Why sell a Speedster

OMG they are the greatest, funnest, most smashing car !!! To me they are not uncomfortable or hard to drive, they typicaly do not have a roof so  we need to watch out for rain. Simply pull off under a local banks dirvethru teller and wait, there certainly are a lot of banks around.

I think the perception/romance of bombing around in a top down speedster doesn't match the reality of working on a motor that needs more maintenance/fiddling than people are used to these days. Along with the fact that the tops are primitive and there's relatively no heat, the shine wears off quickly for some. 

I have been toying with the idea of selling mine for a bit, as some on this site are aware.  It certainly is not due to lack of enjoyment as I average 5-6k miles a year and have done so for 6 1/2 years.  I simply have a hankering for a new challenge, and wouldn't mind a few more creature comforts for those long trips like Carlisle (750 miles each way).  That said, there's a part of me that doesn't want to let it go.  If I had the funds and storage for more than one toy, I'd probably keep it until I kick the bucket.

I had one...put about 2,000 miles on it and sold it because I wanted a Boxster.  Got the Boxster and a year later sold it because I missed my speedster.  They are not the fastest car, they do leak if you get caught in rain unless you buy one with role up windows, you will need to tinker with the motor, but there are so many people on this forum that will come to your rescue in a heartbeat.  I missed the speedster because of the look, the sound, the smell, and the curiosity it brings from others.  It is so much fun to see people hanging out a car window at a stop light to take a picture.  They dont do that with a boxster or any other normal Porsche...where I live they are very common cars.  BUT - The speedster is so uncommon and so cool looking...I would rather have a Replica Speedster than a real Porsche. 

The sellers I have talked to try to compare their experiences with replica speedsters to their experience with more modern cars that offer improved technology, less maintenance and creature comforts that basic replica speedsters just don't offer.

You can cram a lot of technology into one of our cars depending on what platform (builder) you start with, but it gets expensive fast.

I believe in doing lots of research, look at and drive as many as you can and cultivate a relationship with mentors who own speedsters and can guide you in the process.

Even if you buy one and don't like it, it isn't the end of the world.

Both cars make my heart race!

My boxster has 103K miles on it. This is our roadtrip car.

This is soon to be our new road trip car. It has 22k miles right now.

Ron, keep both.

What you are saying here depends a lot on the quality of the Speedster you have, which usually relates back to the manufacturer.

I've had no issues with my engine; my top is weather tight; and there is lots of heat when I need it.

Greetings John!

Here's a synopsis of likely reasons for low mileage replicas for sale;

1. Nuances of replica Speedsters doesn't match owner expectation (comfort, reliability, performance/handling)

2. A financial burden (finance costs(?), storage, outsourced maintenance/repair)

3. Change in lifestyle (marriage/divorce, children, loss of employment).     

As a multiple Speedster owner, Porsche 911 owner AND a manufacturer of Replica Speedsters I think the answer is that the thrill is in the build.  So many gents love the creative process, the anticipation of the build and the joy of receiving the final product.  We've seen many cases where someone orders a brand new build DURING another build because they just love that excitement.  Once you have the car it is now a part of your life it's like a lot of relationships it requires maintenance, takes up your time, can cause fights with your spouse, etc.  If you don't have a huge garage, you need to sell them to get new ones.  Kind of like dating, moving in together, realizing how much more fun dating can be so you break up with your girlfriend and start dating new women.   OVERALL, to your original question, they are a blast to drive, they are super cool, and you look better, more interesting and are infinitely more famous and gorgeous driving one of these.  If you don't own one, buy one.  If you really want to have fun, look for a manufacturer and have one built YOUR WAY.  There are great builders out there each with their own philosophy,.....selfishly I like our philosophy (www.carreracoachwerks.com) but can tell you that in addition to our product, Vintage Speedsters, JPS, CMC, SAS, Beck etc, all produce something wonderful.  I do also love what some of the independent builders and shops are doing, buying our kits and building super unique versions of these cars.  

This is really good feedback. I don't see any issue with a Speedster I can't handle. I've had a Bugeye and an MG TD so sidecurtains and somewhat leaky tops are not a major concern. I do plan to drive it 10 months a year, so I need some heat (Michigan). I've heard visibility with the top up is not great, but I think I can live with that. Thanks for the great feedback.

Hey John, it's not in your profile.  Where are you in Michigan?  Obviously, I'm from Dearborn.  The heat is pretty much useless and Becks come with a separate blower fan.  This winter, I'm having Carey relocate the outlets from the front to the rear bulkheads in an effort to reduce losses enough to improve the heat.  I have to give up defrost for that, but, if it works, it will be worth it.  Even with heat though, my car is in storage from the beginning of November through mid-March.  Even if the heat was great, as soon as they start spraying the roads with salt, you probably won't want to be driving it.  Carey is also going to make me some custom-fit polycarbonate side-curtains to improve sealing and usability.  In Michigan, it's a 3 season car.  If you go into it with any other notion, you will be one of those selling it off after the first year.

Tom, I'm in Wyandotte. We're neighbors.

"I do plan to drive it 10 months a year"...John, you might want to adjust that number just a hair, heat or no heat.

We ARE neighbors.  One of the guys on here lives in AA and another in GP.  Last year, I hosted a Telegraph Cruise and BBQ at my house and hope to make it an annual event. If you take the plunge, or not, you're certainly welcome.  There will be more info on here when the time comes.  I hope to have my car home in Mid-March.  Last year, it was 80.  I don't think I will get so lucky this year.  If you're still interested then, you can take a top up, heat on ride in my car and see what you think.  Last year, at my house, CMC, Vintage, Intermeccanica, and Beck were represented.  You should also consider making the trip to Carlisle to see them all.

Thanks for the info/invite. I plan to have a Speedster by summer. If I can't find a used one I'll order one. I'd love to see yours sometime.

Easy...

Buying a hobby car with no roof means you probably are not using it as a daily driver.

So at best you are taking it out on fair weather weekends.

5 years later, you have 2,000 miles on your speedster and 73,000 on your daily driver (avg. drivers does 15k year).

That's all there is to it really

Yep. The previous owners of both my Bugeye and MG TD said I wouldn't need to put the top up. They drove them 300-400 miles a year in good weather. I've driven them 1000 - 2000 miles a year. Days with the sun out and no salt on the road, it's cruisin'.

I've put on 13K miles in 3 seasons of mostly top-down driving in the spring, summer, and fall in Michigan.  It sounds like we're on the same page :-)  I feel compelled to put a plug in for Special Edition (makers of the Beck Speedster).  It is the only maker within a day's drive round trip from where we live.  The customer support is superb.  Having the maker close has been really important to me as I am less mechanically inclined than most here.  I've been to Bremen, Indiana now 3 different times, once for initial test drive, to meet Kevin and Carey, and to see the operation, and twice more for upgrades. I now plan to go back for storage every year because it's just so convenient to take the train from Dearborn. Plus, if there's anything that needs tending, it will be in the right spot.  I'm looking forward to meeting you in March. 

5-6000 miles a year in mine, in all kinds of weather except snow, which we don't get here.  I don't intentionally take it out in bad weather unless I'm on a trip and have no other choice, but the trips to distant gatherings are the best part.  You need to have all of the weather equipment sorted as much as possible so that getting caught out far from home in a thunderstorm isn't a major disaster.

Well said Lane.  I originally thought that I would drive mine longer with the top up, but found that the heat was so bad and the side curtains so inconvenient, it just wasn't that much fun.  However, I do feel the need for the top, side curtains, and heat for the longer trips.  I froze my butt off coming through mountains in North Carolina on my way home from Asheville last September in the early AM.  That, coupled with my side-curtain struggles has put me on the path of better heat and better side curtains (like you advised me originally).  If the heat change doesn't work, I won't go as far as adding an Espar heater. However, Carey told me that moving the vents to the rear bulkhead is something they also do when they install an Espar, so I will be prepped if I change my mind.

John---300-400 miles a year?  I'd call something that saw just 300-400 miles a year a STATUE!

There are many varieties of Speedsters out there and I have mentally put them into classifications like these: 

1. Speedsters that you can  drive anywhere, anytime with complete confidence and in comfort.   Roll up windows or improved window inserts, almost completely dry in any weather with ample heat and with or without AC. Sporting mostly Subaru & Type IV engines plus some super well-built Type I engines with almost all German parts. These cars drive like they were on rails and keep up with any traffic on any Interstate highway.(5% of the fleet?)

2.  Speedsters that started out like most all the others but greatly improved so you can gas it and go anywhere with complete confidence,  in comfort, almost totally dry in any weather, great handling, likely with suspension improvements and additional safety items plenty of heat and ample power for the mission. Able to perform 500-600 mile days without complaint.  Both pan based and tube framed cars can fall into this category, possibly early CMCs as well as new or almost new other brands. (25% of the fleet?)

3.  Speedsters that look great (almost all do---it's a Speedster!)  Some improvements to make waterproofing  better that when started but still carrying extra towels for water intrusion in foul weather acceptable, an owner who is afraid of long trips due to worries about dependability and high speed operation. Used often for ice cream runs, Spring or Fall evening drives not far from home, a "work in progress" (40% of the fleet?)

4. Speedsters that may or may not look so great, might even be a brand new car with loads of issues, mechanical issues that make it no fun to drive, maybe a 500 mile-a-year car

likely poor handling, engine with issues, possibly poor alignment or wheel balancing.  Sports a  rubber tub stopper hanging from the rear view mirror, unable to be driven in poor weather, inop heat and/or  defrost. (30% of the fleet?)

Am I in the ballpark?  Should there be other categories? 

My IM is only so-so in the heating department.  My seat heaters help a lot, though.

As for buying these cars, I think people are sold on the dream, but when hard reality sets in they find that the cars aren't worth the needed effort. 

Many 356 replicas for sale have low mileage, because driving these cars on a daily basis is a chore.  For everyday trips many (including me) would rather drive their SUV/whatever.  They're easier to get in and out of, more comfortable, safer, and can pack more crap.  So, the replica sits in the garage and only gets taken out for sunny drives on the weekend.  

It's only a matter of time until the owner realizes he/she has a fair chunk of chance tied up in a car he seldom drives.  Eventually, the car gets put up for sale.

Just back home from work in the TD. 42 degrees when I left this a.m. About the same coming home, top down. Four squealing school girls all tried to hop in when I stopped for a traffic light in town. Two actually made it. This happened as I was explaining to the dude in the pickup truck stopped next to me that it wasn't an MGA.

I forgot to turn on the heat on the way home.

Very interesting thread.

When I was a kid, my family got into snowmobiles in a very big way - even so far as to have an 8-sled trailer so we could haul a family's worth of sleds up into Vermont and New Hampshire for many weekends of sledding as far as the Canadian Maritimes.  Over the years, we rode in weather down to about 40F beLow zero and didn't think a thing about it.  Why?  Because we dressed for it.  A few winters back, I got a call from my late brother who had made it all the way from St. Johnsbury, Vermont, to Labrador on his sled.  Tough bastard, let me assure you.

I've been back up in New England since last March and since that time have put on about 12,000 miles, including bopping around at Carlisle but mostly on my own, all over western New England, in all kinds of weather.  While I have done a lot to minimize water infestation, it still leaks a bit, but I don't really care about that anymore, I just cope with it.  I still don't have any kind of heater, but a decent pair of light boots, the right socks and a decent pair of thinsulate gloves seems to do just fine, along with my trusty, Boeing bomber jacket (it's a new-ish one, also thinsulate lined).  I have really been surprised with how warm it gets in the cockpit just from the black cloth top, and the biggest gripe I might have (Stan has been making this point for years) is that there are STILL a bunch of air leaks that I have yet to plug, but none of them bad enough to keep me off the road.  Besides, the air leaks seem to keep the windshield from fogging up...  

I used to drive all winter when I lived in Beaufort and I'll be damned if a little cold weather will keep me and Pearl home.  I draw the line at glare ice and/or salt spray and stay home on those days, but I was out there today at 36-42 degrees, blasting around the back roads of south-central Massachusetts and having a ball.  I've even had her out in the snow - the wider tires are a bit slick but once you get the feel for them they go in snow as well as anything else out there.

I may be nuts, but I built Pearl to drive her and after a couple of years of WAY too many family issues keeping me from doing much of anything, I'm gonna drive her as much as I can fit in.  I'll be damned if I'm gonna sit home looking at her in a garage.

Ed,....(please pardon the drift everyone)

Is there anyone producing a TC replicas?

I still pine for the BRG one I missed out on decades ago, but $650 dollars was a whole lot of money then!! 

You're right, Gordon; dressing for cold weather driving helps a lot.  The only thing I now need is a pair of electrically heated gloves.  As I get older I find it hard to keep my hands warm in cold weather.

Ron:  I thought it stayed warm in BC????

Anyway, try "Warm Gear" snowmobile gloves.  I gave a pair to my brother and he LOVED them.  He was the kind of sledder who would ride 500 miles a day and had all the tricks.  The gloves have disconnect plugs at the wrist and a light weight harness that can plug into a normal power plug.  They're good to about 80 below, I hear (but I'm not the one who's going to test them!)

http://www.helmetcity.com/page...gloves/menriderglove

However, if you have the top up and windows in, I would think just a pair of good skiing gloves would be fine?

...surplus military (USAF) silk gloves with two finger mittens over them.

Bob- I'm referring more to the aircooled, pan based cars rolling along on ancient technology. These things aren't brand new ZX (or whatever) convertibles with electronically controlled fuel and ignition systems, plenty of heat at the push of a button, a smooth ride with the latest in suspension systems and an airtight cabin with a 4 or 5 layer power top. But that's exactly what (I think) so many of us like about these cars; they're not the above. I'm guessing that you're rolling in a car that's a little bit of a different animal than what these things started out to be, and that's what's so great about this hobby; these cars can be almost anything you want them to be. Al   

Not at this time of the year, Gordon. There's still snow on the ground from a month ago. It's piled up from the roads being plowed and it's melting oh so slowly, but it's taking it's sweet time. I keep on driving over the closest pile with my 4Runner to break it up and spread it out, but it's fighting me every step of  the way...

When I was sixteen years old (maybe seventeen) my father coughed up $200.00 and we bought a baffed out Bugeye - white with red interior.  With fairly bald tires, NO heater, a soft top and sliding side windows, I drove that car all winter, and had more fun than I've had since.

The top was down on that car every chance I got, and I just dressed as warmly as I could.  Being young certainly helped, but that's always been my approach to sports cars.  I enjoy a little more comfort these days, but I think I've only driven my Speedster once with the top up since I bought it, and that was when my wife was with me and it was raining fairly hard. 

I may look like an arctic explorer by way of dress, but the top stays down.

Yeah, my first car was a clapped out '62 Midget.  I always dressed warmly in the winter and had no problems, but my passengers complained.  When I sold that and got a Pinto (a step up?) I still often forgot to turn on the heat until someone would speak up.

Hey Lane, I just added seat heaters to my tab with Carey.  I'm hoping that I can talk my brother into riding with me to Carlisle.  If so, he should be nice and toasty.  He lives in a warmer climate and I wouldn't want him to freeze...or listen to the complaints ;-)