Welcome to my 356 Speedster project page
I am building a Porsche 356 Speedster replica. The project started in 1997 and it is still a ‘work in progress’. After many years with little progress, due to new government regulations the car must have a valid license registration in 2017. This succeeded, now working towards the moment I can actually drive it. Still not sure if you will ever finish when building your own car....
Why a replica? The main reason is that I cannot afford a real one. Prices of a real Porsche 356 Speedster vary from € 120.000,- in a restoration state to €900.000,- in a mint condition. That’s almost the price of a large villa in our city. Building a replica will cost you € 20.000 to € 40.000. Second reason: The replica is based on an original VW Beetle. You can buy all spare parts against reasonable prices. The original design was created over fifty years ago. So no difficult fuel injection, ABS, ESP and other fancy stuff but technology even I may understand. The last reason is that I want to build it completely by myself. The welding, sanding, spraypaint, engine building, everything I want to do it by myself, like the old TV-series ‘A car is born’ in the late 1990’s.
The Engine
My Speedster is equipped with a 1641cc engine with dual Weber carburators and W110 Engle camshaft. The engine is completely rebuild from scratch with new parts. It has about 80-90 hp. Top speed still unknown, it is more about cruising than speeding...
The Chassis
My chassis is from a 1973 Volkswagen Beetle 1303 with new shortened pan and changed front axle suspension. Also a new subframe is mounted to support the 356 Speedster body. Suspension, steering and axles are all newly build.
The Body
The body of my Speedster is made of reinforced glassfiber. It is probably the worst fitting from a Porsche 356 Speedster mold ever. Many hours of sanding, shaping will need to follow.
