Flared side early IM?

You're probably right, Greg. Looks like CMC flares to me.

Someone could have added flares, but that's not likely.

IM did make one but only on special request if I remember right.

Not the California IM, unless I'm badly mistaken.

I'd like to see the silver foil IM IDs in the passenger door frame and INTERMECCANICA cast into the hood/engine lid hinges before I'd accept it as an IM and pay the extra $ for it.

I can tell you this - that car looks like the Speedster I might have built in 1978 if I had been "into" foreign cars (I wasn't).

Big-'n-littles, a jacked-up back end (air shocks?) - even Radial TAs on what looks like Cragar SSTs. All the hick-town, white-trash touch-stones. I wonder if it has a Jenson cassette deck blasting April Wine out of the 6x9 coax speakers?

A car like that would have been the only way I could have rolled a clown car with a leaf-blower engine back when we were young-n-studly.

Edit:

Ohmygorsche - those are Centerlines! Dang - this guy was a richie-rich hick-town white-trash hero!

Dang that thing looks weird. 

That dealer is about a mile from my office. 

Drop by and see if it’s got the IM tags like Wolfgang posted.

@Stan Galat posted:

Edit:

Ohmygorsche - those are Centerlines! Dang - this guy was a richie-rich hick-town white-trash hero!

You win the internet today. Nailed it!

@Stan Galat posted:

Edit:

Ohmygorsche - those are Centerlines! Dang - this guy was a richie-rich hick-town white-trash hero!

I do believe "Richie-Rich Hick Town White Trash Hero" is the title of James McMurtry's new record.

Looked him up. Sounds just about right, Ed.

James once wore a red dress to perform his song "Red Dress" in Nashville, as a protest to Tennessee's anti-drag legislation.

Uncle Slayton is America, writ well.

Speaking of red dresses, our son is a member of an international running group called the "Hash House Harriers" that dates back to pre-WWII Kuala Lumpur. The group has been described as a drinking club with a running problem. The idea is that a "hare" sets the urban course and leaves marks to help the "hounds" find the way. Each run ends up in a pub. 

In some clubs there's an annual Red Dress Run for charity and you can guess how it's conducted. I think David has only done the Red Dress Run when he lived in Japan, although he has repurposed his costume for other kinds of dress-up events. He cuts an impressive figure :-)

Tom Buchanan and myself both owned IM flared cars a number of years ago.   Here's a link to a wide body .   https://www.pcarmarket.com/auc...6-speedster-replica/

I wasn't aware of any of the first 608? 609? IM Speedsters built in L.A. being flared cars either, Greg, but I'm the first 1 to admit that I'm not anything close to an expert here and it is certainly possible.  I also don't remember any of their advertising (from Hot VW's and VW Trends) pushing a flared Speedster and, like Stan, I don't remember an IM 'Speedster Californian' (or anything similar) ever being offered, but again, that doesn't mean it didn't happen.  Unfortunately I can't get at any of my early magazines at the moment but I'll see if it's possible later.

@ALB wrote: "Unfortunately I can't get at any of my early magazines at the moment but I'll see if it's possible later."

I had that problem, too.  All of my old magazines of that era were stored in my Mom and Dad's attic.  I came across them again after they passed and we were cleaning out the house for sale.  Lots of old Hot Rod, Custom Car, Street Rodder, Motorcycle and Ham Radio magazines in almost new shape and all but a very few went to the recycler.  

I still have my very dog-eared first edition of "Dune Buggys" Magazine from May of 1967 somewhere.  It has a gold Manx buggy on the cover.  My kids will probably find it after I'm gone, too.  

Joni Mitchell was right:  Life is a Circle Game.

Wow Gordon i have the same story when I moved something had to go when we downsized I had every edition of VW Greats and Hot VW and others.   Regarding IM doing flared ones I am only aware of the last few years when by special request, someone twisted H's arm to create one  I never likes those bloated running shoes.

@Alan Merklin posted:

Tom Buchanan and myself both owned IM flared cars a number of years ago.   Here's a link to a wide body .   https://www.pcarmarket.com/auc...6-speedster-replica/

The linked car is not an LA IM, it's a Vancouver IM.

Yes it is Stan, that one was built around my car if I remember for a guy called Jonathan from Toronto I believe and somehow crossed the border in an auction I thought.

What was the IM that Tom Buchanan (WV) had for sale a few years ago?  It was a red/orange looking one.  Now that was a beauty!

Also a Vancouver IM.

@Alan Merklin posted:

Tom Buchanan and myself both owned IM flared cars a number of years ago.   Here's a link to a wide body .   https://www.pcarmarket.com/auc...6-speedster-replica/

The linked car is not an LA IM, it's a Vancouver IM.

Stan:  That wide assed black IM was built for a Toronto client.  The guy had tons of special touches on it, and somehow it ended up for sale in LA.  Not sure how that happened...

@Bob: IM S6 posted:

The linked car is not an LA IM, it's a Vancouver IM.

Stan:  That wide assed black IM was built for a Toronto client.  The guy had tons of special touches on it, and somehow it ended up for sale in LA.  Not sure how that happened...

I guess I should have been more clear - what I'm saying is that the linked car (and Tom Buchanan's flared car, unless I'm badly mistaken) were not Automobili Intermeccanica cars built in LA by Frank Reisner and Tony Baumgartner in the 70s (as per Wolfgang's "602" reference), they are Intermeccanica International Inc. cars built in Vancouver by Frank and/or Henry.

Much clearer, thanks.

IM built a 911 like / 356. With flares if I remember but it wasn’t as pronounced as the normal flares your mentioning…. I think it was for a family member.

This is the green IM I mentioned, I'm not sure where it was made.

An easy tipoff, Al - if it's an IM and it's a "D", it's a Vancouver car.

You can see Mr. Deemer’s red turbo look and Henry’s brothers six cylinder  turbo look below they are both D’s I sat in the black one it was for sale at the time.   The red one took forever to sell.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/...m-72157634244834789/

I don't know where the "too much personalized customization line" is, but once it is crossed it really can narrow down the audience of serious prospective buyers.

I guess it depends on the individual car.

@Panhandle Bob posted:

I don't know where the "too much personalized customization line" is, but once it is crossed it really can narrow down the audience of serious prospective buyers.

Yeah. A hobby car is a pretty personalized expenditure. Guys don't even want to buy a color combination they aren't wild about, let alone something that colors way outside the lines.

I just had a look through some of my earlier Hot VW's (they're in the master bedroom closet on a shelf and my lovely wife wasn't up yet yesterday so I knew better than to go in there and try to start digging around!) and the first ad I found for Automobili Intermeccanica is in the September 1977 issue.  It's a 1/3rd page ad, just 1 pic, the same copy ran until December '77, nothing for the next 2 years and I haven't looked past that.  I'd be willing to bet that sometime just before that first ad there was the feature article on the Speedster (probably a "we'll do an article but you need to advertise for a while in return" deal) but I didn't think of looking for the article 'till a few minutes ago.  If I get a moment I'll do it later, and I'll try scanning the advert as well.

And no mention of a flared car (I'm pretty sure that started as a CMC thing).

I remember those ads very well, and I was so pleased when they migrated north to Vancouver.

@ALB posted:

… no mention of a flared car (I'm pretty sure that started as a CMC thing).

I am too.