Figuring it all out! New build. Topic 1. The FRAME.

OK, Houston, I think we have a problem.  It's called Stan, The President and CEO of Stanistan, and who, it is now revealed, has no garage, or car to drive or anything, and is going to be in serious trouble as soon as the holidays are over, and that long, cold winter thing sets in in earnest.  This man is going to be having the DTs or whatever the equivalent might be when The Madness is denied its outlet.  I'm just sayin' . . . emergency calls should be expected.

Kelly,

You have no idea man. No idea whatsover. This is awful. Like, cut your finger off awful.

When you drive through a storm
Put your beams on high
And don't be afraid of the dark.
At the end of the storm is a three-bay shop
With plenty of space left to park.

Drive on through the wind,
Drive on through the rain,
Though your rear
Main seal is blown.
Drive on,
Drive on,
With friends on the web
And you'll never wrench alone.
You'll never wrench alone!

Such a poet.  Continue to Cali and we can find you that shop for the toys and that cute house for the other half.  

"5. When buying new, you will never recover value of high cost options or personalizations. A well kept base 5 year old VS will sell for close to the same as one with ac, stereo, and big motor."

Amen to that -- personalizations on these cars are really the damned-if-you-do part of this experience. And, WCS (forgive me, but I don't know who you are), if what you're trying to do is replicate something there's already a cottage industry set upon replicating ... ?

 

What?

 

On personalization; don't go overboard. Don't kill yourself, hammering out little gusset panels of new steel that you can 'glass into the forward areas of the footwell or the rear of the tub. It looks like **** on the original cars, and was done to make them sit better or prevent flex.

 

A Blaupunkt stereo? Great, except that CrapCo mono will get you by, with a four-inch speaker screwed in someplace where you can actually hear it. And you'll never use it, anyway, unless you have the ears of a bat. These cars are noisy if they're air-cooled. 

 

Point is, you may well wind up with a car that's only meaningful to you, which will give you a rate of return far less than what you might want, and which has a truly niche market on a "good" day. I would like to think we've managed to really do something with our little ersatz Speedster, but I can promise you nobody on this planet (or any other) will ever want to take it off my hands for even 25 percent of how deeply I'm into it. Nobody.

 

The real estate inside of a JPS is impressive. I like the looks of every single one I've seen, and they're a great starting point for a custom rig -- if you just want to do small things to make it look like something 'special' -- but that won't dupe anyone who's had one, anyway.

 

You said you had a JPS in the past, and I'll assume it was mechanically and electrically sorted out. If the cosmetics of the JPS could be said to be a reasonable facsimile of the original car -- and unless you're 65 or older and owned an original at some point, they probably are -- I would think you could get the head-turning appeal you want. John Steele didn't quit after making one Speedster. There are plenty of them out there.

 

If you want to be able to save a little bread and still have the self-gratification of being the coolest person you know, you could buy another JPS and somebody's used, old, nasty German carpet set. It ought to fit, and from the driver's seat, you'll have the best of both worlds.

 

I really don't understand the genesis of your question, though, especially if you'd lump VS and JPS in the same interior aesthetic category. Beck, which has a low tunnel and wider seating area than VW-based cars, has the compromise of having a really wide seating position. It's like sitting in a more conventional roadster with proper seats, I guess, which won't pass muster for what you say you want to do.

 

You could be in an old 356 coupe with a Boxster engine for what you would pay for an IM-6, and CMC probably wouldn't meet your modification requirements.

 

I don't really understand what you're after, I guess. 

Cory - You've been gone so long you need to post current new pictures.  Here's couple of old photos of the uniqueness of the Hoopty.

"On personalization; don't go overboard."

I think I am guilty of that...but WTH.

Greg, I'm pretty sure I'm horning in on WCS' post by doing this, but since you asked ...

And I suppose it's in keeping with this guy's conversation about making something custom, albeit with a lesser tip-of-the-hat feel than what he said he was thinking about.

Anyway, recent changes since you've seen it; interior is largely the same. Different seats, no more entry lighting, taller windscreen and a different paint scheme on the 550 brake handle. Exterior; same as it ever was, with the GT mirrors in paint now, the entire car re-sprayed in that '64 color that's on my paint code thingie (right below the VIN plate) and black darts added for character.

I have a laundry list of smaller things I'd like to do, but the Speedster is 10/10 right now. New bushings all the way around, new, big red brakes in the back, a spline's difference in ride adjustment for the rear torsion, no more foam in the fuel cell, rain hats for the Dells (also new since you saw it last), and new Kumho sticky tires added two years ago. 

Not really all that much, except that the car's small and little things add up. But it no longer violently pulls to the left (if you remember way back to when it was first re-done?) and certainly a lot more civilized.

It got a clean bill of health from Henry in May, as a "decent,"car. I love that guy, but I think his standards have dropped somewhat wrt his expectations of the Hoopty. :-)

The red car is before your time, Greg. It is the same vehicle, but very much the way it was when I got it about 15 years ago. The chassis is the way you'll remember it being before I jumped ship here -- but that's the pre-powder coat picture. The rest are somewhat self-explanatory.

Thanks for asking. :-)

Cory:

That is one fantastic car!  Superb design and workmanship all around.

Cory Drake posted:

 

You know, it's too bad you couldn't do something... I don't know... unconventional with your car.

It seems like I can't shlub down to Costco anymore without bumping my toe on a birdcage-framed, Type 4, drag-race speedster with articulating bodywork and centerlines. It has sooooo jumped the shark, and it seems like every high-school kid with $750 has one.

You really could use a bit more imagination.