Come on, how leaky are they... really?

Step right up, Ahab, your whale is waiting.

You certainly are making a good case for your purchase, Luke, but in my humble opinion, unless you are a masochist, these aren't the funnest cars in winter. Evolution makes for a better car. These older ones just never got on that train. But have fun in the snow if you want to, you just have another take on the "madness".

facts: I have lived in New York for six years, and never have I driven on an unplowed road. They are fanatical about their plows up here. Seriously, these Yankees live for that $h!t. Once in the last six years I called off work because the roads were not yet plowed, and I consequently refused to drive on them. Not incidentally, guess what came barrelling down my street within two hours. When I lived in Kentucky and owned the aforementioned Beetle, I had the occasion to drive on snow whenever it snowed, as they own no plows South of the Mason-Dixon. A 50 pound bag of sand (in the trunk, directly above the front wheels) was all I needed to keep the car on the road. It stuck like the clap. Snow is a Red Herring in this case.

Why will no one weigh in on the hardtop? Are these cars so thoroughly associated with So-Cal that it simply never occurred to anyone to try it, before a nut like me came along?

Sorry to get up on my hind-legs, but this is a legitimate question. Whadaya know?

Stan- "Call me Ishmael..." Love it!

I see my nefarious plan is working again. BWAH HAH HAH HAAAAAaaaaaa...........!!!!!!!!!!

Resistance is futile. You WILL be assimilated.

Luke, the Speedster sealing approximates the original. There are too many issues to make them waterproof. If you want to stay in the dry, you might consider a JPS Coupe.

Luke--I did your same commute on the New Haven Line for almost 20 years. Can't say I didn't like it because the morning coffee, paper amd snooze made that hour trip a nice experience. Did mine out of Stamford and New Canaan. I traveled about 1/2 the time son the commute was never something I dreaded.

My ststion car was always a Volvo for reliability. Can't say I'd drive a Speedster to the sttion but for 9 months a year in CT what could be better? My weekend ride was a BMW motorcycle back in thise days. Nothing compared to Sundays at Marcus Dairy----sort of the East Coast's Rockhouse.

Was Port Washington where the Lifesavers factory was or am I mistaken?

Luke, one guy has tried to make a hard top for our cars. His name is Jim Anderson, the top is a modification, and I believe he has given up.

I like your writing style. You've almost managed to bring life back to a very, very dead horse. Or white whale.

In the words of my favorite boat captain, Quint, you're gonna need a bigger boat.

I'm totally with YOU, Stan......

Luke, I know snow plows, my GTI knows snow plows. Maybe your new Speedster wants to know snow plows. I would not be joking about this if I were driving my Speedster that day last February when an oncoming snow plow decided to drop his plow at an un-plowed turn lane. Literally an 6 foot wall of ice. I'm sure it would have ripped of the windshield.
Just saying. Traveling at about 40mph.

Luke- There's two ways to get from here to there.

A: Spend more money than you want to. Get an Intermeccanica Roadster

B: Embrace the your inner Ahab, hoist your sheets to the wind, and sail into the gale.

I tried approach B 10 years ago. No matter how much I gritted my teeth, and thought happy thoughts, the mountain wouldn't come to Mohammad. I did the hardtop-- I spent many thousands of dollars on a very cool, very leaky piece of fiberglass. My modified stayfast soft-top worked way better. In the end, I just wore out and went to plan A.

You can (and will) do what you want, but the idea of driving this year round and PARKING it unattended (!) for 12 hours or so every single working day-- rain, sleet, snow, or hail-- is the very definition of "Quixotic". You're aware these cars are air-cooled, right?

If you want one of these, you want one of these. I really do think you have what it takes. But if you need a justification (for yourself or your wife) to buy one, re-imagining it as a "station car" is just setting yourself up for disillusionment. You're just going to end up taking a rifle into a clock-tower before you'll find any joy in it.

I love my speedster. It's my third one. I have spent countless hours making the car into what I want it to be, and will likely spend countless more. All of them are fairly joyless with the top up.

But.... when the top is down, and the road opens up, they are magic.

Don't rob yourself of that kind of joy by trying to make a "beater" out of a speedster-- that's not making a silk purse out of a sow's ear, that's making a sow's ear out of a silk purse.

OH THEY FOCKEN LEAK

I'm with Stan 100%, don't give up on the dream, but don't turn it into a nightmare either. I really don't know if mine leaks (probably not!), it's never been out in the rain yet. Someday I'll get caught in a storm and I'll find out, won't I?

Craigslist: Hardtop; says "from Speedster": http://inlandempire.craigslist.org/pts/2857846845.html
Not mine!

Stan has some good points, but I have to say I even enjoy mine with the top up and "fancy" side windows on. When I'm traveling to Carlisle or the mountains that usually how I'm set up. The pop-out vents are plenty up to about 75 degrees, and the reduction in wind and sun make a multi-hour trip less taxing. I'm just sayin'.

Try as you did in your opening post, a can o' worms popped open, didn't it? ;-)

Stan tells it like it is. Take your chances with a coupe if you want more weather protection. I thought about a coupe but ended up building an IM Roadster because after 6 months of crappy weather, driving in a coupe would not fulfill my sports car fantasies. Top up driving in most of these cars (unless you have a mild & quite engine) is not so pleasant. The sound amplifies into the cabin. I only used the top(on my VS) in rain and on long highway travel.

I can give more Roadster feedback once my new car arrvies. Speedsters are great, great fun but like anything else in life there is some compromise.

I would equate the experience of driving my Vintage speedster in a rain storm to the same experience I had with my 1960 Bugeye Sprite.

The difference is that the side curtains on the Sprite fit tighter at the the top junction with the windshield.

I just don't take it out in rain. I have driven it on snow for a very short distance and it gripped pretty well, but I would like to see a few more Springs so I have abandoned that idea. A silver speedie in a driving Illinois snow storm disappears to other drivers no matter how much lighting you have stuck on it.

Stan's comments are on the money. Alan's suggestion of hanging some soap on a rope from the rear view mirror, though facetious, make sense.

There is more than one reason these are referred to as "tubs".

"that's making a sow's ear out of a silk purse."

Very apt.

Luke...come over to the Dark Side.
You can make these cars "water resistant" or buy one at considerable expense that is pretty dry and warm. Either way, it is not the kind of car that I would leave in a train station parking lot.
Top up the driving experience is greatly diminished . Noisy, confining and poor visibility. To me it's like rain gear on a motorcycle. You don't use it unless absolutely necessary. I have a good top and side curtains but have only used them a few times in 4 years.

Just my opinion, but if you need the top up, you're driving the wrong car. I drive my car year round , top down. Dress warm and enjoy the pain. It makes you feel alive.

See you at Carlisle. Your car is waiting for you on the Dark Side

Charles:

Nice Georgia Back Yard ya got there..........

;>)

That's the way we live down here. This is the view from my trailer park where I have my double-wide. We call them antique appliances and you can have your pick except the coupe. Not too much expensive landscaping ....

Here's a simple & inexpensive solution, the Tonneau Skylight!

Attach a couple of plastic domes (roof-top skylights) onto a tonneau cover and VOILA...contain heat within the passenger compartment while keeping out the elements (just don't fart while this is in place)...




Come to think of it, I should add this to the 'Cars of Wal-Mart' list...

I like it, Jim!!!!

Speedster condoms ~

Come on jim, that image is all photoshop. We know your head is much bigger than that.

And Ginny does NOT have the red devil eyes we see in that picture.

1. quix

Luke, stay Quixotic! Life's more fun that way. And don't forget the chocolate ...

Luke-

We could've been brothers. As I said before, I think you have what it takes. Welcome to the madness.

Good Afternoon Gents,

At the risk of repeating myself, and boring my reader, I would like to offer some relevant biographical information, and then present a proposition:

I have a station car. It is boring. It was also free (from my wife

Which brings me to my proposition:
I believe we have sufficiently covered the philosophical aspect of the Speedster-as-daily-driver question (i.e: Why would he want to? Because he

I'm beginning to believe that "Luke" here is TC's long lost evil (maybe good) twin brother...just saying.

Posted some pseudo-wisdom on your other thread. After reading this I am REALLY looking forward to meeting you in Carlisle.

Dude! Sailing in a 'glass boat means you know about glass. Good. Mile commute means it doesn't matter what you drive. Try a shopping cart. Whatever. Good 2. Speedster means there's no catalytic converter for some junkie to steal off the bottom of it while it's parked in the Rowayton or Westport or Ffld lot (where ever). Good 3.

Hopefully, if they want a whole car they'll go for the Lotus.

Sounds like a win.

Ed,

I am pleased to know that that there is at least one other reasonable, sane individual here with me among all of these nut-cases.

Luke, Some of us just lurk and enjoy the entertainment ....

Is it lurk or Luke? I get confused easily

David-
As my mother used to say, "The boy's not dumb... He's just distracted."

Luke, sorry to disappoint. If you want a true "beater" that'll get all the attention (and then some) of a Speedie and leak just about as badly 'round the ol' side curtains, saddle y'self up on an MG TD Replica.

Same car underneath (unless you spring for the deluxe Chevette-powered model or the even more swanky Pinto version). Your sticker price will be in the $3-5k range (do not pay more). Reliability will be the same. Trunk more or less the same size (with the VW version).

Stop by the uncool-gay-car section of the Speedster corral at Carlisle and I'll show you what I mean.

Ed,

I will be there, dance card in hand.