IF you were building your own, what would you buy?

Okay, so I've spent quite a bit of time reading the archives. Bottom line, know what you are getting, and what you aren't getting. I've read a lot of horror stories about builders, issues, promises, etc. I'm interested in possibly building my own.

Yes, I know what that means. I have the right tools: welder, power drills, drill press, compressor, etc. I'm just finishing a build of a Street Beast "replica" street rod. It has turned out beautifully, no small thanks to my body guy, who worked long and hard to help me get it right. But, for the most part, the kit went together well, mostly fit the way it was supposed to fit, and I did all the work myself except the finish body work, and some of the welding (not all of it was required, but I preferred to weld rather than nuts & bolts). I even built my own Ford 460 engine and shoe-horned it into the available space.

All that said, I think I'd like to try a speedy next. Many of the comments here seem to deal more with professional builders, as opposed to those who built their own. It's clear that a CMC requires more body work than I'm willing to invest. But, what about the others? If you were going to build your own in your own garage, which one would you choose and why?

My initial thoughts: a "higher" performance engine - 120 to 140 HP would probably be strong enough; tube frame for rigidity and safety; as true to the original as possible; leather, not vinyl; manual tranny; disc brakes, at least in the front. I'm not much of an air-cooled guy, but I'm sure I can learn well enough.

Also, any thoughts on what I should pay for a well engineered kit that includes frame, body, prehung doors and lids, glass, and maybe some incidentals?

Thanks for the wealth of information so far! This is a great club! I wish I had this much support when I was building my Street Beast!

Steve

"It's clear that a CMC requires more body work than I'm willing to invest."

Huh? CMCs came with a decent gel-coat colored surface that needed no body work or painting at all. (ok maybe a couple stress cracks that you see on alot of fiberglass cars.) Back in 1989 when CMC was still in business - the kit with premounted doors was $7995 (in extra cost black with bumper over-riders). The gel coat might not be a show quality finish but better than dull original Speedster and very durable for a driver. Plus the gel coat can be wet sanded and buffed to near show quality. Even after 20 years in garage mine is still shiney all over.

Tools aren't issue - to build a CMC takes a good 400 hours (not their advertised 40 hours). Not sure that there are now that many unfinished "kits" even available. Most seem to be turnkey - or turnkey sans engine.

Thanks. I was saying that it requires bodywork, not from the standpoint of cracks in the gel, but from making things fit. I've read about issues with "rear sag" and irregular panel gaps that take a lot of "massaging" to make them really fit correctly. Did I read that incorrectly?

Alan Merklin, a frequent denizen of this forum, has assembled a number of beautiful cars based on CMC/Streetbeasts kits. However, he will tell you that the quality from the factory is lacking, and that they need a LOT of re-engineering. You can get partially finished cars from Beck, Vintage, JPS, and Thunder Ranch. The Beck cars are factory built, painted, wired, and upholstered, with little extra to do other than install the drive train, complete the front suspension, install lights, and add fluids. If that's too complete of a starting point, contact the other folks for kit info. It all depends on just how much work you want to do, and how much you want to spend.

I'm currently 22 months into my cmc build. pffft - 40 hours. it would have looked like shit if someone rushed it in 40 hours

Paul - You're still a babe at only 22 months - mine has been sitting 20 years - with good recent progress egged on by local fellow SOCers.

Rear end sag is a non-complicated 2 hour fix - remember CMCs were last flashed in 1992 so they are now 17 years old at youngest. Body panel fit is better than original on mine - not to current Japanese stds though I'm sure.

My guess is a new kit would be $16k? (Ouch, Beck "Roller" is $26k)

Re-engineering is part of the build hobby - if you wanted a cookie cutter perfect car you get an Audi TT for what $40k.

The price now for the Beck Deluxe Pre-Assembled Body Package (DPABP) is $18,995. This link points to details and pictures of what the car looks like as it's delivered: http://www.beckspeedster.com/whatsadeluxebodypac.html

I am anything but partial about this, because my car was the DPABP built at the '06 Carlisle show. If I were doing another one, I'd probably do exactly the same thing - minus the pressure of a build at a car show, right Gordon?

Erm... I meant to say "anything but IMpartial". Oops.

err.....what?

Did I hear my name?

I've built a CMC. I bought it as an escape from an over-pressured job that I had at the time. I figured it would take about 6 months to finish and that things would pretty much all fit together.

In the end, it took about 9 YEARS to complete (admittedly, I was working on it whenever I could while doing a lot of traveling), nothing fit, everything I touched became custom (much of it was by my own choice) and the end result was a pretty good car that is exactly as I wanted it. I guess that says a lot. I had all of the typical CMC horror stories but got through it all. I've also worked on VS cars, IM's and several CMC's belonging to others.

I have now bought another CMC kit, mostly because it was (a.) pretty complete, (b.) never started (been sitting in a garage for 20 years) and (c.) My son and I wanted to play around with a water-cooled speedster that would eat Cobras for breakfast.

Having said all that, my first question to you would be "how fast do you really want to have this car finished?? If you really want to Git R Dun in a year, then buy the Beck kit, period. Yes, it's more money than a CMC that is half completed or something, but it is VERY complete, everything fits within reason, the fit and finish is terrific and you should be able to get it to the point of starting it up with a month of evenings and weekends. Honest.

I organized the group that built Lane's car in two days at the 2006 Carlisle show. Both my son and I were amazed at how easily it all went together. I can't remember how many times I turned to Chris during the build and said "I should have built one of these". He once said "Yeah, you might have had it done for my high school prom, or my high school graduation, or my college graduation, etc, etc...." (I did have it done for his wedding......)

You get the idea. Regardless of what you build, at this point in time you'll be spending around $20K or up for a finished car, whether it's a CMC or Beck (or VS, but I haven't heard of many people building VS kits). I just think you'll have a lot less labor tied up in the Beck, for a better quality car...

Of course, for a newbie, the BEST thing to do is buy a good, used Speedster just to see if you and your spouse/spouse-equivalent really like it - they are not for everyone and may not be what you think it will be, believe me...

Just my (very long) 2 cents.

Gordon

err.....what? Did I hear my name too ??

Street Beasts? Slip on those Nikes and ...."Run Forest Run" is all I can say about their speedster "kit"....While it is do-able, the less than common sense engineering requires alot of additional man hours to fabricate what should have been done correctly in the first place...I'll assume you found this out with their street rod.

Beck: Pre-assembled body and chassis is a fairly straight forward assembly with great Carey Hines' customer support.
Check their web site and do call Carey and speak with him.

Vintage Speedsters also make a kit but it is a kit and not a preassembled package other than all holes being predrilled..you can order the speedster on a roller chassis etc. too.
Check their web site and do call Kirk and speak with him.

CMC's A decent speedster to rehab if you have the time, patience and pockets..I've done 14 to date and can "estimate" + - that you'll spend $6-8k above your purchase price for a well used one.

And..if you would first like to get aquainted with a speedster and discover what you want in this type of car, there are a number of low mileage used one's available.

~ Alan

Thanks for all the detailed, insightful responses! Sounds like the best for me is either a Beck, or a Vintage. I'm not afraid of the VS being completely disassembled, so if I can save a little scratch by trading for elbow grease, that's good. You confirmed that I probably don't want to do a CMC again. I'm very happy with the result of the street rod I built, but it did take a bit of reengineering their package, as opposed to really fitting together the right way the first time. If I do this thing, you'll surely see more of me in the future! Thanks, all!