Has anyone heard of, or done business with, 356 replica builder SoCal Speedsters? I believe they are located in or near Vista, CA and the owner is Doug Hocking.
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Never heard of him.
@Troy Sloan Have you?
It's the old Beverly Hills Motorcars company who advertises dozens of Speedsters that don't exist on Hemmings. When people call he tries to sell them a new one that he claims he is building, but I'm not aware of anyone who has actually ever received a car from him.
Here's a link to one of his ads for a non-existent Speedster. Scroll down and you'll see he is now calling himself Socal Speedsters.
Thank you @Robert M and @Troy Sloan. The guy I spoke with says he is the new owner after buying Beverly Hills Motorcars. He fully acknowledged the troubles with BHM saying the business was in shambles when he bought it. Started trading as SoCal Speedsters ~4 months ago. Also says SoCal has sold ~20 cars since the switch to new ownership. I’ve been contemplating placing an order but I’m a bit skeptical.
@edgrzzzz posted:Thank you @Robert M and @Troy Sloan. The guy I spoke with says he is the new owner after buying Beverly Hills Motorcars. He fully acknowledged the troubles with BHM saying the business was in shambles when he bought it. Started trading as SoCal Speedsters ~4 months ago. Also says SoCal has sold ~20 cars since the switch to new ownership. I’ve been contemplating placing an order but I’m a bit skeptical.
Ask about a thousand questions and then ask a few more. Where is he sourcing the cars from? Does he actually build them? IS your deposit going in an escrow account for security? How long is the wait? etc, etc etc.
So he has had at least 4 months to delete the ads he currently has on Hemmings or at lease be VERY clear that potential buyers understand that none of those cars are actually for sale. Besides that VERY deceptive advertising there are tons of other questions that I would want answered before placing a deposit to have one BUILT. I'm certain he is well aware of the SOC and he is very welcome to come on and tell us all his story.
As far as I'm concerned, there are only 2 builders in the USA that any buyer should trust with their deposit for a new build. Vintage Motorcars of California Inc., and BECK Special Edition. YES, ONLY 2!
@Robert M posted:Ask about a thousand questions and then ask a few more. Where is he sourcing the cars from? Does he actually build them? IS your deposit going in an escrow account for security? How long is the wait? etc, etc etc.
Agreed, and tell him to post photos of “his” factory on his website. I bet that doesn’t happen.
If you're not buying from the two legitimate builders...DO set up an escrow account !
If you don't want to spend the money on an escrow account, at least set up a simple savings account with his and your signatures required to withdraw any funds and no Power of Attorney ever to be authorized. I have sold two business's this way. Of course you will have to draft up a phased completion contract as well.......Bruce
@LI-Rick posted:Agreed, and tell him to post photos of “his” factory on his website. I bet that doesn’t happen.
Every once in awhile somebody will ask Carey to post pictures of his factory.
Naively at first, I thought it would be cool to see.
I didn't think people would use pictures of his shop to misrepresent what they claimed was theirs.
Agreed: Only two. That said, I wonder how JPS is doing these days? Have not heard anything, and have not asked. Same old same ol' ?? or have they upped their game? As far as I know,,there is still a business there. How its working, i do not know.
Yesterday I asked for customer referrals and some background financial information. No response as yet. Thanks y'all, looks like I dodged a bullet on this one.
@El Frazoo posted:Agreed: Only two. That said, I wonder how JPS is doing these days? Have not heard anything, and have not asked. Same old same ol' ?? or have they upped their game? As far as I know,,there is still a business there. How its working, i do not know.
As I said at the end of my post in all caps, "yes, there are only 2."
As far as JPS are concerned, just tried to call them and call disconnected after first ring; tried twice. Vintage Motor Cars has a 150 car queue at the moment and Beck is quoting a 3 year wait time. Doesn't leave much and explains why used replicas are trading so high.
@dlearl476 posted:“Sold” and delivered are two different things. If you’re hot for a Speedster and don’t want to wait, check with Troy and the guy who sells Vintages on consignment. (Sorry, I can’t remember his name.)
Roy at Cloud 9. That part I'm sure of.
I believe his handle here is @RoyP That part I'm a lot less sure of.
I met Roy just last week. I live near his shop. Good guy.
@dlearl476 posted:“Sold” and delivered are two different things. If you’re hot for a Speedster and don’t want to wait, check with Troy and the guy who sells Vintages on consignment. (Sorry, I can’t remember his name.)
Roy is the east coast dealer for Vintage Motorcars and you can order a VMC through him. I don't know if he takes cars on consignment or not.
He does seem to be ordering cars from VM Inc on spec and one pops up pretty frequently. Well appointed cars, too.
I bought my Hawaiian-Gardens-era VS from Roy. If you shop the Cloud 9 site, don't just salivate over all the sold speedsters. Push the Find My Dream Car button and fill out the form. What you're trying to do is interrupt Roy before he can write up, photograph, and post the latest car he found.
Hey Guys, Appreciate all the referrals and kind words. As Troy mentioned, I am the East Coast Dealer for Vintage Motorcars of CA. In addition to taking special orders for custom builds I do order some spec cars for inventory. Lately these cars have been getting offered on Bring a Trailer because of the premiums being paid on that venue. I am always open to discussion to sell one of my inventory cars before it goes to auction to save buyer the 5% BAT charges
I currently have a Brand New Black/Baseball glove and a Silver/Cardinal Red car that just arrived. I also just got a used Vintage Speedsters build form Kirks original company/
Anyone interested can call me at 770-359-8400 or email me at roy@cloud9classics.com You can also fill out the DREAM CAR LOCATOR on my website, www.cloud9classics.com so that I can notify you when any new or used Speedsters come my way. I occasionally take a consignment car but most of the time I own the inventory I am selling.
The info mentioned about Socal appears to be accurate.
@edgrzzzz it was great getting to meet you and hopefully we get to work together on a build. @wrkinprogress am getting old and trying to remember which one you bought from me.
The 2 new VM cars Roy mentioned are gorgeous; I especially like the black over baseball glove. As I told Roy, I’d have already bought it but for the fact that I really need a coupe. I’m hoping one comes up on his radar as I’d love to purchase from Cloud 9!
@edgrzzzz posted:The 2 new VM cars Roy mentioned are gorgeous; I especially like the black over baseball glove. As I told Roy, I’d have already bought it but for the fact that I really need a coupe. I’m hoping one comes up on his radar as I’d love to purchase from Cloud 9!
Coupes are rarer than hen’s teeth. You’d have better luck finding a driver quality 356 B coupe.
If it walks like an old school used car dealer ......you know the rest.
Hello Speedster Owners and Enthusiasts. I wanted to introduce myself and open the lines of communications. I am the owner of SoCal Speedsters, a DBA of DH Acquisitions. SoCal Speedsters was established in September of 2022 when I purchased of all the assets from Beverly Hill Motorcars. BHM built and restored Speedsters for more than a decade and averaged 15-20 cars per year. SoCal Speedsters owns molds for the 356 Speedster, 550 Spyder and a Pre A Coupe. We manufacture our bodies in Mexico, like others in this industry. We assemble all of our cars in Vista, Ca where we welcome visitors. We are expanding our U.S. facility in the 1st quarter to satisfy demand. Our lead times range from 6-12 months (depending on the number of upgrades and build being commissioned). I am proud of our team at SoCal Speedsters as we have accomplished a lot and in a very short period of time. Cars are my passion and being able to build high end replicas for people is an honor. I look forward to becoming an integral part of this industry and to proving that we are a reputable shop, delivering high quality builds.
Sweet. Uphill climb to join the ranks of trusted vendors but more options are always good.
Good luck, @SoCalSpeedster. There's always room for a quality builder in the hobby - but I'd caution against pumping up BHM's less than stellar reputation here. Many, many people were put off by the blatant false advertising of cars that didn't exist, or were the product of somebody else.
Inviting people to stop by is a great way to build trust. Some pictures of your operation - with cars in progress and guys working on them (along with some time-stamps on the photos) would go a long way toward establishing yourself as a legitimate player in this market for out-of-town customers.
I in no way want to insinuate that I think you are less than forthright, but there have been a lot of people burned by various "builders" of late, and folks are understandably gun-shy.
Again, I wish you nothing but the best in your endeavor... but we've seen a lot of people come and go.
Welcome and best of luck.
Maybe this thread should be moved to "Vendor Discussions"? He is a newbie, but...
@SoCalSpeedster, the first thing you can do to gain credibility is to clear all the smoke and mirrors off of Hemmings.com and other web listings. It's been a long time joke/complaint that non-existent cars from BHMC listed are either sold long ago or ghost cars. Not just Porsche replicas. It's the old saw: I can't hear a word you're saying because what you do is so loud. First things first: You can only lose your reputation once, and if you piggyback someone else who lost theirs...how are you now going to define your brand? Easy fix...if you care to do it. My take...it's fishing for leads with phishing. Just saying...I've been interested in other vehicles, but no longer even read the ones from BHMC.
Well, I'm counting good news here ... and I'll be getting my popcorn and sitting back to see how it plays out. I'll offer Just a very broad observation Re: the market. Seeing as how there is No more Intermecanica, and Carey at SE is looking at multi year wait times, as I understand it, for custom builds. (He does run a used car lot, so to speak, and that he also does very well, with shorter wait times.) Then there is the CA Vintage Cars (the good Vintage, not the bad one) who plays well enough, and has long waits. So I'm thinking a sincere and able new builder, who will prove himself soon enough, will find room in the sandbox. We will see ...
Thank you all for your comments. I am very excited to be a part of this industry and look forward to building some beautiful cars.
We are working on cleaning up the Hemmings site and will be updating/deleting the inactive cars previously placed for sale by BHMC.
I'm anxious to see examples of a recent completed build. I'm not a potential buyer, but it would be interesting to know what terms a new buyer should expect.
Troy...Nice to meet you by way of this website. I have heard a lot about you look forward to meeting you some day. We will post many of our builds via our website gallery. I also invite you to visit our shop where I would be happy to show you our builds in process, our current R&D projects and for a general meet and greet.
That may happen at some point, but not anytime soon as I'm currently out of the country and I don't live anywhere near Vista when I'm in the country.
It would be nice if anyone you are currently building a Speedster for would post about their experience from start to finish in a dedicated thread.
Please keep us posted about your Hemmings cleanup process.
Welcome to the madness.
Safe travels. I will encourage a few of our current clients to post about there experience. We have several cars being completed this month.
Madness is an understatement! This industry is quite unique and full of some very interesting people.
I would agree that you have a long road to credibility. My opinion is based on actual experience. I’ll leave it at that.
I look forward to it. Good luck on your find of a 356 Coupe. They are great cars.
@SoCalSpeedster, I forgot to say: Welcome to the Madness, which trite phrase is usually reserved for those who buy then drive Speedsters upon doing so for the first time and finding their way into the house of the deranged, aka the Speedster Owners Club. We look forward to hearing from some of your customers, seeing nice pictures, and like that.
SoCalSpeedsters...........Why don't you have an open house day in February when many of the So cal Porsche and VW enthusiasts will be visiting different shops and events ?
Bruce
Troy.....Where are you ? Mexico maybe ?.......Bruce
We welcome visitors at our shop at anytime. We are located in Vista, Ca, just over a mile off the 78 freeway.