@356 John posted:Thanks Al you really got me thinking !
Yes I've done a 49 Split Vw and a 52 crotch cooler split to Concours spec.
Now just about finished a 53 Oval sunroof car in L37 metallic blue, super rare.
Now chomping to get going on a beautiful Speedster.
Iam thinking of Auratium green. Rare original Porsche color.
Ooohhh, very cool! I owned a '51 crotch cooler for a short time about 40 or so years ago- bought it as a project but never got going and eventually moved it on to someone I hope did it right. I come from the high performance VW side of things- my last street bug was a 14 second Cal Looker (started that 1 in 1977).
To continue what I wrote above- this Speedster will be the most fun if built to drive- it won't have any appreciably more value if built to factory specs- guys have done this before and even put 356/ 912 engines (and other 356 stuff when the repro or VW stuff does a perfectly good job) in them thinking they're more valuable, but for the most part it doesn't really add much value, except to a very (and I do mean very) limited audience. Even with a host of 356 parts, most P owners really won't give you the time of day as there's no P vin #, it's a plastic abortion and will always be so. Build it and drive it- showing it can be neat, but if that's your main focus it can get boring pretty quick. Drive the bag off it and enjoy a Speedster for what it is- a tribute to a past era of Automotive History.
If you disagree with what I've written immediately above, that's ok- it's only my opinion, and you, of course will do what you want. I'm only trying to give you the benefit of my take on this corner of the hobby.
PS- Any idea what you're going to do for a Speedster body, or are you still in the process of figuring that out?