Remember when Speedsters were worthless?

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Adam Wright
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Remember when Speedsters were worthless?

#1 Post by Adam Wright »

I hope everyone enjoys my new article on PCA.

https://www.pca.org/news/2018-04-13/bar ... -worthless
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worthlessPCA.jpeg
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Brian Westmoreland
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Re: Remember when Speedsters were worthless?

#2 Post by Brian Westmoreland »

I know a guy who cut two Speedsters up, just to use the parts to fix two A coupes.....

Justin Rio
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Re: Remember when Speedsters were worthless?

#3 Post by Justin Rio »

Nice write up Adam. Have a closer look at that interior shot. Looks like an 8K tach with the coil switches on both sides of it. Perhaps this was an original 4-cam Speedster with a D-drivetrain? :shock:
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Exactly the opposite now Brian as  Coupes  get sacrificed for Speedsters
Exactly the opposite now Brian as Coupes get sacrificed for Speedsters

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Greg Scallon
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Re: Remember when Speedsters were worthless?

#4 Post by Greg Scallon »

Interesting idea, Justin. I notice there's no rocker trim on the car either. Hmm?

-Greg
'58 Speedster
'56 VW Deluxe Microbus 

Frank Barrett
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Re: Remember when Speedsters were worthless?

#5 Post by Frank Barrett »

In 1968, I turned down a decent, driving Speedster for $1,200.

Frank

Jim Perrin
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Re: Remember when Speedsters were worthless?

#6 Post by Jim Perrin »

A friend called me one day almost 50 years ago and said he had been called to a local used car dealer's lot to see if he wanted to buy a Speedster. He called with the offer to split the profit if I put up the money to buy the car. They had been negotiating and he had gotten them down to $310. I immediately left work and drove to the lot with the needed $310 for the car. It was a beat-up dark-red Speedster. It was rough, very rusty, and the engine was apart with pieces in the back seat, the front floor, and under the front hood. After the purchase we took the car to my friend's building. There we pulled the transmission, brakes, seats, instruments, etc., etc., stripping the car of any usable parts.

We were left with the rusty hulk which we didn’t want and which had zero value at that time (a nice running Speedster was worth 1500-2000 at the time). We dragged it out the door of my friend's garage into the brick alley. He had a friend who was a policeman and who had gotten on the bad side of his sergeant. As a result he was on night duty as a dispatcher for a month. We called him up one evening, and he dispatched a police wrecker to take away the hulk. The driver arrived on the scene and called back to the dispatcher. He said “Hey, I’m not towing this, I can see from the scrape marks on the alley bricks that it came out of the building 50 feet away!” They argued about it for a little while, until the dispatcher said “If you don’t tow it to the police impound yard right now, I’m going to give you all the calls the rest of the week to all the rough places in the city where none of you drivers want to go!” The last we saw of the Speedster was on the back of the police wrecker disappearing down the alley. Little did we know what would happen to the value of old Speedsters!

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Doug McDonnell
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Re: Remember when Speedsters were worthless?

#7 Post by Doug McDonnell »

And Bruce Baker has a story of buying one much rustier than advertised. Stripped everything of value and took the shell to where they were bull dozing up for an interstate overpass. Dropped it where the bull dozer driver indicated and it was soon buried.
1965 356C 2000 BMW 740i Sport 1967 Honda CL77 There is never enough time to do it right, but always enough time to do it over.

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Mike Wilson
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Re: Remember when Speedsters were worthless?

#8 Post by Mike Wilson »

Ah, the cars that got away from us not knowing how they would appreciate. I left a Speedster on a lot circa 1969. Yellow, tan interior, one small ding on the right front fender, 4 flats and a dead battery. I wanted to test drive it but the salesman said it also might have a shot rod. I explained I needed a running car to get to work and school so I had to pass. Walking away, he was begging me to take it off the lot for $400....oh well....

Mike
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BobDickinson
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Re: Remember when Speedsters were worthless?

#9 Post by BobDickinson »

I knew nothing about sports cars in the early 1960's when a friend gave me a ride in his Alfa Romeo Veloce. I couldn't believe how it cornered. Later another friend gave me a ride in a B coupe so I was hooked on Porsche. In 1960, I found a Speedster at a Pontiac dealership in New Kensington, Pa for $800. It was No 80142, a pre-A speedster complete with 16 inch wheels, white wall tires and a 1500 Normal engine. By the time I was done with it, it had a 1600 engine, a 6:31 ring and pinion and I was tearing up the autocross and hill climbs in Western PA. I drove it every day to work for 12 years. (about 40 miles each way). I would drive it from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia, even in the winter. I would duct tape up the passenger side curtains and use a can of window de-icer to keep the windshield clear on the inside. By the time I got to work I was half sick. I would use my hand with a rag to keep the snow off the windshield on the outside since the wipers were essentially worthless. I sold it in 1972 for $1200 to a college student from Pitt. As you might imagine, it was a rust bucket from the salt by that time.

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George Walling
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Re: Remember when Speedsters were worthless?

#10 Post by George Walling »

I bought my 55 speedster in 1965 for 1200 dollars from a guy in Portland Oregon who was going back east to finish his degree in engineering. I knew nothing about Porsche other than I wanted one. I drove it while stationed in the army and after discharged from the army until some time in 1976 I lost the engine. The car sat in the barn until early 2009 when I pulled it out and got it back on the road, now I'm enjoying it once again. I never knew this little speedster would grow in value it has become a member of the family.
George E Walling

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Adam Wright
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Re: Remember when Speedsters were worthless?

#11 Post by Adam Wright »

George Walling wrote:I bought my 55 speedster in 1965 for 1200 dollars from a guy in Portland Oregon who was going back east to finish his degree in engineering. I knew nothing about Porsche other than I wanted one. I drove it while stationed in the army and after discharged from the army until some time in 1976 I lost the engine. The car sat in the barn until early 2009 when I pulled it out and got it back on the road, now I'm enjoying it once again. I never knew this little speedster would grow in value it has become a member of the family.
George is the rare breed that can tell the story and then say, yeah I still have it, smart man!
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Michael Foster
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Re: Remember when Speedsters were worthless?

#12 Post by Michael Foster »

I bought my first speedster from the parts manager at Chick Iverson's in Newport Beach, Ca for $800.00 in 1969. Drove it home and pulled motor returning same to him in his pickup. I then put the super motor from my wrecked 59D into it and drove it for a few months. This 1957 speedster had been stripped of carpets and the windshield was sitting in the frame without the benefit of rubber. It had been stripped by a previous owner, a lieutenant in the airforce who wanted a stripped down light weight car. Those were the Days!

Michael Foster
MICHAEL FOSTER

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Jim Liberty
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Re: Remember when Speedsters were worthless?

#13 Post by Jim Liberty »

How about Pre - A cars. I can remember when you had to pay a junk yard to pick them up. That is the truth. ...................Jim.
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William Block
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Re: Remember when Speedsters were worthless?

#14 Post by William Block »

It still lives:
'54/'54 540 Reutter Speedster #80142
546/2 P*33980*
519 4742 H5
Red (601)/black/carpet/black
Sonderausführung:
Speedometer in miles
(Veigel tach, VDO speedo, Stork temp)
Built del
Massimiliano Del Monte, ITALY mdelmonte67@libero.it; ex BobDickinson, AZ
Jun 09, driver-under restoration, comment (356TALK)

bill
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Freda’s Boxster WPOCA2983WS621230

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Jeffrey Gamble
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Re: Remember when Speedsters were worthless?

#15 Post by Jeffrey Gamble »

Christmas 1966 my brother drove his 58 Speedster down to Tucson from San Francisco. Let me drive it over the holidays with the top up and i was Speedster hooked. The search was on. Had the choice of a 57 and 58 in the Tucson area for $1000 but Dad found a nice 55 Ivory 80007 in Safford AZ for $800. Drove it home with no problems. But with in six months Second Speedster purchased from a University student 1957 with the A suspension better suited for auto X.
Custodian of Third Speedster 82833 Carrera GS 1973 purchased after the Monterey Parade. Sold in 1981 when values climbed and insuring was a pain.
Remain hooked on the Speedster top up with it's ultra low side windows and pure simple design. Hoffman,Koemeda and Ferry got it right on this one.

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