Newbie

Hi All,
My name is Mark, and I am new here! I am not a Speedster owner yet, but am looking. After reading a number of the posts here, it sounds like a great group of Speedster enthusiasts here! I look forward to learning all I can and contributing the best I can to this forum! And I especially look forward to getting my first Speedster!

Sincerely,

Mark
Charlotte, NC

Welcome Mark; that's the purpose of this website. Most of us started just like you; first browsing and learning about Speedsters, then buying and becoming donating members and contributing our experiences. Good luck on your quest.

Hi Mark, welcome here.

Have you decided between tube frame or pan based?


Sorry guys, I couldn't resist.

Thanks Ron!

I'm not sure - after reading about the two, I am thinking tube frame, but tell me what you recommend! :-)
What are the pro's & con's of both?

Mark - Be careful. These guys are playing with you to suck you into one of the recurring holy wars we have :-). It's a side effect of the madness we all share.

I'm just a couple of hours south of you down in Charleston. I've recently gotten a Beck, and I know of one Vintage in the area. Feel free to come look and take a test ride. There's also a Beck down in Beaufort, as well as a couple of CMCs. Heck, there's a SAW in Knoxville, and at least one IM in Atlanta. Sounds like we need to have a party!

Hi Mark,

WELCOME

Thanks for the advice Lane - I might have to take you up on the ride one day! I know I will be hooked then! How will I break it to my wife! LOL

"Well, honey... it just followed me home so we HAVE to keep it!" :-)

Blood in the water. BTW, the pan based cars have a tube frame over the pan. Look out for the sharks now!
-=theron

Either way you go,you will always have a big smile in your face.Welcome here.

Thanks Everyone! I can't wait to have my own Speedy in my garage! When I was a teenager, my Dad built a '56 type A Speedster, and was just about finished with it when the airline he was working for went belly up. Unfortunately, he had to make the difficult descision to sell it. He also owned a '73 Porsche 911, and that was his "baby". When he retired years later, I tried talking him into getting another 356, but he opted for a couple Harleys instead... So now it is up to me to get the Speedster! Oh, by the way - he used a pan frame ;-)

Mark,

Theron is correct!!!!!!!!!!!!!! VS Speedsters with the VW shortened pan base do have a Tube frame mounted over the VW frame and that certainly can double up the strength.

BUT THE MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE, I THINK IS REGISTRATION. IT IS MUCH EASIER TO REGISTER A SPEEDSTER AS A VW THE YEAR OF THE PAN, THAN A SPECIALTY CONSTRUCTION VEHICLE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As Lambros says, both will give you a giagantic smile.

Mine car is a VS.

PS: Welcome to the FAMILY!

GABE

Dum Dum ... Dumdum dum dum ... Dum Dum ... Dumdum dum dum ...

Someone call Sheriff Brody, quick!

Mark, I'd say go with the ride; if you like a good, stiff ride, see whose make and what type you like by trying one on for size. If you like a cruiser, try one of those, or ask plenty of questions about who likes what in their cars that you're looking for.
Members of this club are like the C.I.A.; we're pretty much everywhere! There's probably a member of this cartel in your area code or even ZIP code.
Be as specific as you can with your questions if that's not the case, even if you're comparing apples to bowling balls. If, for example, you like the ride of your old '78 Subaru Brat, there are folks here (uh, me anyway) who can base a comparison on that similarity or difference.
I think I can also safely say I'd offer up my car for a test-drive if you wanted to see how the almost rigid tube chassis feels going down the road -- and I don't think I'm alone in that. I'm sure we'd all like to see more Speedsters cruising around out there.

It's all about the stupid grin on the face. Buy what you can afford and love it like it was part of the family. That's what I did and I don't even know what kind it is. Was built in the late 80's, probably a FibreFab maybe CMC but one this is for certain, it goes like stink and is reliable as hell. Check out the selection of pics, www.mikeandjosee.com

Mike,
I just glanced at your website and I must say I am drooling! Fern is beautiful! I cannot wait to get my own! Thanks to everyone for the enthusiastic responses!

Welcome to the group, stay awhile, read and most of all ENJOY, these are a great group of people.

Mark you are close....I can feel it. You will soon be another guy with a stupid grin on the face. We should make a new car badge. The stupid grin badge.

Mike, I think I see your next project looming.

Mark, check out the pictures in my gallery to see an example of the "Stupid Grin Syndrome".

I'm on the job! I'll be designing the Stupid Grin Badge tonight!

(And Lane, try a blue filter to get rid of the orange in the pictures. If you've got a fixed lens on your camera, use tinted gels from a camera shop. You can use the filters in Photoshop to do the same thing, or try the white balance setting on the camera itself - if it has one. It'll be in the manual. Great shots, regardless!)

It was a borrowed camera. I haven't gotten that D50 I want yet.

How about THIS for a Grin Badge?
(I'm putting this in the Enhancements topic, too.)

I like it!

That's great Cory!

DUDE THAT'S AWESOME

It looks pretty good, but how about darkening the shades?

I'll fiddle with it some more. Darkened shades it is. Other suggestions are always welcome ...

Coooooooooooooool......

The revision is in the Club Enhancements folder. I really like it.

Cory I love it, but why the glasses? why not just the front window?

Speedster "D"

It was a suggestion in my p-mail. I tried to incorporate them as best I could. We could take a poll of everyone's suggestions and come up with a composite without any trouble; it's just an idea until someone blesses it as something to use officially.
Keep 'em coming!

Like the shades, similar to ones I'll be wearing with that SEG on my face when I get my Tubaru next month....maybe

Cory,

Love the badge, its killer!

Badge design is great! It certainly expresses the fun we enjoy in driving.

you might consided a couple of minor tweeks... move the car up slightly, this will enable "2007" to be added below 356 Lisc. plate. Have the words SPEEDSTEROWNERS.COM curved to follow the top edge of the badge. Narrow insde edge of front tires slightly. Make top of the "shades" conform closer to the curve of a Speedster windshield.
See what you think?
Bob

I'll tweek it today, and add it to the "enhancements" thread ...

with all of the issues that I have been dealing to make my car road legal... (title concerns and the previous owner not paying his taxes) I finally have success! One year, 3 month and countless, upon countless of correspondence to CA DMV and I am rolling! Not to say that I am done tinkering, I finally found and ordered a set of engine tins and seat belts... does it ever stop? Plastic surgery addiction?

Kevin, it doesn't end. Ever. But congratulations on sorting out the pesky details and joining the S.E.G. club!

Of course I'm drooling. Kevin has the good forture of a VIN, so the SC side of the process was not too awfully painful (was it?).

Can't wait to get our cars on the road together.

Lane, I'm coming to visit you when both of our cars are medically and legally cleared for flight. Where we gonna go?

Two birds, one stone. Here is the suggestions-taken current revision of my proposal for 2007's grille badge. The yellow lines in the road are ideally supposed to be MMVII, for 2007. The bitmap has them, but the jpeg doesn't show them all that well.

Cory,

We should go up into the mountains (about 4 hrs northwest from me) and drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway. John Hallstrand could probably be convinced to join us as he's close to that area. There's also another Speedy in Charleston (Kevin Haskins, aka odwagerty) that I think I could convince to come. There may be others we could get as well. If you want seafood, you could come all the way down here and we could take 'em to the beach. Come on down and experience some Southern hospitality!

Oh yeah, I definitely like the badge on the right!

Illegal Lane

The right one rocks!