What is the basic cost of th IM speedster?

I know this is tough to answer , but what would a IM speedster go for with th mid range engine , leather ,4 wheel disc /. Basically a mid option model. Any ideas?.Please , blast me if you will but , any basic info might help me towards a future purchase . Thanks

I will try to post actual latest options price sheet, but I would say you are looking at about 40,000 US for what I think your describing. Just to start with 29750 is the base entry point car and I don't think you would want to go much less then 40,000......completely optioned out with some extra special items and 170hp ultra engine from CB perpormance my dream car came up to 51,500, but you probably dont need everything I came up with.....

Man, that's (used) Boxster S country! I love my 84 IM, but for 50+ large, I'll take the Boxster.
Ron

Ron, the problem with a Boxster is you are driving the same car as a bunch of other guys. When I am out driving I usually see about 2 Boxsters, an S2000, a few mustang converts, etc., and I've yet to see another 356. I'll bet each of those guys would rather be in my car, than the other way around. Uniqueness rules.

Wow , I thought about $30000 would cover it.Thanks

The Canadian/American dollar exchange rate has caused an increase in the prices of the Intermeccanica. When I bought my car it was about $0.50 Canadian to $1.00 USican.

Actually, the problem with the Boxsters is that they are a liquid-cooled, impossible to work on POS. But lots of women seem to like them.

The price of the IM makes the SAW Speedster look like a bargain, based upon the price on the website. Even if you add 5 large for nice touches you are still in the low thirties. I think I am going to keep a close eye on the developments in Halls, Tn.

(Message Edited 9/10/2003 11:25:28 AM)

I think we can all agree the IM is the luxury car of replicas, probably the most developed and refined, but not everyone wants to pay for that refinement or even for that matter needs that level of a car. It really is about price point and what you want to get out of the car. There is a difference but, to a lot of us it may not be worth the extra cost.

My problem is (and always has been) that I'm a quality bigot, that I appreciate well made things, whatever they may be. I won't bore you with examples.

That's not to say that I have a lot of money (I don't) but when I decide on something I will go for the quality version every time. This may be a character flaw; it certainly is expensive at times.

What I'm trying to say is that I don't buy to fit my budget, but rather that I budget to fit my buy. You can philosophize all you want about value, cost/benefit, etc., but to me the choice is always simplified by the question, "Who does it the best?"

Then if I can't afford it I will do without until I can. Funny, but I've never had to wait very long once I made up my mind.

The reality for some of us, George, is while I salute the analogy you make, but we all aren't free of many obligations at this point in our lives like you are. Your kids are grown, you live alone, maybe bad luck and fate hasn't snake bit you in the past. I think its great you are able to buy only the best, but for the rest of us that may be just as smart, worked just as hard, we do with what we can. We are the earnest and modest silent majority.

Interesting thread. I think that if I wanted it badly enough, I would go for a tricked out IM also, like George. My funds are not unlimited and I would doubt that his are either; We did discuss Mr. Tipton at one point, didn't we George? I assume that someone like him has not played a role in your life. I just don't think I want "the best" whatever that may be badly enough to go for 50+ big ones to get the job done. I must have spent too much time in my career working with Cost Accountants. After all, they are the people who found actuarial science too exciting and some of their staid ideas must have rubbed off on me over the years.

The original speedster was an inexpensive, stripped down version of the 356 line, that racers and street racers could thrash around in without spending alot of money on creature comforts and luxury items that they would just have to remove. I think that some people still want this type of car, while others would prefer a more well appointed version even it's not quite what the original spirit of the car was. JMHO Eddie
(Message Edited 9/10/2003 1:29:55 PM)

Eddie, somehow I think 10 lb. aluminum 356 replica wheels, a selected ratio CR 901 5-speed, and 215 BHP is very much in the spirit of the original car, not to mention the 230 BHP 2,500cc SOHC 911-4 engine I'm gathering parts to build.

Max Hoffman's reasoning behind the Speedster had very little to do with racing but everything to do with PRICE. The successful Speedster racing career was just icing on the cake.

My 2 cents:

I've lusted for a Speedster for years now and finally did it! Was it worth it? Oh Yes! But there are other things in life for me than driving the maxed out Speedster example. I just got back from a 6000 mile trip back to see friends and relatives. While on the trip I didn't try to cut costs because you never know when you will do that again. I enjoy collecting 1/43rd scale auto's, my wife has hobbies that also cost money. All I am trying to say is that we all make choices in our life styles and try to live within the budjet that sustains it. I prefer to enjoy mulitple things other than being dedicated to one all consuming goal. Differant strokes and isn't it great that we all aren't alike. It would be a dull world if we were.
Bruce

I agree, Bruce, having one interest would make for a very lack-luster life indeed. Besides the "car hobby" I also have sailing, photography, competition shooting, reading, and travel to keep me from getting bored. I haven't owned a television set or seen a movie in eleven years but doubt that I've missed anything really worth watching...

Hey George, with no TV or movie watching you have probably missed all of the Woody Allen movies in the past 11 years, guess that ain't all bad,
Bruce

George, if you had a Boxster S to drive for a week, I bet you'd change your mind about the car.
While it would still be "liquid-cooled (and) impossible to work on," I think you'd come to appreciate what a well-balanced package the car is.
And you're right about "lots of women seem to like them," but not in the way that you meant.

I want to thank you guys for the hours of entertainment reading
this web-site
I recently bought my "used" 1999 VS with 2800 miles on it for
15K and change...My 4 teen age girls are still wondering "hey,
where did all that money come from" They don't realize I had
to sell 2 cars and my Harley to get the funds for the speedster.
All I wanted was 1 day a week, alone with my wife, away from
the house to cruise the canyons or along the coast, sharing a
piece of history with anyone interested....
I certinally wouldn't have thought of this fine piece of machinery
in the same thought with high performance, horse power and all the
other tech stuff that flows on this site.. Maybe I'm wrong...But
for 50K I better get a lot more than a replica with 100 HP and
a tubular frame.....but thats me..

John, what I meant is that I see lots of women driving Boxsters in the DC area, sort of like years ago when guys were driving Mercedes 300SL Gullwing coupes and their wives were driving 190SL convertibles.

I've driven a Boxster S and while it seems to be an OK kind of car it didn't "speak to me". Different strokes, and all that...

George, I understood that you were "putting down" Boxsters by implying they were "chick cars." It's a common "car guy" criticism, albeit very un-PC these days. I was just pointing out that they are in fact "chick magnets" extraordinaire!
And, in a way, the Boxster, as Porsche's least expensive, entry level two-seat sports car (which was designed for the American market), could be seen as a direct descendant of our beloved Speedsters.
You're right, though, not eveyone appreciates them. I've met a couple of Porsche snobs who think the Boxster should never have been built. (And don't even get 'em started on the Cayenne!)
I just know how much I enjoyed my Boxster for three years. It's the car I sold to bankroll my JPS Speedster. No regrets.

First,

Stan, that was a keeper post. I am printing it out now and hanging it on the shop bulletin board. There is much wisdom in your post and I want to refer to it now and again when my Speedster perspective, or any material perspective needs adjustment. Thanks for sharing it! And! Marieanne at CB shipped your gear yeasterday afternoon, UPS. I have a tracking # and will pass to you.

John Leader, in my world of "women I know" in the non-biblical sense, nearly all would back your comment about a man in a Boxster being an attractor. And in that same group, maybe 10% of them visually would know the diff between the various 9 series cars.... but 90% could spot you (or me) in a Boxster a mile away!!!! Sure, there are a few women in Boxsters... and quite a few in Vettes, and in Tahoes. But very few in JPS or VS speedsters. The vote is still out on whether IM's may be chick cars or not. Now that they have graced the cover of Excellence there may be a run on them by sugar poppas buying their trophy wives one, eh? )Come on George, I'm joking). Bottom line? I'd take a Boxster as a 2nd driver if I had any more gargage or shop space! And, I have driven a couple.

All, This subject relates to the flavors discussion on flared cars vs. classics, vs. Outlaw looks. Too each their own. Me? I find the balance where I am at. 90% For now.

Jim Bob Ward
VS Owner at the 90% level
(Message Edited 9/10/2003 9:56:03 PM)

OK, I

I was thinking on the way to work today (top down 55 degrees, rather like San Diego on the east coast) where in the world are all the speedsters. In the past two years I have seen (excluding our winery run last fall) one in San Diego and two in Northern Virginia, and one of those was a real one. Also one at Ocean City MD. It seems odd that with the #s produced that there would only be a few sightings.
Boxsters are ok, I would take one over a chevy or ford but if I'd wanted one as badly as I wanted a Speedster I would have bought one. Alot ot chicks and young business professionals drive them here - top up, windows up, talking on the cell.
ed

Stan,
Definately a platinum post. I copied and pasted it into a word file and will review it from time to time. How did you get to be such a wise guy (in the best sense of the word :-)? As far as Boxters go, I think of them as a 21st century Speedster, unlike that sham version back in, what was it, 1989? I would love to own one, and good used ones are seem to be quite affordable. I wouldn't even mind the non-S version. Only two problems I can think of: 1. My insurance company wouldn't like it and 2. I'd hate to have the one that something goes wrong with. I've read that they're a bitch to work on, anything major at least.
John H.
BTW Stan, did you mean "indenture your dentures" or was it indenture your debentures. Never mind.

Stan, you are absolutely, positively right - do it RIGHT yourself, or hire THE BEST. Since I'm 65 years old, a disabled vet, don't have functional dedicated work space, and have better things to do with my time, I'll pay Pat Downs to build the engine, Carquip to build the transaxle, and Henry at IM to build the car "as good as it gets".

Years ago I did a total frame-off, concours restoration of a 1948 MG TC (including the wood) and after that decided once was enough for me at that level of time and effort. Different strokes...

Maybe I should jump in here also. Like some others, I have done frame up restorations on a 53 MGTD (did the wood, also); restored a 66 MGB; and then a complete restoration on a 73 TR6 (every major body panel replaced). But I was spending more time working on the cars than enjoying them.

After that, I just wanted a car I could drive and that would be reliable. I bought a 91 Miata, with extensive upgrades to the engine, suspension, brakes, interior, etc. and have been driving that for the past three years (when my sons weren't using it ;-).

Now that my three sons have left home, and my wife and I have some more time to spend together, I've just bought a 99 IM for more than I ever would have expected to pay for a 'recreational' car. But, it's driveable on any highway, in almost all kinds of weather, and I hope it's going to be reliable. It's the most 'car' I have ever had, and frankly I still can't believe I bought it. In this case, I paid for work that someone else did, rather than doing it myself, and I guess I'm fortunate enough at this stage to be able to do that.

But, different stages in your life allow you to enjoy cars in different ways. And maybe certain cars are your way of 'rewarding' yourself for surviving to a certain age, after meeting all the obligations (good obligations) that raising a family calls for. I could have saved the money for my retirement years, but who knows what shape I will be in then, or if I will even make it that far.

A nice drive with the top down, and with your trusty right seater with you, is a simple, but not easily duplicated, joy.

I love the quote from 'The Sheltering Sky', and try to remember it often:

"Because we do not know when we will die, we get to thinking of life as an inexhaustible well, and yet everything happens only a certain number of times, and a very small number really. How many times will you remember a certain afternoon of your childhood, an afternoon that is so deeply a part of your life that you can't even conceive of your life without it? Perhaps four or five times? Perhaps not even that. How many times will you watch the full moon rise, perhaps twenty, and yet it all seems so limitless..."

My .04 worth, and apologies for the length of the message.

RJC

Good observations, Robert. I remember a passage in one of John MacDonald's 'Travis McGee' novels. Basically it stated that everyone was too busy with the minutia and impedimenta of daily life and all of its sometimes idiotic and petty demands to notice all of the beauty around them.

As an example he wrote, what if there was only one glorious sunset every twenty years? People would drop everything to enjoy the experience. But the humdrum, everday familiarity of things inures us to the simplest beauties and pleasures that surround us.

In many ways Mies van Der Rohe is right - "Less is more". But we are truly herd animals, and we all tend to turn our backs to the wind and follow the leader...
(Message Edited 9/11/2003 4:29:44 PM)

...or, as Joe Don Billy Ray Jim Bob Smoot (my redneck neighbor) said, "If I had an inch for every enlargement e-mail I've gotten, I could date women on the moon!"

Holy crap, I post something, then go away for a few days. I come back, read the posts and find out that George has called me a Girlie-boy for liking Boxsters. Then, I had to read down ALL of the posts (which, by the way, were quite good) so I didn't miss anything. I was going to post a nasty response to Bad Boy Brown, but after finding out that he reads Travis McGee novels...well, how can you get mad at a guy who reads these novels? But still, Georgie boy, if I ever see you, on a Saturday night, I'm going to smack you with my purse!
Ron