Does anyone that owns a Beck Spyder NOT have this VIN plate on the driver’s side of their frunk? (or one like it. I know mine is an ancient Gen 1)
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Just checked and I guess my post finally made it through the legal dept.
David,
Without a link to the auction, none of us know what you're talking about.
Thanks
@Stan Galat posted:David,
Without a link to the auction, none of us know what you're talking about.
That was kind of by design Stan. I wanted to keep the water clear. (Maybe a picture isn’t worth a thousand words) 
btw: It’s gone again, and it DMR at $45K.
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@dlearl476 posted:That was kind of by design Stan. I wanted to keep the water clear. (Maybe a picture isn’t worth a thousand words)
That clears everything up. You were commenting on a comment you made (but which was deleted) on an auction we didn't know you were commenting on.
Clear as day.
Actually, I was asking Beck Spyder owners if their cars had a Beck VIN plate like mine. Because someone posited that some didn’t. I’ve never seen one without.
I’m sorry you feel left out.
Mine is like your plate with #141. I bought it as a kit from Beck around 1988/89.
The kit vs roller/turn key getting a plaque is true, but not till much later gen 2 cars and then that changed back to all Becks getting a tag with the tag denoted if it left as a kit, which is how it is still done today.
All gen 1 kits initially received a front tag, unless Randy forgot or was out of tags, and that did happen…
Something else to keep in mind, while almost everyone says their Gen 1 Beck was “turn key by Chuck”, not only did Chuck not build many turn key Gen 1 cars, by the mid 1980s Chuck and my father were living in Brazil the majority of the year and Randy Beck was running the CA shops. Randy estimated that of the last 200 Gen 1 kits, only about a dozen were turn key.
Small diversion - Chines1...does the name Harry Christensen ring a bell?
Not to me, but maybe to dad or Chuck... I can ask. Why?
As I was told back then, Harry was in discussions to build Beck Spyder bodies somewhat locally (Lake Havasu?). He owned a boat business - Advantage Boats. At the time, Harry was a customer of mine at an Avionics business in LaVerne, CA near Upland (Brackett Aircraft Radio). I bought my Beck kit through that relationship...after visiting Chuck and Randy (and getting a ride with Chuck in the Red beast).
Not too much later, Harry was kidnapped and murdered by a guy who was "wanting to buy" his plane that we had just worked on (a Cessna 340). Sad ending to a really nice guy. These events are inexorably tied to the car I still have today
Sorry, something about looking up my kit plate just brought that memory train back.
@chines1 posted:The kit vs roller/turn key getting a plaque is true, but not till much later gen 2 cars and then that changed back to all Becks getting a tag with the tag denoted if it left as a kit, which is how Toni’s still done today.
All gen 1 kits initially received a front tag, unless Randy forgot or was out of tags, and that did happen…Something else to keep in mind, while almost everyone says their Gen 1 Beck was “turn key by Chuck”, not only did Chuck not build many turn key Gen 1 cars, by the mid 1980s Chuck and my father were living in Brazil the majority of the year and Randy Beck was running the CA shops. Randy estimated that of the last 200 Gen 1 kits, only about a dozen were turn key.
Thanks for weighing in Carey. I thought about emailing you, but I figured you had better things to do.
This clears things up. I’m guessing then that #640 would fall into the pre “much later gen 2 cars” category? Can you verify, as one poster posted “The kit build versions (as mine does) has the chassis number stamped on the frame cross member behind the right rear wheel.” I think I’ve heard this before and looked for it a long time ago but can’t for the life of me remember if mine is so stamped. But then mine is a Gen 1 so it may not apply.
And as long as we’ve got the way back machine warmed up, do you know how many Gen 1 cars there were in total?
@SpyderMike absolutely, Advantage Boats did lamination for Chuck for many years.
Wayne Jacobson was the first and then Advantage Boats took over. I didn’t know Harry’s name but am familiar with the company for sure. I’ll have to share the story of Harry with Randy and Chuck.
thanks for sharing
@dlearl476 all gen 2 and 3 should have the number stamp in the chassis. It was not something that was standard on gen 1 although I’ve seen many that had it, possibly added later even.
no one knows for sure, Chuck has always said 400 but Randy says it was only around 250.
Thanks Carey. I’ll check it out. I’m curious now.
@chines1 posted:no one knows for sure, Chuck has always said 400 but Randy says it was only around 250.
LOL. Chuck kept records more like the Italians than the Germans.
ps Memory lane pt II: I doubt you’d know him but Chuck, and possibly your dad, would, but my interest in Spyders goes back to 1989 when a friend of my brother’s Paul Bernardo, told me about them. Paul messes with Porsches and had a shop close (next?) to Chuck’s place in Upland, CA.
@dlearl476 posted:Thanks Carey. I’ll check it out. I’m curious now.
No stamped VIN on my rear crossmember. Just the plate up front. One weird thing is mine’s aluminum but a lot are brass. (Or brass colored aluminum)
My pleasure Carey.
I still have all the purchase docs, brochure and part invoices from the original buy and build. I got most parts and had my engine built by Kimco in Costa Mesa (on Harbor near Newport).
I'm not sure I should post the price sheets from back then given the pricing now!
Dlearl476 - I am pretty sure that my plate is the brass colored aluminum...hmmm.
The old prices are crazy in comparison. I have copies of all the old sales brochures and price sheets, just haven't looked at them in a long time. At "official" launch (April 83) the base kit (raw gelcoat body/chassis) was $5500. It pretty quickly became $6995 and Randy had an extra "options" sheet where he would pre-cut all the holes in the body for $80.
@dlearl476 posted:No stamped VIN on my rear crossmember. Just the plate up front. One weird thing is mine’s aluminum but a lot are brass. (Or brass colored aluminum)
Very rare for a Gen 2 to have no number in the crossmember, usually when we find them with no number, we do a touch of grinding and find that someone has filled it in, or changed it to a VW number. No Gen 3 is missing the number there, BUT sometime the powdercoat gets thick enough it is hard to see.
There are actually a lot of subtle difference in the ID plates, simply from different batches. There is one version (I think it was the first 50) that the black was much larger, making the gold border thinner and sometimes non-existent. I also recall that there was one batch (again I think it was the 1st 50) that was made differently, maybe photo etched and then later screen printed. Anyway, they were virtually indestructible, while some of the later tags you could wipe the black off with brake fluid (or naturally happen from a leak/spill) Of course the numbers were stamped, so they remained, just the print and address info would go away.
Mine’s a Gen 1 Carey. #201 posted in the OP. The PO put the frunk latch and the “My First Welding Project” hinge in when he repainted it and re-did the interior. You probably don’t remember but we discussed putting one of yours in it when I dropped it off on my way home to Utah.