NEW! STARKE RELEASES SPEEDSTER PARTS PACKAGES FROM $19,950.

Interesting.

Just went through the offers. Not for the faint of heart, and they don't provide directions.

Price of admission is getting higher! My CMC kit cost $6,000, delivered in 1980. Final build cost was $10,000. Leather interior, Hatrz canvas top & tonnau, lots of original 356 parts. PB Tweeks had my number.

$10,000 was a lot of gold in 1980. I bought a new Firebird in 1977 for $7,700. A new Camero in 1970 for $3,085.

That Jimmie Carter inflation was a bitch. You got paid on Friday and tried to spend it all before Monday...Tuesday it would not buy as much. This Biden inflation will be a shock to those who have not lived through it before. DeJa Vu all over again!

I don't think anyone has actually seen a completed Starke go to private ownership so we'll assume Stark has sold little if any of their completed morphed 'Speedsters" hence,  they came up with this marketing approach to unload their excess inventory.... ...just my .02 observation.

The prices seem really reasonable.  Pictures of one in build process would go a long way to stoking interest.
-=theron

Up until this they have come across, at least to me, as an elitist, wanna be, bespoke car builder with ridiculous pricing.

I think they had great pictures of make believe cars.

I wonder if they sold any?

Hey, I've got some new clothes for the Emperor. But, you can't see them right now...

You've got to pay FIRST!

Gotta love their disclaimer "IMPORTANT: THIS IS NOT A DO-IT-YOURSELF KIT. THESE PARTS CANNOT BE USED TO BUILD A SPEEDSTER BY AN AMATEUR MECHANIC OR HOBBYIST. THESE PARTS SHOULD ONLY BE USED BY A PROFESSIONAL CUSTOM CAR BUILDER WHO CAN PERFORM METAL FABRICATION, FIBERGLASS WORK, CHASSIS CUTTING & MODIFICATION, SUB FRAME DESIGN & WELDING, CUSTOM BODY WORK, ETC. TO BUILD THIS SPEEDSTER YOU MUST TRIM THE FRONT & REAR UNIBODY OF YOUR DONOR CAR AND DESIGN & WELD IN SUB FRAME SUPPORTS. ALL BRACKETS TO ATTACH THE BODY MUST BE FABRICATED. THERE ARE NO INSTRUCTIONS WITH THESE PARTS. ALL SALES ARE FINAL, NO REFUNDS."

Well that certainly makes me want to buy their stuff.

Yeah, me too!    

@Joe Fortino posted:

Gotta love their disclaimer "IMPORTANT: THIS IS NOT A DO-IT-YOURSELF KIT. THESE PARTS CANNOT BE USED TO BUILD A SPEEDSTER BY AN AMATEUR MECHANIC OR HOBBYIST. THESE PARTS SHOULD ONLY BE USED BY A PROFESSIONAL CUSTOM CAR BUILDER WHO CAN PERFORM METAL FABRICATION, FIBERGLASS WORK, CHASSIS CUTTING & MODIFICATION, SUB FRAME DESIGN & WELDING, CUSTOM BODY WORK, ETC. TO BUILD THIS SPEEDSTER YOU MUST TRIM THE FRONT & REAR UNIBODY OF YOUR DONOR CAR AND DESIGN & WELD IN SUB FRAME SUPPORTS. ALL BRACKETS TO ATTACH THE BODY MUST BE FABRICATED. THERE ARE NO INSTRUCTIONS WITH THESE PARTS. ALL SALES ARE FINAL, NO REFUNDS."

To be fair, Kirk also had that warning on the VS site when he was running it.  He said people thought that the kit was a snap together model when in reality it always takes custom fab to build a car.  I think a warning is much better than the famous CMC "You can build it in 40 hours over the course of a few weekends", which we all laugh at today.
-=theron

.

What I don't understand is why the OP is so reluctant to participate in discussions here about the product, choosing rather to just post press releases.

A more 'human' presence would probably dampen much of the trolling that usually follows these posts while helping to explain just how a Boxster is transformed into a Speedster.

From the beginning, this product has been shrouded in mystery about how and by whom it is being built and even about whether or not real cars actually exist.

There's always been genuine interest in the production process. I'd think now that they're trying to sell construction kits, openly discussing details of that process would be in their interest.

But that's just me.

.

I could knock that out in 39 hours ....

@Theron posted:

To be fair, Kirk also had that warning on the VS site when he was running it.  He said people thought that the kit was a snap together model when in reality it always takes custom fab to build a car.  I think a warning is much better than the famous CMC "You can build it in 40 hours over the course of a few weekends", which we all laugh at today.
-=theron

I was going to say something similar Theron. Would people rather he just shipped the items with a book of hand drawn instructions and a claim of 40 hours with some basic tools to finish it? If you buy that kit you better know what you're doing.

Like they say, no instructions!!

HI Everyone, glad to see a vibrant discussion going on! We're not trying to be "shrouded in mystery" in any way. But, changing our business model and releasing the parts to the public was a long and hard decision but we knew that was the best solution. Much like the original Speedster replica business we wanted Starke to evolve to offer a more affordable product and we see this as the best path. Our goal moving forward is help create an alternative Speedster for those that desire it. At the core, we built this Speedster because we love the original just as much as everyone on here.  We just wanted a more modern option & quite frankly the Porsche Boxster is the perfect donor car. If I've ever offended anyone on here in the past I apologize for that. My passion runs deep when you talking about cars.

Yes, custom cars definitely require significant skill and expertise, that's why we included the warning. We don't want to mislead anyone. These are the actual parts we used to build the Speedsters on our website. Moving forward we hope to offer a list of builders, support, instructions, etc. But this will take some time. Our long range plan is to further evolve our Speedster body to be able to offer a more bolt on Starke Speedster body kit. Something that the average body shop or skilled home builder could make. However, this will sacrifice some of the proportions. By focusing on the parts side we hope to have more time to do R&D and expand our product line. We really want to offer the 550 Coupe on our website as well.

Excellent.

Did you ever sell any completed Speedsters to the public? I was hoping one might join here and share their impressions.

@Joe Fortino posted:

Gotta love their disclaimer "IMPORTANT: THIS IS NOT A DO-IT-YOURSELF KIT. THESE PARTS CANNOT BE USED TO BUILD A SPEEDSTER BY AN AMATEUR MECHANIC OR HOBBYIST. THESE PARTS SHOULD ONLY BE USED BY A PROFESSIONAL CUSTOM CAR BUILDER WHO CAN PERFORM METAL FABRICATION, FIBERGLASS WORK, CHASSIS CUTTING & MODIFICATION, SUB FRAME DESIGN & WELDING, CUSTOM BODY WORK, ETC. TO BUILD THIS SPEEDSTER YOU MUST TRIM THE FRONT & REAR UNIBODY OF YOUR DONOR CAR AND DESIGN & WELD IN SUB FRAME SUPPORTS. ALL BRACKETS TO ATTACH THE BODY MUST BE FABRICATED. THERE ARE NO INSTRUCTIONS WITH THESE PARTS. ALL SALES ARE FINAL, NO REFUNDS."

No worries, boys... I got this.