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New Intermeccanica Speedster Owner seeks help finding resoration parts

FM Former Member
Hi, Earlier this year I was given a 1977 Intermeccanica Speedster, I believe a 57/58 replica b/c it has the long rear tail lights and 3 big guages. Its in great shape but could be gorgeous. I was hoping the collective wisdom and experience of the group could help point me in the right direction.

First thing I need is a new windshield, mine is usable but has a small crack. Where would be a good place to look for one and are there any profiles that won't work with my car that I should steer clear of because they are slightly different or won't work with my car?

The second thing I could use is a set of vintage looking guages. The ones I have work perfectly fine but look like they're from the 80's. I think special edition would be a good source for these, is that correct? Oh, and I have 3 big guages, not 2 big with a small center, does anyone know what size I will need or will I have to pull one and measure it to be certain?

The third thing I'd love to have is a set of solid side curtains. The car currently has fabric side curtains over a frame with a convertible top type window. I've seen pics on the web of cars with side curtains that look almost like a rolled up window, basically solid thicker guage lexand or plexi with a small lip type frame up top and a standard frame one the bottom. If anyone can point me to where I can get a set, or have a set made, I'd be most appreciative.

Lastly, I'm buying a used engine/transaxel combo from a buddy to replace the stock VW unit. Its a 1968cc w/twin 40's, porsche fan shroud, a lightweight flywheel, Ranch Pro-street freeway flyer transaxel w/ LSD and stainless CSP comp exhaust. It'll be plenty for the car, and look sharp as well, but I'd like to add a little more meat on the ground. My car currently has 5x130 hubs and 15x4.5 chrome wheels and is currently running I think 165 tires. I've found 5x130 in 15x5.5 - its a porsche rim used for the space saver spare, but they aren't chrome. Does anyone know where I could get a set of chrome steel rims in 5x130 and 15" and maybe 6" or 7"??

Thanks in advance for any and all help getting the car back together! Brgds, Jimmy
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FM Former Member
Hi, Earlier this year I was given a 1977 Intermeccanica Speedster, I believe a 57/58 replica b/c it has the long rear tail lights and 3 big guages. Its in great shape but could be gorgeous. I was hoping the collective wisdom and experience of the group could help point me in the right direction.

First thing I need is a new windshield, mine is usable but has a small crack. Where would be a good place to look for one and are there any profiles that won't work with my car that I should steer clear of because they are slightly different or won't work with my car?

The second thing I could use is a set of vintage looking guages. The ones I have work perfectly fine but look like they're from the 80's. I think special edition would be a good source for these, is that correct? Oh, and I have 3 big guages, not 2 big with a small center, does anyone know what size I will need or will I have to pull one and measure it to be certain?

The third thing I'd love to have is a set of solid side curtains. The car currently has fabric side curtains over a frame with a convertible top type window. I've seen pics on the web of cars with side curtains that look almost like a rolled up window, basically solid thicker guage lexand or plexi with a small lip type frame up top and a standard frame one the bottom. If anyone can point me to where I can get a set, or have a set made, I'd be most appreciative.

Lastly, I'm buying a used engine/transaxel combo from a buddy to replace the stock VW unit. Its a 1968cc w/twin 40's, porsche fan shroud, a lightweight flywheel, Ranch Pro-street freeway flyer transaxel w/ LSD and stainless CSP comp exhaust. It'll be plenty for the car, and look sharp as well, but I'd like to add a little more meat on the ground. My car currently has 5x130 hubs and 15x4.5 chrome wheels and is currently running I think 165 tires. I've found 5x130 in 15x5.5 - its a porsche rim used for the space saver spare, but they aren't chrome. Does anyone know where I could get a set of chrome steel rims in 5x130 and 15" and maybe 6" or 7"??

Thanks in advance for any and all help getting the car back together! Brgds, Jimmy
Lane AndersonLane AndersonMt. Pleasant, SC Supporting Member
Welcome to the Madness, Jim!

I know the real experts here can correct me if I'm wrong, but I think a '77 IM must be among the very first built. Don't hesitate to contact Henry Reisner at IM for questions or parts. As you said in your post, Special Edition is also a good place for parts. Lastly, Vintage has helped out a lot of folks on this forum. How about some pictures?

Oh yeah, the side windows that you're talking about are usually made by the owner. None of the manufacturers make hard side curtains. I plan to make some myself as a winter project.

And finally, if you're a neighbor of Alan's, I assume that we can count on seeing you at Carlisle next May, right?
FM Former Member
Thanks Lane for the welcome. I'm not the best with words but I am really excited about this car!!! And I'm close to Frederick, MD so Carlisle (and Alan) is just a hop, skip and a jump, but I've never been to import and custom week there. Yes, yes, I know, that'll have to change. I hear there is also a nice aircooled show in august in Hagerstown??

I drove the car all Summer and just last week turned it over to Metric Autohaus over by Baltimore to help make it mechanically as good as a VW can be b/c while I'm handy, I'm no mechanic. I'm hoping the drivetrain is together sometime in early Sept so I can enjoy it until it gets too cold. Then my idea is to do a trim off body prep followed by a respray in silver with minimal trim for a nice clean vintage look.

I'd really like this car to be nice, and while I may be capable of hacking together some solid side curtains, I'm not so certain I'd be up to task and honestly, they'd looked hacked together. Would you, or possibly someone else on the list, be willing to make me up a set?? Or know a shop in the mid atlantic that could make me a set??

Thanks! J-
FM Former Member
Thanks Ernie, unfortunatly, or fortunately, my car has 356 "C" / 911 / 912 hubs on it so I need chrome steelies in the narrow 5x130 pattern. The link you gave was for 4 bolt and wide 5 like the early 356 and VW wheels and that's what I'm finding everywhere. Stoddard has 5x130 in 15x4.5 which is original for a 356C and 912 but I'm looking for chrome steelies in narrow 5x130 and 15 x 5.5" to 6" (I know I said 7" too but I think that'll be too wide given the space to work with back there). I can find several fuchs alloys and their copies in 5x130 but no chrome steelies. Can anybody help other than going custom via Stockton?? Tks! J-
Lane AndersonLane AndersonMt. Pleasant, SC Supporting Member
Jim, you have a plethora (I love that word) of Speedster experts in your area. Both Cory Drake and Kelly Frazer are near Baltimore, and Alan (whom you have spoken to) and Bill Drayer are in southern PA. Also, Bruce Stump lives somewhere around there. With all of those guys around you will have no problem getting that car into the shape you want.

As for the side windows, I'd recommend hanging onto what you have until next May, and then looking at what some folks have done while you're at Carlisle. I'll bet that you'll find making your own to be easier than you think.

By the way, Hagerstown is where the southeastern Speedster contingent meats up with the mid-Atlantic Speedster contingent for the caravan into Carlisle. See you in May...

...unless you have your car in good driving shape before our run on the Tail of the Dragon in October. You won't find a nicer time of year for a Speedster gathering in the mountains. Check out the thread in "Events" for details.
M mickey356
Jim are you the guy Cory ran into a few weeks ago? If so, Cory told me about you and your car. I'd love to catch up with you and take a look at you old IM. I have an 82 IM that I'm in the process of redoing to look like a 58 Carrera.
Anyway, alot of the things you're asking about I'm working on myself in some capacity (wheels, side curtains, ect...) so I'd be more than willing to pass along anything I've learned to this point.
As far as the side curtains - I have the type you're looking for and I'm going to redo them so they have a better fit. I'd be more than happy to post a few pics of them so you can see how simple they are to put together. Or I'd be more than willing to do a set for you if you like how mine turn out.
With regard to the wheels - Do you have a swing axle or IRS? That will play a factor in how wide you can go back there.
And they gauges - I replaced my originals with the repro ones. Most of the repros are cheap and aren't very reliable. I would imagine yours are 914 gauges like mine were. If I were to do it over again I would have sent my 914 ones out to be refaced. I say this for two reasons; One, they are probably much better quality that the repros. Two, the repro tach is a smaller diameter than the 914 so you either have to reglass and repaint the dash or you have to find a way to make up the difference in space to make it fit (I made a ring out of aluminum but I'll be redoing the dash this winter).
FM Former Member
Thanks all!!! The car should be running, hopefully damn well, sometime in Sept. I can't wait! I was given the reference for Rob and Heath at Metric Autohaus from a person who was racing a VW-based car. They apparently did all the prep work, as well as for several other successful VW based track cars, though this is the first speedster replica for them. The car is being set up as a streetable track car more than a trackable street car, including weighting and ballancing and a day of on-track suspension tuning. I want to be able to give this thing a real workout yet still jump in it and head down the shore for a weekend.

Mickey, I'd love to see your side curtains when they're done, and thanks for the tip on refacing the guages instead of new repro's. I'll have to hit you up for a recommendation for a shop who can do that for me. Mine is a non-IRS car but my eyeballing of the situation gives me a max of a 6" rim and no more than a 205 tire before I'm hitting the fenders, or the mounts, or both. To be safe I could just go with what I've got, 5.5's and a 195 tire, but the shop I spoke to about having the painted "space-saver spare" rims chromed said they couldn't chrome a 2-piece steel wheel. Any idea why that's so?? Do you know of a shop that can chrome my painted steel porsche rims??

Alan, the Hagerstown air-cooled show is listed on the samba events page for August 23rd, next weekend!!!

Thanks for all the great advice and hope to start meeting folks in more than 2 dimensions! ;-) J-
FM Former Member
Jimmy, leave them painted. You can still buy chromies if you want. I prefer the painted look, no hubcaps. Kind of a racer look, if you know what I mean. That is pretty much how us Spyder guys do it, anyhow.

Palo Alto and North Hollywood Speedo are the two gauge refurbishment companies that will take care of you.

So I take it we'll all meet you at Carlisle in 2009?
FM Former Member
Dan, Hi!

That's a great idea with the wheels!!! And fits the budget much better as well. Can you send me a few pics of how this might look (or links to pics)?? My address is mcardlejl@yahoo.com. Do you paint the rims silver to match the car, possibly a darker shade of silver to off set the color, or maybe even black?? Remember, my wheels are 5.5x15 in the latter narrow 5 porsche lug pattern of 5x130, which is the 356c/912/911 spacing, and not the wide 5 of VW and preA/A/B speedsters or the 4 hole style of later VW's. There are tons of options for wide 5 and narrow 4 but all I can find for 5x130 is alloy fuchs, alloy fuchs copies and 15x4.5 chrome steelies, and then my 15x5.5 painted steelies that porsche used as space saver spares on 911's. Do you possibly know of a source for 15.5.5 or 15x6 in 5x130 that are chrome???

And I sure hope to be at Carlilse in 09 but after what I've been reading in other forums about how long projects can take I don't want to jinx myself! ;-)

Brgds, J-
M mickey356
Hey Jimmy we'll have to catch up for sure.
I agree with Danny on the painting of the wheels. You're limited with what you can get with that pattern. Personally I like keeping mine as stock looking as possible. Powdercoating is a great option as well. Or you can have my old look and paint your wheels the same color as your car and find some caps.
I was just doing a little work on my door tops this morning and once I get those recovered I'll be doing the side curtains so I'll post some pics.

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FM Former Member
I have powdercoated wide-5s, a different silver from the body. No hubcaps, with drumskins.

There is a place out west called Stockton wheel which widens wheels and/or changes the offset. They would be able to handle what you need, and I believe they powdercoat also. Spyderclub guys have used them many times and are always satisfied with the results.

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El FrazooEl Frazoo Supporting Member
Jimmy,

Bethesda is SOOO close; we need to get together somehow. The East Coast consortium (?) is growing. North Hollywood Speedo is the place to go for the right look in gauges. I do not know what to tell you about the wheels, but believe the powder coating option to be a winner, once you decide on a "look". Pls advise a good time to stop by for an introduction -- would love to get plugged in on your project and share the madness, as it were.

Kelly
FM Former Member
Jimmy, I'll help with the side curtains. We'll need to get together anyway, before the driving season is over. You'll need some Lexan or Plexiglas, some vinyl or decent leather and a set of four posts to get started. We'll have to pattern from your car for them to work best, but Kelly's have a really good finish to them and would be great, local examples.
I honestly don't know what the schedule holds for me past the weekend of Sept. 5th, but you're close enough that you, Kelly and I ought to be able to get together locally on some night or other.
I'll also give Fred a call.
Have you torn the car too far down to be driveable? When will you get it back from the shop?
Great choice on silver, by the way. Make sure it's got a little blue and a little gold in the mix. The paint code number you'll want is 6206.

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FM Former Member
Thanks all!!! And sorry for being away. I'm already indebted to everyone and I haven't even met anyone yet. ;-) I'm around for the long haul and definitely want to catch up sooner than later, but I'm pretty booked for weekends in Sept. Plus the car has zero wheels right now as everything is being pulled/renewed, cleaned and sprayed before going back together. As soon as I'm mobile and dialed in again I'll post here and CC the local email addresses. Hope to meet you all sooner than later in 3-D! Jimmy

Oh, I'm in touch with Henry but his leads didn't turn anytghing up so I'll be posting a new thread looking for help finding where my AI VIN is stamped on the car... Tks!
FM Former Member
Hi all. Just a quick update. Good news I hope for the long run but may push my timeline back a month or two. The folks up at Metric found me a hot 2.3L type IV out of a 914 that I've decided to go with instead of the 1,968cc type I. I'll keep you all posted when I'm roadworthy again! I also have found and have in hand five 5x130 15x5.5 porsche steel rims. They can't easily be chromed, but they can be powder coated in that aluminum/chrome look. Can anyone recommend someone reasonable and good in the DC/Balto/Frederic, MD area that can take that on for me. Thanks, Jimmy
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