Any other news on the JPS Coupe project?

I seem to recall the owner of JPS Coupe number 4 (the light green one) posted some pictures on this site that were beautiful. I have wasted a full day of work trying to track down those pictures with no luck. Also, I wanted to see how the owner of JPS Coupe number 4's experience has been so far. JPS has been building coupes for over a year now, there must be some other people besides Tom and Eddy with stories of JPS Coupe ownership.

David -

I think you may be thinking of Tom Williams' green Coupe. Here are a couple of pics that I have on my file. Tom is one of the local SOC'ers here in SoCal.

His SOC moniker is 'TomWilliams'

such a shame to use 4 bolt wheels on such a beautiful car.

With hubcaps on the wheels the casual observer usually wouldn't know the difference between the 8-slot (4-bolt) or 10-slot (5-wide) wheels. This is manifested by the invariable question we all get asked "...is it real"?

Nice choice on the color combo, Tom!

Jim - thanks! That's the car that I was thinking about. I hope that Tom Williams' car is holding up well. It's lovely.

And I shouldn't have said that I "wasted a whole day at work", to the contrary it was most refreshing to browse the Speedsterowners site.

David, thank you for the compliments. The color is a 1957 porsche special order color called auretium green (#5712). I saw the color in a picture of a 57 coupe on the 356 Registry and fell in love with it. My experience so far with JPS Coupe #4 has been 99% pleasurable but I only have 980 miles on it. It is also a pretty basic build with nothing tricky i.e.: big motor,ac,tube frame etc. It has the 1776 (85-90hp) with highway gears which is fine for me. The only problems so far are a balky driver door handle and driver side power window. I take it in soon for the 1000 mile check-up, so will have the fixes done then. I know some owners on the site have had issues with John Steele, but I have had a very good experience to this point.

Paul, if I could do it over I would spend the extra $$ and do wide 5s. To me nothing screams "replica" like the 8 slot 4 bolts, but as Jim says, only a trained eye porsche nut would notice. I am even investigating the costs involved in having a 10 slot 4 bolt mass produced. I think a lot of us 4 bolters would spring for a set if they existed. If anybody wants to talk replicoupes, feel free to call me at 714-639-4308 any evening 8-9:30 pm west coast time.

tom your car is drop dead awesome
have been at JPS the last few days and saw several more coups
there is a beauty off to oregon :)
there is also a color i didnt think i would like in color sanding but now that it is finished it is a coco brown. beautiful color

I agree that green coupe is gorgeous! WOW.

Tell us about that Pinto ! :)

Re the "wide 5's"--it seems that Beck is so careful with originality that the leave off the hubcaps to show the 5 bolt pattern.

Makes me want to run without hubcaps to show off my wide 5's but I'm pretty sure that no one in this state would ever have a clue about 4's or 5's.

You know: "5 million people, 10 last names."

---Jack

Jack, the wide-5's are an option on the Beck, as on all manufacturers. My car has the lowly 4-bolt wheels. Woe is me ;-)

Y'all are right that most folks won't know (or care) about the difference. On that coupe (see, I got us back to the start) those body color wheels look gorgeous regardless of the number of holes or bolts.

It does but it would just KILL if it had the wide fives, IMHO.

Alan,
I wish I could tell you more about the pinto, but Jim said its gas tank exploded right after he took this picture.

The Pinto was a pan-based replica of a '73 Pinto. :-)

The word is, it's not a great idea to install a street rod flame thrower contraption on them.

If you look below the rear bumper, I believe that you can see the carbon from an earlier fire.

Speaking of Pintos...

I wonder how East Coast Bruce is doing with his Pinto-based roadster?

Haven't heard much from him, so he's either out on the boat or Norma has him running all over the country, visiting folks.

Hi Tom - thanks for making yourself available for coupe chat. Your car is a beautiful shade of green. I personally would like to go for a basic build too. I'll just take the 1776 engine and few options other than nipple hubcaps.

I live in Seattle so I don't need the AC. However, I am afraid about my car leaking like the other Tom's coupe. That would be a problem!! Also, I would like to put a classic looking radio in mine because nothing screams kit car like contemporary stereos and speakers.

Thanks!

David, Dusty has a clever radio compromise. It's in his pictures.

Gordon,

Not to hijack the thread but since you asked... It's coming along great but a little slower than I would like. It's been on jackstands since March with a looooong list of things to do but I shortened the list last week to only the necessary stuff so hope to be driving next week. The longer list will have to wait until the snow flies. The Pinto 4-banger is getting a face lift this week. And yes, the gas tank is in the back of this one too - so I'll be keeping one eye in the mirror. :>)

ECB

One more thing, it looks like the JPS Coupe does not feature the brightwork surrounding the rear B pillar window?

My car is a tube frame. As far as I know the pan based are not leaking. JPS is now installing splash guards which I believe should eliminate much if not all of the problem. I installed my own version up front and stopped my front leaks. I am currently waiting for the jps rear guards to arrive so I can install them.

Hi Tom D,

Glad to hear that your car is getting the kinks worked out. I've been reading the repair thread for the Green Hornet. Your car is the one that got me back into replicas after YEARS of just not caring about cars in general. Your car is a sweet piece of machinery.

Cory -

I looked at Dusty's technique for hiding new innards in a vintage looking stereo. Love it. I wish more companies paid attention to detail items like stereo and speaker aesthetics.

Cheers.

Speaking of the original "Green Hornet", it is part of a feature on expensive 356 coupes on page number 44 of the latest 356 Registry magazine. It sold in 2006 for $145,750. Tom Dewalt, that $24K you are going to ask for your version once it is sorted out seems way too cheap to me.

Tom, we missed you last weekend on the SOC breakfast and Dana Point run.

Will,
Had to be in Huntington Beach at 9:00 a.m. Sat and Sun for softball tourney. Sorry I missed the fun. Thats a nice route Jim took you guys on through the canyon. He's a great tour guide.

David -- here's one.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Vintage-Look-Porsche-356-911-Stereo-Radio-AM-FM-w-iPOD_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1742Q2em153Q2el1262QQcategoryZ80741QQihZ020QQitemZ300242158734

Hijack: David; your username reminds me of Black Sabbath's guitar player.....

Ricardo -

Ozzie and Geezer would agree with you!

Ricardo and Jim -

Bill Ward says "hi". Just kidding, I have been using the Sabs' guitarist's name on virtually all of my accounts for years now. I like it when folks like y'all recognize it! I grew up on the California coast in the 1980s and 1990s - Sabbath was about all I listened to in those days. Thanks!

David - the plates on your tub should read 'IRONMAN' -

ROCK ON!!

Great player...it's a shame he can't flip the bird with his left hand....a little bit like Jerry Garcia except that in his case it was the right hand.....

I reckon "IRONMAN" sounds better than "GRP MAN". But seriously folks. I still have to wait a little bit before I place my order. I also have the tricky proposition of getting my wife to agree to my plans. In my head there is green w. saddle interior coupe. I can't seem to shake this vision.