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   Hi!  I am new here and love this site!  Here is my story.  Sorry for the length, but it is truly a major part of my life!

    Way back in 1983 I was the owner of a local bicycle shop in Buffalo NY.  Needless to say, a seasonal business in Buffalo is not always the best idea.  However, the shop was successful for more than 25 years and I was able to enjoy some "quiet time" in the winters.  As I sat reading a magazine one January day, my brother-in-law stopped in and asked if I was able to help him out. He had just come from attempting to have his 71 VW super beetle get it's annual state inspection. It failed due some rusty frame and brake lines and other issues.  He wanted me to follow him to the junk yard and give him a ride home.  I purchased the junker VW for $50.00.  Exactly what he was offered at the junk yard. 

   The magazine I was reading was a Popular Mechanics that featured a bunch of different "kit cars." One of them was the CMC Speedster. Another was the Fiber-Fab MGTD.   Both of these interested me as FFs were made right here in Buffalo.  I stopped by their facility and saw that they had a Speedster body sitting on a pallet ready to be shipped.  I was in love! 

    I ordered the kit, figuring that as the magazine said, "limited auto skills and about 40 hours for a completed project."  I had the VW stowed in the garage at the bike shop. I was a very good bike mechanic and had worked on a few Mopeds and small motorcycles in my day.  I was certainly not a car mechanic!  I had owned a few VW bugs so I was somewhat familiar with their "quirks." 

    Thus began a lifelong hobby that I still enjoy today!  I still own the Speedster that I built on that old "rusty" VW chassis.  I used that car as a daily driver when I was low on cash for a year or two. I drove my daughter around in it as she loved the, "red car" when she was a kid. She and her friends loved to get driven around town in it.  

    It took me about 9 months to get it built, registered and most of the bugs worked out. Since then, as life happens to throw curve balls, it has been stored, and not driven but, most recently, it is out of storage and getting a complete going over. That, is when I was searching around the web and found this amazing group! Thank you for supporting this hobby and for producing that calendar, which I ordered.  You will here more of my story as time permits.  I have to finish upholstering some old Karmann Ghia seats for the Speedster! 

JimCell phone pics 12-12-17 006

Speedster Jim, Buffalo NY

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Images (2)
  • 57 Porsche Speedster: This was about 1990.
  • My Speedster and a friends MGA.: Just last week!
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Thanks for the warm welcome.... There is a lot more to the story and yes, I have lots of pics, but most are actual photographs taken with one of those old fashioned things..... a camera! So, I will convert the build pics to digital and post the build from the beginning. And eventually, pics of what I am doing now.  It has been sitting for the past 7 years in storage.  Now, it is being completely gone through. So far, the basics: Oil change, fuel tank drained, new fuel pump installed, new carb, brakes bled and new backing plates rear w/ wheel cylinders, shoes and hardware, new speedo and tach, (speedhut), new wiper switch, new horn.  I guess a car that was built in '83 is now an antique even though it is a replica of an antique!  

Yes, I am certainly getting creaky!  And creakier as the snow piles and the temps drop.

Yes, that is my friends MGA, 1960 I believe.  He was taking his to storage and drove by my storage garage as I was dragging mine out of storage! He put the MG away for the winter. I drove mine over to my house and now my regular car is out in the snow while I putter with the Porsche.  I adapted the seat frames years ago using electrical conduit welded to the original frames to narrow the floor tracks.  I am not very big or heavy, but the original kit seats were horrible. So, these Ghia seats are getting new upholstery and foam padding and are looking great in my basement workshop! Pics to follow soon.  

Hi, Jim!   And we welcome your return to the Madness!

Way back in 1967 I was headed to Houston, TX, and picked up a magazine at the airport - the first year, first issue of "Dune Buggies" magazine.  I was thoroughly hooked.  It took a while to get to it, but I ended up building a Dune Buggy, then a bunch of dune buggies, and then Life got in the way for 25 years or so until I finally built a CMC Speedster.  40 hours, HA!  More like 7 years, but it got done and I've been having fun with it ever since.  Just put her up for the winter last Friday after filling the tank and doing a final run around town.  And now a lot of us in the Great White North sit around watching too much TV (Ooh!  We can Binge on "The Crown"!!) until the driving season returns.  

Get that going over going!  You daughter is probably itching for another ride!

 

She just brought it up when she was home for Turkey Day! I told her it was out of the old garage and at our house being worked on with every spare minute!  We checked it out in the garage and she couldn't believe she used to sit in the boot, in a baby seat! I think she has her eye on it for a second car.... But she is gonna have to be patient, very patient! She is 31 now, married and a professor. Wow! Time Passes faster than a speeding........ Porsche! 

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