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Hello, my name is Trey. I am new to The Madness (I have been looking around here and found that phrase).

We bought a barely started, unfinished wide body that has a 74 Super Beetle pan. It has been in storage for who knows how long. This will be a family project, I have 3 girls who have inherited my interest in cars, and a sweet wife who likes car projects too.

My first two cars were VW Beetles. I did a body off restoration/customization of a 1966 while in high school and drove a 1970 Beetle until the '66 was ready. I love VWs and they are great cars for kids to learn to wrench on.

My first question is how to identify what brand replica I have? I have done some googling and looking here and think I have a Fiberfab or CMC. This is based on some support bracket shapes, the way the front end has been cut and has the “optional” kit to convert a super beetle to torsion bar suspension, and the “optional” gold and chrome wide wheels. I also found a copy of a Fiberfab assembly manual and it seems to match what I have.

Anybody know of other clues to be able to tell? I’m not sure it really matters, but I like to know everything I can about whatever project I am working on.

Thanks for the help!

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Hood handle with CMC SPEEDSTER crest or FF one (often replaced with PORSCHE one  - not used on wide body though).  Gold CMC serial # badge (often left off by builder).  Cast aluminum Hibatch looking engine grill (early IMs also used).  If you have the wide chrome gold slotted wheel then you must have a CMC/FF California Wide Body - those wheels were an option.  Gauges may say VINTAGE on them and there are 5 of them ($325 option but VDO repro avail too.fiberfabpromo18

 

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  • Classic Speedster badge
  • fiberfabpromo18
Last edited by WOLFGANG

TreyG Welcome. I have a Fiberfab Californian Speedster most likely the same as you have. I have a Subaru engine powering mine. I love the shape of the flared fender speedsters like we have. You are fortunate to have found this forum. The people on here have tons of accumulated knowledge so you don't have to make the mistakes we did. Please post lots of pics if you can. We love pics. You are now part of a very unique group of people with very unique cars. Don't forget rule number one.. Have fun!

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  • Speedster Conversion 208
  • Speedster Subaru engine

Welcome to the madness. I love the family connection with your girls. My two girls and my son all inherited the car gene. Not to the degree to learn how to wrench but the basic understanding of how cars work. It has proven to be very useful for the girls and their relationships with men. Mostly when they know more than the men about a particular car (Cousin Vinny). My 36 middle girl just started a restoration project on the car I bought her in High School. It is a 91 VW Cabriolet Etienne Aiger edition and is quite rare. She drove through College and her first couple of years in business. She put into storage since then. Cosmetically it is in great condition but it will need a lot of mechanicals. My old Porsche guy in WA is taking on the job. Amazingly enough this particular model is actually going up in value and when she is done it will be worth more than what she spends. It appears less than 200 of these cars remain. This was a USA only model with a total production of 2000. images

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Thanks all for the warm welcome! I will post pics as we go along. We are in the middle of a renovation at our house, of which we are doing 95% of the work. So the Speedster will be a very slow start for the next 9 months to a year until we complete the house work. No doubt we will sneak in some time to work on it though! 

Here are few pics of when we picked it up. 

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TreyG posted:

Thanks all for the warm welcome! I will post pics as we go along. We are in the middle of a renovation at our house, of which we are doing 95% of the work. So the Speedster will be a very slow start for the next 9 months to a year until we complete the house work. No doubt we will sneak in some time to work on it though! 

Here are few pics of when we picked it up. 

Looking at the photos it looks like you have a nice set of 914 gauges and what I consider the right gauge dash layout. You're off to a great start!

Sorry about the HEIC, I didn't even thing about that. I'll do jpeg next time. Thanks Sacto Mitch for reposting! 

Those are VDO gauges and there is a "VDO" wire harness ready to go with them.

There were several loose pieces like that oblong piece and after looking through the FF/CMC manual that was some of the clues that I was on the right track for what brand. 

The color is burgundy or maybe an ox blood. Its in pretty good shape so our plan for now is to buff it up and then paint it some other time after we have enjoyed driving for a while. 

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