I don't think it will look too busy. My dash will look essentially just like yours. We both have 3 large 4" gauges above the steering wheel, and one in the center above the radio. My actual gauges are different than yours, but they are the same size and in the same location. The dash is actually pretty simple and clean so I don't think adding a set of dash mounted Rally Stopwatches will make it look too busy. I like the Heuer gauges. But the are way too expensive. These are very reasonable, especially if you get 2 Stopwatches/Timers and not the Clock. The Clock is 3x's the price of the Stopwatches/Timers. Nice, but not worth it.
@Sacto Mitch posted:.
The sad thing is that the would-be tempted probably won't know the difference between the Heuer originals and a modern copy, so either would be equally gone.
Which gives us the new ad tagline, "TAG Heuer, timepieces for the decerning thief."
Here is my time piece. A $10 beauty I bought at Walmart. "Secured" to the windshield post with a piece of floral wire. 
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You guys are sissy's. Anyone can steal anything out of your car at any time. So I am supposed to not do what I want because I have to be afraid that someone is going to steal my stopwatches out of my car? No, I don't live my life in fear.
Nice watch, but not what I had in mind.
Recently sold on BAT…
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umm I dont get it..starting to sound like Rennlist,,,guy trying to sell some watch for $42K,,,gimmmee a break..ill take the $10 Walmart watch
Did the car come with those Heuers? I'll take the Runden Meisters for $300.
@Joel Roth posted:You guys are sissy's. Anyone can steal anything out of your car at any time. So I am supposed to not do what I want because I have to be afraid that someone is going to steal my stopwatches out of my car? No, I don't live my life in fear.
I like the idea of the watch and if properly secured they'll be difficult to steal. Years back there was talk of car alarms and a lot of guys here said don't worry, the car is too unique to steal. Hard to steal the watches off of the dash if everyone is checking out the car. Use Torx fasteners, or security Torx head fasteners or one of the other specialty fasteners that slow people down enough that they might get caught if concerned about theft.
@Joel Roth : I like the look you are going for…and no, you should not live your life in fear.
I have heard tell of people coming back to their vehicles only to find people around or IN the car having pictures taken. God help anyone uninvited guest in my ride.
What I can say is that simply buttoning up the tonneau cover effectively “hides” what’s in the cabin; even the entire dash is concealed.
What concerns me more is the thought of a criminal destroying the area around the item they want to swipe. I’ve seen a $100 stereo ripped from a dashboard causing hundreds of dollars in damage. I also agree the attention these cars garner can make a quick bit of thievery harder to accomplish.
Yeah. A couple times I found people posing for pictures IN my Spyder. They had the audacity(understatement) to unsnap the tonneau cover, believe it or not. Brass balls, that. In both cases they were young and female. Apparently Daddy never told them NO.
Most people actually have sense and leave it alone, especially if the tonneau is on. I tend to park within eyesight since then.
I live 60 miles north of NYC, so I attribute these instances to that proximity.
I have mentioned this before but .....Many years ago when NJ Replicar Club was at Carlisle one of our members " Michel" who was " French American" had a Neo Classic car with painted long running boards, some little kid ran up and down the running board as the idiot parent watched. To hear Michel bellow at the top of his lungs in a rapid mix of English and French with every other word being a clear " F -ER" was memorable to say the least .
DannyP:
We see people doing stupid stuff all the time in our area. It seems that when some folks go on vacation in a resort area they think that everything is a Disney ride or subject to their personal use. Folks with homes on the beach can have a heck of a time keeping people from coming onto their property to use their outdoor showers, swimming pools and patios. Since homes here sit well above the beaches on dunes or have some other form of barrier to entry you would think tourists would appreciate the boundaries.
Of course alcohol, hot sun or other stimulants might just play a role in this, but some folks are just idiots.
Official Thread Drift Alert.
Don't look at ME!
Hey Joel, there are some good pics in this BaT posting, including one of the dash that you'll like.
I like my Rudenmeister's better. I just Ordered them. I will have the stopwatches way before the car.
I know the car in the auction is a "real" Porsche 356, but I have to tell you I like our cars much better. First, our cars cost far less. Second, think of how much money you would have to spend to bring the car in the auction up to the level of our car's fit and finish. Third, our car's performance and handling blow the "original" out of the water (no pun intended). Fourth, our cars accelerate, handle, and brake far better than the original ever could dream of, and we have real AC.
All things considered, I will take our cars hands down over the original.
@Joel Roth posted:I like my Rudenmeister's better. I just Ordered them. I will have the stopwatches way before the car.
I know the car in the auction is a "real" Porsche 356, but I have to tell you I like our cars much better. First, our cars cost far less. Second, think of how much money you would have to spend to bring the car in the auction up to the level of our car's fit and finish. Third, our car's performance and handling blow the "original" out of the water (no pun intended). Fourth, our cars accelerate, handle, and brake far better than the original ever could dream of, and we have real AC.
All things considered, I will take our cars hands down over the original.
I love everything about this post.
You have "the madness" in a bad way, Mr. Roth. You've touched almost every station of the cross on the road toward becoming a "lifer". The bottom line is that I'd love my car no more or less if it replicated nothing at all - if there had never been an "original". I love my car for what it is, not for what it replicates or what people think of it (I play it down every chance I get, and couldn't care less if people think I'm a fake/flake for driving a "fake").
I also like the Rudenmeisters better than the white-faced Heuer clocks with different faces from different eras. I think what you bought is cool in it's own right, even if nobody had ever put rally clocks on a dash before this one.
You got a link for a set?
Stan:
Yes, I got the fever real bad.
I agree with you 100%. I love our cars for what they are, not for what they are "supposed" to be.
But, you raise an interesting question. At what point in time does a "replica" stop being a "replica" and become an "original" in its own right? Originally, the Porsche 356 "replica" cars were made to look like and "replicate" the original 356's. However, while they looked similar, they were very different in many ways.
Over time these cars have evolved into something far more substantial and far beyond the "original" 356. We made it on to Jay Leno for Christ's sakes.
Take my car for example. It will look similar to a 1963 356 Coupe, but the body is approximately 2" longer. The Frame is a custom square tube steel frame. The suspension, brakes and steering are all light years beyond the "original." My car's engine/transmission is going to be a 6 cylinder/6 speed out of a modern, water cooled Porsche 911 with approximately 320HP. My car is no longer a "replica" 356, but something far superior to the "original" in every way.
I ordered my Rudenmeister's from GTS Classics. ClassicCarseats.com.
.
Dunno where Joel ordered from, but you can contact Rundenmeister directly and order here.
Looks like a small operation (possibly just one guy), but he has some cool stuff.
I think this is a good choice, too. Original Heuers are out of sight and also 50-75 year old mechanical timepieces, so will be delicate and probably unreliable unless recently refurbi$hed.
Tag Heuer re-released some as limited editions a few years back, but at limited edition prices.
The Rundenmeisters have the look but are newly made. Don't know about the stopwatches, but their chronograph wristwatch probably has a Chinese Seagull movement, which is not a bad thing. The Chinese bought out all of the tooling from a famous Swiss watchmaker many years ago to make mechanical chronographs for the Chinese military and these movements are now in most mechanical chronographs under $1000, although Rundenmeister tiptoes around this point, calling them 'German' watches. Not an issue, though. The movements have a solid reputation.
It could be the stopwatches have entirely different movements than the Seagull, though.
In any case, I'd go with these without any regrets.
.
@Joel Roth posted:At what point in time does a "replica" stop being a "replica" and become an "original" in its own right?
In my opinion, the thing takes on a life of it's own at the point where you stop caring what the original car had, and start caring about how to make this thing the best it can possibly be for your own application. That looks different for different people, which makes the plastic-car world a much, much more interesting place than either the "original" crowd, or those who would want to duplicate that aesthetic as closely as possible.
I've got zero beef with "replicas", but it's hard for me to refer to my car in that manner, as I'm not trying to ape anything.
If "bespoke coach-built" didn't sound so pretentious it might be how I'd refer to it. As I'll never be that guy, "clown car" is going to have to suffice.
Come on Stan, you are selling yourself and your car way short. Clown car? Never!
@Joel Roth posted:Come on Stan, you are selling yourself and your car way short. Clown car? Never!
Just a suggestion, do a search on this site for "clown car." 😄
@Stan Galat posted:In my opinion, the thing takes on a life of it's own at the point where you stop caring what the original car had, and start caring about how to make this thing the best it can possibly be for your own application. That looks different for different people, which makes the plastic-car world a much, much more interesting place than either the "original" crowd, or those who would want to duplicate that aesthetic as closely as possible.
I've got zero beef with "replicas", but it's hard for me to refer to my car in that manner, as I'm not trying to ape anything.
If "bespoke coach-built" didn't sound so pretentious it might be how I'd refer to it. As I'll never be that guy, "clown car" is going to have to suffice.
That right there. With my first car I tried to sit on the fence between "originality" and "don't care what you think, it's mine".
The second time around, I planned and plotted and ended up FIRMLY in the "don't care" vein. I also figured out that it really can't do many things WELL. Boulevard cruiser/interstate/autocross/track toy/mountain road slayer?
Pick ONE, and make it do THAT, but do it well. I picked the last one on my list.
.
'Replica' is probably a more useful term to explain to the guy at the gas pump what this is he just pulled up next to.
"Is that a '58?"
Well, no, it's a replica of a '58. He's now got a slot he can fit this into and he's happy.
For us, it's not so useful. We've all gotten these things for different reasons and have done different things with them. We can see and understand the differences, so this one blanket term has no real meaning.
But the guy at the gas pump is still happy.
.
For me... at the pump?... it's a '58.
"What is that?!?" - it's a '58.
"Yeahbut, a '58 what?!?" - a '58 Speedster
"Like a Porsche?!?"- sorta'
or, "I had a Karmann Ghia like that once!" - Excellent. Great cars.
KISS
Or,
"Is that real?" Yes it is a real car!
"Is it a Kit Car?" No it was built in a small factory in Southern California. I have no business building a car myself.
" I ain't never seen a Porch like that in person?" Well it isn't a Porch/Porsche, it just looks like one.
My "57" says right on the license plate FAUX-57. What I get at the gas pump is "What year is that?" and "Is that real?" I just roll with it. It's enough that people are excited to see it and it makes them smile.
On the very rare occasion someone will ask "Is that an Intermeccanica or Beck?" I confirm that it's an IM and show them the PCCA rally badge on the grill.
I am sorry, but I think you guys are making way (emphasis on the way) too big a deal over this.
Our cars are beautiful. They give us happiness and pleasure owning them, driving them and taking care of them. We love them. Who cares what other people think about them.
Sign takes the wind out of all the blowhards who feel it necessary to loudly proclaim to everyone within earshot how they can tell it's a fake.
When asked "Why a replica?"
My response..."They're kinda like breast implants. Everybody knows they're fake, yet they're still nice to look at and way more fun than the originals". - Musbjim, 25 year PCA member.
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@MusbJim Well said!!!! Can’t argue with that!!
KISS
@MusbJim ^ what you said!....among other things....jay has everything...but also knows what "kewl"....plus a sign allows you to look around and not have to explain to all...
(unless you want to)....a wise person once said..."if you have to explain a joke, then it's not funny"
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@Joel Roth posted:I am sorry, but I think you guys are making way (emphasis on the way) too big a deal over this.
Our cars are beautiful. They give us happiness and pleasure owning them, driving them and taking care of them. We love them. Who cares what other people think about them.
Oh, I hear you, Joel. I really, really (really) don't care what other people think
... I just try not to be a jerk, and every mother's son wants to figure out a way to talk to you when you drive a speedster.
Every.
Last.
Mother's.
Son.
Gassing up. At stop lights. When your garage door is up. When your garage door is down, but they can see it up on the lift through the window in the garage door. When you're parked and inside having dinner. "What year is that?" "What IS that!?!" "I love your car!" "I just had to see who owns that beautiful car!" "Is that a Karmann Ghia?"
It's like what it must be like to be a pretty girl in a bar - guys just walk up, tongues hanging out, having ZERO idea what to say, but just wanting to say something. Anything. Just to stay in it's orbit for a minute or two before they head back to their "compromise-reality".
It's easy to be callous, but you have to give them something, or you're just that guy. You've got to commit to never be "that guy". I can't ever let myself be "that guy", even if that's how I'm wired, or if I'm having a bad day, or whatever.
"That guy" is a tool.
I try to be especially patient with kids and old men... and I'm an absolute sucker for people from the wrong side of the tracks - their awe of this thing is complete and unvarnished. I was a kid like that - I never thought I'd have a beautiful wife or a really nice ride or a big house with a lift in the garage... but I have all of them. The young kids dream, the old men remember, and the beat-down guys just ache for what might have been. They know, deep down in the soles of their sore and swollen feet, that they'll never, ever own something like this, and they just want to tell you how much they like it.
It's humbling, if you let yourself be humbled by it.
It engenders a ton of stupid questions, stupid observations, and no small difficulty if you just want to go about your life. But it's important to have something to give them, without getting into all of the nuances of what it replicates and the entire history of the air-cooled automobile in post-war Europe.
I give them short answers that aren't lies, but don't give away the farm. If a guy wants to talk more in depth, I try to make time.
You don't have your car yet, but I'm telling you what is coming, and it's BY FAR the hardest part of owning this sort of vehicle. The "P" car morons are just background noise. It's everybody else you need to have an answer for.
Forewarned is forearmed.
@Joel Roth posted:I like my Rudenmeister's better. I just Ordered them. I will have the stopwatches way before the car.
I know the car in the auction is a "real" Porsche 356, but I have to tell you I like our cars much better. First, our cars cost far less. Second, think of how much money you would have to spend to bring the car in the auction up to the level of our car's fit and finish. Third, our car's performance and handling blow the "original" out of the water (no pun intended). Fourth, our cars accelerate, handle, and brake far better than the original ever could dream of, and we have real AC.
All things considered, I will take our cars hands down over the original.
And best of all, they don’t rust.
.
@Stan Galat posted:....You don't have your car yet, but I'm telling you what is coming, and it's BY FAR the hardest part of owning this sort of vehicle...
It doesn't have to be the hardest part.
Some days, it can be the best part.
Sure, if you're in a hurry it can be a bother. If it's the third time today, it can get old. But we work on our techniques for slipping away gracefully. Like the Queen of England, we learn how to wave to the crowds.
Who knew a dumb car (a dumb, fake car) would make me a celebrity?
I'm old enough to remember when these cars were just cars. No one noticed, or turned to look. They blended in better with the other rounded, swoopy cars of the day.
I'm still trying to figure out the magic draw of these cars today, though. If you show up in a brand new P-car, the little kids and grandads and soccer moms couldn't care less. In a Lambo or a Ferrari, you're that pretentious a-hole in the Lambo or the Ferrari.
Our cars aren't pretentious. They're like puppies. Everyone wants to pet them.
If you aren't married but want to be, you could do worse than drive one of these.
It really doesn't have to be the hardest part.
.
@Panhandle Bob posted:"Is it a Kit Car?" No it was built in a small factory in Southern California. I have no business building a car myself.
Neither did the guy who built my Spyder but that didn’t stop him. 
I kid, I kid.
I agree with 100% with Stan I’ve had some really Nice cars Muscle Cars mainly but when I got my Speedster about 7yrs ago I had no idea how much attention it would bring everywhere I go it’s Crazy!!!! I would say 99.99% was Positive more than Positive!!
I remember the first time I took it to Easton in Columbus, Oh. It’s a outdoor shopping village with some nice restaurants. My wife and I were going to dinner we pull in to the Village one guys hanging out the back window of a Tahoe yelling and taking pictures. So anyways we pulled up to the restaurant valet they asked me if I could just park it out front In between a Lamborghini and Mercedes I said sure. Boy, I wasn’t ready for all the attention and questions It was a little overwhelming! We sat at the Bar and had a drink waiting on our table we watched as all the people gathered around and started taking pictures with the Speedster and not the Lamborghini or the Mercedes. So yeah these little cars are Special!!!!
We went back to the same place I think 3 weeks later not in the Speedster walked in and one of the guys sitting at the Bar said to me aren’t you the guy with that 56 Speedster man I just Love that car of yours!!
So like Stan says it’s coming
90% of the time it's "What year is it?". I say 1956. "What make is it?", and I answer Porsche.
If there is a third question AND I have the time, I'll tell them it is a replica of a 1956 Porsche 550 Spyder. If they want more details, I'll fill them in, no problem. Maybe give them a Vintage Motorcars business card if they look somewhat serious and ask a LOT of questions.
Most times after the first two questions they're satisfied and we part ways.
My FAVORITE is "I used to own one of those". Yeah, right, genius. There were only 90 made. Like ever. Yeah, you, Mr. rusted-ass hooptie mini-van, owned a 550 Spyder.
"Yeah, I'm married to M-m-m-morgan Fairchild, yeah, that's the ticket" LOL!
My least favorite is the JD question(which you all know I hate).
Or "Is that a Becker?" Which is very funny, as it's wrong on more than one level, as Becker made RADIOS. SHTOOPID!
Women and children LOVE the car. White, jealous husbands/borfriends/guys are envious. Period. P-car owners CANNOT STAND that you're getting more attention with a "kit car". He he.
@Sacto Mitch posted:.Our cars aren't pretentious. They're like puppies. Everyone wants to pet them.
They're EXACTLY like puppies.
They pee on your floor, cost a king's ransom to fix, and are generally pretty much a pain in the butt for the first year or so.
They cost way too much to buy, way too much to own, and cut way too big a swath in your life. There is no rational reason to own one, aside from wanting to. You find yourself making pretty significant decisions about things that would seem to be unrelated, based on their needs. Some people build special structures to house them. Some people take them to shows so other people can see how excellent they are.
Pedigree is important, but only to you and your weirdo puppy-people buddies (nobody else cares). You'll go to enthusiast-oriented websites to learn what other people know about them.
You either get it or you don't.