Hello, has anyone on here bought a kit from Rafael Albiter? He is in Mexico and seems to be an honest guy but you always want to make sure before you send any money. Any help would be appreciated, thanks.
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I was going to direct you to Arden because he purchased one from Rafael and he was really impressed. However, Arden suddenly sold off the project and has cancelled his membership here. You can read about the build here:
Some really cool features - the side engine vents, the interior, the folding top.
What a shame Arden didn’t stick around. He had a wealth of experience we could have shared.
I’m sorry he dropped his build. Hopefully we get to see it soon. Didn’t Stan or Alan buy it?
Thanks
We ordered a coupe off of him when he was first starting up. after 4 months my customer got nervous and pulled the plug. Rafael was gracious enough to return my customers money. I know that Paul Iozzio of Iozzio wheels is building a Rafael coupe. I like Rafael and have spoken with him quite a bit. I will be going with a Kitman Coupe after the Vodge is complete.
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I have a set of side vents (uninstalled, see Arden's pics above) that I bought from Rafael. Nice quality.
Easy to work with and very responsive.
Great to hear
@dlearl476 posted:What a shame Arden didn’t stick around. He had a wealth of experience we could have shared.
I’m sorry he dropped his build. Hopefully we get to see it soon. Didn’t Stan or Alan buy it?
Arden is a standup guy, he has a large sand & gravel business that takes up quite a bit of his time. I bought Arden's " Rafael " body with the installed and functional side intake vents, with a new Mendeola chassis..... with Airkewled .....17" wheels and tires. Rafael widened the rear of the body 1" on either side ( 17's ) for Arden but it is not really noticeable to the eye. Rafael is a good guy communicates well, I just ordered a tonneau, and he is throwing in a few smaller parts I needed at N/C. Rafael is anxious to have one of his completed speedsters here in the US and that's where I came into this equation.
I'm not.... going to use the roll bar, hard tonneau, head rest fairing .......Will List For Sale.... will install his scissor frame top assembly as the top with side curtains will attract a larger buyer market.
The schedule is: December...assemble all pieces to the body on a rolling cart and blow it back apart. January....Body goes to a local body shop for ( color?) paint while I'll blow apart the Mendeola chassis, change the rear coils spring rate, weld in the 1.5" drop floor pans then, paint detail it all for final assembly with reman custom build trans and new engine. February 1st... the body gets set to the chassis and the rest of build begins.
@Alan Merklin, this is very interesting news. Good for you! I look forward to following the progress.
And this is number? 72? Great to see it get built.
@WOLFGANG posted:And this is number? 72? Great to see it get built.
Will be the 59th ....
It may just feel like 72 to the good Dr.
You (obviously) should do you, Alan - but as an outsider looking in: a huge part of the appeal of that car was/is the hard tonneau and roll bar.
@Stan Galat posted:You (obviously) should do you, Alan - but as an outsider looking in: a huge part of the appeal of that car was/is the hard tonneau and roll bar.
Stan, I'm still undecided as I too, like the hard tonneau, headrest and roll bar but that would not allow for a top to be fitted at the same time.......
@Alan Merklin posted:Stan, I'm still undecided as I too, like the hard tonneau, headrest and roll bar but that would not allow for a top to be fitted at the same time.......
Understood. I'd be bold.
@Stan Galat posted:Understood. I'd be bold.
I’m with Stan. You will have no competition like it in the marketplace.
Tough decision, Alan. Do something different with this one. You know, like Candy.
Make it the lightest, best handling, outlaw-looking car you know you want to. Do a removable hard tonneau. I'd wager the rollbar WILL fit under the top. The top IS removable too, isn't it? Make this car the best of both worlds.
One day you want to be a bad-ass racer, no problem. The next day you want to have a top and look all respectable-like? No problem.
Do it!
@DannyP posted:Tough decision, Alan. Do something different with this one. You know, like Candy.
Make it the lightest, best handling, outlaw-looking car you know you want to. Do a removable hard tonneau. I'd wager the rollbar WILL fit under the top. The top IS removable too, isn't it? Make this car the best of both worlds.
One day you want to be a bad-ass racer, no problem. The next day you want to have a top and look all respectable-like? No problem.
Do it!
And there sat the devil on Alan's shoulder tempting him to do what he didn't really want to do. It sounds so tempting does't it? The devil whispered, just call me Danny.
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You can call me the devil, I just say what others are thinking anyway.
Just think about a dual-look car and the increased and universal appeal it would have.
The Speedster is in a storage facility across town, I'll be dragging it back to my garage by the end of the month after the dune buggy build is picked up. .... Will take a hard look at it then, thanks for the suggestions!
The " Airkewled 17" wheels are another item to address: The rear of the body was widened 1" on either side (Rafael) to accept the Airkewled wheels. I'll have to trim the inner wheel well lips as there is less than a 1/8" of clearance right now.... but the body does retain the stock look a good thing. Not so sure about the chrome wheel center and paint on the outer rim area, I could paint the outer area to match the car or, have that chrome powder coated and use P' crest hub caps. Hard to decide when I want to come up with an Outlaw - stock combo look.
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Alan wrote: "Not so sure about the chrome wheel center and paint on the outer rim area"
I looked up a bunch of Emory Outlaw images and a few (one silver, one black) had the chrome center and (usually) black outer rim...... 🤢 🤮
Then, Danny wrote: "One day you want to be a bad-ass racer, no problem. The next day you want to have a top and look all respectable-like? No problem.
I'm working on the "respectable" part - It hasn't quite happened, yet.
I can easily put my top up right over the roll bar, but I don't know how that would work with an articulated top mechanism getting in the way.
Time will tell.
Maybe the roll bar could be slightly lowered or angled if it interferes with the scissors top. I'm guessing the hard tonneau covers the top when it's down to include the rear body attachment piece? It has the exposed engine lid hinges like on the Emory cars. Rear "seat" area appears larger than CMC too.
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Why use the articulating top from Rafael?
If you're dead set on a top (and I wouldn't be), then just use the Vintage/CMC top everybody's been using for a hundred years. It's quick and easy to take off when the hard tonneau is in place, and not that hard to put on when it's off.
Regarding the wheels, I'd figure out how to dechrome them. They do not fit the ethos with chrome.
November 1st.. I get the speedster into the garage, I'll be able to answer some my own questions and.... yours too :~) What is good I can drill holes and try different things before it's off to the body shop in January. Yup, the wheels will surely be an issue to recon with. ....I'll move my build thread then.