northstar spyder for sale

I remember seeing the ad a while back.  WOW, A 4.6L 32 valve NorthStar engine with a base 300 hp would sure satisfy anyone's need for smooth power! Curious what the transaxle is?  I could see that pulling some huge Mardi Gras floats down here in the South! Definitely one of a kind!

Thanks for the comment Wolfgang. The entire drivetrain is NorthStar including the 4l80e transmission. It is indestructible and to my knowledge the strongest transverse auto made. It is automatic overdrive and these modern computer controlled autos are just about flawless. You can manually hold it in gear if you like for enjoyment but you'll be hard pressed to outperform the auto mode. Also, as Jim Hall discovered, with plenty of horsepower its kinda nice to have both hands on the wheel.

In my search to find a new owner for my beloved project, I am lowering the price to $18k, which is well below half the cost to build. My health is not improving and in fact last night was kinda rough. My goal is to find that special person that will fully appreciate this unique car  - a 550 on steroids as I call it.  

some more pics - thanks for viewing guys

John - with that engine - the car really crosses to supercar performance potential.  It would scare me - but others thrive on "more power".  I would try advertising it on ReinCARnation - which is free.  It's a free "kit car" magazine that has a wide Cobra performance readership - so it may appeal to other than replica Porsche guys.  Appears you and car are in New Mexico - too far fro a trip to Carlisle in May to sell it there.  Bring a trailer would be another venue - they aren't free and are picky about the cars they accept (replicas get scrutinized).

https://www.rcnmag.com/order/classifieds

Wolfgang, again thanks for your reply. Funny you should mention the power. When I built the car I adjusted the throttle stop to 50% as a precaution. It has never gone beyond 50% so never got into power enrichment - air to fuel is always controlled by O2 sensors. The performance at 50% is incredible and more than a normal person needs . Nice to know though that a big power increase is available if someone is young and courageous enough to adjust the throttle stop up. 

@johnaustin

John, you did an outstanding job fabricating all the mods on that Spyder! There's a buyer out there looking for this car (at such a deal). Just a matter of proper exposure, as Wolfgang noted.

Best of luck with the sale and sending positive vibes for your health improvement. 

thanks for the compliments guys - it's always nice to have your work appreciated.

Did your car sell?

Not yet Tom. There have been two guys who seemed seriously interested but they did not purchase the car yet. john

money talks and BS walks

That is true Tom. Unfortunately both of these guys wanted to give me another vehicle as partial payment. Problem is with my situation I am only selling to downsize and trades don't work(even though both were very cool trades). I am guessing that both are trying to sell their trades now to make a deal work.

After talking to the 2 guys with trade-ins, I am going back to my original price of $20k. One has seen the car and one has only seen pics, but they both agree that $20k is a great price for this machine. 

There is a very unique feature that I designed into the chassis - the ability to use multiple different powertrains. The chassis accepts a k member that bolts in with 4 bolts. Unbolt one powertrain and bolt in another. Before health became an issue, I had planned at least two different assemblies - the original NorthStar and a w41 quad 4 setup. But the capability is there for many combinations   - 3.4 v6, supercharged v6, small block chevy, etc. It's a little hard to explain but hope I got the idea across.

Where's BHMotorCars (Beverly Hills) when you need them?  They have a reputation of buying every Porsche rplica and adding it to their never ending inventory.  

That is a clever design - think Lane said that was how Beck designed the engine cradle for the new Coupe.  A nice turbo charged Eco-Tec would be my cup of tea.

Thanks Wolfgang - never heard of BHMotorCars - would love to hear from them. I agree about the turbo ecotec - that would probably bring the weight down to the 1600 lb area - scary fast. Like you I have a soft spot for 4 cyl. I had 2 incredible 4 bangers. A w41 quad 4 which was the pinnacle of quad 4's despite the head gasket issue ; and also had a Shelby glhs charger which would break the tires loose in 3rd gear.

@johnaustin

John, here is a link to Beverly Hills Motorcars (located in San Diego, CA). They seem to buy a lot of replica Speedsters (etc) and have quite an inventory. 

https://en.bhmotorcars.com

Just got my 3rd offer on my spyder - unfortunately all 3 involve me taking a vehicle on trade, which does not solve my problem of downsizing. Surprisingly two of the three trade ins are t buckets. Is there a trend of guys with t buckets wanting to trade up to highly modified 550's?   :-) 

spring has arrived, and that means roadster weather. as spyder and speedster folks know, our cars offer the freedom of a motorcycle with the ability to carry two.

sent an email to beverly hills motorcars with no response. guessing this is not their cup of tea.

That's a great car at a great price.  The body shape is a little unusual to most Speedster and Spyder owners, but I am sure it goes like scoot, and it looks so well constructed.

You should contact https://www.rcnmag.com/, ReinCarNation magazine, and see if they would post an ad.  They might even do an entire story on the car, and that might get you a good customer.

They did a story on my Intermeccanica S6 build, so give it a try.

Thanks Bob. To me the style is a 550 on steroids. One of my childhood heros was Jim Hall because of the Can Am cars he built. I think my car has the look of a streetable Can Am car.  

I do see it advertized on ReinCARnation too.  Definately a Cobra Killer at 1/4 the cost.

BHMC seems to post cars that are long sold. I called them a little while back on an early Intermeccanica speedster that was owned by a guy on here.  Told it was sold but they had another coming in. Funny thing is the first one is still listed. Their prices are pretty steep too. 

I think Chuck Martin's Blue coupe with white wheels was listed there for like 3 years.  I wouldn't buy from them but they do have a large listing of cars which does draw folks in.  I think they actually bought Chuck's outright vs holding it on consignment.

Here is an option I feel I should mention: back when I started this project I got the opportunity to pick up a 97 northstar engine that only had 7 miles on it. At the time having a quality spare engine made sense. I no longer need the spare and have it on the market for $1700. If the buyer of the spyder wants the spare and it is still avail, I think the package makes sense.

@Wolfgang   Yes that is correct, they bought my Bali blue coupe outright, haven't visited their site for sometime, but the last time I did it was still on there.

PaulEnvemo posted:

BHMC seems to post cars that are long sold. I called them a little while back on an early Intermeccanica speedster that was owned by a guy on here.  Told it was sold but they had another coming in. Funny thing is the first one is still listed. Their prices are pretty steep too. 

It's a shady practice if you ask me...The old "bait n switch"

Dang, this thing is crazy, all that and a bag of chips as Stan would say. $18-20k seems like a steal. Any chance there are videos of this thing in action? I would imagine that would get some people smackin’ their lips.

John, how many miles have you driven this beast? How many miles are on the installed Northstar engine?

Thanks for the interest Rich, I really appreciate it. No videos as I don't have that capability but can provide all the still photos needed. The car will not disappoint and wish I did not need to downsize. Took me forever to build to this point as any who know me will testify that I am somewhat anal(but imo any good engineer should be). To be cautious, I set the initial throttle stop setting at 50% and it is still there. Realistically normal people could be totally content never going beyond 50% with this power to weight. I bought a new in the crate 300 hp northstar engine for this project and the engine and car have only about 300 miles to date(and those are parade related miles). Where are you located? I bet you would enjoy seeing my creation. 

John, unfortunately I live in Wisconsin, but that doesn’t rule out anything as far as me goes, many here (including Wolfgang my friend) will testify to my car buying history. But, I am getting ahead of myself and don’t want you to get your hopes up for me. Currently, my cup runneth over with autos including my latest project of restp-modding  a ‘71 Karmann-Ghia.

I just came across this today and couldn’t resist commenting. As many others have mentioned, there is a buyer out there for this creation. Bring a Trailer only charges the seller $99 I believe. A well documented and photographed presentation does a lot for their auctions. Having some friend or professional do some videos would go a long ways toward selling this. They do offer reserve and no reserve options. I have never sold, but have purchased through them. As I understand it, BaT come to an agreement with the seller and suggests a reserve that you can agree on before the car is put up for their one week only auction. They get some crazy prices on some of their auctions for some unusual cars. I think yours fits that criteria. If nothing else, an e-mail to them could strike up an interesting offering. You have the engineer credentials to back up your design, so I’d say to check them out. The venue also allows you to communicate directly with genuinely interested parties through their private message option. If you would be content with a $20k sale, I would think they might agree with that number and the worst you would be out is the $99 cost to the seller.

You can also research their past sales via their archives, see and read all the comments and answers to past sales to get a feel for how their auctions go. It’s a great time of the year to be selling toys, the economy is up and people are spending again. Go for it, they might want to put your car up quickly.

BTW, my current stable is an ‘08 911, ‘92 NSX, ‘69 Beetle and the Karmann Ghia.

Good luck, if you want to talk directly, I could get you mu phone #.

Sweet collection Rich. When I knew that I had to sell my baby, my biggest concern was to find the right person to carry on what I started. I hope to find a true enthusiast like you. Keep an open mind, I would love to see my car become part of your collection. 

I'm not sure how the VW slipped in to Rich's collection --- it isn't red like the others!  It's blue.  With your's he could have red, white and blue.

Wolfgang, I knew there was a reason that I've always been so patriotic. ;-)

I would change the seats and put it on BAT. Awesome build. I would love to drive this car!!

Thanks Bill. The seats were selected to fit the theme of 'a streetable can am racer'. They are surprisingly comfortable.