Speedster build now finished

@ALB posted:

First- looking good!

I'm not a hard top fan on Speedsters, but yours looks right (too many of them look like a bubble plopped on top) and fit the lines of the car.  Have you thought of detailing the wheels so they look more Porsche-like?  They'll go from this-

to this-

Thanks @MusbJim for the pics.

Thank you ALB, I've not thought on doing anything with the wheels 🤔 but that is a great transformation. Do you know what is involved to achieve this? I am thinking of trying to get a hold of the more traditional looking Speedster wheels and chrome hubcaps, as I think the car would look better with them? Cheers

I bought a set of original Fuchs wheels that came from a 911.  They were fully black anodized except for the trim rings and I decided to remove the anodization from the spokes and polish them.  Went from 400 grit to 2000 grit in several stages using various power tools and grinding heads and eventually polished the spokes to a high shine.  I then masked them to paint the background (Krylon matt black, three coats) and then re-masked them to clear-coat the polished spokes (Krylon clear acrylic enamel, three coats).  

My guess for labor time for all that would be around 8 - 10 hours PER WHEEL.  That black anodized finish that Fuchs uses is really, really tough to remove.  They came out great, and I saved a lot of money doing this, but wow…..  What a lotta work!

Faux Fuchs are not anodized - just painted - so black paint is easily removed with paint remover.  I refinished (but need to polish more) the 2.0L 914 Fuchs - which were dastardly OEM anodized!  Took a lot of effort to remove.

Oven cleaner takes anodizing right off.

@Spadders posted:

Thank you ALB, I've not thought on doing anything with the wheels 🤔 but that is a great transformation. Do you know what is involved to achieve this? I am thinking of trying to get a hold of the more traditional looking Speedster wheels and chrome hubcaps, as I think the car would look better with them? Cheers

Those are MusbJim's wheels off his black Speedster and iIrc he sent them out to a wheel refinisher that specializes in Fuchs/Porsche wheels.  The transformation is a lot of work and, if you're paying someone, it's not cheap, but the results speak for themselves.  They look great on Speedsters (and on 356's in general) but if you prefer a more traditional wheel I get that as well.  You will be changing the bolt pattern from 5x130mm to 5x205mm and that will require new hubs/drums (my apologies, I forget what you have for brakes) so that's another expense.

Jim's Speedster                                                                                                                                             

A Speedster with more traditional wheels and nipple hubcaps                                                                                 

.

Here's a link to an old post from a member who doesn't post here often.

He repainted some Fuchs himself and posted photos to show how he did it:

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Looking at original paint Fuchs , it looks like the bare rims were "dropped" in black  paint  , which seems like a smart way to paint  large batches of rims with less handwork.

I think they were  put on a tray and the tray was lowered into the paint bath at the correct height to paint the  back and up to the level of the spokes.

But I could be wrong

@imperial posted:

Looking at original paint Fuchs , it looks like the bare rims were "dropped" in black  paint  , which seems like a smart way to paint  large batches of rims with less handwork.

I think they were  put on a tray and the tray was lowered into the paint bath at the correct height to paint the  back and up to the level of the spokes.

But I could be wrong

That's how I did mine. I used a plastic tub filled with black paint. Much more consistent than I could have done by hand.

That's a great method for painting the wheels, but I think I'll keep mine as is and look for Speedster style slotted steel wheels and chrome hubcaps 😃. I see that there's a Maxilite wheel which is for a "c" but think would look ok? I'll need to check if they suit the all round discs I have. I'm even thinking of going 4.5" wide 🤔. Is anybody running these wheels? I was out a run today and got caught out in some rain. Not heavy, but still no drops inside 😅 so hopefully all good. Also took a photo to show just how small and low she is even beside "our" small cars 🤣 cheers

Hi everyone 😃, I was out yesterday at my first car show with the Speedster. This was the Porsche Club of Great Britain Scottish show, "Porsche in the Glen" held at Calderglen Castle country park. And my Speedster won BEST IN SHOW 🤩, voted on by the Porsche owners. To say I'm shocked is an understatement.  I couldn't believe the attention and comments she was getting. I was going to take my 914, but was told that there were a couple coming, so was convinced to take the Speedster. I was nervous of taking a replica to a Porsche show, but everybody was great, and i was within earshot most of the time and didn't hear any negative comments, in fact quite the opposite 👍. Here's a few photos of what it was like most of the day, but I didn't take many as I was so busy talking 😀 and still now feeling stunned 🤪 i think they said there were over 200 cars during the day, cheers Colin.

@Spadders -- I love it!  "Best in Show!!"  And, at an exclusively Porsche event no less.

Dude that's brilliant! Congratulations.

Outstanding!

What a great work you did @Spadders!!!

Very nice Speedster

Holy Cow, Colin.......

Your car is drop dead gorgeous, inside and out - Even the Frunk!!

Thanks everyone for your kind comments 👍 they're much appreciated 😃  The hardtop is now off for our summer, and I'm even hoping I don't need to put the softop up 🤣. Cheers

Spadders/Newbie:  Your ride may not be the best example from our hobby, but anyone would be hard pressed to find a better one.  You did really good.  Gordon's "Holy Cow" post x 2.

Looking very sweet! Great job!

Absolutely stunning!! ‘Brilliant’, as they say!!

Hi everyone,

Sorry I've not posted anything for a while, but I've just been enjoying driving my Speedster during our summer. I did take her to the Lombard Historic Rally Festival on the 1st of September at Craufurdland Castle and was stunned to win 😃 best in show 😃 from all the display cars present. A lovely prize of two bottles of local malt whisky, matching glasses and coasters. The rally stage on the forest tracks in the castle grounds was great to watch with a lot of the cars being from the 70's-80's which is my era. Here's a photo I found from the Lombard page, and one I took in front of the Castle. Cheers Colin

Ps, I haven't even opened the whisky yet 🫣

Congratulations Colin!  Well deserved.

@Spadders

WOO HOO, Colin! Congrats on that recognition of a well put together Speedster.

Absolutely stunning build. Do you mind me asking who makes your steering wheel and where you purchased it from?

Again, bravo sir.

@Mozza posted:

Absolutely stunning build. Do you mind me asking who makes your steering wheel and where you purchased it from?

Again, bravo sir.

Thank you Mozza, that's much appreciated 😃. My steering wheel is an original Porsche one that I managed to prize from a collector in the UK. The only other genuine Porsche part on the car, is the early steering column I sourced to match it, everything else is either VW or replica 😃

Again, great looking Speedster and glad you're having fun with it.  Would you be so kind as to snap a pic of the steering wheel and column?  And I know that it's time to put it away for the year, but when it comes back out in the spring- drive the tires off it! _{(think big evil laugh here)}

Yes, recognition at shows is nice, but it doesn't compare to a well placed, fast line around a mountain curve...