Never titled low mileage IM in North Chicago suburbs

"Ambitious" is putting it mildly. It's $62K for a Type 1 car that somebody else speced. 

Same color as my car.  Mercedes beige grey.  Base IM Conv D with A/C.  Front VW torsion bar suspension.  Boulevard cruiser.  Probably overpriced.  But air cooled Conv Ds start at $77,440.  Add A/C and probably an $80k car rolling out the door.  Would be nice to know the build date.  How long the car has been sitting around is important.

Call Tom at the Last Detail if anyone has interest.  I had my car there for some detail work last year and he called me a few months ago when he was taking this car in.  

Stan Galat, '05 IM, 2276, Nowhere, USA posted:

"Ambitious" is putting it mildly. It's $62K for a Type 1 car that somebody else speced. 

True, but it's basically new.   It's also a no wait car with a very good color combination.  If someone likes it, call and negotiate.  

Love the interior, those seats looks like the finest chair in a gentlemen's library 

So who drops 80K on this car and drives it for a whopping 700 miles and decides it's not for them? I understand more for the $20,000 CMC or something (nothing against CMC) and you underestimate the "originality" of these cars but an $80,000 Intermeccanica? What didn't meet your expectations?

It IS a nice car, Marty, but my VS with a stroker and a five-speed is looking to me more and more like money well-spent.

You'd be surprised.  

Any custom built car is not a turn key modern car so many illusions abound no matter what the price of the car.  Even Ferrari's CEO says they don't sell cars they sell the dream.  If the dream I mean illusion crashes,  you get rid of it. 

My uncle, a retired top GM executive buys a recent new small caddy... after a few weeks I ask him how is his new car... he says he hates it and wants a different car he thought he would like it, but he finds it hard to get in and out of it.   I think "he thought" says it all.

IaM-Ray posted:

You'd be surprised.  

Any custom built car is not a turn key modern car so many illusions abound no matter what the price of the car.  Even Ferrari's CEO says they don't sell cars they sell the dream.  If the dream I mean illusion crashes,  you get rid of it. 

My uncle, a retired top GM executive buys a recent new small caddy... after a few weeks I ask him how is his new car... he says he hates it and wants a different car he thought he would like it, but he finds it hard to get in and out of it.   I think "he thought" says it all.

 

I get it....I understand.

I just can understand it more with someone that takes a flyer on a $20,000 Speedster more on a whim than an $80,000 Intermeccanica where you'd think a bit more research and thought would have gone into the purchasing decision 

I agree, You would think that more time would be put in on a $80K purchase decision... 

So, I never said this car cost 80k Phil did.  This car did not cost that much and it's still does not if you want to build new.  I'm not trying to sell cars for these guys.  This is a high end dealer and they ask premium prices.

It's take almost year to build an IM so this is a viable options for some.  It's up to the buyer to settle in to a price they can live with.  

My car is speced at a different level altogether and I do some serious road rallies with some sweet & powerful classic cars.

Mitch your VS is a value for sure. I had one for over three years and it was a fun car.  I had over 30k in mine but no matter how much I spent, I could never get it to fit our needs.  I moved to a Boxster and it was really an awesome car.   That lasted about two years until the little devil on my left shoulder pulled me into the madness again.  This time I'm almost 5 years in to it.  I am at the top of the hill with performance, comfort and reliability.  It's kept me in the hobby and to me it's been worth every penny.

 Peace out!

Marty, the whole up market vs. down market debate is one that pops up here about as often as the AC/Subie wars and the bloody clashes between defenders and critics of the egg sammich.

I totally get fantastic machines like yours and can sympathize with the severity of madness required to create them.

The thing is we all have different itches to scratch that need different amounts of scratching - not to mention different amounts of scratch.

I'm painfully aware of the differences in fit, finish, and construction between my car and an IM, but I knew that going in and chose to draw the line where I did. For me the right fit was a very basic car that has most of the Speedster look (from 50 yards away) and a drivetrain that's robust enough for reliable out of town weekend trips and for keeping up with freeway traffic.

What really makes me scratch my head are cars like the one in this post that have somehow managed to cost north of $60K but that still have pretty basic drivetrains. I'd be willing to bet - after a few miles on the interstates and after being dusted at more than a few stoplights by Civics and Corollas - that the owner of this IM probably started scratching his head, too.

I guess, to a lesser extent, I'm like Stan's comfortably situated friend who won't spend more than $15K on any car because something inside him is telling him not to.

In the old days, we used to call that something 'common sense'.

Your right, common sense goes out the window even when you entertain the purchase of Beck 356/Spyder.  The heart takes over the brain at this point and as you go up line the prices ascend rather quickly.  

This car is definitely overpriced like I stated when this thread opened.  

Yes, a 1776 c.c. engine is not enough for a car like that.  Nostalgia for the old days is fine, but today's driving does not allow for it.

Marty has corrected that with his Turbo Suby.  Even a 2110 c.c. would be better.

Common-sense is something a lot of people need, but some of us need a break from.

So, let's establish one "common-sense" thing up front: CMC, VS, JPS, Beck, IM, or whatever-- it's all just different degrees of the same crazy. Rational people look at these breezy, tiny little clown cars and think, "that's really cool... I'll bet it cost about $5K". "Replica" means a 5 carat cubic zirconia on the finger of a 300 lb woman living in a trailer park in AK to most people.

Guys who want value head straight to the Ford or GM or Dodge store with grandpa's inheritance, or onto Craig's List if it's their own money. They end up driving home a 10 year old AMG E-whatever with a giant blown V8 for <$15K .

It's good to be honest. A speedster replica new, used, and regardless of manufacturer is a very expensive proposition for what they are. Perhaps a better way of looking at it is that a used mass produced sportscar is an astounding value, and that the replicas represent something closer to what things ought to cost. I love these stupid cars, and I've done the math about 500 times in my head-- there's no way to build a decent car, pay people what they are worth, and make a fair profit for any less money that the VS, Beck, and IM are selling them for.

"Real" (mass-produced) cars are an astounding value, especially when they are used and no longer fashionable. We live in an age of <$10K 996s and Boxster Ss.

New IM money will buy a C7 Corvette that runs with $200k Ferraris, a GT500 that is capable of 200 mph, or a Hellcat with 700+ hp under the hood. New VS money will buy a Mustang GT, etc. Guys looking for straight-up value take a peek into this room, then head down the road.

And so we are left with ourselves, quibbling over whether $30K or $70K is too much to spend for a fancy dune buggy. News flash-- it's all too much. None of us need any of this.

I could not possibly care less, but I'm a buy and hold guy. I own a car that will be every bit as cool in 15 years as it is today. It'll still be flawed, but it'll still be cool. Stick that in your AMG E-whatever and smoke it. Likewise my archaic, overpriced lawn-mower engine-- it's not state of the art today, so it won't be outdated in 15 years. My car won't rust, go out of fashion, etc. It affords me the opportunity to plan, fuss, fabricate, tinker, and fiddle. It provides me the opportunity for adventure. I'm not looking to squeeze the variables out of pleasure drives, and my platform gives me a nice compromise between overbuilt and homemade. It scratches some itch deep inside me and transcends a calculated cost/benefit analysis. It helps keep me sane.

Guys that flit in and out of this confuse me. They're looking for something a replica cannot ever provide-- anvil reliability, Honda-level fit and finish, classic-Porsche cache, upper-echelon performance, and Ford/GM level value. All of us put more weight on these things to differing degrees, and therefore spend our money in different ways. Some of our efforts are universally regarded as intelligent decisions, some of them leave most of us shaking their heads. We've all taken a turn at the plate. Not everybody hits a home run.

This car was somebody's vision, and it obviously didn't work out. Somewhere out there is a commodity trader who's got the attention span of a gnat, waited a year for his car and had his option called on pork-bellies and wants/needs to sell. I wish him luck, but his price is aspirational for a car somebody else speced. 

Stan, you had me at "the opportunity for adventure"

:-) 

Yes.  As Stan says, you live with the car you had built for you, or that you built for yourself.  Few others will share or understand your choices - they might appreciate them, but not with their wallet.  A choice to have a high end replica built as you want it, is not a choice - it's a commitment, that you had better be ready to hold to.  And you better be sure of what you want before you dive in.

 Well Stan there's not much to add to that outside of a few nuances.

My son keeps asking me what is my favourite car that I would buy today and I tell him I am not smithen by any of them and not interested in anything except my IM  

It never gets old 

IaM-Ray posted:

  

It never gets old 

And neither do we when we are driving them.  For that alone, they are worth the money.

 I just overlooked all the posts and noticed that most of us on this post are all I am owners maybe we lost our  commonsense  more than others  

Feeling old well only getting in and out

Marty is exactly right.  I have no idea how much a new air cooled Conv D costs.  I bought my car used so I really have no idea.  I just looked again at the IM sight and there is no way to figure out what a new air cooled Conv D would be based on the sight.  The cost of an air cooled Conv D is actually listed for 3 different prices.

This is the first

The Intermeccanica Roadster “D” is a custom built high quality reproduction of the 1959 356-A Convertible D, featuring in-house designed and built tubular steel perimeter chassis and a Canadian made one piece composite body. The Intermeccanica Roadster “D” is our flagship model with its timeless style and its magnificent cabin featuring the unique one year only (1959) windscreen and fully developed convertible top, you will enjoy your Roadster “D” just as much with the top up as you will with the top down.  The perfect choice for drivers over six feet and those who enjoy the open air but can appreciate great visibility and a bit more wind protection. Each Roadster “D” is meticulously assembled to the original specifications and material.

Factory built air cooled starting from $59,400 (International price)

This the next one

The Intermeccanica factory specification traditional air cooled ROADSTER “D” captures the unique elegance and design of the 1959 356A Convertible “D” as it was intended to be! This ROADSTER “D” incorporates the essential performance, interior, body trim features and details we recommend to provide you with the ultimate classic 356 driving experience for today’s world. Each ROADSTER “D” is individually custom built for you in your color combination, featuring in-house designed and built steel perimeter tube chassis and Canadian made, one piece composite body. We meticulously hand assemble your ROADSTER”D” to the original specifications, incorporating only top quality components and materials.

MSRP Price   $ 67,940

And the one I quoted

TRADITIONAL AIR COOLED ROADSTER “D”

Phil, your right.  I am not sure the site gets updated too often as every car is custom built, as you know, and with the exchange right now, I would assume no web price is the right price. All parts are subject to fluctuation as to what the dollar is worth when buying them  

Price/performance/itch/scratch. Some of us are blessed with money, some with time, some with skill. And some of us don't rightly have anything at all to fall back on, but we wade into the surf all the same, looking to catch a shark with our own teeth.

Here's what I did today:

I am widening my car's fenders in order to fit new knock-off wire wheels, which add about an inch on each side to the track width.

My car cost $3,500 when I bought it in 2009. The new wires and tires were close to $2,000, once you add in the machine work I needed to make the hubs fit. Plus a few hours of my time. And now this.

Later there will be roll bar work, and some frame stiffening, which is long-overdue. As many of you know, I installed a Subaru engine a couple years ago.

I've already got over $10,000 in my car, not counting my labor. Reasonably, on Craigslist or ebay, it's still worth probably about $3,500. Maybe $4,000. 

With the Suby, the wires, etc. etc. the car's General Coolness Factor (GCF) will be maybe 2, 3 percent greater than on the day I took delivery. That's three times the price, plus a lot of hours, for a gain that most people will never notice.

The Madness manifests in people of all income levels and socio-economic conditions.

I'm impressed! Very ambitious of you, Ed.

Geesh Ed you go to places where very few of us care to go  :~)

DO you have the right glass base goat ?   "Fibral" is best, same as we used on David Baines hard top extension project.

Thanks, Alan. I don't even know what I got yet. It's some sort of polyester resin, and some sort of glass weave.

The plan is to put a couple more metal bridges in each of the front fenders (there are four on each of the back ones already), then alumitape it from underneath and do two or three or four layers from the top, before peeling the tape off, taking the screws out and doing two or three from the bottom. Then cut it back and shape it, then let it cure for six or eight weeks.

Then fill as needed to make it smooth to 100 grit, then spot putty/high-build primer, block wet to 600 and shoot it.

I'll look up "Fibral."

I Know you can do this but you need the correct materials as there is no guessing whatsoever to do it right or it will come apart.

Alan, if someone wanted to do a small console or small mods out of Fglass what stuff would you use?  Fibral has many products. Thanks Ray 

I'll grab the Fibral can off the shelf tomorrow and post ...Depends on what you use as a base or a mold....you can use either strips of fiberglass or " Tiger Hair" (glass impregnated resin)  With how Ed is doing his fenders is entirely a different method. I have seen nice consoles done with plywood and vinyl/ leather.

If that is one of your creations Alan... very nicely done. 

Long story short, That was a pan based non flared IM, the PO ( Mike Haverstock) had mild flares done to it and $10k for the leather interior and special top. I saw that speedster in the 1980's in Manassas VA , lost track of it until I moved here in PA 1999 when I found it was sitting  just 3 miles from my home here . I  finally was able to buy it with a bad motor in 2004 .........did some work to it and sold the car, bought it back years later from a guy in Florida , did a few add'l upgrades and sold it again in 2012 to a guy in California..... It was for sale there some months ago...wheels were a bit dated but one hell of a nice car ! Gordon has a video of me pulling dumb donuts    

The interior is nice, from the picts the front wheels look really deep inside the wheelwells is that true or is it the picts?  No door handles either kind of cool but not my cup of tea. 

Windshield post mounted mirrors are cool as is futuristic dash - hence the no door handles fits right in with the electric poppers.

Damn Alan, how much money have you made off that one car? More a comment than a question.

Ummm  nothing it's a hobby ~ ~ 

Speedsters are like kids to Alan --- they keep returning (so you can invest more $$$ in them).  I've got one 35 and another 26 that don't stray far from my bank (I mean me).

No no no.... 2 years ago I conveyed to my 3 adult kids ( 37, 39 & 41 ) the Bank Of Dad was, officially closed ..... I have no serious attachments to them (speedsters that is  :~)

That $62K barely used IM now marked sold. Still love the interior