My Speedster ~ The Black Sheila

[flatfourfan]

That's what I thought as well.

Here's my question?

Is the position of the lights the only thing that's different as well as the front hood and inside?

Because I've seen Rogers car and the fender line on top seems to slope a little more from the winshield where the KCC ones seem to shear off at the end.

[IMPI]

Hi Gary
The slope is in the first 10 to 20cm of the fender top and I had to reshape accordingly. What I have found on these bodies is that they are surprisingly accurate. My speedster was within 5mm from the original 356A I measured
I found the following though
the body seems to have been moulded from a Pre A speedster when the original moulds were made.
the difference between this and later A models lies in the shape of the sills and the fact that the rear fender line is lower by about 3cm than the A model.
The rear fender lip and actually most of the body rear of the doors was widened about 2.5cm each side to accommodate the later beetle wide swing axle (post 67 beetle) as the whole rear end is slightly wider it is not noticeable.
the headlights were raised to accommodate a law in the USA about headlight height and I think it was done by raising the headlight bucket and filling and blending behind it.

I have been constantly measuring and deciding what features to correct and which to leave when building my coupe and the nicely rolled under bumper lip and some other speedster kit features found their way into my body.

To build an even more convincing A replica the sills should also be changed to the later shallower type. I have some moulds I took of brand new steel replica sills

The photo shows How nicely they lined up
Armand

[Manny]

That is a very good question. It will be nice if we could make a negative and then compare the two, it will be really interesting to see how far off is this two inch flaw.
I think IMPI has a very simple solution what the differences are is not yet clear.
I can honestly say, what IMPI has a achieved is a huge improvement to what it was originally was, simple but yet affective it looks the part. The average person in the street will not notice the difference, mind you I did not notice the two inch difference on my speedy until you guys mentioned it.....

[flatfourfan]

Hey Armand..........

The slope is in the first 10 to 20cm of the fender top and I had to reshape accordingly. What I have found on these bodies is that they are surprisingly accurate. My speedster was within 5mm from the original 356A I measured - How much does it drop in those 10-20cm?

To build an even more convincing A replica the sills should also be changed to the later shallower type. I have some moulds I took of brand new steel replica sills

The photo shows How nicely they lined up

I like the Sill idea.........seems to be a basic mod.

[Firebird]

I actually asked Garth to do this to my car. .. We all know how that worked out

[flatfourfan]

That is a very good question. It will be nice if we could make a negative and then compare the two, it will be really interesting to see how far off is this two inch flaw.
I think IMPI has a very simple solution what the differences are is not yet clear.
I can honestly say, what IMPI has a achieved is a huge improvement to what it was originally was, simple but yet affective it looks the part. The average person in the street will not notice the difference, mind you I did not notice the two inch difference on my speedy until you guys mentioned it.....

Im off to Roger on Sunday and I'm going to be going nuts with the tape measure and make the final decision if it's worth it for me to do the whole nose swap as I'm going to be cutting most of the internals away in the nose for the radiator. Maybe this is something to consider.

hmmmmmmmmmmm

[Firebird]

I think a corrugated cardboard template is in order

[Manny]

Aag! nee .... stop it now, my speedy is being prepped for paint as we speak.... with all these mods surfacing my speedy will never ever get done.....
I still want to drive my speedster while I still got hair on my head.

This sill mod I am definitely going to give a miss, enough is now enough...

[flatfourfan]

^^^^deff..

So manny?...........done the side sills?

*grinz*

[flatfourfan]

lolz.....................I KNEW that you were going to say something.............

[Manny]

Honestly it is very tempting, but enough is enough.
I just want to finish this speedy and enjoy driving it.
I will most definitely consider this mod in the future.
I am not familiar with fiberglass & Gel coat but I believe over time small cracks appear.... and body work and spray-painting will be required.........when that time comes, that's when I will do the sill mod.

[Firebird]

good call

[flatfourfan]

amen..........................I drive mine all the time and that moral boost of having a car that runs drives and that's legal-ish on the road is a massive moral booster.

[Firebird]

so. ... When's the next Palooza?

[flatfourfan]

Will try one for when Manny is around...............Jan maybe?

I'm trying to get bossie and white356 over on sat as I have Werhner and a friend of his coming over in the afternoon. No reply yet.