Convertible Week continues with an ivory bathtub!

SPEEDSTER

Ah the Gold Coast of Long Island! The playground for millionaires and billionaires with 25,000 square foot mansions on sprawling estates along the beaches of the North Shore. It shouldn't be surprising to see a classic exotic parked in front of a sweet little antiques shop. However this was parked in the corner of a Key Foods grocery store in Mattituck. Let's investigate.

At first glance this is a 1957 Porsche 356A Speedster in Elfenbein (Ivory in German). This is without a doubt one of the worlds most sought-after sports cars with nice examples routinely trading for a quarter million dollars or more. Everything here looks correct from the turn signal/horn vent grills to the fender mounted mirrors and the split windshield. Even the body-colored bumpers are correct.

These cars are absolutely cooler than cool. Using essentially the same layout as the Volkswagen Beetle (and designed by the same Dr. Ferdinand Porsche) they are quirky and fun. The rear-mounted air-cooled engine puts out a warbling chirp not unlike the Beetle, and creature comforts such as heat are similarly feeble. Still, who buys a Speedster for the heating capabilities?

The first of the 356 models was introduced in 1948 in coupe form, and is widely regarded as the first Porsche automobile (there was a similar version built in the late '30s but it never went into production). Those early 356 models are known as "Pre-A" and were built from '48 through '55. The engine was a diminutive 1,100cc 4 cylinder culled from VW parts.
1955 heralded the 356A which came with numerous small improvements. Engines went up in size to 1.3, 1.5, and 1.6 Liters with many performance enhancements. They are so scarce and valuable that kits have been available to recreate them for decades.

Ultimately it came down to this luggage rack in confirming the identity of this little bathtub.
One of the companies to offer Speedster kits is the terribly named Special Edition company (YAWN). The Special Edition brand BECK Speedster boasts this very rack as an option for their kits. They describe it as a "loose recreation of the very early, smaller luggage racks". Since this is identical to their optional rack and they admit it is a loose recreation it must be BECK. *No I don't know why it is all capitalized but if you'd like to contact the president of Special Editions and ask him about his naming practices please do so.

So here we have it; a replica of one of the coolest cars on the planet. Luckily the 356 A Speedster lends itself to being recreated as a kit car better than really any other. Many kits involve placing a goofy looking approximation of a classic on a VW Beetle chassis and rolling with it (for serious groans look up VW kit cars and be prepared for horrific Lamborghinis and the like). However the original 356 was built on a Beetle chassis so if anything you could improve performance by adding the larger 1600 VW engine. No matter how real or fake I'm certain this is a hilariously fun car to drive in summer.
Glückliche Autofahren oh gefälschte Porsche-Fahrer!

Hilariously out of place Baja

BAJA!

I truly have no recollection of where this car was located. It is definitely in NYC somewhere, most likely deep in Brooklyn where free standing homes with big lawns exist (Midwood? Marine Park?). Regardless somewhere amidst this beatific Americana setting was this misplaced lump:

In California? Sure. Way out on Long Island? Possibly. But a Baja Beetle on the city streets? Unprecedented!

For those of you who don't know this is a Volkswagen Beetle with an aftermarket dune buggy conversion kit called the Baja. These were super popular for decades but like the classic custom vans of the '70s they are fading fast.

With the modern cars around it this thing looks positively prehistoric! The look is enhanced by the fact that it seems to have no color at all. With the exception of the front wheels and turn signals it looks like a black and white photograph.
Pinpointing the year of a Beetle can be tough regardless, and this one has had half of its body replaced with components from the kit. My best guess is that this started life as a 1971 or so Super Beetle due to the slightly longer hood, crescent shaped vent behind the rear quarter windows, and front turn signal size.

The Baja conversion consisted of replacement hood, fenders, engine cover, and that front valance below the hood. While there were many kits to choose from there were really only 2 distinct styles; Wide Eye (pictured here with the headlights on the fenders), or Narrow Eye (where both headlights would be bunched together on the front between the fenders).

This car looks like you just woke it up.
Beetles were remarkably capable off-roaders from the factory due to the high ground clearance, flat floor, and engine located over the drive wheels. The Baja kit was named after the Mexican Baja 1,000 race which pitted all sorts of trucks, Jeeps, and motorcycles on a brutally rugged rock and dirt course to the Southern tip of the Peninsula. Beetles have always competed in it, with success. Perhaps the most astonishing thing about the Baja race is known as Class 11. To enter the Baja in Class 11 you must race a stock VW Type 1 Beetle with no modifications except for adding a roll bar and adding ground clearance. No Super Beetles are allowed. You must use the stock drum brakes! The engine and transmission have to be the equivalent of a standard 1968 Beetle too. No wonder they named these kits after the race.

At some point a visor was added over the windshield of this beast. On display here is one of the greatest advances in VW Beetle history; the exterior fuel filler door! From the early split windows of the '40s all the way through the late '60s you had to pop the hood to fill 'er up. It's the small things folks.
Those wheels are vintage Wagon Wheels from the '70s.

Lowe's emblem on the left fender? Really dude?
The taillights have been replaced with pointy rocket lenses from a '59 Cadillac which, if original, means this conversion happened a long time ago. The engine looks to be a standard air cooled Beetle unit, with what looks to be modified Cherry Bomb mufflers welded to a stock exhaust. The bumper is appropriately homemade looking, as is the trailer hitch. I suppose towing a very small boat isn't out of the question even for a Beetle.

Well there you have it; a funky looking hybrid kit car ready for the dunes. The best thing about a Beetle is that absolutely every single component is still available for it and probably will be forever. If you find something like this in a barn where it's been sitting for 30 years you can get it running in a day or 2. Complete engines are not only available, but take about an hour to install. Seeing this one made me realize how long it had been since I last encountered one and I have to say it's a pretty cool summer ride.

Show Car Sunday returns with a staggering find from L.A. Rob!

MIAMI VICE OR CORVETTE SUMMER?

I mean really. Look at the picture below and think about the fact that L.A. Rob just rolls down the street one day and passes this scene. This picture alone could be the Chamber of Commerce brochure for Southern California! Let's get to it;
The lighter color car is a 1963 Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray with the one-year-only split rear window. To me this is hands-down the most desirable 'vette and really one of the most badass sports cars ever to come from the States. The "lake pipes" side exhaust and wheels are aftermarket additions but the rest, including those big gills behind the front wheels, is factory. But enough of that, there seems to be one of the rarest Ferraris of all time parked directly behind it!

What this appears to be is a 1971 Ferrari (Daytona) 365 GTS/4 Spyder. The name Daytona was actually given to the car by the automotive press after Ferrari won 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place in the 1967 24 hours of Daytona race. This car is exceedingly rare (only 122 convertibles ever produced) and valuable (trading well into the millions when they do come around). Why is it parked on the street?!?

Ferrari built the Daytona from '68-'73. Should you encounter one of these (which you WON'T) you can identify the 1971 and earlier cars by the plastic covered headlights. The '72 and '73 model years had pop-up hidden headlights instead of the covers. The Spyder (convertible) was only produced from '71-'73, so combined with the covered headlights this can only be a '71. 

Every bit of this ride is sexy and athletic. This car is notable for being the last front-engine Ferrari produced before they sold 50% of the company to Fiat in 1969. While they continued an unprecedented string of supercar successes after the merger, the models designed previously were truly hand built machines by a handful of craftsman. This is the last Ferrari built in that tradition, with body panels being hammered out on wooden frames one at a time.

It is hard to not be a bit distracted by that stunning Corvette! The race car style gas cap under the split window, 6 round taillights, and split bumpers are all class.
The 2 large vents on the Daytona hood provide air for the 4.3 Liter V12 and its 6 Weber carburetors. 

The round taillights continue as a design hallmark of Ferrari to this day. Rob says he encountered the owner who was all too happy to show off his ride, even firing it up while he was there! The owner said that this was his daily driver which makes him a king in my book. The fact that the guy sounds nice and generous with someone gawking at his wheels makes me wince a bit when I write the following inevitable truth: this is not a genuine Ferrari, but a high-dollar almost perfect replica based on a '72 Corvette chassis.

Please don't confuse this with any old kit car! In its own right this is a spectacular ride; well engineered (and possibly as powerful as an original Ferrari), beautifully appointed and assembled, and 99% correct in its approximation of the real 365 GTS/4. With only 69 Spiders imported new to the States there was always more demand than supply. Along came a company in San Diego named McBurnie who used to produce these kits in the '80s. For $8,000 you could buy all pieces necessary to transform your 'vette. If you'd rather buy the finished product ready to drive away they would sell you one for $40,000. In 1989 Ferrari won a lawsuit against the company which halted production.
Keep in mind that $40,000 in 1989 amounts to a little over $80,000 in todays money. That was enough to buy a very serious set of wheels back then, so this is no joke.

The only visible clue I can find that this isn't an original is the lack of vent windows on the front door. The McBurnie rides even came with correct Ferrari valve covers to dress up the engine (though nobody will miss the fact that it's an 8 cylinder as opposed to 12). Regardless I would absolutely LOVE to roll around town in this beast! Here she is taking off with its VICE TOO license plates. Rob said it sounded great, and I have no doubt.
*Last but not least a factoid from Rob; a replica such as this was carrying Crockett and Tubbs around in Miami Vice until Ferrari made their fury known. The producers of the series wrote the faux-Daytona out of the script by launching an RPG at it, blowing it to smithereens. Ferrari was please enough by this act to donate the Testarossa they used for the rest of the shows run.