Hi, I've spent most of my life drooling over speedster kits and am finally in a position to purchase one after 20 years of waiting. I recently however found one for sale and was both excited and rather disappointed after driving it. I was actually not impressed. I guess after obsessing my whole life about owning one, I was saddened by the reality that it did not really offer the spirited driving experience I'd dreamed of (the fantasy was way better than the reality). That said, I found the car had VAST potential.
My question I suppose is multi-layered; are all the pan based kits (this one was a mystery model) as flexible as the one I drove? or do some of the manufacturers sufficiently stiffen up the chassis to eliminate this problem? I've looked at the JPS sub-frame and it looked like it was engineered out? but? Vintage uses some structure but? or was the car I drove most likely a left over CMC, fiberfab or some other mystery machine? are there noticeable differences in quality? and how would I know?
the body seemed very tight, the doors opened and closed well. the lines were all straight and looked good, just don't have any clue as to whether this car is worth shelling out big bucks for something that in my opinion needs a full roll cage to stiffen it up as well as drastic improvements in suspension and performance upgrades to improve the canyon carving potential that I would want it for..
SO, what do you guys think? save up more money and buy a factory tricked tube frame replica or spend around 18grand for a clean straight, yet disappointingly flexible and unknown mystery speedster?
Am I alone in my complaint, or is this just a case of fantasy vs. reality?
- Tim
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