Who is considered the premier manufacturer of 356 Speedsters

My name is Mark and I am the President of the Yankee Wood Chapter of the National Woodie Club, so I am not unfamiliar with antique cars but my true love is Porsches and I have always been in love with the old 356 Speedster and the 911 slantnose.

I like to drive my cars .. don't like trailer queens - and recently ran across a beautiful 356 replica buzzing down the Mass turnpike on a beautiful sunny Friday afternoon that brought to mind the idea of buying one of these that I could drive and enjoy on a regular basis.

My search has lead me to Vintage Speedster and JPS and wondered if there were any more manufactures of these classics?

I plan to attend the Carlisle 2006 International Speedster/Spyder meet in May to check out what is there and chat w/ folks, but I thought I'd get a read on who ya all think are the key, quality, reliable, manufactures of 356 replicas.

Any guidance would be appreciated. MAny thanks

Mark from MAss

Hey Mark, check out the makers Tab at the top. This subject has been asked so many times it should have a permanent button. But (don't take this the wrong way) it is a question that more than likely cannot be properly answered. The premier manufacturer of any Speedster is the owner in most parts. They are all fibreglass and they all have aircooled engines, some are very expensive, some are used and affordable. But ALL ARE REAL COOL!

Just hoping this thread doesn't go off into a tangent...

Mark,

Carlisle is the perfect place to compare manufacturers side by side. John Steele of JPS (www.jps-motorsports.com) will be there, along with Kevin and Carey Hines (and the whole Hines clan) from Special Editions (www.beckspeedster.com), who imports and markets the Beck Speedster along with the Chamonix Spyder. I'm the lucky buyer of the Beck Speedster to be assembled onsite during the Carlisle show. Also there will be Tom McBurnie from Thunder Ranch (www.thunderranch.com), Henry Reisner from Intermeccanica (www.intermeccanica.com), and the folks from Specialty Autoworks (www.specialtyautoworks.com). Check out the websites and you'll be able to understand a lot of the differences between the cars. Also check out the Speedster group (our tent should be easy to find) as we all have blatant opinions about these cars.

All of these vendors, as well as Vintage (who I don't believe will make it this year), offer products that provide their owners with great fun. The variations between them are related to how original you want to be and how much money you want to spend. You can get into an entry level Vintage for around $20k, or you can spend twice that or more for an Intermeccanica. I first did the Carlisle show last year and found all of them a pleasure to talk to, and the Speedster group was a blast to be with. I've settled on the Beck for a number of reasons, but there are many strong selling points for all of them. Come, enjoy, have a few brewskis in our tent, and you'll be smitten like I was. Looking forward to seeing you there.

Lane Anderson

Pretty thorough site your club has, Mr. Bruce! Very nice cross section of Woody Americana.

(http://www.nationalwoodieclub.com/chapter_yank.htm)

Welcome to the SOC. Mike and Lane are right on.
Your question is a pretty big land mine, since members here are often very defensive of the cars they've spent so much time, effort and energy on. If you would like a windshield tour of what you might be getting yourself into, there's a whole folder under Makers (above) with good info inside.
I think you'll find that replica 356s are about like major league baseball clubs in a sense. I like Detroit, but the team's never really done much since 1985 -- if you follow the logic.
Baseball is a leisure sport. So are these cars; some take it lightly, and others memorize statistics back to the early days in Cooperstown.
Me, I like taking my glove to the park on a nice day.
There are more and more companies out there making kits and turnkeys of the Tub. This site's membership have an option to rate their own cars, and from time to time we get together to have a look at each others' projects. Every now and again you see something new, or you find that someone's made a modification you like and want to incorporate into your car.
Generally, there's no shortage of knowledge to exchange. If you look at the members' posts, there will usually be a link on the left of the post to the make and year of that person's car (mine, for instance, says 1994 other/unknown). Click it, and you'll see what they've done with a particular make -- then fire away with questions!
You can spend five grand on ebay and buy a VW pan-based wreck and fix it up, or you can spend upwards of $70K for a better-than-factory reporduction and have no worries from day one -- and it doesn't seem to be stratified by budget or manufacturer.
I would encourage you to have a look around under the Registry folder and see how folks have rated their builds or purchases, and then ask your questions more aimed more at what you specifically need out of a kit.
Better yet, have a look in the events folder under the Forum here and see if you can make a show!
I'd be happy to answer specific questions about my car for you, and I'm sure most of the others who post here regularly would do the same.
Again, welcome to the site!

Mark, I guess you have discovered from the previous posts that there is plenty of information to be reviewed here on this site. I have been a member since 2000 and have seen the site grow and change dramatically. In the earlier days, many of the owners owned one or two brands and most of the cars were fairly simply outfitted in terms of the extra touches.

Today, there is a plethora of home builders, assemblers, manufacturers and suppliers, all of whom have applied new ideas to the original design, and are taking engine-building and add on features to levels far beyond what the original Porsche cars offered. We're way beyond "any color as long as it's black," so to speak.

Your decision to visit Carlisle in May is a good one. We will probably have in excess of fifty examples from several manufacturers on display and plenty of owners who love nothing better than talking about their cars and experiences. You will have a great time.

Welcome to the world of Speedsters
Hoss

Mark, the answers above were great answers and I am know they are spoken from the heart. My heart says "INTERMECCANICA" is the answer to your question. Others will disagre, and for them and their hearts they are correct. Check the web sites, visit Carlise and speak with the vendors. Ask some pointed questions, get down to in and then YOU determine which manufacture is the Premier Builder for YOU.

Good Luck in the hunt and enjoy the search.

Sorry -- I tried to put parenthesis around his club site, and buggered the link. They've got some neat stuff -- looks like pretty well the same kind of crowd as we've got here:

http://www.nationalwoodieclub.com/chapter_yank.htm

Hey, Dale, what's the ivory-colored doodad under your dash? Looks like it has some kind of green glass electronic eye in it or something. Beauty car, too, BTW.

Cory, it is a web cam linked to an alarm system monitored by the NSA. Acually it is a 1950's Hull Compass. The compass has AAA cell built in illumination.

And thank you for the compliment. Your project is very interesting to watch. A unique Speedster for sure!

So ... You'll never get lost, eh? What a good idea that is. See, Mark, now that we've totally gotten off topic, we're back to the "We look at each other's stuff for ideas," point from earlier.

Dale, I'm hoping there will be Carlisle photos of Projekt Hoopty in a few short weeks. Maybe even some where she's self-propelled ...

Mark ,

Ask around for me at the Speedster tent / build area at Carlisle, I have dabbled in building various styles of speedsters as a hobby for many years and glad to give you my non biased thoughts as I did Lane last year.

Alan Merklin

Ooops, didn't see the "makers" tab at the top. Old age is hell.

To all who took the time to reply, many thanks...I really appreciate your time and your input. Great help. i have a lot of homework to do.

I hope to meet you guys at Carlisle as this has to be a great place to look and learn...whew, can't wait.

See ya all there...I'll be the guy with the yellow woodie sweatshirt on, red Porsche baseball hat and a inquiring look on my face.