Food and Wine Magazine

I don't know if you call it an advertorial or a great mention... but Food and Wine this month (well next month... you know these people are always in the future) mention Thunder Ranch and have a wicked concept of a speedster. It has "brows" over the wheel wells. If I had a scanner I'd post it. Maybe this weekend...? Check it out.

A recent edition of Kit Car also had that car as the center page. As we all know, I am the #1 Thunder Ranch Fan. So I was delighted with that spread.

Until I looked at it closely... The brow over the front wheel covers the door seam. How do you open the door? some of the shadows are going in the wrong direction. There are visible color graduations over the quarter panels.

The picture is not real. It's a real cool idea though. Love the wheels. Photo-shop art is great, but its just that. Art.

angela

Gotta see a pic!

Anyone?

Geeze, if this works... I am not as dumb as I look!

Actually that car is discussed in detail in the December issue of Kit Car Builder, and yes, it is real. Even has a cool removeable hardtop.

why the hell would you put that crap on a speedster?

The picture above is a different angle than the one in Kit Car center spread I saw. But even this picture shows a very obvious problem.

Look at the brow on th left front fender. It covers the door seam and intrudes a couple of inches into the door. So, how do you open the door?

TR is making speedsters and this is a great concept. But the picture in Kit Car magazine (advertisement) and the picture shown in this forum above both show a fatal flaw. You cannot open the door when you cover the fender and the door panel with the same one piece eyebrow.

angela

Not only that Angela, but what is the point? It is not only pointless but ugly in my mind.

Hmmm.... I wouldn't open the door of this car, I would be afraid to get some UGLY on me.

Actually, the car doors are hinged and open in at that spot... but the brow does not cover the seam.

It is quite ugly. Why someone would want to Morph a Speedster into a 300SL is beyond me.

I agree..it looks like sh*t...also..."The Return of the Horsedrawn Carriage Wheels (Bling Bling)".......

All it needs now are gull wing doors.

I know Beauty is in the eye of the beholder... but I have to give high props to TR for giving the customer an opportunity to design and detail the car anyhow they want. Not just buy a standard "kit". Perhaps the other shops do this too, but I have been lucky enough to visit Tom and Chuck at the shop and they gave me a a tour and told me about some incredible projects underway. Check them out if you are in the San Diego area.

Aside from the eyebrows, I think this a very nice styling exercise. In fact, I love the front end, very clean, and the unusual speedster hump is pretty cool.

The wheels are vaguely familiar to me. Audi wheels? Or a knock off of one of the later 911s?

I'd buy any car that TR built. But on this one, I'm afraid the eyebrows would definately have to go. angela

C'mon folks. Have some tolerance. YOU don't have to like his design. Only it's owner has to like it. This is about passion! That's what hand built cars are all about.

You are of course entitled to yor own (wrong) opinion. There are two schools at this juncture - the purist who wants a near original look, and the outlaw who wants whatever he(she) wants. Personally, I'd like to design and build a whole custom car body from scratch, but only lack the ability, the time, the tools and the money to do so. So I too own a kit car. And yes, I customized the hell out of my kit too. Maybe I should own a '32 Ford hot rod - but I can't afford a really nice one of those either. So I own a VW pan that is constantly being modified and dreamed upon, inside and outside. Long live passion (and tolerance).

Long live good taste!

Different is good, but ugly is ugly.

Jim,
You been looking at them Oklahoma cows for too long!

That could be true!!! ;-)

What next....wings? That is just so wrong!

Here's a photo op - of it on the Samba!

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=257407
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=257406

After seeing those pics from the Samba page, I have to agree that if one has a dream car in mind and the money or talent to have it built, they are entitled to have it mocked. UGLY !!

Where are those tail lites from? A 47 Buick?
ed

If that was brown and on my lawn, I'd use a big shovel.

just downright FUGLY!

Well - gee whiz, why don't we just take a vote? Oohh - really, I guess I missed that one . . .

I wonder what Chip Foose would do if a speedster got on "Overhaulin"?

Foose it up?

Well, I am trrilled that you all like my car. It is my pride and joy. In 1964, I bought a 356C coupe (pic) off the showroom floor and still own it today. I have always wanted to build a 356 Outlaw but thought it blasphemous to cut up an original steel car so the replica route made sense.
I chose Thunder Ranch to build it for me and they did a wonderful job on all the custom features. The removeable hardtop was a difficult challenge for them and it turned out perfectly. tom McBurnie is a genious with fiberglass.
It has a 2275 scat motor and a Freeway flyer trans.
The 300SL style eyebrows were added because I have always wanted a Gull Wing but could never afford one. The front eyelids are cut to allow the doors to open. You may be able to see the detail in the picture. And yes the taillights are from a '48 Buick.
If I bring the car to Knotts this year, I will look forward to getting your opinions in person.
Howard Foster

Howard,

I like the fact that you went outside the box. The most successfully designs are always a little polarizing. I may not like all of the details, but I do really like some of them. I wish you could bring that car all the way to Carlisle in May as I'd love to see it in person.

Nice coupe, by the way.

Lane

Howard I'm sorry we don't have the same tastes but we both agree that your coupe looks great. Also I congratulate you for experimenting with a fiberglass one.....

This is a perfect example of why there's 31 flavors at Baskin & Robins! Not everybody wants vanilla or chocolate (or tutti-frutty[?] for that matter).

Rock on, Howard.
Not only is your '64 my dream car -- the way Elanor was to Nick Cage in "Gone in 60 Seconds" -- but it's the exact color I'd want if I had one.
Your 356SL strikes me as the perfect rendering of a Koncept from an era when people here in the U.S. were busy buying lawn darts with exaggerated tail fins and big drum brakes. The eyebrows are totally in keeping with the era, which a nostalgia buff like me appreciates in a weekend toy.
Would I do that? Pra'lly not. Would I like to cruise down some windy stretch of highway in a caravan of yours, mine, a perfect replica of the Speedster and a coupl'a outlaw coupes? You bet. And twice on Sunday. It's about variety.
For me, it's about smelling gasoline, MobilGas Pegasus decals and goggles when the rain catches you. It's about the rorty exhaust of a flat-four at too many RPMs and the smell of asbestos brakes protesting against an engaged driveshaft. It's about the diner, chrome and talking to old guys about that P.O.S. they used to have as if they could still see it gleaming in the sun.
Not everyone in the U.S. remembers the 50s. Some of us looked at that old Yank Tank that Granddad had in the garage and wondered how cool it would have been to cruise with him as a teenager.
My Grandpa used to roll smokes up in the sleeve of his white tee-shirt, and the "Tank" was a '67 Plymouth Valiant. My old man had a Hot Rod Lincoln.
Not everyone had the good fortune to meet Harley Earl, either. Hell, looks like even Detroit has forgotten about that guy. You've got a true custom there, and I like it. Even that diner-stool-green thing you've got going on looks right for the car.
I like it.

In 1959 I had just gotten out of the service, just in time for my parents and I to attend a new car manufacturer show in San Francisco. My mother fell in love with a MB 190SL, black with tan leather. Next to it was a new 1959 Carrera soft top, as I recall. Cream with red leather. My mother fawned all over the Mercedes, while I begged and pleaded that she buy the Porsche. They ended up buying the Mercedes, almost breaking my heart. I knew that the Porsche would end up in my hands at some future date. Anyway, IIRC, the Mercedes had the eyebrows over the fender wells.

I like the hardtop and the pre-53 look of the nose. It certainly is a well turned out speedster.

Thank you all for your comments. I have posted more pictures on the photos page of the car with the top off as well as shots of the eyebrow detail, tail light('48 Buick) , interior and wheels( 944 and 911).
Happy viewing;
Howie

Isn't it amazing what you hear when people don't know you're listening!

It says something about how honest we are when talking with people, vs when talking behind their backs. If I'm going to be honest, I think all the 356 designers are spinning in their graves - I don't like it. Fortunately, it doesn't matter what I like. It's what Howard likes that matters.

Tis true, Ron. I've been a bit off since the day my Mother droped me on my head as a kid. I've been out of the box ever since. But I do like what I've designed because I'm a '50s guy and Imy top 10 are all foreigh cars of that era, not the least of which is the 300SL.
Howie

Jeepers Creepers, Ron!
Is that 911 engine going in a Tub?

It's official, yes that RS spec 2.7 911 engine and trans is going in an IM. The proud owner is a member here, and I will let them give you the details.