Why so many low mileage Speedsters

I had my '06 Beck Speedster for almost 12 years and put 56k miles on it.  While not a Cadillac and not weather proof, they can be driven anywhere.  @MusbJim put over 100k miles on his first one before someone totaled it.  Not sure what he has on the second one, but I know it's an almost daily driver for him.

Some people buy them thinking they'll be fun like a Miata but with more classic charm.  What they find out is that our sports car forebears were made of hardier stuff and didn't require all the modern conveniences, nor did they mind having to do periodic tinkering to keep the cars running well.  Others buy them on a whim, captivated by the look and imagined experience, but find that the car doesn't provide what they imagined, or doesn't fit their life situation.  Those are usually the drivers who sell their cars with few miles on them.

I Agree completely with all that has been said in the previous post and can add that if the Speedster has low miles and is an old CMC or Fiberfab that were all assembled by the owner that the car may not be very well built or sorted with potential varied problems and issues. So, when buying a used Speedster beware that low miles may equal needs lots of work to make it drivable. It seems that most Speedsters have less than 10k miles on them and many have less than 2k miles. It is a good question to ask yourself, why a 10 plus year old Speedster has been driven less than 2k miles. Sometimes like with a Beck or, IM or VS that the owner didn't take the time to drive one before buying one and thought the car would be a much different experience.

And to add to these great posts, Get caught out in the rain with your sweetie in a Speedster, with all the scrambling to get the top up and windows in (and then dealing with the inevitable leaks from ten different sources) and she will quickly convince you that this is not the car for YOU! (nor will she want to ride in it again).

it seems most or our owners are older and likely have back and other joint issues. It is a race car and not a highway cruiser. Living at Lake Tahoe of course we rarely get HOT. But a drive to SF mid day is not fun.  No A/C also eliminates a lot of mid summer usage for many. I have had mine for 13 years and reached 28k. I drove it quite a bit when it was "new" and I was younger. If you are over 6 feet it is also problematic.

  I know there are guys that drive them a ton, but for many, a dinky, two seat convertible with no storage isn't going to be driven that much. Unlike a modern car, you have to pick your spots for good driving weather, and traffic has to be considered as well, at least if you want it to be an enjoyable ride. Sitting in backed up traffic in 90 degree temps most definitely is not fun. Today, we just took an early morning drive to a local farmers market we frequent. Our speeds varied up to 70 mph and was about a 35 - 40 mile round trip - a pretty typical drive for us. Drivability has always been fine for us - we've never overheated, and our 1915cc flat four has been more than enough to keep up with modern traffic.

How often Speedsters are driven doesn't seem to be much different than guys that own classic cars. They are lightly driven, but still very much enjoyed by many of their owners. Part of the enjoyment for me is how beautiful a car it is to just look at. There's no shame in that for me - looks play an important role in every aspect of everyday life. There are many classic car guys that pour tons of money into restoring or buying cars and never drive them - they only look at them or work on them. That doesn't bother me either - there are a lot of worse ways to spend your money. At least with the Speedster, you have a beautiful car without spending too much money - bang for the buck is pretty much unmatched in today's car market.

  If you love the looks of the car, and don't have high expectations for how often you'll use it, you 'll be happy with your Speedster, no matter how often you drive it. If you start feeling guilty that you're not driving it enough, or you get bored with the looks, you'll probably end up selling it. (and probably should).

Bill

It’s a great question.  I decided on a speedster over a spider because I wanted some luggage space for weekends away with my wife, as we do in our Miata.  My speedster is almost done, time will tell if my wife is happy traveling in it.  She is typically a good sport so we will see, though that might change after the first sudden thunderstorm.  The amazing thing about the Miata is how water tight it is.  But I have no illusions about the speedster, it is a fair weather car.  I just insured it with Haggerty at 2500 miles a year, we will see if that is accurate or if l need to bump it up.

I'll make a prediction that you find 2500 a bit limiting, Chris.  I averaged ~5k miles/year, at least 1500 of which were on the Carlisle trip.  Another 1000 or so were on eth trips to the mountains.  The rest were from driving around Charleston on the weekends.

"Sitting in backed up traffic in 90 degree temps most definitely is not fun"

top this if you can:  It's July, a trip to the DE beaches on a weekend, departing from the west side of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge.  Left the house around 10, in the still rather new Speedster with my best right seater in tow.  Did this On the one and only day ever or since in history that a vehicle actually careened off the bridge into the water. A Trucker tried to avoid a lady who crossed into his path.  He died for his chivalry.  The bridge was closed for most of the day.  We sat on Rte 50 for hours and hours near Annapolis, sweltering in the heat, with the top up to shade the sun.  Finally figured a way to get off the highway and drove into Annapolis, strolled the streets, got something to eat, endured a horrific thunderstorm, worried the Webers might be flooded with rain water (which had already happened to me once) , and then finally heard the bridge was open.  Leaving home at 10:00 AM should have had us at the beach not later than 2:00 PM.  We got there at 1:00 AM . . .

PS: re, Hagerty, if you do not mind me asking.  I Assume you have a declared value and I'm wondering what you stated, and what your premium is.  I'm negotiating with them on an increase of my declared value, and they want some documentation of recent prices.  So .... ?

... and I do not recall stating yearly mileage.  but maybe I did.  It's low, ~20k mi and it was built in 2006.

@El Frazoo I set the declared value at $55K. It might be a bit high, I have $50K into the car.  I set the mileage at 2,500/year, though Lane might be right, I might have to bump it to 5,000.  Right now the premium with Haggerty is $700/year.

txs for the info.  I'm aiming at $55K also, as it turns out.

All stated above are correct but omit, I believe, the primary problem. These are enthusiast cars; not for the guy who can't diagnose and repair the problems that will immediately show themselves. I doesn't make any difference about how much money you have if you can't fix it.

The tent ain't really that big.

@El Frazoo posted:

PS: re, Hagerty, if you do not mind me asking.  I Assume you have a declared value and I'm wondering what you stated, and what your premium is.  I'm negotiating with them on an increase of my declared value, and they want some documentation of recent prices.  So .... ?

@Three Pedals (Chris) posted:

@El Frazoo I set the declared value at $55K. It might be a bit high, I have $50K into the car.  I set the mileage at 2,500/year, though Lane might be right, I might have to bump it to 5,000.  Right now the premium with Haggerty is $700/year.

You need to make sure it is AGREED VALUE not STATED or DECLARED Value. With Agreed Value the two of you agree on what the car is worth and that's how much it is insured for. With Declared Value you tell them what it's worth and that's their starting point for depreciation.

@Robert M, you are completely correct. I should have written that it was agreed value.

So what's in a name anyway??  Agreed; Stated; Declared.  There are some subtle semantics at work here.  On my invoice from Hagerty is says "Guaranteed Value"  So what do you think that means? We have Here four English words that seem to me to be saying the same thing.  But maybe not ??? I'm going to ask them to clarify.

@El Frazoo posted:

So what's in a name anyway??  Agreed; Stated; Declared.  There are some subtle semantics at work here.  On my invoice from Hagerty is says "Guaranteed Value"  So what do you think that means? We have Here four English words that seem to me to be saying the same thing.  But maybe not ??? I'm going to ask them to clarify.

Declared means you tell Hagerty what's it worth so that is where they start the depreciation costs. In 5 years they assume X amount of depreciation and cut you a check.

Agreed value is the two of you agree that's what the car is worth and it never goes down......or up.

I've never heard of Guaranteed Value but my optimism tells me that might be the same as Agreed Value.

The devil is in the details. And by details I mean the fine print.

In addition to this Speedster I just got, I’ve owned a ‘79 Alfa Spider for a couple of years. My wife doesn’t particularly like riding in it either because it smells like gas and has no creature comforts. I’m not even going to ask her to ride in the Speedster. It’s not a tourer for me for fear of a downpour. However, it IS a commuter as my office is only 15 mins from my home and I’ve got a waterproof cover in case it starts pouring while I’m there.

At 110 hp it’s nearly as powerful as the Spider. It’s fun to drive and beautiful to look at. For $44k used, I figure I can always get that or close to that for it.

Thanks, guys, for all your interesting comments.

Happy trails,

greg

Declared, Agreed, Stated, Guaranteed -- ?? The last one there is the term Hagerty uses and it is the amount of the check I get if the car is totaled, perish the thought.  Plus, if I want the car as salvage, they will give it to me.  I asked, they explained.  Bumped the value to $55K.  You pays your money, you takes your chances . . .

@Greg54 posted:

Hello,

I just took delivery of my VS Speedster with 2,000 miles last Sunday night. I’ve driven it every day since. I have other classic cars but this one is unique and so much fun. I’m curious as to why so many owners put so few miles on these cars. I’m also curious as to how many owners put lots of miles on them.

Thanks, guys!

greg

I’ll give you the response I got when I asked the question: besides the folks that had their fantasy grabbed by the shoulders and shaken into reality by a plastic car based on 60 year old technology, I think there’s a cottage industry of guys to whom the building is the attraction. Once they’re done, they sell them and build another.

I suspect that there’s a small number of folks that know their rarity and the wait times involved, and commission a build with the sole purpose of flipping them.

Legit Speedster owners (the ones that stick with them) are a totally different breed of person. You have to like doing mechanical work or pay to get it done by qualified mechanics, are not bothered by water leaks everywhere around the convertible top during a downpour, don't care about smelling like an exhaust pipe and/or a gas tank after riding it or sweating like a pig during hot weather. There are diehards like Musbjim here that drive hundreds of thousands of miles on them and have stuck with them throughout the years; these are my types of person