FYI

http://356registry.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6775

It doesn't seem as though they have as much fun as we do!

Some of those guys must have a hard time getting in and out of their cars with sticks up their A$$es!

It is not about what you have, but rather how much fun you have, and I have a lot of fun with my car.

TC,
Noted and responded.

Good retort, Terry! Love your avatar. I still like the come back that involves the porcupine.

~WB

Pffttt....the originals have the same amount of VW parts as many replicars have....The ones that are negative are usually the dumbasses with $15,000.00 356's that they currently are trying to fix on a budget. Long live the replica's....

Terry, you are my new hero.

Well I have never felt bad when telling someone that my car was a reproduction. Then I point out the advantages my car has over a "real" one:

Much lighter
Much faster
Stops faster (disc brakes)
Will never rust
Affordable fun
newer by 50 years
Parts availibility
Lower insurance premiums
Can do my own maintenance
A GREAT Speedster Owners Club

Why in the world would I feel bad. I actually feel good---and smart to boot! ---Jack

And what on earth is the "high in the back stink bug look??---Jack

That mind set is why I am pulling the Porsche badges off my car. I am keeping the crests (Porsche horn button on the Nardi wheel, hood handle and on the baby moons are staying) but the Porsche script on the nose and tail are history.
I have IM script on the dash and Roadster on both sides. Last week I contacted IM and confirmed that they had IM script for the nose and tail and the body maker badge down low and the order will be shipped on Mon. That way when people ask me what it is I can simply say its an IM.

Dave

Terry,

I love it! Do you still have it like that?

Dave

Yeah, Dave.
Front and rear.
That's the way my registration shows it: Volkswagen 2 door.

Nice touch, Terry !

At first glance it looked like a Plain

I joined the 356 registry just because I LOVED the grill badge and wanted one. Marc has been a PCA member for years, with me as the assoc., but we didn't renew this year. All I miss is the discount at the Porsche Driver's selection stuff! But I still the the grill badges look good... I'm keeping them.

Dave-

I'd heartily recommend dumping the "P"-car badges. I did, and I'll never go back.

FWIW, the Intermeccanica "crest" looks good as well, and if you put them on, you will have completed the purge.

I still love my grill badges, and won't give them up!... even if we gave up belonging to the PCA.

I drive mine 10 times more, it makes my hair grow,I can fix most any problem and if I can't figure it out my kewl SOC always step up and the blond still digs me. Cabanaboy

TC,
WTF?!
I don't get why you post a message here to expose some derogatory post from the Registry forum, then write quite a provocative and even more derogatory post on that forum.
Do you have a problem with us replica owners or are you trying to brown-nose to the likes of Barry Brisco?
Care to explain?

Desi,

The last 5 words of your post sum it up very well. No ohter reason for owning a replica need be stated.

I just want to see Mr. Evils 356.

I just went to the top of this thread, hit the link and scrolled to the bottom for the most recent post, WFT is with THAT ?

I guess some like to wear more than one hat.

Seems that we now have An Attorney amongst us that writes:

Quote:......"Same wonderful mechanics, same Raby motor, same everything BUT trade dress violation on top.

Quote:..... "Just WHAT makes a rebodied shortened VW pan with a fake 356 shell on top worth anything at all . ?"

DESI, you car is NOT a 356! It is a 357! And your missus is looking pretty nice, IMHO!

Make sure I don't miss this, kids. Send e-mails to me or something; it may be weeks and thousands of posts between my visits!
lucky DOT drake AT gmail DOT com ...

We can't have it both ways, gentlemen. It'd be nice if all the registry guys were like most of the "hot rod" guys and just welcomed replicas into the fold- but some of them just don't get it, and probably never will. They aren't "real" car guys (which is the only kind of "real" that really matters) by any meaningful definition. It's their loss, not mine.

Even over on this side of the fence there's more than enough angst and envy to go around- what with the Porsche badges, crests, and the occasional falsified title. There's even a guy who posts 10 times a day on this site who thinks a fiberglass 356 body is lipstick on a pig, regardless of the sophistication of the package- but thinks hanging a ratty old 356 coupe body on a VW pan is the height of cleverness. It staggers the imagination.

I couldn't care less what a few retro-grouches on the registry website think of my car. I didn't buy/build my car to impress them, or anybody else. I own this car, rather than a Corvette (or 911, or any one of a hundred other cool cars) because it was what I wanted. If I wanted an original 356, I'd have bought one.

This site is for people who share that outlook. I think it's past time to stop gazing deep into our respective navels and hoping that we'll be able to get a few Luddites to see it our way.

Work on 'em. Modify 'em. Drive 'em. Prove who's really "real".

Hell, I'll take a dune buggy with a Raby motor in it for $3500!

I think most of us who have been around long enough know TC is just one of those guys who calls it like he sees it. That said we don't all see things the same way. I will have to say he does seem to be talking out of both sides of his mouth though. (just calling it like I see it) The issue of why people put a fake fiberglass Porsche body over a VW is pretty cut and dry for me. I actually don't want to drive a 356. I've driven them and they're really not that great, though I did drive a 59 coupe that was seriously tweeked and it was really fun, but it was in no way "stock". In base form they're just great looking old roadsters, that's it. They don't handle, they don't accelerate and therefore really not much fun. The old racers, now we're on a completely different topic. They are fun, but they're far from "original". They've been modified and "molested" (to use a purists term), so therefore not too far off from what we drive. To use TC's point, if the builders of those bad ass racing 356's are soo proud of what they've built then why not take it all the way and put a custom body on it?
Personally I have a fake speedster because I LOVE the way the car looks. I drove it for 2 yrs with a stock 1600cc engine in it and I really, really tried to be satisfied but I wasn't. I can do whatever I want to my car without having to worry about destroying a part of history AND I get to LOVE walking up to it everyday and seeing the incredibly beautiful lines of a 356 regardless of what's underneath it, and I REALLY like what's underneath it.

COMMENT
Yeah I read that registry thread and felt my "Irish" heat up. I decided as a newcomer (here less than a year) just to keep my mouth shut. I am glad that the old guard had something to say about these slams. I figure cabin fever is setting in for somebody. END COMMENT

What is cool about this club/forum is that people actually work on their Speedys and enjoy doing it. And share info specific to our cars which is priceless and unique. Kind of like the Samba is with VW's. We do have mostly VW's with some twists.

That is the draw here with the poster I think. The Reg guys are mostly checkbook car guys and I will bet most don't like to get dirty.

My IM badges came early this week and I plan to get dirty and install them this weekend. The hood emblem is bothering me now with the big P on it. Thats next.
Its all German
Dave

Thanks Dan and Will for the shout out, put a smile on wifey. In a nut shell - drive,smile,wave,nod,wink,smirk,hoot,shout and laff out loud so the purist have a reason to gripe . Cabanaboy - Do they really think I care? as I pass them !!!!

Hey Desi, Are you and that hot blonde going to Morro in April? Haven't seen you in a while, lets cruze!
Markos

Desi--your PCH pix made me drool. I drove that every day: Woodland Hills to Mulholland to PCH to 96th street. In a 260z. Dem wuz the days!

Back to the subject--I read that latest post also but just don't care what "they" have to say. My car is "da bomb" for me and I'll be happy to race any stock steel Speedster to carlisle from AR this spring. Any takers??---Jack

Jeez, if that Thomas Canty (356 Forum prick) had his way all replicas would be free and there'd be a chicken in every garage... or was that Obama's quote. Oh hell I'm confused and don't know what's real anyfuckingmore.

I particulary enjoy my monthly 356 Registry. When I look at the event photos compared to those of your/our events it looks like they went to an old folks home and raided the guests...I guess waiting to own a real Porsche 356 has a price beyond dollars???

Oh, and if it hasn't been said earlier, you don't have to own a Porsche to belong to the 356 Registry. If their concerns were so genuine maybe their membership and stuff in the store wouldn't be up for sale for all the world.

check out my reply on the 356 registry, before the moderator deletes it...

I just re-read the comments by Thomas C. It does seem strange that as a member of this group he would make those comments.

I wonder why he doesn't explain himself.

I started this post to answer Michael's post....
What is there to explain...He hates us...Every car group have their A$$holes, and these people are pissed because their brand has been soiled by plastics...Think of how the corvette people would feel if all of a sudden somebody started producing replica's in metal...
As i posted on the 356 forum, it really comes down to the people,
we are really kinda spoiled because for the most part the SOC is made up of people who are kicked back and except everyone for who they are (well, except for Gerd of course) we don't care what you drive or your status (well, except for Gerd).......

This is for Evils Post...Hey Prick, I'm not sure what you are talking about, but I'm with you....

SWEET Vince ! ! !

Do you want me to respond to your post on The Registry like I'm hurt that you essentially called me an ass, or should I take the high ground instead and call YOU an ass? Lemme know . . .

I REALLY ought to post something about my post over there, I suppose. If it isn't plain, I really LOVE these little Speedsters, I like that there is a completely acceptable "home grown" aspect to them. As a mucker from WAY back, I love to bash things together and see if they work. To be able to do a chassis and drive train in this way and them cloak in in a respectable Speedster body is PERFECTION for a jerk like me. PLUS you guys have become family and I wouldn't want any of you to think that my comments were meant to hurt you in any way.

Sometimes I just get a terrible urge to rattle my cage and there's a spill over. I was treated in a TERRIBLE fashion by the Porsche crowd at the Lars Anderson Porsche Fest a few years ago, I had a WONDERFUL time, but was struck by the over-all snobbery that I encountered from car guys. My post "INSANE" hopefully shows that things are still pretty much the same in spite of some random nice encounters. The thread at the Registry was getting cold and I wanted to heat things up a bit.

NOW . . . in spite of ALL of my best intentions, you idiots have turned on me ! ! ! Go f&ck yourselves ! ! ! !

Truth is, as much as I ABSOLUTELY love you all and your cars, there IS a little surprise and a tiny bit of concern that the very BEST part of every replica seems to be the similarity to a 356 Speedster.
I really do wonder why a Speedster shell costs SO much more than a large fiberglass shower stall. Figure that the labor and material costs are roughly the same. Mat, gel-coat and resin don't know the difference. We pay for the similarity to something that the shell can never be, which is just weird, no?

Intrinsically, there is NO difference between a shower stall, a Speedster or a hot tub, same manufacturing techniques, same tools and labor, yet there is a huge price difference between the three. And the assertion that a replica Speedster is better than the real thing, because of this and that modification just kinda gets to me, because a replica ISN'T a real Speedster ! ! ! It's pretty much a Speedster shaped hot tub on a custom frame. There is no comparison to be made and no reason for anyone to treat me badly at a Porsche event.

But . . .

Oh, and I really DO wish that JPS would spend time and energy and money on their own proprietary body design and claim credit for their work, rather than the endless copying of one 356 body or another. I'd love to see what results ! ! ! Maybe something sweet, a little (LITTLE ! ! ! Don't copy it ! ! !) like the new Pontiac Solstice Coupe.

TC

TC,
You're entitled to your opinions, no fault there.
Hell, I respect someone who speaks their mind, regardless of their point of view.
But I have no need for someone who says something, then disowns what they said.
Going back and editing your post might work for those who didn't see it. Doesn't work for me.
Funny, I was going to cut and paste your post here, but figured you'd clarify your comments.
I guess you did, in a way.

Vince, I got your response right here...in the form of a handshake. Well done.

I have been following this thread and like the idea of having some badges on my car that do not say "Porsche." The word "Speedster" is a generic word used by other manufacturers, really describes our cars, and is available.

I was wondering if anyone knows of any badges available at reasonable cost that do not contain words and that would look good on our cars. It is really too bad that we replica Speedster owners do not have unique badges for the hood, etc. that would identify our cars as ......!! With our own badges in place, people would not ask the question "Is it real or a kit car?" The badges would match the answer, "It is a real .......!!"

Any ideas? What about a design forum for some badges. How could they be made? Just some random thoughts. There is so much talent available in this forum that there is no reason why we could not come up with a really beautiful badge design.

Chuck

Terry,

I'm routinely asked to edit or remove my posts from the Registry site. When you get enough emails or personal messages complaining, you do it.

If you though that I gave a crap about you, you're SO wrong. When on the Registry site, it's registry decorum. Not really trying to retract anything, just looking to prevent a Registry Administration melt down. Everything there, is here. (Except where I call you an ass hole, but I pretty much did that at the bottom of THIS post.)

Read what I posted above, it's about the same as what I posted there. These ARE fakes for crying out loud! Mostly Beetles with a thin candy shell that looks like what it isn't. Simple truth, and a bothersome one for me, when folks say that a replica is better than the real thing. It isn't better or worse, there's no criteria for judging now IS there? It's a Speedster, it's what it is, OWN it . . .

Are they neat little car? You BETTER believe it ! ! ! Are they 356s or comparable to one? In no way what-so-ever. Should a 356 Kit from someone like Rusty Tubs be going for real money? I just can't understand why? A good running Beetle chassis and running gear cost under $500 around here, I have three of them, a buddy just bought a fourth. The body usually comes attached, so the electrics are a plus. Should a 356 shaped body make that chassis worth over four times what a dune buggy shape body on pretty much the same chassis brings? It seems to, but I can't figure out why ? Forget about the genuine 356 trappings, just consider the basic shell here. It doesn't make sense.

Since I posted the link to the thread, do you REALLY think that I was poking around behind everyone's back, posting stuff that I hoped to keep secret to get in good with the Porsche Boys ? ! ? ! ? ! ? ! ? ! Go out and grab a clear though, I'll wait here for you.


You "got no need" for me? Go fuck yourself !!

T-Rex

TC,
As I said before, you have a right to your opinion.
Your original post on the registry clearly indicated real is real, fake is worthless. Fine.
I asked for clarification, you edit your post.
I stated my opinion and you take it to the gutter.
I appreciate knowing what I'm dealing with.