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Not mine.  You either like or hate the FF/CMC 959 replica.  There were under 300 produced at $14k per kit.  This one in Bonxville NY is 1 running one.  Looks like it just needs new carpeting. Looks like great price for a clean build.

TheSamba.com :: VW Classifieds - Porsche 359

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1957 CMC Classic Speedster

    in Ft Walton Beach, FL

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I gotta say, I don’t hate them. (And I’ve never been a real big fan* of regular wide bodies.)

I think one dropped on one of Carey’s GTS/SC frames, or that sweet one with the Mendeola f/r suspension bits, a 300-400hp 911 motor or, for that matter an LS, and a set of properly wide and offset BBS Turbofan wheels would make for a pretty sweet ride.

You could make a sweet Auto X-er of track day toy out of one.

*The more time i spend here with all the nice ones posted, the more I’m liking them. I’d never own one, but I think they’re ok. OTOH, I’d own a 359 described above in a heartbeat.

Last edited by dlearl476

Trying to convince my Bro in Barnegat NJ to pick it up.  He doesn't like the rear end.  Said if it didn't "grow" on him (your thinking like a wart I bet!), I'd pick it up on next trip to Carlisle! Roll bar and big T4 ...

Like I need another project!  I looked at a '48 Ford 600 Jubilee tractor the other day --- and actually walked away from it (it even ran too).

Last edited by WOLFGANG

The 359 doesn't do much for me, maybe because I never really saw the appeal of the 959, nor gold chains, popped collars and Members Only jackets. But a fun and interesting car could be made from this kit by way of an IRS rear, a turbo Subie and a five speed.

Two-point-five liters of four-cam STi boosted and tuned properly would give the period-correct(ish) 400+ horses. You'd want to cage it, of course. Big sway bars, big brakes, BBS 16s and wide sticky rubber.

Re-design the dash to look '80s Porsche and fill it up with 944 turbo gauges. Paint it guards red with matte black accents and gold trim (as one did) and you'd have a fair rival for the jet black McBurnie Daytona that would somehow inevitably find you cruising down that dark two lane one fateful Summer Friday night.

Strap up and strap in, boys: last one to the boat yard gives up a brick of Tony Colombo's finest.

Last edited by edsnova

Guess I like the 917 and 959 just because they are legends.  As replicas they are rare and interesting.  You won't see another on road or at car shows.  Being ugly ducklings they seem reasonably priced. (I got burnt buying an MG-C (6 cylinder rare car) - so you think I'd learn - it was daily driver and very British (unreliable) and never appreciated over repair costs).  I didn't realize the red PORSCHE marked replica was really a Ferrari replica until I looked at classic rear Ferrari taillights.  The 914 904 replica is ok looking but kit car is evident - while on the Porshe-Ferrari isn't until you look at unaltered 914 interior (which isn't bad but not Ferrari).

If the 359 were within 400 miles of me - I'd buy it! As Branum-Bailey said - there is a sucker born every minute - so maybe it would increase in value/rarity.  That said (at my age), it might just be part of kid's inheritance!

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@WOLFGANG posted:

If the 359 were within 400 miles of me - I'd buy it! As Barnum-Bailey said - there is a sucker born every minute - so maybe it would increase in value/rarity.  That said (at my age), it might just be part of kid's inheritance!

I got a big laugh at that, Greg! It took me back to cleaning out all of my father's treasures   I'm sure I'll leave some head-scratchers for my son, too.

It's interesting what got made as kits and what did not. The O.S.C.A. MT-4, for example, was a simple and beautiful little shape and was a "giant killer" before Porsche unveiled the 550. The O.S.C.A. weighed mid 1300s and reportedly made 130 hp at 6200 RPM out of 1500ccs' displacement. Lots of races won (most notably Sebring in '54), lots of iconic drivers and owners (Sir Stirling; Briggs Cunningham, etc.). Very few made as they cost something like $10,000 new (compared to about $7,500 for a 550RS).

Oh yeah...and the brothers who made them? Their last names were Maserati.

Just eyeing this thing it's hard to see why you couldn't pop a mold off it and fiddle it up so that could be made to work with an old Datsun chassis, or even scratch-make something redolent that would fit a Midget (which has a shorter wheelbase) or an MGB (six inches longer). But afaik it's never been done.

Guys, if there were something that looked a lot like this that could be grafted over the ground-down remains of an old Miata without requiring an engineering Ph.D and/or yacht money, what would you think?

Ed - Check out Simsondesign.net

The just prior NC Miata model seems to be most used (it's a little bigger than older NA/NB models - including the latest ND. A beautiful Aston Martin DB4, Ferrari inspired Italia, and some more basic classic looking race cars like the Swift. No prices are given.

Also check out - Miata Based Kit Car Directory - Kit Car Directory (miatakitcar.com)

which has an MG TF listed and Lotus 7 look cars.

My guess is as mainstream automakers move away from ICE - these kits will become even more popular.

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  • mceclip0

I know about Simpson. Cool guy. Cool projects. Not kits. I think the first couple Italias might have been but not since.

Here's your NA(?) when stripped of body and unibody cage. I think you'd have to lose the cage and re-make the edge structures out of tubing for an O.S.C.A. project to work.

Obviously this offers some flexibility in terms of wheelbase. I believe it's 3-4 inches longer than an O.S.C.A. was. No doubt it's at least that much wider. So best idea would be to leave it that length and make the tribute car a bit longer and wider than the original.

The Miata motor, by the way, is an O.S.C.A.'s spitting image:

It'd be down to building the suspension pickups and engineering—there's that word again—proper geometry, strength and dynamics. Two-inch square tube?

Last edited by edsnova
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