How i found a speedster

[thevinster]

I never got it but i found it. It was about 1986 i was 19 and had just moved out of my parents house into my own. I spent my spare time riding my bike through neighborhoods looking for cool stuff. One day i was riding my bike and i saw the shape of a speedster underneath a crap ton of dirty blankets in a guy's front yard. The house is run down and there's a fence blocking the car in meaning it's been there for years. I jump the fence and tiptoe up to it and lift up the sheets a little bit. I check all the areas to see if it's just a kit car. Nope it's the real thing a 1955 unrestored with a white paint job. I leave the front yard and head home knowing I'll never be able to afford that and it's not like he'll be selling it. 6 months later I'm reading the paper and i see an ad "WANTED: VINTAGE PORSCHE MG AND JAGUAR" i give the guy a call and tell him i found a speedster. He asks me all these questions to make sure i know what I'm talking about. He tells me he will drive my way from Sacramento California next week. I give him my address and sure enough he comes to my door. we jump into his SUV with a trailer and head over. He sees the shape under the blankets and says "holy fuck" he immediately gets out of the car and literally leaps over the fence and in one swift motion tears the blankets off the car revealing a beautifully preserved speedster.(except for the interior that was pretty rotted) From the car i hear him shout "HOLY FUCK". It was at this point i thought we were gonna get arrested for breaking and entering. He runs to the front door and knocks on it. The owner comes out (he looks exactly like you'd expect, crazy guy with lots of cool shit who doesn't sell anything) the guy says "i wanna buy your car" the owner looks at the blankets tossed on the floor exposing the car and starts shouting and cursing at him for literally breaking into his yard. The guy quiets him down and says "listen I'm not fucking around i wanna buy your car i have money and i know what these are worth" after five minutes of negotiating he lays $35,000 down on the front porch step. He got the car! The owner slammed the door saying "you get it yourself". So we tied the SUV to the fence tore it off and loaded the speedster up. He gave me $200 as a finders fee, dropped me off at my house and drove away.

[PD41]

Very cool story.

[Craig Richter]

200 bucks? What a cheapster...

[ALLWAGONS]

Don't mean to hijack your thread but in 1998 I saw a '60 bug convertible for sale on the street. I told my local friend to go ask, he procrastinated for two weeks. When I saw him again he said the bug had been sold, but the guy had an early convertible speedster for 5k. By the time he told me and we went to see the car. It had been sold as the owner was moving. I hated my friend ever since.
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[thevinster]

Oooh man that's brutal!

[EverettB]

Wouldn't $35K for a Speedster in 1986 be an insane amount of money?
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[dsrtfox]

That's what I was thinking. I sold one in 76 for 28 hundred and that was top buck. I don't like to think about that now because I get a little suicidal

[notchboy]

Me too. I was thinking 5-10k? I could be wrong. Ive often wondered what life would be like if I got into old 356 stuff back in 1988 instead of Type 3 jargon

I only mention it as there were a couple guys in high school that had them AND I was tenacious back then owning well over 30 Type 3's by 1995. I knew they were around and cheap as no one wanted the 356 stuff really.

Ah what could've been.
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[60ragtop]

wasn't that when the market was hot for the speedsters before the bottom dropped out in the early 90's?
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Rick
Certified Mechanic by the State of Michigan in 1977
ASA certified in 1987
Certified Hunter Wheel Alignment Master Technician 1986

[thevinster]

sorry guys that was a typo it was 1989 not 1986. Yeah he really paid $35,000 for it. I saw it with my own two eyes

[56samba]

Thanks for sharing the story. I think there are a lot of guys out there keeping their stories private because they really feel ashamed

[notchboy]

[badsix]

I got married in 1970 and sold my car to a guy, he was 300.00 short of my asking price. so he said he had an old Porsche he would give me for the 300.00. I said sure, i'm thinking I would pull the motor and sell it for the 300.00 I needed to put with the rest of the money I got for the car to make a down payment on some property I was wanting to buy. anyway we made the down payment with out the extra 300.00 and I still have the 356. its a nice 58 cab with very little rust, just the bottom of one door. I have never driven it yet, it had a broken shifter stick when I got it. its been stored inside all this time. we started the restoration about 2 years ago and hope to drive it his summer.
Jay D.

[notchboy]

[badsix]

These are the only ones I can find right now i'll get some more next week its buried in the back of the shop right now i'm going to get it out next week and try and get going on it I've been down with back surgery for the last 3 months I have a lot of things ready to work on just have to be able the pictures are old as its almost all fitted and in primer now.
Jay D.

[notchboy]

Nice

Always good to have one where you know where its been. Looks clean and straight.
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[Formcar 179]

When I was in High School in 1977 I found a '55 356 Speedster beside the road in Sudbury Massachusetts for sale for 500 bucks. It was pretty tired, had no interior and no engine. Came with a trailer. had a roll bar and racing numbers on it. Bright red with dents in almost every panel.

I was driving a '62 VW convertible at the time that I had paid 100 bucks for. No way I could entice the seller with my VW and my old man refused to loan me the 300 bucks I needed to buy it.

This is yet another reason I hoard cars.
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