Captain_Slow

Got up at 4:15 am to get over to Katie's C&C early enough to get a spot in the main prime parking area in front of Katie's cafe. Somehow I failed to take a picture of my car next to a very nice early seventies 911. But I did join the crowd, phone out, around the Ferrari F-40 that rolled in late.

Later I had a great conversation with a Corvette ZR-1 (red car in first photo) owner who was fond of 928s. He's an engineer at MAN...designs engines for ships, with cylinders big enough to fit a car inside. He demonstrated his knowledge of the 928 engine when he said "The thing I love about these engines is the bore spacing. It has so much potential. Too bad Porsche didn't put it in more products." I informed him that Greg Brown takes advantage of this potential with this 6.0 stroker builds. He said "It should be possible to get a good 600 hp out of it if bored and stroked...there's lots of room on the bottom end". First time I ever heard such depth of knowledge from someone who has never owned one.

Some cool cars attending today...(ahh..there's my car next to the pretty blue 911)

The Beck 550 Spyder replica is for sale...I have wanted one for awhile...until I see how low and small it is and recall what happened to James Dean.

Jerry Feather

The 550 looks really nice. Any idea what he is asking for it? Did you write down his contact information?

Captain_Slow

EDIT: Found the photo...Price was about what I found last week (coincidence) searching the classic car ads. Beck "kits" aren't really kits anymore http://www.beckspeedster.com/home.html They only make complete "rollers" now, just add engine. They are perhaps the best and probably built better than the original. But I couldn't determine the age of this one. There are some options missing that would make it more "correct" but are not critical and can easily be added on...all cosmetic and 30 minute tasks. The engine is a high performance VW 1900+cc engine. Very similar setup and output as the actual Porsche 550 engine. Sounded great. I prefer silver as it was the factory color, but this one looks great. The fiberglass body had no flaws that I could find.

tmpusfugit

I owned a 550 replica for years. They are huge fun but they can be more than a bit expensive...like any car we like? Special Editions in Breman Indiana are the makers of Becks and have been for 40 years. They are great folks to do business with, are completely reputable in my opinion, and produce a great car. There are also folks who offer the Spyders in aluminum bodies, expect to spend at least $100k for one of those. Thanks to a high-performance engine I had more than $60k in mine and like many other cars sold it for a lot less than I had in it. But I logged over 50,000 km's in it and had great fun. I had 3 engines, starting with about 60 hp, then 125 hp, then 225 hp. Of course, everything had to be upgraded with the larger engines, brakes, cooling, oiling systems, exhaust, etc. But a 1200 pound car with 225 hp will put a grin on your face for certain. And they are very small, as others have pointed out. But 0-60 mph in under 4 seconds in an old looking car and quarter miles done in under 12 seconds and over 125 mph....? Not blindingly fast by standards today but still a lot of fun...and oh, by the way, a top end that vastly exceeds the aerodynamics of the body...let's see, flat on the bottom, curved on the top, 140 mph, rotate?

Jerry Feather

Thanks Jon for the response and picture. I remember when the Beck 550 kit was $5500. Wish I had bought one of those then. I have some 356C stuff and always thought it would be cool to build one of these with a Porsche pushrod engine of about 2 liters and put some 356C disc brakes on it with the later wheels.

The red one in the pictures really needs the speedster windshield.

Captain_Slow

Funny you mention the windshield. The owner was wearing vintage goggles. Retro in the most fun way possible.

tmpusfugit

The plexiglass window shown on the red car is an improvement over the windshield most of them were raced using....even with the full Speedster windshield it can be pretty unpleasant in the cockpit at speed. Add in a heavy rainstorm and a couple inches of water will accumulate in very short order. Don't ask how I know this. Other drivers are amused.....when they were raced they usually used the tiny deflector seen in this photo