Newbie inquiring about eBay listing

Hey guys, I am semi-new to the site. I have been reading all the posts everyday since I joined and really learned a lot. I am currently not an owner of a speedster, but can not wait for the day that I pull one into my garage. I am no where near new to the VW world, been into it for about 15 years. I currently own a

Not very many details provided in the ad. I think the 16K opening bid is high for what I presume is a homebuilt of unspecified vintage. If I was looking, I would take a pass on this one.

$16k is starting price - not even the reserve! No details to make it worth more than even $12k (especially off season). A serious seller will provide engine build details (at least miles on car) and point out areas that need attention or that its perfect.

I remember seeing that car when it was for sale before. Some rock star owned it. You can see the autographs on the dash. Wonder why it wasn't noted in the auction text. I forget whose car it was.

~WB

You can tell it's a Fiberfab looking at the tag in one of the photos. I like moon hubcaps but these ones look funny on a wide body. No one has bid on it so that tells you something; maybe the starting price was set too high.

With respect to the signatures I can see "Rock On" and I see three signatures; I think one of them says Billy Gibbons; that makes perfect sense since ZZ Top is a three piece band and they're from Texas (where the car is located).

The seller told me that it was formerly owned by Craig Gruber who was Black Sabbath's bass player(albeit ever so briefly in the late 70's). It has a 1915 motor and runs well and is selling it due to lack of room and additions to the household. He didn't say who the other signees were.

~WB

for all the lazy folks like me: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&viewitem=&ru=http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.ebay.com%3A80%2Fsearch%2Fsearch.dll%3Ffrom%3DR40%26_trksid%3Dm37%26satitle%3D190175926518%26category0%3D%26fvi%3D1&item=190175926518

(we like links - it's much easier)

Motor worth between 4 to 6 grand and vehicle not more than 12,000, if bought as a rolling kit. Therefore this should sell for at the most 16,000.00 due to being a used car & a FiberFab.

Gabe

Hey, Wild Bill:

So THAT's what "Blackie" would look like with bumpers...

Terrance,
Not trying to ruin the ebay guys sale (no idea who he is, maybe the car is great), but right now there is a very nice speedstah for sale in this site's Classified section.

angela

Thanks for everybody

Forget figure but FF was the largest (and still has largest number) of kits on the road and (argh) in garages. They had a great reputation for innovation. (There still is a FF - not sure real relationship to original - which was bought out by CMC who quickly eliminated 97% of their product line). Can't say much for accessories (chrome, lights) -- but even new replicas are very weak in chrome pieces. So it comes down to competence (and deep pockets) of the builder.

I like all Speedster replicas but from what I've heard FiberFabs are at the lower end of attention to detail; that's not to say that if massaged and built with attention to detail they're great too.

I think most FiberFab/CMC cars are home built, so the attention to detail was up to the guy who put it together. Or in my case, the guy who bought it from the guy who got it on the road who bought it from the guy who bought the kit and assembled it halfway.

We always get a sizeable number of Fiberfab/CMC cars at the Carlisle show each year. Some of them were built by amateurs (usually a dad and son project), some were built by decent back yard mechanics and a few were built by autobody professionals.

The quality of these cars covers the entire gamut of rough and amateurish to unbelievably refined levels of workmanship. As someone noted earlier, it all depends on who has built/worked on that car in the past and how good they were at their work. Some are amazingly good at what they did, and others did the best they could in spite of a lack of skill or technique.

I've also worked on several CMC's as well as cars from VS and IM, so I have a few data points for comparison that might be of interest.

Fiberfab/CMC bodies were typically built by people who often only knew a certain part of the build process, and, even then, might not have known their job well. Because of that, the quality of the bodies varied from one to the next. I've seen some CMC bodies with fiberglass as much as 3/4" thickness in some places, and other bodies with as little as 3/8" in the same places (3/8" thick is probably adequate, too). Happily, they usually erred by going too thick with the chopper (fiberglass) gun, instead of too thin, making the bodies slightly stronger, but heavier.

Earlier Fiberfab/CMC bodies had a tendency to crack the gel coat between the trunk opening and the headlights, but later bodies seemed to overcome that (although this could be caused by lack of the front body support which the builder may not have included - I've not seen cracks on bodies with the front support installed).

So that's it in a nutshell...Fiberfab/CMC's were generally sold only as kits, so their level of fit and finish was totaly up to whoever built each car, and each car is different.

gn