Vintage speedster vs JPS vs Steve's Specialty Auto-Sports 356

Hi All,

I might be moving to San Francisco in August of this year and I'm looking to replace my replica i have over here in Australia with one in San Fran, but which one should I get???

Do you have any views on Steve's Subaru converted one from Specialty Auto-Sports? Also, which is the best between the VW based ones? I'm looking for a flared one, so I would really value people's views.

Thanks All.

is this guy pulling our leg

No I'm not.

I hear banjo music.

Interesting come back guys! Obviously got some time on your hands!

Do some serious research herein and draw your own conclusions based on your ability to wait for a build, pricing etc.
...all Manufactures have plus's to their particular products.

Sorry Olly,
If you're moving to SF you'll need to buy a Prius.
Make sure you put a "Free Tibet" and a "Coexist" sticker on it.
And, depending on how you swing, you might need the rainbow sticker as well...

Olly,
we seem to re-hash this subject about once a month, so it shouldn't be hard to find threads with all the info on the various builders....The answer is not an easy one since it depends on
1. money...how much you want to spend on a replica....
starts at about 24K to over 100K
2. time....less than a month to over 2 years
3. motors.....1600 air-cooled to water cooled subaru
4. speedster, coupe, spyder
5. other options...oh those options....

I think you get the big picture...

Olly, you can contact me or any of the other SAS owners by e-mail if you are interested in one of Steve's cars. But please, as Vince says, do some research here first. SOC does have a search function and there is a wealth of information and plenty of tongue-in-cheek humor also.
Hoss

Hey, Terry: Our 11-year-old Prius sports both NRA and Varmint Hunters Association stickers just to even things out. While I was getting the Spyder built, I got impatient and plastered the doors with some extra meatballs just so I could better fit in as the food-sag for the local Spyder-Speedster owners on one of their infrequent PCH runs above San Francisco. Needless to say, I stayed a "safe" distance behind them; then again, I had no choice. I like to think that they were way ahead of me because of the differences in speed, but in retrospect, what Spyder owner wants to have a Prius on his tail.

Thanks all, I will certainly do my 'search' before I 'post' next time :-)

Oily: a bit of advice: you may need to spend weeks or months doing research on these cars if you wish to minimize the possibility of not ending up with a car that completely fulfills your expectations. There are too many variables that must be considered and too many questions for a newbie to get answered. Theron published a nice article in the Tech/General section of Speedsterowners. It will give you a good start:

https://www.speedsterowners.com/reviews/newbies.asp

Be patient and don't be in a big hurry to purchase the next car that comes up for sale. Go to some of the Speedsterowners and other Porsche events to look at the cars and ask questions of the owners. If you are looking for a new car build, talk to those owners who have had experiences with the builders (not all builders are the same). If you choose to have a new car built, try to get a contract with the builder with your specific specs, and include a final build date so that the you and the builder can be on the same page.

Also, you might want to make sure you have a competent mechanic in mind who can fix the car if something goes wrong and you get "stuck."

The biggest event is the Carlisle Import and Kit Car Nationals that is in 3 weeks in Carlisle, PA. There will be quite a few of us there, along with Henry Reisner form Intermeccanica, Carey Hines from Special Edition (Beck), and John Steele from JPS. Steve Lawing from SAS won't be attending, but several SAS cars will be there. It's probably the best venue to compare different makers' cars and talk to owners. Check the Events forum for details. If you can make it, I highly recommend it.

You could go Intermecannica, but for the price of those, you might as well buy an original.

You obviously haven't tried to buy an original lately, have you?

I saw an original in SoCal with Gerd last summer for only $150K ;-)