@Stan Galat posted:... I don't know. I keep hearing that... but the small sample focus group survey I conduct every time I drive my car literally anywhere indicates that a lot more people dream about "two-seater speed machines" than the marketing types are willing to admit.
The fact that a pan-based speedster just sold on BaT for $78K tells me that there's a lot more pent-up demand for a real and elemental driving experience than any C-suite Übermensch or Madison Avenue autojournalist weenie is willing to admit.
It's ironic and droll that this "genuine" driving experience is now for sale pretty exclusively in "fake" cars.
While I agree with most of what you've said (in the whole post, and not just what I kept), Stan, I can't help but suspect that the guy who overpaid heftily for the BAT Speedster may have more money than brains, is just adding said Speedster to his stable as something cute/fun to drive around in occasionally (and as a status thing- it's a stunning color combo- red with beige interior- the seller knew his market!) but 2? 3? 5? years down the road it will be for sale again with relatively low miles because of it's VW based ancient technology, it sat way too much, needing too much tinkering and the guy never bothered to keep a good aircooled mechanic on call.
I do hope I'm wrong and the new owner gets great enjoyment out of his purchase, owns it rather lovingly for a long time and drives the pants off of it constantly, but we've seen the scenario I described above often enough. Al
PS- and I do love your last statement!