Is it that unsafe?

They're slightly safer than a bike.  It won't fall over on your leg & you won't lay it down in a curve :-)

They are small, quick, and lack modern safety features like crumple zones & air bags.

You do have to keep a keen eye on everyone around you.  In some ways, you're less visible than a motor cycle because you are so low.

IMHO, they are fair weather, surface street cars.  I only drive on the highway as little as possible.

If you buy one as a daily driver, under most conditions, you will be unhappy.

Because my speedster's black and tends to 'blend' into shadows and summer foliage backgrounds I drive with headlights on.

 

On the freeways I prefer the slower lane so nobody is squeezing past on my right side, and try to avoid hanging on to the blind rear quarter of anybody on my left...of course all that defensive caution is ignored when trying to keep pace trailing Peter Venuti on a Carlisle bound caravan!!!...

 

Jeez, I'm looking forward to that again. 

 

 

 

Thanks Tom. I have other daily drivers so I won't be using the 356 as the primary mode of transportation.

 

What attracts me to this car is its unique look and mechanical simplicity. It is absolutely gorgeous yet subtle. 

 

What I don't want is to having to pray each time I step into the car that I will survive the drive. This is too excessive for my intended purpose of this car as I'm not looking for any thrill - just retro fun.

 

I have never driven any small car before I don't know how it will feel like to be invisible to other drivers. 

For a weekend cruiser these are just about perfect.  Drive defensively and you'll be fine.

Insert usual comment here: Come to Carlisle and take some rides with some of the participants...if you can wait until mid-May.

What Lane said :-)

It's a car that combines light weight, plastic body, distracting appearance, and in some cases significant horsepower with a rear mount engine and no modern safety features.

 

The light weight and high HP can make it both quick and fast. The rear mounted engine can make it squirrely in some driving and turning situations if you don't pay attention. It's appearance makes people gawk and get dangerously close to get a good look at it. If you have a significant collision you could be in real danger because of the absence of crumple zones and other safety features. Most aren't weather tight and aren't driven over the winter much in cold or wet climates. Outside of certain areas, SoCal for instance, it can be tough to find competent aircooled mechanics if you don't maintain it yourself.

 

BUT....I've never had more fun with a car, more or better camaraderie with a group of car aficionados or more bang for my buck from any car I've owned, and like most people on this site I've owned a bunch of interesting vehicles.

 

Define what you want from the car. Find a mentor from our group to help you. Take the time and make the effort to see as many variants as possible. Drive a few with differing engines and suspension set ups. Visit a manufacturer or two.

Read everything you can on this site.

 

It it's for you, WTTM. If it isn't, don't force it, look at other kinds of cars. The market constantly coughs up low mileage nice cars that somebody bought or had built and ultimately didn't match up with the owners expectations. I believe that is because, in most cases, the owners weren't honest with themselves about what they needed or wanted or could tolerate and the mystique overwhelmed their sense of reason.

 

Having said that, my Speedster works for me and I expect to own a 356 replica of some sort for as long as I am able to drive. 

 

If you want a gentleman's cruiser, there are plenty. Drive responsibly, defensively and safely and you should be fine. I don't think the accident rate for our cars is any higher than anything else, and may be lower because, once seen, people pay attention to our cars.

Stansmith ...   Initially I was looking at an original Porsche dark grey color but my wife suggested the bright red as it was more visible.  Although I drive vigilantly, I don't feel invisible as the red I chose really stands out.    

Stan, I've had my 356 for about 3 years.

The car was pre owned and once I was comfortable with

the car and had confidence in the car I took it out on the

highway.  It's bright silver and doesn't look like any other

car on the road, so being seen doesn't seem to be a problem.

For the most part I drive in the slow lane and make sure I'm

driving with the flow.  I'll pass if I need to.  I use all my mirrors.

The thing I concentrate the most on is "prop wash", the car is light

and a passing semi or large pickup speeding past you will move

you.   Doing 75-80 in this light of a car with little protection on a

highway isn't worth the consequences. 

If you are uncomfortable or unwilling to drive defensively this is not the car for you.

 

Buy the newest and biggest SUV you can afford and make some additional safety modifications to it.

 

I happen to be a Civil Engineer with a graduate degree in Highway Safety who has taught Defensive Driving and more important than that, someone who has survived more than 50 years of riding motorcycles throughout the West.

 

Defensive Driving does not make me nervous, riding with someone who breezes along with no expectation that bad things will happen scares hell out of me.

 

IMHO (I have no Data) these cars are significantly safer than a motorcycle.  A bird can kill you on a motorcycle.

 

If you drive defensively and avoid the wrong place at the wrong time, you can be safe and have a ball in one of these cars.

 

I drive my car like a motorcycle, on rural roads, in good weather in very lite traffic in the early mornings and can't wait to be on the road again.  

 

  

Now this is a high quality thread!

 

There are some things that we can do to add to the safety of these cars.

 

1.  A real right side rear view mirror.

2.  A third brake light.  Great LED stuff is appearing at auto parts stores.

3.  Enough power to get out of the way of trouble. 1600s don't belong on Interstates IMHO.

4.  Rear disc brakes---maybe not mandatory but great to have.

 

Absolutely--drive defensively, like every other vehicle wants to hit you!  I do have the mindset I had when I drove motorcycles to be very careful.  I work hard to be sure on interstates that no other vehicle gets close to me.  If I'm passing, I get around them as quickly as possible and never "ride along" beside another vehicle.

 

We have seen reports of some fender benders on this site and some serious accidents too.

I am really surprised at how few of these we do see and am thankful for that.

 

Please be careful out there!

1. Favor the slow lanes on freeways/turnpikes.

2. Stay out of blind spots. 

3. Drive it like it belongs to your girlfriend's father.

 

At Stan Smith: Is it that unsafe? YES! Is it worth the risk? We each must answer this question in our own way. For me, YES! For others, maybe not.

 

I have 30,000 plus miles on my Spyder. I've been rear-ended once, hit in a parking lot once when I was inside a restaurant eating dinner, and almost creamed a couple of deer. I drive as often as I can, pretty much a three-season car. I have driven 300 miles at a clip(of course stopping for gas and bladder), two lanes, interstate, rain, hail, sun, wind, heat and cold. I plan to Autocross again this year at Carlisle, then drive it home. 

 

No other car makes me feel as free. No other car is this much fun. Period.

Biggest gripe is lookie loos on the interstate that hang in your left three-quarter blind spot. But that is what the gas pedal is for!

JACK IS RIGHT BIG ENGINE FOR ACCELERATION

When's the last time you bought a boat to sink it?

Everything Jack said, squared! I'm with GERD on the engine issue. Can't imagine having less than my 2110 cc. I have had to punch it a couple of times to get people off my bumper or out of my blindspot. That means at least discs on the front to stop it. I too have had some deer dodging incidents and that is never pleasant, but so far so good.

 

A loud horn can be helpful. A couple settings on mine imitate police sirens, and I have used that a couple of times to wake people up.

Rich:

 

Tuesday.

Stan - SAFE is a relative word! Steps to improve driving safety include, but not limited to;

 

1. Driving a small car demands vigilante driving (driving as if other drivers can't see you in their proximity). Additionally, properly positioned and adjusted rear-view mirrors to keep an eye on your surroundings.

 

2. An air horn that is LOUD-AS-F**K to alert others to your proximity to their vehicle (backing or changing lanes).

 

3. Any other defensive driving techniques you may already know.

 

Aside from all that, the pure joy and gratification of driving your Speedster top-down along any roadway or highway, plus the coolness factor outweigh most other concerns.

 

I'm approaching 149,000Km (92,000 miles) on my '95 VS Speedster and daily driver. Been all over California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Utah and Colorado with relatively trouble free highway cruising with my 1835cc power plant.

 

No need to over-think or over-complicate the simple pleasure of driving a car you enjoy! 

Hey Bob,

My anemic horn sounds like a childs' rubber squeeze toy!

Please dialog me with info on your attention getter.

carl - check Dialog message! 

I like the WOLO 619, available at www.wolo-mfg.com.  123 decibels, it gets their attention.  $69, comes with a relay.

Carl:

 

Check the site that Jim refers to. My car came with the WOLO 345. Weird, and I don't use the animal sounds unless I am around Marty & Sandy G., and there is no reason behind that, just having fun!

 

I think there are about 8 different siren versions on the thing, and they are reasonably loud.

The closest call I had was summer before last.  I accelerated from a stop light and somebody crossed the median right as I was coming to speed.  Luckily, we both made the right decision.  He kept going and I braked and went behind him.  The next winter I had Carey install rear discs.  

 

The thing that I've had to learn to watch for the most is that I appear to be farther than they think because I'm small and I'm accelerating much faster than they expect.

 

Of course, I might be accelerating a little more than necessary ;-)

Well, I guess I should mention the dangers of your throttle cable. Be cautious, when mine broke on my speedster my car was totaled. Yep that little cable totaled my car. Or I should say the damn ass tow truck driver who didn't tie the wheels properly and let it fly off the flatbed trailer as we exited the freeway.

warren has a great story on the idiot truck driver that moved into his lane.

"Stand on it" Tom..."STAND ON IT!!!"

You can add some safety designs.....I know not all cars have the collapsible steering column and some don't want them. You make your choice. I have an electric fuel pump which worried me in case of a crash...still pumping fuel. I added a inertia switch from a peugeot 205 which cuts off the power to the pump on impact....lets hope there isn't one !!

Jack Crosby about said it all. I view my car as my 4-wheeled motorcycle. I stay quite conscious of my surroundings whilst driving, and like Danny said, I hit the go pedal to lose lookie-loos. Just clicked over 20,000 miles this past year with no incidents.(knocking wood)!

 

Either of these Hella Horns will make you heard quite well! I have the dual horn kit.

 

http://www.carid.com/universal...uM3bsCFcTm7Aodw28Apw

 

http://www.4wheelparts.com/Ext...yM3bsCFU5o7AodgwMAzw

Thanks Bill, and happy healthy New Year.

 

I've only had to peep my horn four times!

And peeped, or squeeked, accurately describes the sound...it's like saying "Excuse me for interrupting your slumber, but please, please, don't squash insignificant me"

 

The melodic two and three tone Hella air horns are nifty, but I want a harsh blaster that says "WAKE UP NUMNUTZ, or you'll face the wrath of God!!"

Carl, I grabbed a pair of horns from a Suby at the junkyard, they are loud enough and grab your attention without being either too loud or too meek.

 

Of course, I have also given the engine a quick rev, clutch in, as my exhaust note can sometimes waken the sleeping drivers......

Oh, don't sell the Hella's short, they are not meek. They are loud air horns in every sense of the word. Much louder than the WOLO I have in the motorhome!

 

~WB

Hey Bill...I've got an idea.

 

Come Carlisle weekend why don't we suggest a horn 'Honking Contest' in the Merriott parking lot?

 

There could be a couple of judging categories such as The Loudest, The most Melodious, and for frugal people like me The Best Value for the money.

It would be a hoot!!!

Great idea Carl!  Midnight on Saturday .  I'm sure no one will mind.

Stan, some are safer than others. Most of these cars are built nowadays with some sort of chassis modifications which would prevent the body from sliding off a VW pan like toppings off a pizza, but many are older -- and not built all that well.

 

Most owners try to make them as safe as they want them to be in order to drive them how they want to. The older cars, the pan-based ones -- are also the more under-powered ones with very little in the way of upgrades. They've been termed "starter cars," or "entry-level" here on the site for years.

 

Occasionally, some dummy will completely re-invent their car and post the results here for all to see. I might be such a dummy.

 

When I bought in, it was a very simple 80s-era pan car from Classic Motor Carriages for about $15K that hooked me. I utterly ignored maintenance for a few years, destroyed the mechanicals in the process and had to make a decision. I decided to keep it, but to make my own version of what I thought a fake Speedster should be. Instead of having a Volkswagen I could treat like crap, I had to do something better in order to justify the expense, so I enlisted the help of a fabricator and went to work.

 

After 18 months of fabrication and engineering work, we came up with a seriously rigid chassis and a 2.4-liter engine, better-than-average four-speed gearbox and a relatively visible answer to the low-slung "invisibility" problem -- orange powdercoat.

 

I've put thousands and thousands of miles on it, and as long as I'm able to keep my head on a swivel (and plan my turns), and there's only one Speedster in North America which might be able to keep up -- Rich Drewek's monster.

 

Depending on how insane you are, these cars can be turned into something really fun. I don't hesitate to get into the left lane, I'm able to punch it and outrun 911s. Like Danny P, I absolutely agree with the fun-meter for this general idea being linked to the sense of freedom you get from just being able to leave complications behind you.

 

Danny, incidentally, is the one guy I've actually run head-to-head with and watched his car disappear in front of me. His Spyder is amazing.

Be careful, kid Cory.  You never know who's listening when you say there's only one Speedster in North America that can keep up with you.  Some of us old broken-down guys are developing gofasticas.  If I was younger and smarter, I'd put the smiley face HERE.

Point taken, Jim.

 

Only one air-cooled, four-cylinder Speedster that I know of. I'll try to get out more.

 

:-)

 

Thanks Cory! My engine will get tired and worn someday soon, the way I drive it!

 

Tom Blankinship: And it will be

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LEGENDARY!