Getting ready to buy a new VS

Hey Guys,

My wife and I are flying out to LA next monday to test drive and order a turn key Vintage Speedster. Kirk has been very helpfull on the phone answering all my questions.

I was visiting Spyderclub.com today and was surprised at the number of complaints about the various Spyder builders, mostly about delivery times, sometimes up to 3 years late.

I am wanting a fairly close reproduction of a stock car, nothing out of the ordinary or custom - 1600 engine, standard transmision etc.

Kirk tells us the car will be ready to pickup in less than a month! 99% of the reviews of the Vintage Speedster on this sight are very positive. I was just wondering if anyone has any feedback on VS's delivery times.

Thanks
Jay

Jay,
Kirk is a stand up guy you can bank on what he says and backs his product going above and beyond with customer service.
Do yourself a favor and go for a 1776 motor with the 3.88 transmission, you'll be glad you did....and welcome to the madness ! ~Alan

Jay---do NOT worry about Kirk Duncan. I bought my Vintage with just 800 miles on it from a guy in Monroe, Lousiana who bought it from a reseller---meaning that I was two owners away from dealing directly with Kirk.

As with most all replica Speedsters I got very little documentation with the car so I had many questions about it but Kirk treated me like a relative and a buyer directly from him---he is a star!

Don't you worry a bit about anything Kirk tells you because he stands behind his cars with service and advice after the sale.

You are going to hear this same thing from a lot of Speedster owners
and you should know that he has earned this kind od reputation.

Good luck with your Speedster and show us some pictures of it when you get it.

Also--to respond to your actual question about delivery times---you will be ok---just ask kirk when it can be delivered and what he says is what will happen. Don't make the mistake about comparing Vintage Speedsters with some other company with a habit of unmet delivery dates.

Oh---and welcome to the madness!

Jay - you can't beat the 'bang-for-the-buck' you will get from a VS Speedster. When you're at Kirk's shop, ask him if he has a Speedster painted in a cool green Porsche color he's been shipping to Europe. I think you might like it because its different and will set your car apart from all the silver, black, red cars out there.

It's similar to the color Tom Williams has on his coupe (picture below).

Good luck in your quest...and Welcome to the Madness!!

What we are looking for is a vintage ride with simiular caricturistics to the original Porsche.
We ride a vintage 1955 BMW motorcyle (also have the sidecar for it)and want a sports car from the same era.
We put on a lot of miles every year and one of our goals is to Stay Off the freeways - twisty secondary roads are our thing.
For many years I was a Split Window VW Bus nut. Every one I had was upgraded to the 1600 with a Doghouse. Loved them all. Been coast to coast a half dozen times and from Alaska to Guatamala once. May eventualy upgrade to a larger displacement engine/trans combo but am pretty sure we will be satisfied with the 1600.
Appreciate the input and the feedback on Vintage Speedsters/Kirk though.
Thanks Jay

P.S. Thanks for the welcome. And madness it is!!! The only thing I can think about for the last several months is Speedsters. Have been wanting one since high school. Almost bought one in Monterey in 1977 but my dad found a 74 Karman Ghia with less than 500 miles for a grand less - now that was a fun car! Still kick my self for not buying the Speedster though.

Jim, I saw that green on a couple of the cars in his shop when I was there....great color! Dave

Jim, That is a very cool green, very much like the green that Norton race bike frames were painted in the 40's and 50's

We're pretty set on Silver, like yours.

Jay

Dave,
Thanks for the tip on the cafe. My wife and I lived in Santa Barbara for quite awhile before moving first to Nor-Cal and then to Texas. Other than the mountains the thing I miss most is the little Mexican burrito joints.
The R27 is a fun bike, have had several over the years. I'm just a little nuts for German machines.

Jay

Hi Jay,

I called Kirk out of the blue, told him I had an IM and needed carpet, he worked me in that week and was a champ to work with. They had to alter his carpet kit to fit my car, even having to remake the center piece due to my emergency brake being in a different location, yet there was no charge. I asked for the price on the chrome strip that goes on the door for a friend of mine (who had just bought a VS used and his was dented), Kirk just gave me one. I told him I was going to put duel carbs on mine and he sold me a set at his cost. The entire time I was there, I was at ease walking, looking and taking pictures of the cars they was working on. The facility is a little crude but the workmanship is outstanding.

BTW, there's a little hole in the wall cafe just down the street from him that makes the best omelettes in town.

I also have an old BMW R27 :-) no sidecar, I have one of those on my Harley.

Dave

I haven't driven the R27 much, I picked it up from a guy who had it in his living room, it only has 12k miles on it. But it is a sweet bike, I like the Earl forks. I've got it now staked up in the rafters...

http://i734.photobucket.com/albums/ww347/dinubadave/garagebikerack3.jpg

If you get this Speedster, you should try and make the Pismo gathering...

Hi Jay,

I'm a spyder guy and notoriously outspoken about some of the outrageous customer abuse that goes on in the spyder world.

You will not find that kind of treatment at Kirk's! My neighbor across the street bought a new Vintage Speedster just over a year ago. I watched what happened before, during and after the sale. The high level of customer commitment and after-sale support is nothing short of jaw-dropping. All those wonderful stories you've read in the thread above are no-doubt what you have to look forward to. I saw all of that happening myself.

Get 1915cc w/ 3.88 trans.

Have fun!
Mark

Jay, Kirk built me a speedster in 2006 and told me it would take him 3 weeks to deliver. It was done in 2 1/2. Do yourself a big favor and go for his 1915 motor, though. It offers a lot more grunt but no more maintainance than the smaller motor.

Jay, Vintage Speedsters is not the same company as Vintage Spyders, so complaints found on the Spyder forums won't apply to the Duncans. I don't have one of their cars, but I have never heard anything but praise from their customers. Welcome to our little piece of insanity!

"wanting a fairly close reproduction of a stock car"

Althought the original 356 engine was just 1600 cc it produced 70-88 hp where a VW was putting out less than 50 hp from same displacement. At least go for 1641 cc, dual carbs, CW crank, non-stock cam, lightened flywheel which will give you equivalent performance. Costly to upgrade later. Ask to drive 1600 then a 1776 and a 1915 cc when you visit VS.

Jay: Kirk and VS were GREAT to deal with. It took them 3 weeks to have our Speedster ready for delivery. There customer service is exceptional. I HIGHLY recommend the 1915 and dual carbs (Empi single barrel 34's) w/ the 3.88 trans. Great bottom end torque w/ that combo.

Here is a photo of Kirk and Mary for your visit to VS, just walk up and say hi.

Great people, good business practice.

Jay, I consider myself a close personel friend of the Duncan's, and everything you are hearing about them is true.
Mary will give you the shirt off her back, catch her on a warm day and it's a site to behold....Oh, sorry I meant Kirk not Mary....

I have to say the 1776 or 1915 is the way to go though....
Listen to these guys, they know of what they speak

Kirk & Mary are the Best ! ! ! ! I second the motion - 1915cc with the 3:88 trany.

Well we are probably going to go with the 1915/3:88

Talked with Kirk about the idea of putting a trailer hitch on it to pull a one rail trailer for the Beemer. He thought it would work fine -- with the 1915!

We won't make Pismo this year. We are planing a road trip with the Speedster to Maine and back by way of the Natches Trace, Blue Ridge Parkway, Skyline Drive etc. for our anniversary.
Maybe next year!

We are going to pick the car up in Feb and take the long way home to Texas. Far southern route of course!

Thanks for all the advice guys!! We will post photos of the car and the trip when we get back.

Jay

pulling a trailer with a 1915..u are a braver person than me.

Hey coming from a guy with a VS 1915 he really is impressed with... Good choice. Enjoy.

Maybe I'm a little nuts.
But have pulled trailers with Bugs with the 1600, the only real drag are the Steep mountains.
Missed being born in a 58 bus by just minutes and been wrenching on them as long as I can remember.
Pulled a Toyota Land cruiser out of sand in Baja once, the owner said it couldn't be done!
Have been places with a bus that the only other cars there were 4 wheelers - they were aghast!
Somebody at Porsche thought they were capable of towing a camper. Have seen old advertizing liturature with a Speedster towing a little camper.
Total wieght of the Beemer with the trailer is a little over 600 lbs.

Guess I just don't know any better.
Jay

Jay,

100 percent behind you and agree with it all! Sorry you'll miss Pismo, if after picking your car up you decide to go up the coast, let me know, I'll meet you over there, maybe we can get a few cars together.

Dave

The speedster is about 600lbs. lighter than a Beetle.
My concern would be that a speedster front end is very light and while towing a a loaded down trailer, an emergency stop it may be a most memorable experience. I'm not saying it can't be done as Bruce Ryan that makes the annual trip from Western Ohio to Carlisle with trailer in tow. IMHO I would find the lightest motorcycle trailer you can get.
Again, I rate Vintage Speedsters right at the top of my list, I have never bought a turn key speedster from Vintage but have made many major parts purchases for the builds I've done and have always been pleased with their service. ~Alan

Disc rear brakes or at least the wider Type 3 VW drums would be on my list if towing.

Jay, where you at? You wouldn't be in or around Baltimore, would you?

Ditto on Ed's question. BalmerHon?

Alan,
Have some experience with the whole stopping thing. Used to drive a 1939 BMW with sidecar, you really had to plan ahead on stopping. Would try to leave a 5 second gap between me and the car in front and of course another car would fill it. It was a never ending battle! Hit a deer once, fortunatly we got it slowed down to about 5 miles an hour before impact. The deer ended up in my wife Kara's lap amazingly neither Kara, the motorcycle, or the deer suffered any damage.

We have a custom built one rail motorcycle trailer that is as light as possible without sacrificing strength with a 10lb tongue weight.

Ed and Cory,
Long ways away from Md, we're in Texas

Cory,
Really like the aviators helmet and googles!
Figure I will be wearing my Davida pudding bowl and googles on occasion. I think a Porsche badge will look real good on the back of the helmet

Jay

Jay - I am only 45 minutes away from Kirk's shop. If there is anything I can do to help you on your visit to SoCal next week let me know. Depending on what time you plan to be at Vintage I could meet up with you and maybe talk 'cars' over a beer (or twelve). Give me a shout out!

Hey Jim,

Thanks for the offer! It would be great to meet up.

We will be in L.A. on Thursday evening and will be meeting Kirk and Mary some time Friday morning.
Then a test drive and lay down our money.

Jay

Oh now you've done it, Jay. Jim is a scout for the collective. Resistance is now truly futile.

Lane,

That's funny!

I had a Bouvier de Flanders dog once. His name was Locutus Van der Borg. His dog coller said "Resisstance is Futile"

I know about futility :-)ask anyone who's ever had a Bouvier.

Jay

Dave,

When we pick the car up we will probably go up the coast as far as Santa Barbara to show it off to family and friends. This trip will probably be a fairly quik one. We do need to make a trip to Trinity County sometime this year to check on our property and will probably do most of the California part of the drive on our favorite road HWY 1 maybe we can hook up then.

Jay

Jimbo. if I'm still NOT working next week .let me know if you two hook-up, I'll buy a round or two... I gotta meet Jay!

Looks like he created some madness of his own prior to finding these knuckleheads...

Speedster "D"

Jay - if you're not familiar with the L.A. area give me a holler. I can offer some driving info (best routes, areas to avoid. etc). I can meet you at Kirk's and if you have time afterward, we can grab lunch at one of the local marinas/beach. Send me a PM at musbjim(AT)cox.net

Speedster D, I'll call you!

Peace - Out!

You can have Vintage ship it to you as an out of state (Calif.) sale. I would think the shipping would be cheaper than the California 10% sale tax.
Paul

Sounds good Jay, just let me know if you're going to be in the area.

Not to steal a sale from Kirk, but there are several really sweet cars for sale by members of this site. A couple that I can think of are particularly nice like John Leaders' car (https://www.speedsterowners.com/forum/readmsg.asp?t=18816) and Warren White's car (https://www.speedsterowners.com/forum/readmsg.asp?t=19808). Really sweet cars for really good prices.

Lane, if you are not trying to steal a sale from Kirk, then why on earth are you suggesting other options? This whole thread was about VS not what Jay's options are....