MORE KUDOS TO VINTAGE SPEEDSTERS!

Just wanted to start a thread to give a huge shout out to the VS folks again. I have had my new widebody speedy for about a week now! Besides a few very minor issues (nit-picky stuff) this car is fabulous.

To cut to the chase; Wednesday night after attending a car show, the 2275 started acting up....spitting, coughing, popping..just generally having a fit! I sent an email to Kirk late Wednesday night (after 10pm), he responded that night letting me know he would call around 8am Thursday. Forward to 8:05 Thursday morning; Kirk is on the phone and says the engine builder (Roland) will call me on my cell around 10am. Just like clock-work, 10am Roland calls and says what day can he come out to get her running good again. We decided on Saturday morning (today). First thing Roland rolls up with a brand new electronic ignition...fixes the carbs, does timing, test runs her and it is faster and more responsive. Turns out that it needed a better ignition (points went bye-bye)..no charge and Roland had to drive about 120 miles round trip (I did give him a pretty reasonable tip for being so prompt and enthusiastic).

Ok, Ok, I am writing a book, I know. You just have to know that the service I am getting from VS is rare to nonexistent in the custom car World. I do not care how shiny some other paint is or how "correct" some other cars are or how much the dash is covered with vinyl/leather...THESE GUYS ABSOLUTELY FRICKIN' ROCK!!!

A side note: Roland is offering some killer upgrade and re power specials now as times are slower. Anybody with a 1600, 1915, 2275, 2332 that want more reliable power via heads, carbs, exhaust or Turbo, call Kirk at VS and ask for Roland personally. I guarantee you will be surprised by the pricing and workmanship..just do it!

Let's use this thread to give credit to VS and not to compare or bash, please.

See some of you next Saturday in sunny Malibu!!!!

Billy---amen to what you said!! I feel the same way and I'm 1,500 miles away from Hawaiian Gardens.

3-4 weeks ago I emailed Kirk about my erratic tach. He said to send it back and he'd swap it out for a functioning one. The day after I mailed my inop tach back I had the replacement from Kirk. I know he shipped the replacement out well before receiving mine.

The new one works great ,but again Kirk comes through like a champ.

Oh---the car is a year old. I bought it from a guy who bought it from a re-seller and still I get this kind of service!

Last point--there was no charge for the replacement.

Who would I buy from in the future? Who do YOU think?? Kirk is the best. Thanks, Kirk!---Jack

Nice post Jack....keep 'em coming folks....need more positive reporting here!

billy
you up for a bloody mary this morning?
I left you a voice message

Businesses that strive for customer service, who follow up and take care of things that go wrong, deserve to survive this economic client.

Here's to doing the right thing, for the right reason - and wishing Vintage great success in the process!

angela

mmmm, bloody mary's!!! Make mine spicy!

Vintage Speedters:
Great product at a great price with good customer service and as we read again and again, Kirk's customer post delivery support is a huge plus.
I've probably bought $18k plus worth of interior and misc parts from them over the years ...I am one of the many 100% satisfied customers. ~Alan Merklin

Amen!! Satisfied customer here, my girl purrs like a kitten, never one ounce of trouble in the three years I have had her. When I first ordered my car it was about 3-4 weeks before the Paso Meet (3 years ago), I was literally jumping up and down with excitement (my Dad has gotten one a few months prior, and I loved his) anyway, I really really wanted to go to paso in my new tub, Kirk made it happen for me!!! It was awesome, I got it the day before the meet, it ran like a charm with absolutely no problems!! Kirk and Mary are the best and I would not recommend anyone else, as a matter of fact we have a very wealthy client (im a Realtor) and he saw my car last week and about flipped! He is now considering one for himself, needless to say I will direct him to VS.

Cheers!

Gerd;

Got home super late from a Halloween/harvest festival in Yucaipa...sorry I missed the call! Busy cooking for Family today...let's do it on a rain check!

Thanks again for the invite.

BB

I goota chime in here cause i been telling everyone the same about Kirk and Mary for years. The main difference between them and all the rest is that they do it because they are good people, the rest do it for gain....
Forget car Manufacturers, I don't know to many people in general who act like that...

I completely agree...
Kirk and Mary are the absolute best.
Any concern I have ever had has been taken care of immediately, no questions asked.
They are people who really care about their customers and their reputation which is extremely rare now days.
I am very pleased with my car and glad that I trusted Kirk to complete the conversion of my beloved bug that I have owned for so many years.

Thanks, VS!

I took delivery of VS Speedster in mid Aug. Did not run well fron the start coughing spltting hesitating. Kirk Horace and Rolland were right on it They replaced the coil points wires balanced and adjusted the floats on the Weber 34's Finally it was the wrong size jets in the carbs not enough fuel. Runs great now. They worked with my mechanic and PAID FOR EVERYTHING. They know what customer servie is all about!!! I almost forgot I overpaid for the car by $5000 they called me up told me and sent a check the next day. How about that!!! Why would anyone not buy from Vintage. Dan

Dan. You have toooo much money if you can afford to overpay US$5000!!! By the way that five grand would buy a complete kit with all the trimmings including softtop, interior, screen in fact everything besides the donor car and motor!!!

.......five grand would buy a complete kit with all the trimmings including softtop, interior, screen.

If that is so,(better add on another $8k) I'll take a bakers dozen to go for resale please :) ~Alan

Sorry guys. I was a bit out on my estimate of the prices of the kits. For a grand total of US$4666 you can have a complete kit. I have put down the prices below for your interest. If any one wants more info let me do the intro for you. I will not get anything out of the deal but could get me a nice discount on my next purchase!!

These price have a lot to do with the value of our currency which has taken a beating lately.

Body with steel sub frame with doors, boot and bonnet fitted . US$ 2182
Windscreen set including glass, frame and rubber set. US$ 325
Front grills cast pr. US$ 62
Engine grill. US$ 101
Bonnet handle. US$ 83
Original style headlights pr. . US$ 140
Front indicators pr. . US$ 32
Rear hive taillights x 4. . US$ 64
Rear tear drop tail lights pr. US$ 112
Bucket seats (vinyl) pr. US$ 160
Door trim top and bottom . US$ 47
Rear cockpit trim. US$ 111
Dash top padded. US$ 87
Carpet set. US$ 157
Soft top with side screens. US$ 1115


These are for a right hand drive but i am sure they can do a left hand drive. In the event that mu8ltiple order are paced at the same time they will certainly talk price


To put this price into local perspective this would cover the rental of a small 2 bedroom house in a nice area close to the city for about one year!


Sorry for the hijack!!

My story is almost exactly like Jack's, although I bought my VS directly from a reseller out of state. Not only did Kirk and his folks get me through the title and registration issues, everyone in the operation has been unbelievably responsive to any question about the car, its build, or any part that's in it!

By the way, how many other replica makers can say that their car is on the cover of one of the Porsche Club's directories for 2008?

Super folks!

I spoke at length with Kirk at Vintage Speedsters, told him that I wanted to purchase one of his "wide body" kits, but in true kit form.  I explained to him that I wanted to demonstrate to my 13 year old son, all of the details and techniques in getting a kit car put together.  Kirk was informative, and I explained to him that I would need to buy "everything needed" to assemble the car and Kirk assured me that everything would be there.

 

I had the car shipped to me in Sarasota, FL and it arrived just fine.  I bought one of Kirk's transaxles so the car would be a "true" roller, and Kirk even made sure the brakes were installed and working.

 

As I began to catalog what had arrived in all the boxes, I began to realize that most of the parts were there (some crucial missing parts), but not a single nut, bolt, screw or fastener anywhere.  At first, I thought I'd made a mistake, because Kirk and I had discussed all these details and assured me that I would be getting everything.

 

So I sent Kirk a detailed email message, explained what was missing, and asked him to provide me with a "nuts, bolts, screws and fasteners" package.  Kirk responded by saying that he would provide me with the missing parts, but that he would NOT provide me with the necessary fasteners as he did not want to be in that business.  I was shocked, as I clearly had discussed this with Kirk, and I clearly described to him that I wanted to make sure that EVERYTHING necessary to assemble the car was provided to me.

 

So I continued to ask for other missing parts (including a wiper motor assembly - try and find one of those on the Internet ! ) and as I did so, I asked him to be sure to provide the necessary fasteners for each part that I bought.  I also continued to point out to him that I had paid him quite a bit of money (check out the price of a wide body kit, already on a VW chassis and then you will realize what Kirk had already received from me) but he continued to either ignore me, or to tell me yet again, that he did NOT want to be in the fasteners selling business.

 

Yes, obviously I have been able to find some of the parts online.  Getting the transaxle to engine bolts was a no brainer, and even obtaining a package to be able to assemble the interior properly wasn't too bad.  But other fasteners, like for the lights (front & rear), engine deck lid vent, and lots of other small components, those are difficult to find or even identify what size fastener they require.

 

So the point of this story, is that if you are looking to buy a fully completed car from Kirk, then he is probably an ok person.   But if you are looking to buy a kit car, you might want to make sure that you get EVERYTHING you need, written down and signed by Kirk BEFORE you give him any money.

 

Am I mad at Kirk ?  No, I made a mistake when I didn't have him sign that I was getting the fasteners with the kit.   

 

What should I have done differently ?   I should have flown out to California, with my written list of "must haves" and discussed the entire deal with Kirk, and got him to sign my list.

 

Do I like the car ?  Yes, but it is going to take me longer to assemble because I have to acquire each set of fasteners as it becomes necessary.

Maybe it's time on here to ask a simple question:

 

Has anyone on here who has built a CMC, Vintage, Beck or Intermeccanica, from a kit, ever received an entire complement of fasteners for their build??  I've built 2 CMC's and 1/14'th of a Beck, along with 2 Sand Sharks, 1 Meyers Manx, 1 Deserter and 4 locally-sourced dune buggies and I've never received a set of fasteners.  I know that the CMC manual gives you a complete listing of what you'll need but you have to go through the manual from page to page to find out what's used where.

 

Maybe it's me, and I understand that you may have asked for a hardware kit and was surprised to not receive it, but I don't think any of the rest of us have received one, either.

 

Anyone?

 

BTW:  I simply looked ahead in the CMC manual, saw what I would need and usually bought a box of whatever it called for.  Sure, I bought extra, but it's short money and now I have a selection of fasteners, both English and (mostly) metric in my shop that several in my neighborhood would be lost without - often times I have stuff that they can't find at the local ACE Hardware, so I guess it was money well spent, PLUS, I save a bunch on fuel by NOT having to run to the hardware store whenever I need a fastener.  Think about it.

Well, to resurrect a 4 year old thread is one thing. To bitch out one of the best guys in the business is quite another. I am sorry you are disappointed about not getting your nut and bolt package. I bought a Vintage Spyder rolling kit(back when Kirk shared a building with Greg Leach) and what was included was excellent. What wasn't included was all basic hardware stuff. I made a list and stopped at Lowe's or True Value on the way home MANY times to pick things up, and got really good at estimating bolt lengths etc. Would I do it again? Absolutely! Should you be mad that you have to buy all that stuff? Maybe, but I wouldn't be. I got to drill every hole and tighten every bolt, which makes it truly MY build, which is priceless!

Interesting.

I would have thought if you were purchasing a "roller" package, it would include everything necessary to build the kit, including the fasteners needed to complete the build.

Maybe that's the IKEA mentality.

Does it state on the website that fasteners are not included?

Perhaps it's a safety or liability issue. I can see that if the fasteners were included and were installed improperly, resulting in an accident, that could be grounds for a lawsuit.

Does Kirk include a material list in the assembly manual?

Regardless, Kirk is a stand-up guy.

I purchased a turn key VS from Kirk 2 years ago. From the minute the car was delivered (less than 4 weeks from day 1 call and cross country), Kirk was on the phone personally walking me through all of the knobs and levers. The first time I took the car for a spin, A hubcap cover flew off, Kirk replaced it overnight. When the clutch popped, Kirk and his crew had my truck on a flatbed being shipped to the closest "best guy" in my state. Repairs were covered at his expense. Customer service is #1. On that alone I would and will buy my next speedster from them. I have bought many additional parts and have sent multiple people back to VS for new cars and all have had only positive feedback. Great work to Kirk and his team as it is hard to find true, honest people in all walks of life, let alone in this industry.

To answer Gordon directly (and NOTHING to do with Kirk) YES we have a full hardware package with all of the metric nuts/bolts/screws/clips needed.

I imagine our hardware package and VS's have some differences.  If you have a list, e-mail it to me at   carey (AT) beckspeedster (dot) com

We buy metric hardware in bulk and I can put something together for you.

Sounds like Kirk is a stand up guy but it also sounds like a lot of folks have a lot of issues to have shortly after buying a new Vintage... I would think there would be less things to fix on a brand new Vintage.  I hope this is just a small sampling and that the SOC'ers that are vouching for Kirk are telling of their issues Just to show how responsive he is....

Scro...(tum)  , If Vintage cars when new had problems on a regular basis, I doubt all the

accolades would be given....All the builders cars occasionally have issues with their tubs,

even new ones, Vintage builds the most, in the shortest amount of time, at the lowest cost possible, I would not hesitate to take one of Kirks tubs from the shop, brand new and drive

it to my Buddy Jack Crosby's house somewhere on the East coast....

His tubs are obviously not for everyone, but they are certinally the best "bang for the buck"

you can buy....

 

Thanks Vince.  But I prefer "bean bag"...

Vince---we'll have the red carpet out for ya!

If you have a problem you'd like to discuss, surely the most efficient way of doing so is to post a rant on a four year old topic titled and comprised of content which is the exact opposite of what you're trying to convey. That way it isn't confusing or annoying at all.

It is you, not me, who "cannot realize what the point was". I'm trying to help you here, albeit sarcastically.

 

Fine, not a rant. You win. Is comment an acceptable replacement? Good. Now go back to my last post and replace the word rant with the word comment. Get it now? Still don't? Maybe this is your first online forum. Allow me to explain.

 

You are on an online forum. There are millions of them, all operating under largely the same basic guidelines. They are comprised of content posted by users. You are a user, as am I, as is everyone else who posts on the forum. The information on a forum is broken up into different topics. In order for the forum to function smoothly, as well as for everyone to GET THE MOST HELPFUL INFORMATION POSSIBLE, the comments posted by users in each topic should relate directly to the topic or to wherever the conversation has drifted in that topic. Yours did not.

 

"I had nothing to do with a post 4 years ago". Look at the comment left before yours. It was posted in October of the year 2008. That was almost four years ago. No one had posted anything on this topic in almost four years. It is a dead topic, left viewable for archive purposes.

 

Posting on a topic this old is a faux pas on an online forum. It can be very confusing for a plethora of reasons, mainly because people often don't realize the posts are old.

 

A hypothetical example: If someone posted five minutes ago on a topic about "The Best Brakes for Speedsters", people may click on it, go back a few posts, and read that Brand X makes the best brakes without realizing that the comments about Brand X were made in 2008. Those Brand X brakes may be archaic by now and much better brakes could be available. Or maybe they are no longer available and it would be a wild goose chase trying to track down a set. Or maybe in 2011 they were found to be defective and unsafe. This information wasn't posted in this four year old topic but because someone brought it back from the dead five minutes ago (which is what you did here), they may not realize the rest of the info in this topic is four years old and thus outdated. This is confusing, inefficient, and does not make for rewarding internetting.

 

Side note: Topics with no activity for, I believe it was, one year used to be read-only before the website switch. This should be implicated again to avoid confusion.

 

Not only is reviving a dead topic a no-no, so is posting way off topic out of left field. This is always true, but especially so when the nature of your post is negative. Go back and read the posts in this topic. EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM WITHOUT EXCEPTION IS A VINTAGE OWNER EXPRESSING THEIR SATISFACTION WITH KIRK, MARY, AND VINTAGE SPEEDSTERS. Even if this was a current topic and those posts were all made in the last 48 hours, posting what you did, the way you did is somewhere in between rude and miscategorized.

 

We can all see that you just joined the forum a few months ago. Coming out of the gate complaining about one of the unanimous good guys in this industry probably won't earn you many friends around here. Had your post been more of a "Hi guys, I see everyone really seems to support Vintage Speedsters and has high praise for their customer service. However, I'm having a bit of a problem with them because _________. Can anyone here help?" you may have received more helpful insight.

 

But the number one thing preventing people from helping you is that NOBODY REALIZES YOU NEED HELP WHEN YOU POST IN A TOPIC TITLED THE EXACT OPPOSITE OF WHAT YOUR POST IS ABOUT. A post titled "More Kudos to Vintage Speedsters" does not imply that someone is having an issue with Vintage Speedsters. Which brings me to...

 

What I was originally hinting at is that you should have started a new topic. It should have been titled something along the lines of "Help - I'm having trouble with Vintage Speedsters". That way it would have a title that actually tells people what it's about. More people could have seen that there was an issue that needed solving. In fact, I suggest doing that now.

 

I can tell you firsthand, the people on this forum are a treasure trove of information and they are all too happy to share that info with you. I once broke down in Las Vegas, four and a half hours from Los Angeles. Well, four and a half hours back when I had a 1600cc motor. Once I get the car back from John Steele with the Subaru 2.5 in it, it'll be more like 3 hours haha. Anyway, I was stranded in Vegas and didn't know an honest mechanic let alone one that works on Speedsters. Within an hour of posting on this website, I had the address and phone number of a shop in Vegas that is both reputable and familiar with replica Speedsters as well as the name of a contact there. Absolutely priceless.

 

The title of my post was something like "Broken down in Vegas - Please help". Had I posted the same issue under a three year old topic titled "I drove to and from Vegas with no problems at all", I doubt I would have gotten much help.

 

Hopefully this makes a little more sense than my initial sarcastic post.