Fiberglass Top

I am fortunate enough to live within 2 miles of a fiberglass manufacturer. I have driven my CMC over to them, and they are willing to make a prototype top. My question is how much would such a top be so that it is within everyone's $$$ range? They have not gotten back to me yet withn a price. The top they will produce will be primed but unpainted. They are also deciding whether or not they want to be bothetred putting glass in, or having an after-market company (or ourselves) put it in. Also, how would they be able to get the specs for IM, JPS, Vintage, etc. Let's talk.

Joe,
We (Beck) already make our own hardtop. I believe that IM does as well. As for the rest, ???
Greetings from Brazil, I may never come home...
CEH

Hi Joe,

Fibersteel also makes hardtops, a Glasspar replica and another model called a Plasticon, appartently still in prototype. I downloaded their catalog from their website and it says $2950 for the Glasspar, and $1450 for the Plasticon. I don't know if those prices are current. I might be interested in a hardtop if it was priced like the Plasticon. Try them at www.fibersteel.com

Tony

P.S. The seats are great.

Tony,
What can I say..... I give up.

Stan, Never,never,never give up! ""W.Churchill"

Brittany Spears.."When I marry, it will be forever."

You know... I can read AND write...

I think Russ likes to get his name bantered around for the ego bit. Hw also can read and write but can NOT deliver. I wonder sometimes why he bothers to even advertise what he may or may not deliver before the first prototype is done. Not good business practices. I think he has so many POed potential customers and negative reviews that he may have completely flushed his reputation. The 30 days delivery is a recurring theme with him it seems. When I talked to him at either the Porsche lit show or Dunkles the following day, the sliding window answer was 30 days. That was Jan 31! He didn't specify the year though.

Bruce

Bruce,

That's a good one!! (did not specify year).
Russ obviously pays someone else to develop his slick looking web site. There is no way he can pull that off-since getting parts to his customers seems to be a mojor problem.
I am susprised he was'nt mugged at Dunkels'.
I guesss the moral of the story (thanks to Stan) is no money and no orders for Russ until someone can show us some real live sliding windows!!.

My question(s) are, since each speedster is slightly different with the positioning of the top onto the body and windshield post placement ...also the side curtain vertical posts to the door rail placement are all different, how would an off the shelf set of the sliders work? ...Alan

Does a hard top from one manufacturer mean it will actually fit other manufacturers speedsters? From what I hear on these forums, all the dimensions are a little different. Caveat Emptor?

Why not just get an old speedster convertible top that fits your car, overlay it with strips of fibreglass cloth, and then add the fibreglass resin? Couldn't look any worse than some of the body work I've seen on cars.

LOL

>>>>>>>>>>>.

Steady guys- my intention was never to flame Russ. If you look at what I wrote on the other thread, it was very even handed. Russ is very good at what he does. My point was, and is, that if something is "coming soon", it might be a month, or a year, or never. If he is able to keep busy with currently produced items, he has very little incentive to develop more products for sale.

Russ is a good guy, and a great fabricator. Just look somewhere else for what you need if he isn't producing it already.

So sorry to bring up a touchy subject about Fibersteel. I've only seen his website, I think it's great that Stan and others can lend some info about their personal experience with them. I only recommended looking at Fibersteel as a comparison for pricing for Joe's fiberglass guy in NJ.

What do you guys think? Is the $1450 to $2950 price range reasonable for a hardtop?

Tony

Tony,
You'd be surprised just how much you can spend on ANYTHING special.

Just a thought -i thought "beck" was an importer, cars +parts
made in brazil. Go to ebay, down to the international section,
choose brazil, enter porsche 356/550 and see what they are
selling complete body shells for. I don't speak brazilian/portugese but I don't think it would be too hard to setup
a group purchase [if tops are available]. the tops should fit the
rear body contours, the roof line might have to be stretched
or lenghtened due to windshield placement, sidecurtains
shouldn't be that difficult to adjust......
I've ordered hubcaps from there before, nipples/crests with
shipping $65. Its one of the few places a dollar still goes
a long way.

FYI, it costed 2500 USD when I bought hardtop for my IM roadster more than a year ago. The price may have changed since then.

Stan, I hear ya. I've already had to buy a whole bunch of special stuff for this ride.

Stan:

I don't understand your comment "I give up". Please explain. I'm dying to know.

Joe,
I'm sure Stan is speak about this thread
www.speedsterowners.com/forum/readmsg.asp?t=3401
Read his comments on fibersteel, about 10 replies down from the top.
-=theron

I talked With Jihn Steel (JPS) with in the the last week and asked him how much for the hard top.
He told me that the hard top is 1800, but that is included in the price of a turn key and also includes paint.
You should call him and see if he is willing to deal with you.
Later
Matt
Soon to be JPS Carrera speedster owner.
Man I am jones'in for a speedster.

Since I heard Plasticon, I have one of the original Plasticon hard tops built for Speedsters back when. Mine was made in the early 60s they said. The fit is close, but it does fit... In that the windshield on my CMC is moved forward an inch or so more than the "old" original Speedster. I had to make my own tie downs on the inside that go from the stock clips to our top bow bolts.

Theron:

The link you posted didn't go thru. Sorry.

Joe; That thread is titled "side curtains and rain" (in this section)

BD.

Thanks Bill. I'm sorry if it seemed my post brought up what had been mentioned in prior threads. Just trying to stimulate some discussion . . .

joe, with regard to your original post about how to price a hard top, I think that demand would be pretty elastic--the lower it is priced the more speedster owners will buy it. My guess is for people who are not price sensitive and very interested in a hard top option, they would have bit the bullet on a custom job or simply bought an IM to start with. The other factors that would impact sales are the intelligence of the design and the marketing.
For example, I would be inclined to pay more for something like what jogyver has pictures of in his photo section. www.speedsterowners.com/files/view.asp?sf=Jogyver&f=newspeedster13%2Ejpg
This design has a more modern look than some might favor, but with this hardtop, form follows from function in a way that I think Mr. Porsche would approve. First notice the way the top extends down on the window frame at the front corners which helps deflect wind and water from the side curtains. This design makes it much easier to cut a pair of side curtains (or windows) which won't leak in where the windshield meets the soft top. Second this design incorporates a "real" glass window that is apparently readily available in in UK junkyards. I don't know what the US equivalent real window would be, but obviosly if a $20 rear window from, say, a Ford Escort can be popped in there, it will allow a superior product at a lower cost--meaning more sales. Third, this top has a middle section that comes out for targa driving. This feature differentiates your product from everything else on the US market and will increase sales.
Finally intelligent marketing is a key to selling these tops. The ability to provide potential customers with precise measurements, step buy step instructions on how to fit the top to their car posted on the web, and details about how you have a no-hassle means of shipping the tops, means more people will be willing to buy the top on the web. This will not only cut down on many individual calls about "will this fit my car? and how do I fit it?," it will also cut down on your sales cycle because people have all the information up front to find and buy the product on the web without leaving it until they can arrange a trip to your neck of the woods.
I would encourage you do pursue this project. I don't want to have to get some big pieces of foam insulation from home depot shape the perfect top like a surfboard and lay my own fiberglass. If I can buy something that is remotely close to what I am looking for at a decent price I would do so happily, and I expect others would too.