Yes, indeed, Rich Downing's Speedster. I went through the archives of this forum and found out that some of you have tried (or considered) to get her too. I am sorry for you all... (but maybe you'll get a second chance). I already had seen the car on a guest page Rich had at the 356Registry site. I hardly could beleave it was a replica (I owned a Roadline before). And when she suddenly appeared (end of May 2004) on speedsters.com and Ebay I immediatly took action by contacting Rich. We quickly had a deal. The shipping from Oakland to Rotterdam took a little more time then the 6 weeks the company had promised. Delivered at the Oakland shipping company the 7th of June it finally arrived in Rotterdam the 24th of August!!! Due to lack of freight from Oakland they had to transport the car to LA Longbeach first. There it took much more time at customs because of strikes or something. The 19th of july she finally sailed!
When I picked her up I hardly couldn't beleave my eyes. I found her in a warehouse stored between wooden krates and boxes accompanied by a real black '55 or '56 Speedster! It was an amazing first site. What a beautiful Speedster! Except for the taillights and wheels I couldn't see differences between the IM and the original!
At the moment I am still busy to get a dutch title. The 1958 Porsche title of the car wasn't accepted here by the guys of the RDW, the authority which checks imported cars before giving them a new dutch title. It was rejected because it was not recognized as a 1958 Porsche but as a recently built kitcar (formally spoken: a car assembled from different parts of different cars). They told me the 1958 title had nothing to do with this car (which is correct of caurse!) On top of that, unlike the shortened VW-pan, the 'new' tubelar IM-chassis does NOT have a formal approval overhere.
OK. What to do next? Well, I started the procedure to get an English SVA (Single Vehicle Approval) for a kitcar . As soon as the car has one it can get an English title. Which is an european title. When I import the car from England to Holland the RDW formally HAS to transfer it into a dutch title. But there still might be a one problem left. When it will be registered as a 2000 car it has to deal with todays stronger emission rules. Overhere they look at the year of building and not at the age of the engine like they do in England in case of a kitcar. If it all fails? She probably will be for sale again. I'll keep you informed (and happy drivin'!)
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