Introduction

Welcome to the madness!  I'm sure that will be a very nice car, but why buy from a reseller when you can buy directly from Vintage?

Mainly because South Atlanta Motorsports receives the car from Vintage, disassembles it, wet sands and buffs the paint and works out all the bugs before delivery.  I've been looking at replicas off and on for 15 years or more.  I think Vintage builds a nice little car that I'll be very happy with, but frankly, their paint is often not that great.  The very small premium that Brian makes at South Atlanta is well worth it to me to not be disappointed and to not have 80 hours of work ahead of me the moment the car rolls off the trailer.

Nice looking car...Congrats

Welcome to the Madne...  Dang it, Troy!

 

Welcome anyway, Mr. 19652plus2.  What's your name?  That moniker is a little unwieldy for direct communications.

I've bought from southatlanta - my first speedster and my second direct from vintage 2 months ago.  

AND.....was the sorting provided by South Atlanta worth the money.  I can't think of a better person at this point to have a strong opinion on the matter :-)

For years, everybody on this site has advocated for buying direct from the builders in every single situation, regardless of the particular builders reputation for delivering a finished product. It's assumed that saving money is the absolute bottom line goal of every red-blooded 'merican, and that "sorting" (read: repairing) a new replica is something to be expected.

 

We have here a guy who has clearly done his homework, and has decided that the value added by somebody taking the time to clean up the "sorting" mess ahead of delivery is worth a premium. After watching the Analise and TDR nightmares unfold in front of us in real-time, I'm not sure anybody can make an argument that (if things really do work out as advertised) the service this reseller provided isn't worth whatever it costs.

 

19652plus2 may be the smartest guy on the SOC.

My first one was used from southatlanta motorsports and Brian the owner is a great dude. He has a red on there now with gumball stickers and wheels like mine.  Before he bought that red car it was with another dealer in Cali.  I almost bought that car but called Kirk to ask him a couple questions about it. That is when I decided to build new because I could get a couple upgrades and the cost was better.  I can not discuss what Southatlanta does from a mechanical standpoint but the finish on their cars is second to none. My issues where both mechanical and paint on my new one but I am getting her sorted now and really starting to enjoy.  Again I would be all over what they are doing mechanically to make sure the car is solid...  Brian at southatlanta is A really good guy...  I was talking to him about the blue car he has on the lot too when I ordered my news one.  I wanted to bigger 1915 cc motor so I passed on the blue  one which has the 1600cc.  He is also the dealer a while back that I said had the Jps coupe for sale.  he knows his stuff for sure.  at the end of the day you are still paying for shipping and the body work And a small mark up I'm sure...

What Stan said X2. This is a VERY smart approach!  "Pay me now or pay me later" right?

Sounds to me like all VS customers should be checking the "South-Atlanta-Motorsports-Speedster-Completion-Detailing" option box before signing on the dotted line...If there isn't such a box, maybe VS needs to include one.

I just can't understand the business logic in it from the Vintage end. Why would any business slap a $25,000 ( or whatever it may be ) product together and ship it out the door knowing that someone else will have to do the sorting out? If the customer needs to pay...let's say 80 hours at even $75 or $6,000 to get it sorted, I understand that part. Why would Vintage not understand that, take advantage of the extra work ( more business for them ) and sell a $31,000 car that will earn them a decent reputation and not have their face dragged in the mud over and over again. What am I missing ?

I see David and I are in agreement (as usual). The "South-Atlanta-Motorsports-Speedster-Completion-Detailing" option box-$6,000. Check it or be prepared to deal with the consequences. Plus add an additional 2 weeks (wow!) to delivery time.

Hello Chris.  Are you planning to drive that beauty to Carlisle in may to join us in "the madness"?  It's a worthy adventure.

Hoss

I told Brian if he could get it here in time (without rushing the process), I'd drive it to Carlisle and show it off to promote South Atlanta.  I spend a lot of time and money at Carlisle. 

Join us whether or not you have your Speedster.  There's always a big Baltimore/DC contingent, and you'll have a blast.  Better set up you hotel reservations soon, tho'.

I am digging that color by the way...

I agree.  If I had it do over again, I would go with that color.

Thanks, guys.  I love Slate Gray, even though it's not accurate for the '56 Speedster I'm trying to emulate.  South Atlanta has one right now that's Slate Gray with saddle and we really didn't care for the combination.  I like the gray with red, but our S5 is gray with red, so we're going with Slate Gray w/black, with gray piping on the seats, door toppers and eyebrow.  Should look nice.  We're doing bumper deco and overriders, rocker deco, but no belt line, Carrera badging and luggage rack.  Silver wide 5s (as you can see) and I'm going to run it without hubcaps.  I have a picture of a real one I took at the Monterey Historics last year with a set of driving lights that I'm trying to identify.  If I can figure out what they are, I'm going to try to tack down a set for our car.

I did the same thing...5 wides, etc and my paint is the Porsche Seal Grey that I had on my Boxster.  I had a red speedster before and it was beautiful but this time I wanted a little more bad ass and the dark color did it.  I also wanted to replicate my boxster.

Nice.  I've been following your threads.  I used to have a badass little Boxster.  My ex probably still has it.  

Pray for an IMS failure....

LOL.  I have to be careful of the karma thing, though.  I have a 996.

Everyday I worried about that damn IMS going.  My rear main seal was weeping as well.  so instead of doing the upgrade, I opted to get the fabspeed exhaust and powder coat my wheels.  If the IMS blew - at least I was gonna look good and sound even better. 

Looks like Kirk and Company are moving right along...

Sweet!!!

Home. Run.

 

... first time up. First swing. Outa' here.

Thanks.  We're getting pretty excited over here.  It still needs its badging, but it's starting to look pretty darn good to us! 

Looking really good!

What Danny said...

Our car ships out of California on Thursday on its way to Brian's shop in Atlanta.  Kirk's been a little stingy with the pics, but Brian promises to do better once it gets to him.

 

Hey, can anyone tell me if there's a vendor who sells the correct bright windshield wiper arms for these cars, or do I just need to refinish the ones that are on it?

Silver wiper  blades...http://www.autopartswarehouse.com/details/QQVolkswagenQQBeetleQQEMPIQQWiper_ArmQQ19681969QQEMP989558B.html

I just refinished mine two weeks ago. I used wheel paint in a "galvanized finish" from Dupli-Color. Looks just like aluminum and it cost all of $7.00.

Kirk had to change the seat belts out and put the radio in, but it was scheduled to ship today...

 

NICE!!!  i'm excited for you!

Thanks, man.  I am going back and forth between reading here and reading your build.  Lots to learn. I want the car to look very convincing.  The spousal unit is laughing at me because the car's not even here and I'm buying all kinds of stuff that either needs to be added or replaced...

How many miles did they put on it before it shipped out?

Looks like rear is a little too high.  But that is just to me.  Awesome looking car.

 

Stephen

 

I asked Kirk to lower it as much as he could.  We'll see how he did.  If it's not low enough I'll pull it apart when it gets here.