356 Speedster wanted. *** FOUND ***

[acpaterson]

Hi guys,

Just puttiung this out there. I'm currently looking to buy a nice 2nd hand 356 for a few ronds.. I believe I missed one in Hout Bay by a few days.. eish.. Anyway, if anyone knows someone who knows someone, you know, who might know, someone..., ok you get my drift..
thanks guys.

Alan

[acpaterson]

Also just wondering,

what does the Speedster's Bodykit and all associated bits cost new these days from Kit Car Center, or whoever is making them now? I've seen pricing vary from 60 K up to well in the hundred thousands.
I also noticed the smaller Spyderrs sell for anywhere from 20 to 30K, but not much more. Seems a huge margin of variance between the two body styles.
I'm ideally not wanting to spend over 40 to 50 K, and if the pricing is then based on demand, or market related prices, then these cars are way over priced in all honesty. I'd like to hear from some seasoned vets on this subject please.. Am I being overly optimistic, or have I missed the mark completely?


Alan

[Tony Z]

I would definitely say it depends on what has been done to the vehicle and the quality of the work performed.

You could stick with 30 year old drums or for 10K you could go for a full disk brake conversion. Then if you want alloys with good rubber its suddenly another 5 to 10K depending on the quality of the rubber.
Then lets say you get your engine overhauled... the shittest work possible in this department will cost you 8K. If you want a good engine that is slightly modified, then start looking upwards of 20K up to the end of your wallet.
Nice seats, nice wooden steering wheel, lowered suspension, paint job... it all adds up very quickly. Is 50K too much for a decent 356 replica? Not by a long shot.

[acpaterson]

Hi Tony,

thanks for the response.,. Don't get me wrong, I totally understand about "bling" additions.. I'll keep my eyes open, have seen one or two down here in Cape Town, one really beat up Silver one which I think is in Seapoint somewhere..
Will wait and see what happens in the next few months.. thanks guys.

[vw59beetle]

Alan
Tony is right. It all ads up.The other reason for higher prices, are that guys over capitalize on a replica. They buy genuine Porsche parts that are in itself over priced. My feeling has always been to look for an early 911 or even a 356. There are some treasures out there at the right price and unlike a replica, they will increase in value. But if you really want a Speedster, then a replica is the way to go. Good luck.

Wernher

[acpaterson]

Howzit Wernher,

thanks my man, appreciated, and totally understand. I'm running a "wanted" add on Gumtree, and had two responses already. One is that Matt Black "Sebrig" look up in JHB, which is not what I'm after. Still waiting for Pics of the other one, which is down here in Brackenfel I believe, but the owner says it requires some work, I think it might have been smashed. So awaiting pics, and will take it from there.

Thanks for the input, much appreciated, and great bunch of guys on the forum..

Alan

[acpaterson]

Amazing..
Another Speedster just hit Gumptree. looks very pretty, no roof from what I can see, but has some work done, and is a very nice finished project. My personaly issue is, it's like the number R 80 000-00 is the standard going rate for a Speedster.. Now armed with 2 pricelists, I know what all the bits total to build one of these awesome little cars, minus the donar car.. Realistically, the top end of a basic car should be around R60-000. possibly a little less.. (Read BASIC).

Having spent the past year and a half stripping down and rebuilding a 1981 BMW R100 Motorbike, I eventually sold it in December to a chap in JHB for just under 40 K, and it took me a year and a half to build to IMMACULATE finish. I don't understand why\how the prices for 2nd hand SPeedster is close to a Hundred thousand rand.. I'm astounded at the marketplace.

Maybe in a few months\years I'll get one.

[arnocill]

Perhaps you should build one yourself and then and see where you end. If you do any decent build and keep track of every cent you spend you'll be surprised at the cost in the end. You can't even have a beach buggy built for 60k. Aircooled vw aren't cheap to rebuild, unlike in the early 80's when they used to be cheap.

[flatfourfan]

The speedster replica is a funny car. But it's that wow factor that makes it MUCH more wanted than the RSK spyder, even though if below it all, they're identical.

What's a fair price? Well for a basic one like what I bought, R40 000 is a fair price, but these are few and far between. You then have to add the price of the trinkets.....I paid R900 for Porsche rear lights as well as R170 for used rocker trim. The devil with these cars is with the detail. Yeah I buy original Porsche stuff, but when repop rocker trim costs double that and rear lights are a grand for a repro set and you still have to import them, repro Chinese gauges for the interior are R4500 the last time I checked, I bought a set of 912 PORSCHE gauges for R900 which look almost identical, then the prices for good used parts makes sense.

1) badges - all 7 (repro parts from the US) - R5000-R7500
2) Steering wheel - (nardi) R4500-00
2) steering wheel - flat four banjo - R10 000
3) interior trim and dash (porsche gauges etc) - R10 000

All the above excluding shipping.

And that's just the basics, a well done speedster with all of the above installed to a high quality is about R100 000 in my books. R150 000 if he's got a hot engine.

I estimate that I have about R75 000 in my speedster right now and that includes the water cooled conversion, I have about another R10k in new interior, paint and trim to add.......so doing it myself, I'll have a kicking looking speedster for about R90 000. My thread http://www.aircooledvwsa.co.za/viewtopi ... =23&t=2456 to give you an idea of what I started with.

My advice is to hang around and to find a project, sebring speedsters are okay and the mod to chop off the arches is not that hard.

[acpaterson]

Back and hunting for the much wanted but hard to find 2nd hand Speedster.. Just an FYI if others see or hear of a failed project or something lying around guys, appreciate it.

cheers

[riaanj]

Kit car centre is Loooooooooooooooong gone..
A lot of their moulds were bought by Replicars, as far as I know, they don't exist any more either, they were all based up here in the Vaal.
Universal products still manufactures up here - http://www.universal-products.co.za/rep ... 0Cars.html
They are a real nice bunch of okes, their quality isn't bad either, If you need info contact Garth there, very helpful chap..

[flatfourfan]

DOn`t write off buying a sebring speedster with the flared arches, very easy to put it back to stock and they usually are a lot less than a stock one.