Vintage Speedsters Deluxe Kit Configuration

Aloha,

Just wondering if anyone has purchased a Deluxe Kit from VS. I would like to know how the buying process went, and if possible the method you used to pay for the kit.

How detailed were the instructions? Was delivery prompt? I've heard some horror stories about Vintage Spyders (different company, I know), but being that I'm in Hawaii shipping is a concern of mine.

Also, on VS's webpage it says a steel subframe is glassed into the body. I'm assuming this means that I have to find a VW Type 1 frame that needs to be shortened. Is this correct?

Any replies are welcomed. Just trying to figure out what to do with a 2110cc engine I have sitting in my closet since I sold my '67 Bug to pay for my wedding.

aloha,
Joel

Joel,

Call Kirk Duncan at Vintage. He will answer these Qs for you. He's a nice guy, good builder, and will help you in whatever way he can. I think he does a 50% down 50% at shipment deal.

Jim
2001 VS Owner

Hi, Joel. It's good to see you're still around. When are you coming back to Portland?

I just purchased a Deluxe Kit. Shipping was "Chuck" driving a trailer up from LA to Seattle with the kit and all the parts right to my front door. It was cheaper and easier than crating it all up and having to deal with some semi trying to get into my neightborhood. The whole process was good. A couple of things were missing but Curt mailed them to me separately.

Being in Hawaii I'm sure this will be a completely different process, but I think you will still have no problems.

Oh, and yes, you do need a pan "doner" bug.

Re shipping nightmares; I bought an unfinished kit on ebay and had it shipped from Michigan to California. I used a company called Reliable Auto Carriers. They were anything but reliable. Initially they said it would take 21 to 28 days to get the car to me. They picked up the car 2 weeks after they said they would. Then it sat on their lot in Michigan for another week. Finally it was on it's way and would have been to me on time, except the truck driver had a 'family emergency' and had to drop the car off at Reliable's Southern Ca. warehouse. It sat there for another 5 weeks. I called twice a week to check on progress and each time they said it would be to me in a few days. After five weeks of listening to excuses I finally rented a trailer and went to LA to pick the car up myself. They discounted my fee but not enough to cover my expenses for the trailer rental. My advice is to get a well known shipping company, have a written contract stating both price and delivery date. My other advice is to never use RELIABLE AUTO CARRIERS.

Aloha,

Thanks for all the advice. I know I should give Vintage a call to work out all these questions, but I'm not at the buying stage yet and don't want to give any false impressions. I'm at the "what the heck am I going to do with this engine?" phase.

I've heard a lot of stories about unreliable shipping companies. The only way to ship something to the islands is via Mattson/Sealand shipping. They have a monopoly on it. Of course, getting the kit to their pier is another problem.

As for the donor bug pan, what needs to be done to it? How much shortening, any modifications recommended? I'm sure all of this will come with the instructions in the kit, but wouldn't hurt to hear from you guys at this point.

Scott - I'm still lurking about. Work has kept me busy lately. As for coming back to Portland...sheesh...I don't know when right now. I'm 99% sure that I'll be joining Honolulu Police Department this coming spring, which means I'll be living down here for good while. I can always transfer up to Portland PD, but I'd like to get some experience before I do that.

aloha,
Joel

Joel,

Check out my build site. I have pictures and a writeup on everything I have been through. At this point I'm working on the body and have the pan/engine part complete.

Aloha Chris,

Good Lord, man!!! After looking at your build page, I don't know if I can do this. The pan shortening section looks really friggin' intimidating. But, I guess if you screw-up a second junked up Bug with IRS really isn't too expensive or hard to find.

Let me ask you this: if I had a professional welder help me out, would it go a lot smoother? The closest I've ever come to a welder was a soldering iron (ha!). Just happens to be that my Uncle is a professional welder down here in Honolulu (thank God).

Thanks for documenting your build so thoroughly. I'm having a blast reading it.

~Joel

Joel,

If you have never done any welding before, you can still do this project, you just need to find a friend or get a pro to do a house call on the welding.

The rest of the pan shortening is just following directions. You can do it!

You can buy a rolling kit from vintage witht the pan already shortened for you. He'll also paint ti for you put on the windshield, bumpers and anything else you may want. I bought mine this way and just installed the interior electrical engine etc. I t came out very nice. I reccomend having kirk do the wiring for all the electrical as the supplied directions leave much to be desired.

Joel:

First, go to the home page of this forum, go up to the "regional" tab at the top and start clicking. You'll find that there is a regional Speedster Owners Club in Hawaii, so you should have some company in either deciding how you want to go about this or help in building/fabricating/finishing your kit once you get going. Contact some of those folks and develop some new friendships! It's ALWAYS easier doing this with others who've been through it before. There are a LOT of custom cars over there, so it shouldn't be hard to find people experienced people who will want to help.

Second, Yes, it looks intimidating at the beginning, but it is really a lot of simple steps. If you have someone (like your uncle) who can do the welding professionally, then that's probably the hardest part of the whole thing. Even the cutting is easy if you buy a "Sawzall" saw and just take your time. Also, as Slatinsky mentioned, you could get a shortened pan (mostly assembled, too, if you wish) from Kirk at Vintage and then just mount the body on it and the scariest part is done. After that it's all assembly - bolting things together or doing the upholstery work (lots of sprayed adhesive and positioning patience......no big deal). Also, several people on this forum (including me) have heartily endorsed Kirk Duncan and Vintage Speedsters as a fine place to do business.

The Bottom line is, Decide on how much you want to realistically spend, research what's available and what you feel you can honestly accomplish either alone or with friends to help, decide how you want to proceed and then start talking with whomever you want to buy from to get the type of "pre-finished" level, engine, wheels or other parts you'll need for this project to be successful.

Some of us have turn-key cars, some of us have completed cars that others started, and some have done the whole thing "from scratch". There is a wealth of knowlege on this site, and a group of the nicest people on the planet to help you along. Besides, if you put us up for a short stay over there you just might get a bunch of us "tourists" over there to help!!

Good luck, and keep us all involved!

Gordon
The Speedster guy from Rhode Island

Aloha,

Thanks for all the encouragement. I'm sure I can do a good amount of the work on one of these kits, its just the welding that I'll need help on. And, like I said, I can probably get my Uncle to do that for me. When the time comes around, I'll check with Vintage or whomever I order from to see exactly what can be done before the crates arrive at my door.

I know that I do not want to get a turn-key car, since I'll definitely want to do a bit of customizing to get that Outlaw look. I also have an engine ready to go which would mean I'd then have ANOTHER engine sitting in my closet if I got a turn-key car.

Gordon, thanks for the tip on the Hawaii regional club. Most of the people are on the Big Island (Hawaii) and I'm on O'ahu. That's okay though I have a friend with a 550 Spyder replica that seems to have dealt with a lot of the same problems.

~Joel

Joel: Aloha!

I was on the Big Island a year ago and stopped briefly at Tim Kuglin's rental place in Kona - he had three speedsters that he had bought as kits from Kirk, assembled them and put them in a rental fleet. We didn't rent anything, just saw them on the lot and stopped to take a look. Tim's really nice and, since he's now built at least three, he should be a good source to go to for help, along with your 550 friend.

Good luck, and I wish I were over there again, now! (temp's just under 10 degrees here in Rhode Island). It would be a joy to be riding the perimeter and saddle roads on the Big Island in a Speedster!!!!!

Gordon

Hi Gordon,

Yeah the weather over here is pretty nice. Although, the past few days we've had some pretty intense thunderstorms. Not the best weather for a Speedster.

The Big Island is definitely a nice place to go for a drive in the country. More than double the land area of all the other islands combined with only about 5% of the state's total population. I'm stuck here on O'ahu with 90% of the population! But, there are places you can go for a nice drive on this island.

~Joel

For the time and money a rolling vintage kit is a bargan. and if you feel doing the pan is to time comsuming, that would be your best bet.

Hi Barry,

That's kind of what I'm thinking. I'm not an experienced bodyman, so doing something from scratch is out of my league. I can handle the mechanics of it though, so that's what attracted me to the rolling kit.

Joel

In your case going to Hawai, a good sealed shipping crate will be fine. Just make sure you check it for shipping dammage before you sign anything at the dock , Find you a qualified agent to deal with customs and receiving ,who knows how to deal with it.

Im sure someone here is much better at this stuff than me. ask the group here.

Your welcome Joel.

I did it from scratch ,and it did fine

But I have done it before on dune buggys,so I had a good idea what to expect. I did ,thanks to a good friend I had a good place to build the pan , and he did contribute some good ideas. But it took time .

Mine is a deluxe kit. but not a rolling kit. When you have it shipped Splurge on a pro shipper with a closed trailer. I had some things disappear in Arazona on the way to North Carolino, vea, Florida .

My car's been round more than me and it didn't even have a engine in it.

Kirt took good care of me. and made it right. But I think it would have been better if all that had never happened.

Plus everthing will stay dry and clean. I also had door pannel water damage. and a missing side curtian. where my car was on a open trailer.

Hi Barry,

I've shipped a 1967 VW Bug down here once before, and unfortunately there is only one company that ships to Hawaii (and then only one that ships between the islands...can we say anti-trust suit?). That would be Matson (or CSX/Sealand which is owned by Matson). I was not that impressed with the condition of my car when it arrived, and I received the run-around when I complained of my broken shifter and scratched-up paint. But, they are a bargain at only $827 (three years ago) from the west coast (Tacoma, San Francisco, L.A. and San Diego).

Joel

It cost me $1,100. to ship coast to coast.
I best be counting my blessings,that I got as far as as I have and still have less than 20k in it.
But the rehash of my T-4 will blow that wide open IT did wipe out the new cam. and I have decided to try again but with ceramic lifters and nickelsilas jugs.

That wipes out this years play money.

Yeah, those expsensive engine add-ons will definitely dry-up your bank account like no other.

Joel

Aloha, Joel I live on Oahu eastside also if you are planing on bring in a kit give a call back, so we can meet. I'm not sure if you are aware of the problems you will have in regestering the car but it's pretty bad. I'm currently with a bunch of guys that are trying to change the laws this session to allow these cars to be legal and pass RECON. Until then you will need to register as a vw bug and slip pass safety check. It might be easier to find a runing car locally and on the road. If you ever go to the cruise nights at either the Kapolei or the windward mall I try to make it depending on the weather. If you are in to vw and really want to build your own it shouldn't be to bad the vw comunity has alot of parts for your project. For shorting your pan I would give Hammer Head a call he dose most of the pan shorting for the dunebuggys. Like I said let's get in touch.

Aloha, Greg

Hey Joel; I'm at the same stage of fact finding as you are now. After looking at Chris Suttons build, I felt the same way. I downloaded the CMC build manual from the library tab, and have been reading it. I think if you take your time it can be done, but if a roller is available, that is the route I plan on taking. Good luck.

XP_Greg

Anybody remember the name of the guy who used to be on here from Hawaii that was building a VS??

I think he was a police officer near Honolulu or something - he would be a terrific resource for these guys.

Also, if you're registered on here, you can then go to the registry page and everybody is sorted by zip code, closest to furthest from you, so you can find anyone who's living in Hawaii.

Lastly, there's a rental place in Kona on the Big Island who has built several VS cars and then rent them out. Right down-town and near the harbor. I stopped in there a couple of years ago, but can't remember the name of the place - I remember that they have a web site, though.

Building these cars can be daunting for the non-mechanical, but for anyone with even a little mechanical ability (or friends who have it) you just take them one step at a time and they eventually get done.

Gordon
One of the "Speedstah Guys" from South Carolina