Hello everyone in the New Year.
Please advise. I'm trying to keep the identity of the Speedster 356 from 1957 as much as possible. The interior decors for the silver 5706 are black or red. But I would like the beige interior. Is this a big mistake?
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Its ur car, do whatever makes U happy.
I'm guessing Porsche didn't offer the silver/beige color combo because (with certain exceptions) from a decorating standpoint, they don't go together. If you're trying to recreate a Speedster with an authentic look it's not a combo I would choose. Most people will think that your silver/beige Speedster is gorgeous, though; just be aware that anyone with decorating/design/color training might notice.
Darker Cognac/baseball glove color looks great with silver and has a modern vibe.
Silver with beige was done on several 550 Spyders. Surprised to hear it wasn't a thing on Speedsters.
@jaho posted:Hello everyone in the New Year.
Please advise. I'm trying to keep the identity of the Speedster 356 from 1957 as much as possible. The interior decors for the silver 5706 are black or red. But I would like the beige interior. Is this a big mistake?
Silver and beige is beautiful, but not standard on the Speedster that year. At the risk of veering into a different question, let me make a few observations about speedster ownership and the decisions involved.
You have to sort through the multiple feelings you've got about owning a replica speedster and decide which are the most important:
I had mixed feelings as we went through the design decisions for our speedster. Fairly quickly I decided that it wasn't important to me that our car be almost indistinguishable from a real speedster. I liked 911 Fuchs. Marianne liked silver paint and tan leather interior. I liked a banjo steering wheel, Marianne liked a Nardi. I like a bumperless outlaw look. Marianne demanded air conditioning, I like EFI that looked like webers. And so on and so on.
We ended up with a mild outlaw that we both considered to be one of the best cars we've owned. A rap of the knuckles on the fender or a look at the parking brake would tell a knowledgeable observer that it wasn't a real speedster. To reduce any confusion someone might have, our license plate read "FAUX-57" and it rocked a PCCA (Plastic Car Club of America) engine grill badge. The fact that it was a replica was no problem with anyone I talked to. We got invited to crater runs (up the 10,000 ft slope of Haleakala) and meet and greets with the exotic car owners around here.
For me, it was better to have the car I liked rather than an exact replica. Like I said, picky car fans will be able to discern if your car is real or a "kit car."
Don't sweat the small stuff. Make it the car that you like, not the car you think someone else will like.
@jaho posted:I would like the beige interior. Is this a big mistake?
No.
Do what you want. It'll never be "real", so obsessing over originality will not impress anybody, really.
It won't ever be a Porsche 356 -- it'll be better.
One of our replicas will always be distinguishable from an original.
No matter what you do, it will show, somewhere on the car.
Imagine that someone discovers that your car, as close to an original as you can legitimately make it, isn't as represented. Will it crush you?
If so, this hobby may nor be the right one for you.
Because I want to preserve the identity of the 356 speedster as much as possible, I agreed with my wife on a red interior...
I also tried to push the option of a black speedster and beige interior, but my wife hates black...
Thank you all for your opinions.
In the end, you just could have asked your wife what she wants and avoided the angst.
@Panhandle Bob posted:In the end, you just could have asked your wife what she wants and avoided the angst.
THX Bob - laughed so hard I had to clean coffee that was in my mouth off the keyboard and screen.
If you have an original "real" Porsche - I'd keep it authentic to it's original build BUT on a replica - just do what makes you happy.
@jaho posted:Because I want to preserve the identity of the 356 speedster as much as possible, I agreed with my wife on a red interior...
I also tried to push the option of a black speedster and beige interior, but my wife hates black...
Thank you all for your opinions.
Yep. I got to choose all of the technical bits and I asked Marianne to choose the appearance bits. After 55 years together I'm starting to catch on.
@Panhandle Bob posted:In the end, you just could have asked your wife what she wants and avoided the angst.
There is more truth to this comment than anything we could provide.
@jaho wrote- "Because I want to preserve the identity of the 356 speedster as much as possible..."
I don't know if this is you- There have been people who have gone to the trouble of using all the P parts they can find to the point of installing a 356/912 engine (and transaxle- why not?) in their quest for originality, thinking that these touches will make their replica more "Porsche-like". Does it actually make their replica better/special, or worth more than anyone else's Speedster? I don't think so- it's still fiberglass and doesn't have a P vin# so it will never be a Porsche or accepted for membership in the local PCA chapter. Accept that fact, enjoy driving around with the wind in your hair in something that LOOKS GREAT (and didn't cost almost as much as your house and is irreplaceable) and you'll be a happier man.
As has been already said, build it for yourself to enjoy and don't worry about what anyone else thinks (well, except for maybe your wife). Most people will love it (they'll never stop talking to you at gas stations, wanting pics of them beside it or gushing over it wherever you are) while every once in a while there will be that 1 person that criticizes it's very existence JUST BECAUSE.
Ask him what he drives, or (better yet) just ignore him and roar off with the wind in your hair...
Silver and red are so classic. You can't go wrong there and the wife likes it. Can't wait to see it when you get it all done.
Late last summer we attended a local show and shine event nearby on a beautiful sunny day. Many nice hot rods, sports cars and classics. My roadster has Porsche emblems here and there but I retained the Intermeccanica badge on the right fender. Upon leaving the show some guy walking behind us blared out..." my Wife says your car is a fake". I stopped and waited for them to walk up to us. I explained that it is a replica. He moaned that I was trying to show off something it clearly was not and that is wrong. I made a casual glance at his Wife and made a few observations. I told him it looked like she was wearing nail polish, high heel shoes, perhaps a bra, lipstick and may have even dyed her hair but I wouldn't call her out as a fake. Flustered, she just walked off and he quickly followed. The couple with them just shook their heads.
Is a plastic spoon a replica of a silver spoon?
@David Stroud IM Roadster D posted:Late last summer we attended a local show and shine event nearby on a beautiful sunny day. Many nice hot rods, sports cars and classics. My roadster has Porsche emblems here and there but I retained the Intermeccanica badge on the right fender. Upon leaving the show some guy walking behind us blared out..." my Wife says your car is a fake". I stopped and waited for them to walk up to us. I explained that it is a replica. He moaned that I was trying to show off something it clearly was not and that is wrong. I made a casual glance at his Wife and made a few observations. I told him it looked like she was wearing nail polish, high heel shoes, perhaps a bra, lipstick and may have even dyed her hair but I wouldn't call her out as a fake. Flustered, she just walked off and he quickly followed. The couple with them just shook their heads.
Love it. I assume you sized the guy up before you crapped all over his wife.
:-)
@dlearl476 posted:I would have thought so too, until Ric scored this Beck...
If you like it (better yet, if Ric likes it) that's great. It doesn't do it for me.
Porsche may not have liked silver and beige for the speedster but they sure did for the Spyder. Mine and the real one I copied.
@550 Phil- The Speedster above has 2 neutrals- a fairly light silver on the outside and a light beige on the inside. While they could be looked at as ok together, they don't really compliment each other. That beige would look really good if the outside was black, red, maroon, or a dark brown. It's hard to tell from the pic, but it may even work with white (if there's enough contrast).
Yours is more pleasing to the eye, Phil, because your seats aren't beige- they're a brown with a bit of a red/orange tone, which stands out a bit and that works with the silver.
Remember guys, I'm speaking strictly from a color/decorating standpoint and it's not my intention to insult anyone's car (or their choices). Depending on tone, combinations that you'd think don't normally work together can look quite good.
PS- Looking at that Speedster pic again (and I have looked at it again, and again and...) I've figured out what I don't like about it- it's the tonneau cover that's catching my eye. It's way too light for that car. Now if it was black I could forgive the light brown seats on the inside and all would be right with the world 
This is gonna' sound more opinionated than it should, especially given that I think people should just do what they like with their own car-- but I agree with Al. The linen tonneau on a silver car makes the entire thing look washed out.
The wheels are also a problem for me.
Silver wheels look fabulous -- way better than chrome, to my eye -- on any color car OTHER THAN silver. The silvers are never going to match, so it always ends up looking like they tried and failed to be matchy-matchy. If they DO match... that's a look I really, really don't like (body colored wheels). It's a conundrum on a silver car, unless the silver is different enough that it compliments, rather than "almost matches". Sometimes blasting them works, sometimes not.
I've worked around it by brushing mine, but it's stupidly hard. Polishing works as well, but that takes me places I'm not ready to go. Black-out looks great, but too modern. I've seen guys paint wheels black, and then run beauty rings, which also looks silly to me.
All depends on the color of your driving gloves and scarf.
@Panhandle Bob posted:All depends on the color of your driving gloves and scarf.
Exactly.
People pay Rod Emory a lot of money to take their real 356 and turn it into a custom.
We shouldn’t feel compelled to stay true to being "original” for our cars.
These are bespoke cars. You do you.
@Panhandle Bob posted:All depends on the color of your driving gloves and scarf.
Wait....... You've got a "driving scarf", too? 🧐
Suddenly, with all of the LL Bean stuff I wear, I'm feeling kind-a, I-dunno, déclassé. ☹️
Glad you see it, @Stan Galat! You have an eye for detail.
@Kevin - Bay Area posted:People pay Rod Emory a lot of money to take their real 356 and turn it into a custom.
We shouldn’t feel compelled to stay true to being "original” for our cars.
These are bespoke cars. You do you.
This is what we've been saying FOR YEARS!!!
@ALB, I was invited by 2 members to join the local PCA chapter.
One of them gave me a vin number to use when applying.
I have never heard any local member say anything regarding me being am member with my fake Speedster. I do sometimes feel a little bit like an interloper.
I have avoided participating in events involving other chapters.
Gordon:
The closest I can get is an oversized stained yellow shop rag and a pair of black Mechanix gloves with a hole in the thumb on the left one.
Call Marty.
Since we sold the speedster, I'm only driving the electric LEAF. I usually wear white gloves and sneakers like my hero, Reddy Kilowatt.
@Michael McKelvey posted:@ALB, I was invited by 2 members to join the local PCA chapter.
One of them gave me a vin number to use when applying.
I have never heard any local member say anything regarding me being am member with my fake Speedster. I do sometimes feel a little bit like an interloper.
I have avoided participating in events involving other chapters.
You're very fortunate, Michael; it sounds like they are real 'car guys' and can appreciate something well done. The P guys I've met haven't all been as open minded when the subject of replica Speedsters comes up
@Michael Pickett posted:Since we sold the speedster, I'm only driving the electric LEAF. I usually wear white gloves and sneakers like my hero, Reddy Kilowatt.
Complete aside -- I desperately want that in a sticker to put on every electrical panel I've got (and I've got 3 in my house, one in mom's, and... um... 5 in the place across the street).
I am happy you found the stickers; I bought a handful on Amazon a few years ago. Along with this sign…
@Stan Galat Inquiring minds want to know how big is each panel? What are you running across the street.
@Joe Fortino posted:@Stan Galat Inquiring minds want to know how big is each panel? What are you running across the street.
I can tell you he is NOT running a "grow house" LOL!!!!!
@Joe Fortino posted:@Stan Galat Inquiring minds want to know how big is each panel? What are you running across the street.
Across the street, I have a 200a main panel in the detached shop -- this is the electrical entrance for the property. There is only one meter for everything, which means I'm paying for the utilities (which is important for what happens next).
From the shop I run 4/0-4/0-4/0-2/0 cable underground (in a conduit) to the house, which has a 200a "house" main panel. I cut the house into 2 apartments, with a 100a panel for each floor. The panels for each apartment are in their respective apartment. That's four.
The final panel is for the electric heat -- it's 100a and in the basement. The primary source of heat in the house is mini-splits, which are only good down to about 0 deg. The issue is that It gets colder than that here, so I also have permanent resistance electric heaters built into the walls. I don't want tenants running electric heat until it is required, so I've got a 200a contactor that pulls in the electric heating panel when a thermostat senses that the outdoor temperature is cold enough to activate the panel (and as a result- the heat). There are a few electric heaters that can be operated independently (in the bathrooms), but I want to avoid a situation where a tenant has the windows open, the A/C on, and the electric heaters running.
That fancy heating panel makes 5. Setting sub-panels and is cleaner and easier than running 15 miles of wire to a basement panel and having to run over every time somebody pops a breaker. This is why the whole thing has taken me almost 3 years, and chewed up 200% more than I'll ever get back out of it.
Also, I forgot the garage panel at Mom's, and the one in the unfinished apartment over the garage in this house. So, that makes 4 here, 2 at Mom's, and 5 across the street.
Ask me how many A/C units I've got...
I also forgot the solar array panel. That's 6 over there for a total of 12.
Fake Porsche, kit car,
replica, plastic Porsche, clown cars? .....Hell no! They're TRIBUTE cars...
@Stan Galat posted:I also forgot the solar array panel. That's 6 over there for a total of 12.
That is what I love about you Stan, amps constantly at 11 or in this case 22!! That is really impressive and whoever rents the apartments are going to be living large.
