How did you become aware of, and join the SOC?

Wow! This thread has affected Gerd so strongly that he used both upper AND lower case in the same post. What's gonna happen next?

Jimbo, you really went and did it...you turned these guys into a great big glob of jello....
I gotta go to my chopper site to get a shot of some manly talk..
I feel so, how do you say it....violated..

I have been around VW's my whole life. I was brought home from the hospital in a 55 bug my dad owned in 1957. He sold that and bought a 59 bus. We used to go to the Colorado river and it would take 2 days! He sold that and bought a 60 vert.We bought a lot in Seal Beach in 1965 to build a new house. My dad pulled out the pasenger seat and hauled all the 2X4 studs home in the bug. he sold that and bought a 70 westfailia that we camped all over in. I bought my first car at 15 , a 59 Ghia, $75.00. Sold it for $125.00 and bought a 67bug that I did the whole "Cal Look" treatment on. My dad died in 1977 at age 49 ,same with my grendfather at age 49.I sold my 67 and bought a 59 vert that I put a 1776 weber moter in. I sold that and moved to Maui in 1979, I was not going to live like my dad and wait until I retired to have fun. I meet Kirk there......In 1981 I was back in Calif. and got married. We bought a house in Seal Beach in 1983 with an apt. above the garage,. I rented the apt. to a nice gal and one day she came home in a Speedster!I asked her where she got such a pretty car and she said he boyfriend was making them. Her name is Mary. She moved out and got married to Kirk and we lost contact. In 2000 I bought a 64 vert and did a pan off restoration for my daughter. She didn't want that old car so I kept it and put a 2176 moter in it.I sold that and my 230sl and started lurking on this site after doing a Google search, thinking I would get a Speedie. I found one in Huntington Beach and went to "look" at it. Darrin was a fireman living a couple blocks from a house I was building. He had the interior done by JPS and had put Vintage guages in the dash. It was a CMC on an irs with 4 wheel discs. I bought it and as I was driving away my phone rings and it was Mary! She said she knew I wanted a Speedster and would like to trade a kitchen remod for one. I started laughing and said I just bought one 15 minuites ago!I kept it and have done alot to it. I should have done the kitchen. I saw in the events , that a few of you were going to Cars and Coffee one Sat. so I drove down there and met Jimbo, Dave and a few others. They invited me on a Carbon Canyon cruze and I have been hooked ever since. I have meet some great friends here. I love life and seem to be getting younger everyday. I absolutly insist on enjoying life today! Thank you SOC! Mark

Until 08 I worked. Built a successful business and a nice family. Certainly didn't know one end of any speedie from the other. Sold the business. Part of the agreement was that I stay on. But only part time. Discovered the website and began to look. Came close many times but never jumped in. Talked at length with Kirk, John and Kevin.About a year later bought an Az car sight unseen. When you play bad you lose. Car was totally misrepresented. Shipped the car to Kevin. He pulled mine out of the fire with minimal damage. Happened to read John Hallstrand's post on buying used and in the process figuring out what you liked and didn't like and then move on from there. Was in LA scoping a used speed in Irvine. Called John at JPS. Told me he had something worth looking at. Bought a five year old 2110 with most of what I was looking for at a reasonable price. Wonderful people here, always willing to help. Aren't you glad you asked? Met many nice folks in Morro. Going back this weekend. And so it goes---Thanks for everything. Bob and Sarah

i think ted has bigger balls than mark

Aarrggg...Just got back from the chopper site, looking at naked women...feel much better...
Why Gerd, I think for once you are right, Ted would appear to wear the pants in that family...

Wow! Cool responses. I was pretty sure we would get some good stories on this thread. All-in-all, these posts simply manifest the common thread amongst the group on this site...'car guys that like hanging with other car guys/gals without much pretense'!

Peace - Out!

God, is that what I look like in my Hawaiian shirts....
I gotta make a change...

Thanks for noticing the size of my balls GERD they felt real good on your chin! I didn't know you were so friendly with my dog though.

Bwaaaahahahahahaha~

It is really great to see how many people have joined and gained from being on this site over the years since Theron set it up. I'm like Dale, in that I don't want to remember stuff that's even 10 days old, to say nothing of this phenomenon. I think it is over 10 years old now, and I think I am over the debate about who makes a better car...

Tomm Aldridge (The guy with the water wagon IM)made me do it!

Upon finding out that a real Speedster I sold in 1966 for $600.00, was appraised last year for $185,000, I started looking for a good replica. I purchased a Meissen Blue VS from Alan and joined the madness.

Jen & I were living in Paso Robles when the SOC had their annual meet at the Paso park. This was also the year everyone found out just how NOT water tight their cars are (2006). I saw that this meet was taking place and told Jen we had to look at the cars. She reluctantly agreed.
As soon as we walked into the park we saw MR356 for sale and then just started admiring all the other cars. After about 5mins, we bumped into Dale and he was so nice and started telling us all about the cars and different manufacturers. Then he introduced us to Terry who even offered up his car for us to drive since i've never driven one before! At this point Jen's having a great time and loved all the cars smiling at her and how friendly everyone was. She then suggested that it would be a good idea to buy one!
I JUMPED on the chance because I knew by Monday she'd change her mind.
We met Vince and over the course of the weekend drove MR356 and I agreed to buy it. I was gonna haggle over price, but I figured Vince might have some mob connections. He also probably thought I was crazy because I didn't want him to drive it home. I tried asking everyone I knew for cash, but my friends just don't roll that large. $20 sure. $1000's, that's a different class. And weird, Vince wouldn't take a personal check.
Next week Vince and Teri drove back up w/the car and we now have BUGNTUX.....and all you great crazy friends!
Oh, I guess I should answer the question: MY SPEEDIE WAS A MEMBER ALREADY AND SOME OF YOU CRAZY CHARACTERS ADOPTED JEN AND I.

Wow! The stories, I'm compelled to chime in.

Sacramento Labor Day Bugorama '03, I was looking for a dune buggy to play with over the winter then flip. Saw the speedster, cute, couldn't find a buggy or anything else of interest. Walked by the speedster again, took down the phone number. Bought the car Tuesday.

A week later, I was a little under the weather and passed out, face on my dinner. My wife brought me around and took me to the emergency room. Mitral valve repair surgery. Takes a couple of months to recover. It was during my recovery that I began to admire the speedster. Not an "ah-ha" moment, I was 17 in '57 and drooled over the car then - far, far from my reality. Since I was somewhat immobile I started snooping around the net. Had a VS so it didn't take long to find Kirk and Mary then a link to SOC. A lot of my recovery, motivation, and over 6 years of active health has been because of the speedster.

July 5th I fell off a ladder, hit a hand rail on my side and ended up in the ER, 3 days in the hospital. Internal bleeding, half my upper torso is an incredible purple. I'm going to have six weeks of recovery. Always have a smile on my face when I visit this site.

1-4-3-2 out!

In the summer of 2007 I was considering rebuilding my '67 bug once again that I have had since college.
After comparing the cost of completely refurbishing my bug, I thought about making it into a Speedster because the cost would be almost the same.
I googled speedster replicas a found my way to Vintage who had a link to this site.
I took the plunge, and 3 weeks later Kirk had my car ready.

I followed the events section, and met up with Jim "El Guapo", Adrian, and Desi at a Cars and Coffee event. At first I thought the group was limited to Short Polynesian guys!

This is a great group of people and great friends too.

Google.........I was looking into the pros and cons of either buying a complete or building it up myself and been here ever since.

Robert - you mistook us as the SOC but were were really with the PCA (Pineapple Craniums Amalgamated)!

It all started when I was browsing eBay for a Meyers Manx in 2008. I found a brand new and unassembled Vintage Widebody that was in pieces in Idaho. I showed my wife who thought it looked pretty "cute", but wasn't convinced we needed a Speedster, let alone another project!

Not to be deterred, I decided I was interested in the most bang for my buck to get into one of my favorite cars as a kid! I began searching the Internet for Speedsters and came across the SOC and the Vintage Speedster websites. Now I was truly hooked!!

I lurked in the shadows of the SOC site, capitalizing on the research and postings being done by the group regarding cars for sale around the country. And yes, I know that's cheating!!

In June 2009, I received a call from a friend who was at an auction preview in Paso Robles. He told me they had a "speedy buggy" (his term for a Meyers Manx) that was being sold.

I met him on the auction day and found a real Speedster being sold, along with a replica from Automotive Legends that had 700 miles on it. The original owner/ seller was from Arroyo Grande and had owned it for 2 years after seeing and buying it for over $34k, on a whim, when he took his daughter to Pepperdine University in Malibu.

Unfortunately for him, his wife was not the convertible type and whined about it "blowing her hair" so she refused to drive in it. After sitting for a year in his garage, she told him to sell it and he drove it to the auction.

Meanwhile, I called Marlene (my wife) and told her I was going to bid on this almost new Speedster. Her reply? "We don't need another car!" At that point, I knew I had her approval to buy!

I started bidding and, when the bidding slowed at $12,500, the seller reluctantly agreed to lift the reserve at the behest of the auctioneer who "guaranteed" to get him the most money possible. Apparently that was $13k because that's what I bought it for.

My shock and excitement overwhelmed me and I felt the immediate need to call my wife and give her the good news!! Her reaction was a little less excited than I expected. I think her first words were, "tell me you didn't buy another car!" I carefully dodged the bullets and explained that it was so cheap, I could immediately make money by posting it on eBay if, of course, she didn't like it. The click and silence was deafening (just kidding).

I drove my new treasure home, smiling like a kid the whole way. My wifes' bestfriend was visiting from Los Angeles and, after taking them both on rides around town, they both agreed the car was pretty "cute".

Now realize, Marlene doesn't know how to drive a manual transmission so she won't be driving the car.

The following day, I came out of our computer room and proudly announced the Speedster was getting a large number of bids and interest on eBay and should be sold pretty quick for a good profit. Marlene exclaimed, "You can't sell my car!!"

And that is how I joined the madness........

JIM
U START ANY MORE SAPPY POSTS LIKE THIS AND VINCE IS GONNA KICK YOUR A__S

Jimbo...I turn fag, your dead...

Since age 16 , I always wanted a Speedster Califorina "c" . I still have the information from Classic Motor carrige when they were up in Wisconsin... yes when I was 16. The movie King of the Hill made me want one even more . Some day I would own one. Well 24 years with the aid of the internet I found a beat up CMC in Baton Rouge , LA for $4000. After I picked it up I started to surf the net looking for more info on this car . What did I find ? A forum with a bunch of great people with the passion of owning a replica Speedster.

Mea culpa!

What was the question again? And who is mea?? ;)