L @ @ K Greg at Vintage Motorcars selling his personal Speedster

That's asharp car...

$80k?

$85k if you lose the plaid.

As I said previously, this is the one that will shatter the $100,000 mark!

Those door panels...

Come on Powerball!

Id like to see a geneticist do some research for genetic markers for love/hate of vintage fabric interiors. I think mine dates back to the 60’s plaid in our 60 Samba Camper Box.
And the psychedelic checkerboard seats in my first Porsche.

The door cards may be a bit much, but overall I really like it.

@Troy Sloan posted:

As I said previously, this is the one that will shatter the $100,000 mark!

OK. Troy's got the over/under at $100K on this one. A month ago, I'd have taken "under" and put money on it. At this point, I'm not sure what to think. Troy understands the market better than I do for sure.

One thing is crystal clear - BaT loves VMC cars. This one has pretty much everything the BaT market likes (including the weird plaid inserts). I'm not sure the Subaru will help it, but the hardtop surely will. I'd sell without the Coddington wheels, as there's $5000 there that probably isn't coming back in increased value, but again - what do I know?

Regarding the glee with the very, very high auction values - I'd be careful what you hope for.

If I were Greg, I'd be thinking pretty hard about shutting off customer orders and just building cars to be sold to the highest bidder on BaT or similar. Cloud 9 is ordering cars to resell - and from the low-mileage offerings popping up, it looks to me like other people are starting to get in on the same game. Why wouldn't they - they're making long money with minimal/no work.

Troy just sold a car for $75.5K that would cost $65K to build - most likely because the buyer didn't want the 2 year wait. If the supply of new custom cars completely dried up - Greg would control the supply and reap the extra $10K- $20K that resellers have been getting for new/nearly new VMC cars.

I'm not saying it will happen. I'm saying that if I were Greg, I'd be thinking really, really hard about a way to simplify life for a lot more money.

I agree. I’d hold on to those Rudge retro’s and sell them to a customer.

BTW, speaking of “avoiding the wait,” a new Z06 just sold for $100K OVER the $150K MSRP on BaT.

@Bob: IM S6 posted:

Those door panels...

@dlearl476 posted:

The door cards may be a bit much, but overall I really like it.

I don't get it. In every picture the door cards are black leather.

Sold already?

@Stan Galat posted:

I don't get it. In every picture the door cards are black leather.

I just assumed they were plaid from Bob’s post. The link is NLA.

Guess I'm just being picky.

Speedsters did not have door pockets.  Roadsters did.

Yes, the car is kind of nice.

Link worked fine for me. And I'm not even a facebooker.

@Bob: IM S6 posted:

Speedsters did not have door pockets.  Roadsters did.

They also didn't have 6-cylinder engines, 5-speeds, or 17" wheels.

Sometimes, it's OK to color outside the lines.

@edsnova posted:

Link worked fine for me. And I'm not even a facebooker.

Hmmm. Must be my browser.

But I’ve seen Greg’s car before. And I have to say, as a die hard A/C fan, that car is beautiful.

It surely is.

@Troy Sloan posted:

As I said previously, this is the one that will shatter the $100,000 mark!

I'll take the under.

I simply can't imagine who would pay more than 100K for a fiberglass replica. Was it a zero mile engine?

In person,  The color is spectacular !.......Bruce

Love the exterior color. Is that Albert Blue?

I would HAVE to swap out the plaid. Plaid rhymes with bad.

@DannyP posted:

I would HAVE to swap out the plaid. Plaid rhymes with bad.

It's odd to me as well. If it's "retro", it's from the wrong era. It's a 70s era feature on a '50s era car. I've never seen an "in period" picture of a 356 Speedster with plaid seats.

@dlearl476 posted:

Sold already?

I got the same error.  If you go to the VMC website and click the "f"acebook link at the top of the home page it'll work for some reason...

@Stan Galat posted:

They also didn't have 6-cylinder engines, 5-speeds, or 17" wheels.

Sometimes, it's OK to color outside the lines.

But I don't have door pockets...and for $100,000, neither should it.

@Bob: IM S6 posted:

But I don't have door pockets...and for $100,000, neither should it.

Buy it and take them out.

@Bob: IM S6 posted:

But I don't have door pockets...and for $100,000, neither should it.

And why not? These are not replicas, they are plastic hotrods. Build them any way you want!

@LI-Rick posted:

And why not? These are not replicas, they are plastic hotrods. Build them any way you want!

And that's exactly what I did with mine, as everyone here does.

Seems I have hit a tender nerve here.  I simply commented on an aspect of that build that I didn't like, and I get three people upset.  Good thing it wasn't someone's car here.  I'd probably be kicked out.

Must be something in the air these days.

@Bob: IM S6 posted:

And that's exactly what I did with mine, as everyone here does.

Seems I have hit a tender nerve here.  I simply commented on an aspect of that build that I didn't like, and I get three people upset.  Good thing it wasn't someone's car here.  I'd probably be kicked out.

Must be something in the air these days.

I don't think anyone is upset, except maybe you.

@LI-Rick posted:

I don't think anyone is upset, except maybe you.

Well, I guess you and I have different tastes in builds, and probably in life in general.

Have a nice day.

@Bob: IM S6 posted:

But I don't have door pockets...and for $100,000, neither should it.

My speedster is not worth $100K, but it does have (highly useful) door pockets. Mine aren't even proper "Roadster" pockets - they look just like the mutts on this car. I figured the whole "original" thing went out the window as soon as the car got roll-up windows, a 6th grade science project under the deck lid, and an "Intermeccanica" badge on the dash.

The mongrel door pockets never offended my style sensibility, but I'm a Cretin - so what do I know? I do like having a place for paperwork, sunscreen, an envelope full of gaskets, and the odd screwdriver.

By all means - you do you. I hate the plaid seats, but I know there are lots of guys who have an unnatural attraction to them. The tent here is certainly big enough for a pocket/no pocket skirmish among friends.

I'm a functionalist, and firmly in the "anti-plaid", "pro-pocket" camp.

Well the pockets or no pockets is only an issue if your wearing women's pants, pants whose pockets are made to force them to have a hand bag  I wish I was kidding. Lots of choices and build styles and no to the seat cloth choice on this one IMO.

@IaM-Ray posted:

Well the pockets or no pockets is only an issue if you’re wearing women's pants, pants whose pockets are made to force them to have a hand bag  I wish I was kidding. Lots of choices and build styles and no to the seat cloth choice on this one IMO.

@IaM-Ray this is what makes the plastic car so attractive. You can customize to your hearts desire 👍😎. Beaty to the eyes beholder 😎

@WNGD posted:

I'll take the under.

I simply can't imagine who would pay more than 100K for a fiberglass replica. Was it a zero mile engine?

If I'm not mistaken, there has already been at least one "plastic car" that sold for more than $100,000.  It was an Intermeccanica with a 911 engine close to 15 years ago.  I saw it in the parking lot at a Van Morrison concert and had a brief discussion with the owner who was from the San Francisco Bay area.  I'm sure there are SOC members who know the car I'm speaking of.

OK, @Stan Galat, you can get door pockets, but they have to be tartan. What do you do?

@edsnova posted:

OK, @Stan Galat, you can get door pockets, but they have to be tartan. What do you do?

I guess I'd do without, Ed. My distaste for plaid runs pretty deep.

If you wanna' do it, knock yourself out. Just know, I'll make fun of it.

@Troy Sloan posted:

If I'm not mistaken, there has already been at least one "plastic car" that sold for more than $100,000.  It was an Intermeccanica with a 911 engine close to 15 years ago.  I saw it in the parking lot at a Van Morrison concert and had a brief discussion with the owner who was from the San Francisco Bay area.  I'm sure there are SOC members who know the car I'm speaking of.

The Matt Stoich 6-cyl. He was the first guy to crack the ton when he was building his car, and I think he sold it not long after for  l o n g  money.

There was a time when I wore plaid pants.  I probably wouldn't do it now.

Ah I tell ya, no respect at all.

To be clear.  Greg did not build this car for himself.  It was a customer car.  The delivery was cancelled.  I believe it was due to a customer health issue.  I think this will get more common.  When you have to wait 2-3 years or more to get a car, anything can happen.  I'm close to 2 years since my order date.  Having a procedure soon for a bad back.  At some point I may not be able to get in and out of these cars.  The ownership window is closing.

@calmotion posted:

@IaM-Ray this is what makes the plastic car so attractive. You can customize to your hearts desire 👍😎. Beaty to the eyes beholder 😎

And it never rusts.   .  

Phil........My original order date is January 21 2019.  Half of this was my insistence on getting what I  wanted.  That has changed  (my mind at least).  I believe my car is back at VMC now. To be mostly completed and given to me to put on the finishing touches.....Bruce

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Trying to figure out where this whole plaid thing came from, with limited success.

It seems plaid was definitely not a factory option — from Porsche.

But, let's see, 1955 and who was the other big name in German sporting machinery?

That's right, the other big name was Porsche. And maybe not so big, anyway.

The big name was M-B. (Our good doctor was still wet behind the ears in the car business when M-B was winning overall at places like LeMans, Mille Miglia, etc.) If you were a serious poser (and of sufficient means), you didn't fool around with these quirky little doodlebugs from Zuffenhausen, you ordered up a proper 300SL.

Which came standard with cloth seats. Um, plaid cloth seats. And, if you were actually gonna race the thing, why bother with the duded up optional leather seats that were only gonna get trashed, anyway?

So, fast forward to just a few years ago, and the Mercedes marketing department gets this brilliant idea to squeeze a few more bucks out of all the trust fund kids who are snapping up whatever Gullwings show up at Amelia Island.

M-B re-issues the authentic plaid seat material (operative word being authentic), and the trust fund kids go all gaga.

"Ours isn't just a Gullwing. We've got the plaid."

So, did some of the other buyers at Amelia Island (the ones who couldn't afford the Gullwings and had to settle for a crummy four-cam Speedster) take notice and figure this must be the new thing?

Historically correct, historically cashmeckt! Did you see what they just got for that Gullwing?

Dunno. But stranger things have happened.

Me, I don't pay much attention to Amelia Island. My eyes are more on the market — to see when chicken breasts are on sale.

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