Daily Driver

I live in Southern California(Orange County) and am thinking of buying a 356 replia car to use as a daily driver. Does anyone out there ahve any experiance with this? Is insurance on these cars a problem or overly expensive? Please let me know your thoughts ken_martin@permacel.com

Do a forum search under Daily driver and you will be shocked with the number of threads on this issue....as for a daily driver the insurance will cost a little more to make it a primary driver, unless you have an insurance company like State Farm that doesn't really care as long as you have a second car. My car is a daily nice weather driver......I don't want to get it dirty!!! But if you want a daily driver I would definitly look for a car with roll up windows and if you want to consider a new one look at either IM or maybe the SAW for the best weather protection....of course living in southern california means that you don't really have a lot of weather, so maybe the SAW car just for the liquid cooled engine if you would rather have that.

oh you probably would want a subject like this in the General category to get more responses, but not to worry, with the search feature you will find plenty of conversation on this subject

Ken, I have my car on my regular insurance in So. California and it has no limitations or restrictions as to use. You can e-mail me directly and I will give you more info. The premium is not as low as a limited use collector policy but it is quite competitive with similarly valued vehicles. I use my car pretty regularly but I do have an extra car for extreme weather or situations where the security of the car might be in question. One of the best attributes of these replicas is the fact that their value does not discourage regular use as "real" speedster do. In my opinion part of the fun of these cars is their simplicity, it's like driving a time machine, but along with the added character is the reality that they are not practical, maintenance free vehicles like a used Miata.

Best to take a ride and go to the Knotts show in 17 days , meet and talk to the many speedster owners on hand as well as a 3-4 manufactures that plan to attend.

Alan

find me at knotts and we can talk about it. I use my 356 as a daily driver in San diego and have had no problems using it as such, but I have a F150/S2000 for the crappy weather or when I want to go really fast.

Michael, Do not let the S.D. Chamber of Commerce see your notes on ''crappy weather''. You will be asked to move.

Crappy weather in San diego?. Come on, you don't know what crappy weather is.
Ron

Crappy weather is 130"of snow ,avg. high temp for Jan.is 12 degrees F, snow thru April 15; sunny ,3 days in Jan. Talk about Crappy. We know from Crappy!!!!

Crappy weather in San Diego is 1/8 inch of rain in one hour because 30% of the cars will have a fender bender that day. Else it's 110 degrees out and you have black upholstery and the top is down. It's a tough life out here.

Southern Cal. weather here in Rhode Island, today - Well, OK, so it's not 85 degrees, but it sure seems that way.

The Speedster fired right up (with the usual amount of start-up Dellorto carb puking and coughing and frantic accelerator-pumping) and then settled down to it's usual rumpy idle.

Took it out for the first time this season and went to "World Famous Flo's Clamshack" for a real shore lunch of (what else?) fried clams - looking out over Narragansett Bay and on across the Atlantic towards France. What a way to spend lunch!!

Now starts the process of getting everything done before Carlisle, or saying the hell with it and just driving it the way it is 'cause the weather's too nice...............Hmmmmmmmmmmm.........

See you guys and gals in Carlisle! gn

Gordon,

Any conflicts with getting the sailboat ready? My wife wants to "go down to the boat" and I want to go in the garage. We're waiting for some hull damage to get fixed after a wind storm the end of last season ($5K+ !) so that's giving me some slack. The Speedster's up on jack stands....gotta get ready for Carlisle!

Well, the boat is in inside storage in Mass., and I have to paddle out to the mooring (just down the street) to see what's left of my pick-up line after the ice took my pick-up bouy out to sea last Winter. Other than that, all I need to do is buff/wax the whole boat, clean out the inside and put all the safety stuff back in.

Of course, it helps to have a little boat - just big enough for the two of us to day-sail around Narragansett Bay - that keeps the maintanence down to a minimum.

Speaking of boat damage, I had a friend with a gorgeous 39' O'Day that we used to take out to the Vineyard and along the Elizabeth Islands down toward Newport - his day-sails were a bit longer than mine - but it looks like I'll be just sailing the mini-yacht this season. That same O'Day was caught in Hurricane Bob a number of years ago, and was swept from one side of Marion (Mass) harbor to the other and became a lawn ornament at Tabor Academy. The Storm Surge parked it in the middle of the school lawn, then washed it gently back and forth, pushing the keel down into the ground until it bottomed out on the hull, while torquing the keel seal from the Hull. The folks at Bristol Yachts glassed it all back together stronger than original.

For the Speedster, I'm happy with it just as it is, but I suppose I could carpet the trunk area, and I need to get the auto upholsterer up the street from me to finish my Tonneau cover, and it might be nice to finish a dozen other things before Carlisle, but Hell! I'm retired! If I get it waxed and the Tonneau done I'll be happy!

gn