I’m sure you are fully aware of this, given the attention to detail you took on your Cobra, but take tons of photos of real Speedsters, especially originals if your plan is to do yours up as close as possible.
I’m like you. Eventually I would like to make mine look close. In the interim, I’m just enjoying it as much as possible. I’ll wait until the interior starts to wear, and the car is littered with rock chips.
My photos of originals helped my lock in the “correct” bumper location. I say “correct” because the fiberglass bumpers are different than those found on the real Speedsters. That said, my detailed photos of an original helped me position the location of the bumper in proximity to the body, along with the pitch and location in reference to the horn grills. You’ll noticed on restored Speedsters, a simple detail like this changes.
As mentioned previously, the big differences between replicas and real are in the interiors. Take a lot of photos here if your goal is to replicate the interior of a real Speedster.
The folks in our area seem to be pretty open minded about our replicas. I was chatting with a real Speedster owner today. His comment to me was “I bet your Speedster is faster than mine and handles much better”. I said perhaps, but your VIN belongs to your car, and mine belongs to a ‘73 VW. I added that yours is a great retirement fund, while mine is a great alternative to a Miata. He chuckled. Said he should look into a replica; something he could drive and enjoy without fear.
I also met a number of guys that used to own Speedsters. They really enjoyed my Speedster. Said it had them fooled when I pulled in. Even though mine is a VS, they were still impressed with the quality. And said perhaps they should look into one.
