Nice Thunder Ranch F/S in Vancouver

Nice paint job. Top speed 150 MPH???  seems over priced

if it could reach 100 mph it would become airborne

I'm the weird kid who's looking at how the thing is put together.

Look at the (narrow) width of the door sills, and how roomy the footwell area is. This is a pan-based car, but rather than putting the uprights for the subframe inside the door openings, and then the longitudinal members inside of that, they're laid out more sensibly than a pan-based IM or CMC or more recent pan-based cars, which leave you with a very narrow seat base and footwell.

I'd love to see the whole subframe.

Just a tad overpriced...  

@Bobby D posted:

Nice paint job. Top speed 150 MPH???  seems over priced

I'm guessing .... that was a guess 

Or clearly he must have deeply buried the speedo a time or two

How can the trip meter read 133 when the odometer only reads 38? 

@Eric (McGruff) posted:

How can the trip meter read 133 when the odometer only reads 38? 

I think the trip odometer reads 033, it’s the angle of the dangle.

@Eric (McGruff) posted:

How can the trip meter read 133 when the odometer only reads 38? 

@LI-Rick posted:

 

 

I think the trip odometer reads 033, it’s the angle of the dangle.

It reads 033.2

The speedo is also in Kilometers so,150 kliks (and off the scale) would be About 93 mph.  240 kliks would be about 150 mph.  
Anyroad, going up there would most likely mess up the speedo.

Wicked awesome paint, though.  Not thrilled with the interior color, but the outside is gorgeous.   How could someone buy something that pretty and not drive it?

And I agree with Stan - There’s a lot of interior room in there that I don’t have in my CMC!

@Gordon Nichols posted:

The speedo is also in Kilometers so,150 kliks (and off the scale) would be About 93 mph.  240 kliks would be about 150 mph.  
Anyroad, going up there would most likely mess up the speedo.

Wicked awesome paint, though.  Not thrilled with the interior color, but the outside is gorgeous.   How could someone buy something that pretty and not drive it?

And I agree with Stan - There’s a lot of interior room in there that I don’t have in my CMC!

Look again, Gordon. It's a MPH speedo.

Possibly someone bought it, or had it made, only to find out they couldn't register it in Canada. An MPH speedo would be one reason why, although that's easy enough to change. 

ETA: I just looked at the ad. It's a dealer, I imagine they commissioned the construction to sell. Can you make a profit selling a just-built Speedster for $35K?  If that paint is House of Kolor, it's about $600/gallon last I checked, and that's for the base coat alone.  

TR hasn't been in business for at least 5-10 years. He didn't commission it.

A while back I saw a TR Speedster that was built in 2005, it had a tube chassis.  It was set up with vw front tube bolted to the chassis and a vw torsion tube welded to rear.  If I remember correctly, the rear section included the vw transaxle mounts.  As already mentioned, TR has been out of business for some time, but on their site there were some pictures of their chassis.  

Years ago when I taught Auto Shop we bought a TR tube chassis from Tom Mc Bernie, the design and welds were so bad I wouldn't use it over a refurbished VW chassis..... It was out of square. By looking at the weld differences, I could clearly see that there were to different people that did the work. " Mutt & Jeff "

At the end, Dave Barrett was building tube frames for TR. We had a nice little row on this site over what constituted a "tube frame".

@Stan Galat posted:

TR hasn't been in business for at least 5-10 years. He didn't commission it.

Bought as an unfinished kit and commissioned by someone to build it? Perhaps they built it themselves, which would make for a little headroom on that price. Who knows.

FWIW, Porsche has hundreds of fantastic colors to choose from. As beautiful as that paint job is, I can never get used to Porsches painted non-OEM colors. I'd choose Ruby Red over that any day.

@Alan Merklin posted:

Years ago when I taught Auto Shop we bought a TR tube chassis from Tom Mc Bernie, the design and welds were so bad I wouldn't use it over a refurbished VW chassis..... It was out of square. By looking at the weld differences, I could clearly see that there were to different people that did the work. " Mutt & Jeff "

 

 

@WNGD it is not impossible just not easy without a lot of creative speaking and writing, let's say craftiness.   

@IaM-Ray posted:

@WNGD it is not impossible just not easy without a lot of creative speaking and writing, let's say craftiness.   

If it was registered as a 1964 VW bug, I could imagine someone walked into somewhere friendly and just showed them the ownership for registration and they never saw the car. But it's registered as a 1964 Porsche Replica....

@IaM-Ray posted:

@WNGD it is not impossible just not easy without a lot of creative speaking and writing, let's say craftiness.   

I consider convincing my local DMV to title my Beck as a "1955* Special Construction Spyd" as my greatest triumph, ever, over "the man." Especially considering my proof of ownership was a Florida title for a 1996 VW, in someone else's name.

* Qualifying me for not only using a 1955 license plate, but $20 registration fees as a vehicle 40+ years old. 

I don't believe  the miles on any of these car that are for sale by used car dealerships.  

@Stan Galat  I believe kitman is now using this subframe in their offerings. I think it is a huge improvement visual and obviously space wise. Envemo accomplished something similar by using the wider Brasília pan which is pretty darn close to the karmann ghia pan. The pan is reinforced, after shortening, with around 1” square channel welded to the perimeter of the pan right in the channel. The fiberglass body has boxed rockers and is bolted right to the pan like the original was. Makes you wonder if the cmc method was overkill. 

@PaulEnvemo posted:

@Stan Galat  I believe kitman is now using this subframe in their offerings. I think it is a huge improvement visual and obviously space wise. Envemo accomplished something similar by using the wider Brasília pan which is pretty darn close to the karmann ghia pan. The pan is reinforced, after shortening, with around 1” square channel welded to the perimeter of the pan right in the channel. The fiberglass body has boxed rockers and is bolted right to the pan like the original was. Makes you wonder if the cmc method was overkill. 

The thing about the Kitman subframe is that is very, very minimal-- it has no structure whatsoever anywhere besides the front uprights and a member running under the dash.

It's quite expensive for what it is. If it cost 1/3 as much, I'd love to take the idea and expand on it from there. As it is, it needs a lot of work for me to feel safe in it.

@Stan galat yes, very minimal for what you get. Speedster clinic in the UK accomplishes the same but it is much more robust. 

I think the UK model seems more substantial but I would beef up the rear and the front to make it more substantial at the suspension attachment points, beam and trailing arms,  and provide some crash protection and gas tank protection as well. Butt sag will be eliminated too. 

Finally, just remember that we already have no protection for side impact in the doors... just saying. 

@PaulEnvemo posted:

@Stan galat yes, very minimal for what you get. Speedster clinic in the UK accomplishes the same but it is much more robust. 

Yep, @PaulEnvemo-- I've been looking at that longingly for a while. It's one of the nicest frames on the market. Lots of very, very smart thinking in that one.

 I live in BC and have been on the hunt for a 356 for ever. Buying one from Intermeccanica is not an option, as any 356 that comes for sale is out of my price range. 356 replica's don't come up for sale in BC often. If they are clean they seem to be priced from $40k and up.. Just seen this ThunderRanch for sale online. Beautiful car. Interior colour, would be better in black. Not trying to start a debate.. Price seems high, but everything is negotiable.... I would love some input from anyone with some insight on ThunderRanch 356 in general, or this particular car.

Cheers!

@PaulEnvemo posted:

@Stan galat yes, very minimal for what you get. Speedster clinic in the UK accomplishes the same but it is much more robust. 

I'll take my frame any day...

The original Thunder Ranch (aka Tom McBurnie) has built some stellar cars in years past.  And then there were those which were not so hot in quality.  If you find one these days, say, 6-7 years after McBurnie went on to other things, it either has probably been sorted out and is relatively issue-free or is a build from the guys he sold his business to.  Several people on here have TR cars and like them.  Several more have TD cars and have had to deal with McBurnie (myself included, and I don't even have one of his cars.....I was trying to help someone else) and he was a sweet-talker on the phone but did nothing to help once he hung up.  It was not a bad thing when he left the business.

Maybe the West Coasters know more, but I thought that McBurnie sold out to some other guys a few years back and left the business, although I haven't heard much about TR for a while now.

My opinion on that car is: contact them and negotiate a bit.  It's not a bad price for the car and, as you say......   They don't pop up in BC very often.

Gordon, thank you for your information and knowledge! This is the kind of info I’m looking for. Much appreciated sir.

As usual Gordon's points are solid.

If you don't do the work yourself, it may be wise to scout your area for folks who can keep the car alive.  It's been my experience, depending on the builder, car may be a newer build but some components and general technology are old.  Expect a level of maintenance and costs associated with any old car.

Like a lot of the other posters here, I've owned a few cars for playing.  Hands down, these funny little clown cars rate way up there on the fun stuffo meter.

Best of luck in you search. 

If you need roll up windows, don't you in Vancouver?  IM is the only car that has them unless you buy a coupe. 

This would be Spring /Summer car. No need for roll up windows. No issues as to working on the car myself. Learnt at 16 how to work on VW motors. I Sent the seller multiple emails inquiring about car with zero response.... So the hunt continues. Thank's everyone, for the info and replies.