At $28,000, Is This 1957 Porsche Speedster Replica A Real Deal?
Considering the close relationship between the Porsche Speedster and VW’s Type 1, today’s Nice Price or No Dice Speedster replica having lots of Beetle parts feels less of a blasphemy and more of a blessing. Let’s see if its price is equally blessed.
In Back to the Future, Doc Brown explained to Marty his choice of a Delorean for a time machine saying “The way I see it if you’re gonna build a time machine into a car, why not do it with some style?” For those of us in the real world, taking a look into the past means finding a great example of a car that represents a certain era and then driving it. The 1992 Mitsubishi 3000GT VR-4 we considered last Friday is one such time machine, and at $12,900, fully 66 percent of you felt it worth the investment of time and money, earning the car a Nice Price win.
Identity theft is one of the most prevalent crimes in the country today, affecting an astounding 60 million people according to a 2018 Harris Poll. Looking at today’s 1957 Porsche Speedster replica, it would seem that the automotive world is not immune to such shenanigans either.
In this case, though, that’s a good thing. Even if it wasn’t built in Zuffenhausen and doesn’t carry an official factory Porsche VIN, it also doesn’t suffer from being too valuable to drive without its owner constantly butt-puckering in the fear of a stone chip or errant shopping cart.
According to the brief description in the ad, this Speedster replica is turn-key and is being presented by a friend of the present owner who doesn’t have social media but does need to have to car be gone due to an impending move.
Not mentioned in the ad is what sort of Speedster replica this is. That’s too bad since there are a lot of companies offering everything from basic fiberglass bodies and poorly mimeographed assembly instructions to those such as Intermeccanica which will sell you a roller that only needs an engine to make its Pinocchio dreams come true.
From the pictures in the ad, we can at least glean that the car looks well put together. It features things like a proper tire hold-down in the boot and appropriate trim and badging throughout to hold up the illusion. There’s a hand-written description as well, which notes the car’s mechanicals as being significantly more capable than those of a real-deal Speedster.
Those include what’s described as a “fresh” 1968 cc Volkswagen motor with 40mm Dellorto carbs and high-flow heads. That’s mated to an IRS four-speed transmission — also rebuilt — and the whole thing is reined in by disc brakes at all four corners. That’s a heck of a lot more than what a real Speedster has to offer. Adjustable anti-sway bars on each end probably mean this replica will corner better too.
That all sounds pretty cool and the rest of the car appears to have all the kit you could want as well, offering both a tonneau and a soft top that includes the mail-slot side curtains for all-weather use. The interior is fitted with a trio of VDO gauges and deeply bucketed seats upholstered in what looks to be either black vinyl or leather. The only demerits you might give the cabin would be for the age-inappropriate E-brake handle and shift knob. Both of those are easily rectifiable or ignorable if you’re not too obsessive about such things.
The title is clean and the car comes with current tags. It also looks like it would be a barrel of monkeys as a weekend car, or as a way to bridge both Porsche and Volkswagen legions.
To do so, a buyer will need to scrape together $28,000 as that’s the asking price. It should be noted that there would be little chance of building a Speedster replica for that amount without a ton of knowledgeable sweat equity and a couple of rubs on a genie lamp to make it happen.
With all that in mind, what’s your take on this Porsche replica and that $28,000 price? Does that seem like a deal to experience the Speedster mystique at a fraction of the cost? Or, is the price just too much to have to be constantly explaining to everyone you meet that it’s a replica?
You decide!
Facebook Marketplace out of Wildomar, California, or go here if the ad disappears.
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