drift away to be consumed by atmospheric noise as the Sun arose on the East coast and shifted the ionisphere..........  Maybe you might hear some more sporadic Everly Brothers or Webb Pierce before the station was truly gone for the hight, but that was pretty much it, so you pulled the ear plug and tried to go back to sleep for a couple of hours before getting up to do your farm chores.

"I hear ya callin, Jesus!  Come on Baaack, good buddy!"

We didn't need no "Salvation Show" heah in New England......  We had WWVA!

Bridge Day--If you haven't been there--do it. Watching people from all over the world doing flips off a diving board over the gorge--priceless.

Bridge Day, Colten Days, Cass and Durbin Railroads, Snow Shoe Ski Resort, Seneca Rocks, Black River Falls and so much more...