Hard top Speedster on ebay

The air vents are most likely in regards to the heating vents in the foot wells. The ad reads that it is not your average VW chassis with a rear pan but then goes on to say it is titled as a '68 VW which is exactly how a pan based car is registered.

In one of the photos it shows a flyer that reads "Arnold Classic Cars" and at the top of the flyer it reads "Capture the Spirit of the 50's! The 356 Beck Speedster - A Timeless Classic - Elegantly Reproduced.

Arnold Classic Cars is located in Florida and I'm going to go out on a limb and say they were buying early Beck rollers and finishing them out.

The car looks solid and well built. I don't like all the padding on the dash or the gauges but the flip forward seats are cool.

What say you @chines1

Yes, Arnold Classic Cars had a shop on Long Island, NY and a shop in Deerfield Beach, FL.  They were a dealer for us in the mid to late 2000s.  Mostly bought rollers and finished them off.  Not sure the make of the linked car, but not a Beck.

chines1 posted:

Yes, Arnold Classic Cars had a shop on Long Island, NY and a shop in Deerfield Beach, FL.  They were a dealer for us in the mid to late 2000s.  Mostly bought rollers and finished them off.  Not sure the make of the linked car, but not a Beck.

Interesting. Maybe the literature was from another car but being used as a prop to help try and authenticate the vehicle. Thanks Carey.

Carey, are you saying "not a Beck" as in not built out by Beck or not even supplied as a roller by Beck in this case? Were dealers who built rollers allowed to say they were Becks?

Yes, kit, roller or turn-key can be a Beck, and then we just denote if it was factory built or not.  This is not a Beck, period.  Center tunnel is VW, floor pans appear to be VW shape, interior appears to be Vintage Speedster.  You should ask for pictures of the "chassis".  I'd be willing to bet, based on the shape, it is a VW pan...

chines1 posted:

Yes, kit, roller or turn-key can be a Beck, and then we just denote if it was factory built or not.  This is not a Beck, period.  Center tunnel is VW, floor pans appear to be VW shape, interior appears to be Vintage Speedster.  You should ask for pictures of the "chassis".  I'd be willing to bet, based on the shape, it is a VW pan...

He clearly stated it was reg'd as a '68 VW which makes it a pan based car. 

Exactly what I was trying to see. No good photos of the undercarriage . Probably a pan. Even so a pretty car, some nice details. (Hate the faux roll bar. Wish it were real.)

@Robert M I agree, but he also said something about it not being a pan car in the ad.  In addition, I've seen both IMs and Becks (from non-smog-friendly states) with VW VIN tags added illegally and registered as a Beetle.

The gauges look like 914's.  I see quite a few CMC's with these.  The grill shot is not clear, but it could be a hibachi. The 3 cross bars on the "real grill are almost flush with the surface", I don't see those here. The wheels look like 4 lug. These things make me think CMC / FF

I looked closely at the photo of paperwork. As noted earlier, there is stuff for the car dealer who sold SE cars years ago.

Equally interesting is that the open three ring binder at the top right is open to a JPS document of some sort.

May mean nothing, but looks like a mishmash of information.

Based on alluding to Beck and JPS and some jumbled information, it looks like they are trying to make an extra 7.5K on the Beck name imo

That's not where CMC/FF puts their floor heat vents.  Those front tilting seats are unusual.  Door panels are VS but dash is not.  Missing VS rear torsion bar round plates. Original IMs used 914 gauges  - Henry bought them brand new.  It's definitely VW pan based. I've not seen many JPS but would put my guess there.

That's an imitation Glaspar hardtop. I have no idea about the rest of the car, but that looks very similar to the top JPS made by splashing a mold from a top Russ Rodriguez supplied to JPS to adapt to my car. The shape is right, but the trim, etc. is awful-- just like the one JPS supplied to me.

Anybody else notice this?

Notice anything strange about the "roll bar"? Strictly ornamental. 

correction - Frank not Henry

"Henry bought them brand new" in regards to the 914 gauges

Yup, that is the kind of "roll bar" that will roll right over and kill ya'. Unless you have a fake accident with your fake roll bar. Or, would that be a replica accident and a replica roll bar? I'm confused. 

Well, say what you will, I think the paint is fabulous.  Just a superb color. May or may not be worth 30 large, would have to kick the tires to be sure.

The owner should have checked out the Speedster Tonneau covers designed by Emory or Mullin; much better in terms of the integration with the lines of the Speedster, IMO. 

IS it me or are the tail lights too inboard.?

Tail lights are way off from the correct position

I believe that's intentional.  It looks to me like the builder is trying to recall the very early 356 look.  I like it.

It's an outlaw. He can put 'em wherever he likes.

The gray car is stupid-cool. I think if I ever did another car, I think it'd be like that-- no top or provision for a top-- just a single roll-hoop and brace, and a turtle tonneau always in place. I'd have a real windshield, though-- I've never been a fan of the plexi racing screens. I think some sort of bimini top stretched out between the hoop(s) and the windshield would be enough to approximate an "emergency top"

@Kevin - Bay Area (or anybody else): if you've got more pictures of that car, I'd really like to save them to a file. It's really a special machine.

The red car is kind've neat, in it's own way, but is mostly "a swing and a miss" to me. As Kelly said, the paint is really, really nice. There are no interior shots of the hardtop, which leads me to believe it's a JPS stick-on headliner job. The shape of the "hump" is just wrong and looks like a rural paper delivery box blended into the rear deck. I really liked the roll-hoop, until I noticed it was just frippery. It looks like a Monza exhaust with some pipes welded on (another JPS treat).

The thing is: it's probably worth the ask in today's market. I would guarantee the dude's got $40K+  in it, and probably more. 

It's been for sale a long time - or it changed owners and is for sale again. I saw it listed on CarGurus over a year ago...

The grill on the front bumper of the grey one leads me to believe it has a water-cooled power plant lurking in the back.

Robert M posted:

The grill on the front bumper of the grey one leads me to believe it has a water-cooled power plant lurking in the back.

That's an Emory car. I'd bet 20 bucks it's an oil cooler. 

Yeah, I really like the paint as well.

Stan Galat, '05 IM, 2276, Nowhere, USA posted:

Robert M posted:

The grill on the front bumper of the grey one leads me to believe it has a water-cooled power plant lurking in the back.

That's an Emory car. I'd bet 20 bucks it's an oil cooler. 

I hadn't thought of that.

Love the grey Outlaw, and the red one doesn't quite do it for me either. Yeah, the paint is nice, but with the rear tonneau there's just too much going on (cupholders in a console? really?), and the fake roll bar pretty much kills it. And you guys poo-pooing the grey car's taillights' position are starting to sound like (gasp!) Porsche owners!.

Stan.  Couldn't agree more about that Emory.  If I ever do another 356 it will be that outlaw with a suby.  I have the hard tonneau for my current 356.  I'll keep it and repaint it.  I think I'd skip the role bar so I can keep the soft top.  Love that car.

@Stan Galat

I grabbed the photos from a Silodrome article:

http://silodrome.com/porsche-356-outlaw/

But here are a lot more images of it here:

http://huntingridgemotors.com/...let-outlaw-by-emory/

-Kevin

The gray race car has some SERIOUS road rash.  But, hey, it's all part of the mystique, right??

I was thinking nice to see it's driven, Kelly.

Well copy that.  They are called automobiles, and so are in fact conveyances, designed to get your ass fro A to B and back.  Driven, indeed.  Like you stole it . . .

Exactly, Kelly! I think it's almost sacrilegious when a car (especially something like a Speedster that's meant to be driven and enjoyed on a "challenging" road) only ever goes from the garage to trailer, on to the show field, back onto the trailer and back into the garage. Indeed- like you stole it! As for the road rash, when it gets too bad, it can be sanded down and repainted, ready for another round... Al

PS- anybody know what it sold for?