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First post; just joined. I am considering shopping for a Speedster replica, and am daunted by the physical distance between NYC Metro and "the land of speedsters." Have never even ridden in a replicar of any kind, but I maybe do otherwise fit the profile: Have owned a 68 beetle cabrio, a 4speed Corvair, a 914, a 77 Targa, and my wrenching claim to fame was putting a 3.0 liter Porsche six in a 81 Vanagon (myself, not a shop.)

I'm hoping to make a connection with others on the East Coast, for insights on how best to shop on this coast for a good used Speedster (or how to solve the distance problem e.g. who to trust to look at a candidate car and report.)

A sample question: What do those in the know think about the dealer and/or the car in ebay item https://www.ebay.com/itm/1966-...eedster/114409160893 , with its tail up in the air like that.

Thanks, and looking forward to all the benefits of this forum.

wrkinprogress

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Plenty of owners on the east coast. If Carlisle happens this year and you haven't bought by then, it may be a good place to get a closer look and meet the group.

Do your homework before you buy. Know what you want and what you are looking for then...... Be patient. If cars slip through your fingers, there will be another coming.



Personally, I wouldn't buy from a dealership. You are not only buying the car, you are paying fees and a salesperson commission. Too easy to avoid it in my opinion.

That car posted in this topic post is too high priced, as Chris says the dealership taking his cut.

It also appears to have either been jacked into position on the rotating display, the swing-axles positive camber making the car sit at a false ride height. If the car is rolled back and forth it should drop down. If that doesn't do it, a torsion bar adjustment will.

wrkinprogress: if you catch Alan at the right time, he can build you what you want from somebody's unfinished project. That's his specialty. Or you could go with Beck in Indiana or the east coast Vintage dealer.

If you put an 911 SC motor in a Vanagon, I'm betting you could build your own if inclined. I think Vintage is a good bet for a body.

https://www.vintagemotorcarsinc.com/

Cars do come up on craigslist, ebay, or other classifieds. Unfinished projects are seen on thesamba.com as well.

I live about 70 miles northwest of NYC, and have a self-built Vintage Spyder.

I'm betting that Speedster was built by Vintage Speedsters when it was located in Hawaiian Gardens before it was purchased and moved to Phoenix.  Greg Leach took over the Hawaiian Gardens facility and hired the workers.   (Long story).  Reports are that Greg has raised the quality from when VS was operating.  I know that Vintage Speedsters used that red curly alternator wire but I don't know if Greg kept it--I wouldn't have done so myself.

I suggest you loot for the list of Speedster manufacturers on the SOC site under "Resources" at the top pf the main page.  You can see some prices of new cars there and I believe you will see that cars from Hawaiian Gardens or Phoenix are lower than that jacked up one from the reseller on the link you posted.  The suggestions to you on here from soc members are all excellent sources of Speedsters too.  Good luck---maybe we'll be welcoming you to the madness soon!

Ditto on above. I was in the same boat years ago. Everything seemed to be on the West Coast or Florida.

I setup a watch in eBay and one Friday night one showed up in NJ. CMC with everything still in boxes. It was left at a guys classic Mustang shop (so natually he didn't want it). Several beers later (and a phone call that went to midnight), I got the whole mess for $3K as long as I could get it out in a few days. Other eBayers were PISSED!!!! Just made the whole thing sweeter.

A few days later I had it on a U-Haul coming through Newark at rush hour (wondering WTF was I thinking).

You just have to keep a sharp eye -and be willing to kill if need be.

Love stories like that. Keeps hope alive.

The SOC site and its citizens are really a treasure trove, helping me to sort out what I might want in a car and what I would have to invest both in money and in maintenance time. E.g. so many of the cars I have done my own maintenance on have been buses and Vanagons I could just slide under, I realize I have to pay attention to the thread on jacks and lifts if I'm serious about a speedster.

How is this possible?

I thought you had retired????????????????

Maybe time to cut back on the caffeine or something.

(I envy that you have heat in the garage/shop, though).

If I ever listened to all the "last build" nonsense, it was so long ago I don't remember it.

Even when Alan moved to WV and sold/gave/threw away everything he had I knew he would be back building within a year. Guys like him are not wired to watch Wheel of Fortune and be lined up for the early-bird special at Denny's for entertainment.

Regarding the heated shop, I can't believe a man of your ability and ingenuity (who actually DID retire about 20-odd years ago) hasn't bitten the bullet and insulated and heated your garage. It's really not that expensive. If you can build a gasoline heater controller, you can certainly heat your space.

I haven't worked in a cold garage in more than 20 years. It makes living above the Mason-Dixon line palatable.

Yeah, I know.  

I did get the insulation done and finished the interior pretty nicely, and looked at a few "Shop Hawg" propane heaters but have been that route before - You really need to run the heat to at least 50F all the time so your tools are warm-ish when you handle them.  It would also be Über-nice to have radiant heat in the floor slab and THAT's never gonna happen unless I put a grid floor over the slab (I think about that from time to time, too.)  All this thinking takes it's toll, though:

You know you are getting old when it takes too much effort to procrastinate.

But then, and more for Alan's benefit, I remember that little sign I used to have on my office wall, a quote from the poet Ogden Nash:

"To Sit...

         Is To Rot"


There might be hope for me, yet!

C178A6E7-1A31-488B-AF8E-7A7AA7EB18C29BB7F11E-B0B3-4B1C-B27F-CAC83251E456B38BFE39-EC87-4076-A7B3-875360439EB59AB85446-66AA-46D5-ABB0-30107385CCCD019C1ED4-F920-4721-94C7-619DFC8B8906665127AF-8B4E-450E-8ACA-5D8AAF0DF464Last year I sold the Bugeyeguy up in CT my Beck it is a beautiful car. David S. (The Bugeye guy) and I talked a long time about these cars and he liked mine so much he bought others to sell. Being outside of NYC though I believe his prices are high. I do know mine is one of the best. I went To Bremen met Carey and Kevin (been there several times) to buy mine.

I really loved mine but I also have a beautiful Beck 550 and got into British cars and bought a 59 Sebring Sprite race car I wanted. I also have a 60 Bugeye Sprite.

Stirling Moss sat in my Sebring and signed the dash in 2014 while it was racing at Limerock.

Check out the Speedsters on the Bugeyeguy’s web page.
Pete

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For more information to steer my speedster search I called Liberty Mutual just now. Had the good fortune to be connected to an agent who's a car guy (older GM muscle cars) so he knew the subject well. I was especially happy to hear that I should be able to get a Hagerty stated value policy and still be under my LM umbrella policy for my auto and homeowners. Also that coverage can be tailored to my usage pattern, which is definitely not going to be car-shows-only kinda thing. These had been concerns for me, so that was a good call.

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