Speedster "C" ??

Check this article out in Excellence

http://www.excellence-mag.com/issues/194/articles/c-speedster?page=1

Interesting, sorry, I started to read the article but the writer was so long winded and the battery on my laptop is getting too low to finish.

Very interesting article. When you think you know a lot about Speedster history something like this pops up.

I didn't much like the authors choice of words to describe a replica as a "Plastic bastard" but snobs will be just that.

Thanks for posting it---I'll add it to my Speedster History file.

When he called it a "Plastic Bastard" maybe he was refering to the Subaru engine :) No offence to you Wet guys :)

At least he's not "the pot calling the kettle black" as he refers to the 356C Speedster in the article as a "Bastard".

He has some funny comments on the Malibu cruise scene. Good read.

"everything about her fits together perfectly. Not only in terms of color (all red), but also in terms of authenticity (all fake)."

So they don't like fake boobs either? Poor guys they don't know what they are missing!

An interesting description of the color of the leather seats on page
4.

Minor hijack -- I was discussing Subaru transplants into Speedsters with a guy at the firehouse. He said, "They might as well do something with those engines. Subarus were engineered by the Japanese, but that sh

Thats funny Cory, I used to call then FUGLY (FAST BUT UGLY!)

Is not the Subaru Boxer engine built under license from Porsche and with some technical assistance from Porsche? Perhaps the firehouse comment is referring to body design.

I don't know how many of you have ever driven a Subaru WRX but those cars are scarey fast!

Porsche gets around, engine wise. They played a major part in developing the Harley Davidson "V-Rod" engine. Also, I heard a story way back that they designed an engine for Chevrolet that would be used in their then new rear-engined car (Corvair). Apparently, the number crunchers did not like the proposed per unit cost and GM wound up designing their own version. I believe that the end result was the 911 engine. I don't know if this is a fairy tail, but it makes a good story.

Total sacrilege! A real P-car with a Suby 1.8.

Marty, I only have a Suby 2.5 but its not a Turbo .... sigh.

Car guys have several definitions of sacrilege, don't we? To some Porsche afficionados, anything but original reeks of low-brow, second-class pretenders to the throne. Folks like the Emory's in Oregon who build outlaws are either worshipped or reviled, depending on one's perspective.

Of course, to many Porsche enthusiasts, replica owners are the pond scum of the car world, something they stepped in when getting out of their "C" at valet parking at the club.

We replica owners are not immune from snobbery either. Air vs. water, standard vs. flared, etc.

One person's sacrilege is another person's genius. That's how rodding started, with an idea, some basic tools, and the persistence to make something no one else had.

This is a big tent we have erected. I like to think there's room for everyone in here.

Interesting that many of those parts that make the subject Porsche a "non-original" car also appear on our replicas - larger displacement engines, type IV engines, updated exhaust systems, disc brakes, more modern wheels, and so on. And with each upgade, the owner expresses a new-found pleasure in a higher performance level of his original car.
I think the owners were doing the same thing that many of us replica owners do - except they chose to do it with Porsche part numbers and we chose to do it with VW part numbers. Surprising how similar the end results are. Except for the cost!

Well said, Jim.

When I go to many of our local car shows people either like the car or make some comment
about kit cars etc. - the funny thing is that about 1/2 of the hot rod's at the show are fiberglass and many built by their owners - many will never admit that their car's are
" kit cars " as well. The muscle car crowd never talks about this - out loud anyway

"Oh, it's one of those kit cars". ....I politely say, "So which one did you build and drive here today ?"

I like your come back Alan, I cant wait to use it.

For those rude few who make disparaging remarks about "kit cars", I often reply with:

"Oh, and what do YOU drive?"

Usually you find it's a mini-van, at best, or some ugly, nondescript POS that can't get out of it's own way.

Then I respond with "oh......." and a withering stare right through them.

That usually ends the 'chat'.

I find most people rather like the Sloppy Jalopy.
I don't know why, but they do. P-car guys and hot-rodders alike.

I knew I could find it, if I looked hard enough; commentary from the late, great Jim Ward.
His take on real vs. replica, excerpted from a thread in the same vein from March of 2005:

"... Who cares what a purist may think? And who cares what a wanabee or the ignorant masses think? We've all got our dreams wrapped in a tub shaped present.

It's been said by others.. and I did have it happen to me.. a rice Box SUV pulled up next to my wife and I at a light, sitting in my black VS one evening.. two couples are checking out the car from their insualted piece of the pie.. a window comes down, and a guy asks if it's real. I tell him "it's a VS replica" and "aint that cool?". He looked and said, "too bad" and gave a look of disapproval. I replied: "it sure beats that piece of shit you are driving tonight". Several others have said something similar... be proud of what ya got.

Jim"

That goes back a ways, but I don't know if anybody's said it better since then.