Shaping 550 Fenders...

Ah, so they, in effect, lifted the floor slightly? Thanks for that explanation. Thanks too for the detail re cutting/reshaping the inner rockers. Carey's explanation for his refusal is exactly as I feared; glad I didn't overrule myself on that!

AND!

Also considered having the jack narrowed. I just worried it would compromise its functionality which, thinking about it, I suppose is pretty funny because, really? You plan to actually use that jack to change the tires, Ed? 

But yeah it's a thing I imagine could come to pass.

Anyway it'll be wrong on my car: the jack's just a skosh too wide, so I wrapped a little electrical tape where it touches the frame rails & I'm calling that done.

...or maybe I'll carve a little piece of foam and slip it under the upholstery on the floor there to support the inside tube of the jack...

Man, I can SO relate to what you guys are going through.

It took me months to source the scissors jack to wedge between my Nankang spare tire and the Home Depot carpeting that VS used to line my frunk.

But still, it's not a perfect fit.

While the jack 'parks' there OK, there is lots of wasted space. I thought about bringing the jack back to Pep Boys and asking the counter clerk to rework the angles to better accommodate the triangle between my tire and the carpeting, but then I remembered that nasty sign over the register:

Besides, modifying the jack would probably mean redesigning the wooden block I fabricated for it - a project that alone took me weeks.

I guess I could fit a smaller wheel and tire for a spare, but then the Target cake box I'm using for my tools probably wouldn't fit.

There's just no end to it when you're seeking perfection.

@Sacto Mitch posted:

 

Man, I can SO relate to what you guys are going through.

It took me months to source the scissors jack to wedge between my Nankang spare tire and the Home Depot carpeting that VS used to line my frunk.

But still, it's not a perfect fit.

While the jack 'parks' there OK, there is lots of wasted space. I thought about bringing the jack back to Pep Boys and asking the counter clerk to rework the angles to better accommodate the triangle between my tire and the carpeting, but then I remembered that nasty sign over the register:

Besides, modifying the jack would probably mean redesigning the wooden block I fabricated for it - a project that alone took me weeks.

I guess I could fit a smaller wheel and tire for a spare, but then the Target cake box I'm using for my tools probably wouldn't fit.

There's just no end to it when you're seeking perfection.

 

 

Gee, I have one of those,  but in yellow,  good for 2 tons,

I wonder should I paint it red  I keep a large square piece of thicker metal as a base for it in soft soil. 

Rae, they switched to yellow jacks for the '57 racing season (the yellow paint saved them 47 grams per jack), but since the cars had been homologated with red jacks, some scrutineers required the later cars to run with red jacks.

I feel your pain my bruthas!

@Sacto Mitch: hilarious!

Alignment completed...Dangerously close to a test drive. Perhaps Thursday will be the day!

Is it done yet? Looks awesome! 

I guess Lane's car should be making a lot of progress soon then?

That thing is so pukka I could spunk meself. 

(Someone will probably ask, so here is the reference. Circa 1992, when this story came out in Granta, I read it twice through, giggling in recognition that its very talented author was my East End London doppelganger, having lived the identical experience to my Fairfield, CT time at the service station—albeit while slumming. Our shop's Wic was named Mel and he had an orange Corvette and spent inordinate hours in the ladies' room where he had stashed an impressive library of porno mags. He later died of, I heard, a cocaine overdose. But anyway). 

@DannyP posted:

Is it done yet? Looks awesome! 

I guess Lane's car should be making a lot of progress soon then?

Yeah, what Danny said! 

Looking forward to seeing videos of this thing on the road. It is a masterpiece and makes me want to trade my Speedster in for a Spyder... 

@*LongFella posted:

Looking forward to seeing videos of this thing on the road. It is a masterpiece and makes me want to trade my Speedster in for a Spyder... 

Finish the coupe. 

@arajani posted:

Alignment completed...Dangerously close to a test drive. Perhaps Thursday will be the day

I keep coming back to this thread to look at these pictures. This one especially.... 

You just...

OK let's say you know everything there is to know about the 550 Spyder. You know the numbers, the stats, race history, the drivers, the builders. You know exactly what sort of plating is correct for this part, versus those fasteners. You can tell the difference. Say you're that guy. 

If you are that guy, and you see this car, parked like this, as you're walking (very quickly!) toward it in any setting on Planet Earth, you are absolutely sure you've found the Holy Grail. You have discovered a real Porsche 550 RS Spyder in the wild!

Let me elucidate. I've just gotta gush on this goddamn thing.

You're that guy. You know what the clam ought to look like. This is that clam. You see the onesie windscreen, the larger steering wheel. From across the street you noticed the wheels and tires. They look right. Now your eye goes from the oil tank to the cowling area, with the slotted tab for the clam latches. You know that's right because you're that guy and you've noticed the very different design Chuck Beck adopted for his tribute cars all those years ago. This ain't that.

There's the spare tire seat and the leather straps in all their glory. The Knecht filters...

And that fabulous fan shroud! My god!

Everything is correct!

At this point your addled brain is freakishly trying to work out which chassis number this one is.

This car is such a tour de force that, even after that guy gets close enough to notice its three cam deficit, he will still be awed. 

It's not just as if somebody cared. It's as if somebody's life depended on it. 

@edsnova posted:

It's not just as if somebody cared. It's as if somebody's life depended on it. 

What an impossibly perfect line

... a summation of the Anand/Carey collaboration process, not just on this car, but on the near perfect GT coupe a few years back.

If I were either of them, I'd want this etched on my gravestone. It's how I'd want to be remembered by anybody who I left behind. What a way to go about one's craft.

To square the circle, it's sentences like this that separate real writers like Ed from monkeys at a typewriter like me. 

Sometimes, we don't realize transcendent greatness because we're too close to take in the sheer scale of it. What @arajani and @chines1 have done here is (to put it in my hicktown vernacular) a whole 'nuther kind of sumthun'.

Astounding.

@edsnova and @Stan Galat: Thanks for the kind words! Candidly, however, I have had little part in this. I have seen this car in real life once in 5 years (when I met Stan during a trip to work on my 56GT) and probably won’t see it again for a while (more on that in a moment).

I met@chines1 in 2012 when I built my first Spyder, and have not yet met anyone else in the world of Porsche 356 who I trust and respect more. I have been fortunate to become friends with many of the premier restorers in the LA area, and none of them operate with the same customer service focus that Carey does. Even in the most stressful situations, he is calm (I say all of the swears), and always adds in some humor to keep me from losing my mind.

This guy can fabricate like no one I have ever met, can draw (you should see his artwork), and it is a database of VW and Porsche parts/colors/models from 1955 to 1998. Impressively, he creates a product that is better than pretty much anyone, and does it without taking advantage of you financially. People like this literally don’t exist anymore (especially not in California). And if they did, they certainly would never have agreed to take on a rabbit-hole project like this. Who re-shapes engine lids and rebuilds an entire plastic clown car that is 30 years old? The whole thing is insane. I am truly grateful to Carey — no amount of money could make this project “worth it” for a shop. He is simply doing it to help me out.

Fast forward to yesterday: Carey was ready to take the car for a test drive. The generator is officially dead. It has been rebuilt twice by California Auto Electrics in Van Nuys (known as BNR on eBay), and still doesn’t work. It is putting out just under 1v at 3000 rpm. I’ve ordered a new one for “high performance engines” that had epoxied coils — this keeps them from coming apart at high RPMs. Unfortunately, that won’t arrive for 3-4 days. Removing the last generator took @Pat Downs 2 days when the motor was on the engine stand. Another nightmare. I’ll keep you posted!

Anand

That surely is a beaming compliment for Carey... 

This story never ceases to amaze!! Best of luck with the generator.

Gah, sorry, Anand—and Carey. Hope the new part goes in hassle-free and works as it should.

Gotta say though, if I worked in that shop I'd be sore tempted to take a rip around the parking lot at least. Maybe put the battery tender on it afterward...

@edsnova: That’s exactly what happened. PM me your mobile and I’ll send you the video! The rest of the car works well; Carey is sorting a few little items as we speak.

Anand

Carey is unique. He did swear at me via text for adding "options" to Lane's car. But truly, it was in jest, so not taken personally. That's just the way Carey and I communicate, mostly because I swear a lot.

But Anand is right, he is a true craftsman, I've seen a lot of his work. I know how hard it is to do the things he does. He does such a good job though, compared to some of my hackery.....

Anand, I'll PM my mobile too, love to see the video.

C’mon guys, Carey’s gonna get a big head. 🤣

In all seriousness I’ll second what y’all have said about him and the whole team.  The corporate attitude must come from the top, and he and Kevin have established a culture of craftsmanship and service.  While process of building my car has taken a bit longer than either of us expected, I have never doubted the worth of the final result.  The last few months have been fun watching it come together.  I’m looking forward to August - big time!  😬

A fun side shot. @Lane Anderson: you can see one teardrop tail light in the corner! 

WOW!  That tire/wheel and wheel well looks so right. As does everything else.

That is 1x size tiny automobile. 

Someone please post a side shot of their Spyder so we can see the differences.

The speedsters are towering over it!

Id never fit into it,,I had a 65 Tiger that was a bit too small for me

Maybe Carey will park a Beck next to my CMI for comparison.

The CMI is cool, but it’s useless if you can’t fit in it (Carey could barely drive it!)

I flipped my car, angled it the same, and used the wheels to get the size as close as I could get. I'm running 15s and your running those awesome 16s. BTW, my car is a Vintage built by Seduction.

It's like comparing an apple with a rock.

@arajani posted:

A fun side shot. @Lane Anderson: you can see one teardrop tail light in the corner! 

Oooooo, I certainly can!

It's just beautiful, Anand.

Actually, @Carlos G, your car looks pretty dang good too!

@edsnova I agree. Sweet color, too!

@arajani posted:

Maybe Carey will park a Beck next to my CMI for comparison.

The CMI is cool, but it’s useless if you can’t fit in it (Carey could barely drive it!)

growing up, I always wanted to be tall. Now?  I wish I was 5’-8” so that I could own and drive the original proportioned Spyder. 
Looks so right. 

Seinfeld is listed as 5'11" and he seemed to fit OK in his Spyders.

How tall is @chines1? I'm thinking maybe 6'2"?

I think around that, and he has a bit of the Stan build goin' on as well.

Again, and I can't emphasize this fact too strongly or too often, if you are sitting in a Porsche 550 RS your head will be above the top of the windshield because that is how they were made, on purpose, in 1955.

The only exception is if

Notwithstanding Stan's unusual physiology, his stated preference for how he wants the car to fit his body is at odds with the fundamental realities of space-time. 

I'm only 5'6"- looks like I bought the wrong car...

I do think that the proportion of body to legs is variable and long torsoed men have an issue with the head above the windshield issue, and of course some can actually sit in ok but the legs are too long. 

Eddie wants us all to sit astride our mounts, as if we were driving a Model T Ford or a Z3 BMW. Mr. Seinfeld DOES look too big for his priceless cars, not because of where his head is, but because of where his shoulders sit. Look at his head in relation to the head-rest on the helmet fairing on the RSK-- it hits him mid-neck.

The (undersized) gentlemen in the 550 in front of the Reutter plant both have their shoulders pretty much parallel with the top of the body, which seems to be the way these cars were designed to fit, and just more comfortable for everybody involved. They are sitting in that automobile, not on it.

Regardless, "driving" as opposed to "racing" means being comfortable. If one works hard enough, almost any car can be made to fit (with enough alchemy). However, Anand's gorgeous car is a two sizes too small (apologies to Dr. Seuss) for corn-fed Midwestern barbarians like Mr. Hines and myself.