Thought you'd enjoy this. Martin, my fabrication buddy, says to me "hey, this guy who lives near you has a cool motorcycle in his barn. You want to see it?"
I say "sure".
We head over and get taken out to an old barn... Wait for it...

Turns out the bike is one of three ex-factory Kawasaki 750 triple 2-stroke flat trackers. Ridden by Don Castro. (I posted pics of it in the "motorcycle" thread in the Sandbox. Take a look, it's pretty darn cool!)

Wait for it...

As I walk into the other part of the barn, I see the Speedster.

The owner, who shall remain nameless, is an 80 year old ex-racer with stories you can't believe!

He built and campaigned his own CanAm car, raced any number of other cars, including Porsches. He's from that era where racers were building and maintaining their own cars, inventing stuff as they went along. No computers, just a "let's try this and see if it works better..." approach. Get him talking about anything - suspension, aero, chassis design/stiffening - and he can site chapter and verse from the experience handbook. Super interesting and tons of real world info.

Anyway, back to the Speedster.
He casually mentions that this car used to have a 4-cam engine in it. Not original to the car (obviously) but still... He sold it long ago and even then, it was silly expensive.

He has all sorts of hen's teeth parts for it, NOS stuff, factory race stuff, etc. And he's a meticulous mechanic. Every little part is just so and he explained all the crazy little things he's done so that, for instance, the rubber trim curves here or there, like the original, given the aftermarket stuff doesn't, and on, and on.

What I kinda like is it's part hot rod. It's got late 356 disc brakes and he's running the American Racing mags. Mags as in "magnesium". It can be put back to stock but he's a racer at heart and likes the go-fast goodies. I say more power to him.

I've gotten to know him a bit and he stops in every couple weeks to check out my LS build, offering advice and constructive criticism. It's pretty gratifying when he notices something I've done and compliments me. Also when he says "I wouldn't do that, if I were you...".

So... I hope you enjoy the story and some pics. It's just another reason I love this hobby:

You never know who you'll meet or what they'll have in that old barn...

Look at that paint!!!

Magnesium mags!

others...

Great story. Pretty car.

Unreal.....whats it worth guys?

You know for a guy who lives at the end of the road...

A stock speedster is $375 +|-
This one has a $250k engine
$$$

He sold the 4-cam so it's "just" a non-numbers matching '58 Speedster with some bolt-on mods. Still gotta be worth a bunch...

Nice "field trip"!

I'll bet Mr. Nameless used to race at the old Torrey Pines track down in San Diego & the other 50's-60's tracks so rife with Speedsters back in his day!
... perhaps a few vintage & current articles on his exploits are about too!?

BTW Mark - if that was his racer then, then the provenance would hike the value a bit over the typical Speedster value you quote.


Tom
///////

Yes, I have no idea how much race providence and mods change values. It is certainly more interesting to me than a stock car.

I'll check with him to see if he raced the Speedster. In the meantime, here for your viewing pleasure is the CanAm car he built.
I think that's him in the b&w photo, circa 1966. The car shows up at historics now and often gets mentioned in the press about said event.

awesome story.
awesome car!

I love what people have in their garages.

He should have kept the 4 cam, but that car looks almost ready to go.

Great color.

You got to love old guys like that! Thanks for sharing!

Yes that's the way I read it,theses motors weren't great and lots of folks had no idea how to sort them and went to a stock motor,the 4 cam never really came right till the latter cars , the early ones were very unreliable,pure race engine not a very good street motor.
The later ones (2000GS ?) were better but still very expensive to service.
If this car is complete with the parts that are missing its still worth huge money....remember its not a rustbox.
Whatever still a great read .

Bolt on mods don't effect the price much as it can be undone. Number not matching does, but one in that shape is still going to fetch a huge buck. At his age obviously he doesn't care, to him it's priceless.
Cool story.

like a big fat retirement payout ,move to the Bahamas or what ever suits eh.

Awesome story and piece of history.

Ask Bill what happened to the #5 Benson chassis?

It just hit me how old we are getting.

Nice!

That cannot be the original paint right!?!? It just cannot be!!!!

You guys are to young to remember torry pines, santa Barbara pomona. palm spgs., Ontario, riverside. I used to race F jr back in the 60s My brother used to print the programs for the old Cal Club races. he used the profit to race everything from a mg td to a 550 spyder. he won the index of performance at the 6 hour race at Torry Pines in a 750 morritti owned by Ernie Macfee he drove the whole race by himself. He just past on fathers day. Great times, : great memory s

OT but what is the car behind? Looks like a frog eye sprite or MG midget bulkhead and inner wings but with with a small block V8?

Very cool car and great story, thanks for sharing!

Jeff B

Ha! You win!
I was waiting for someone to ask about that. (And / or the cool Maico leaned against the wall.)
Yep, it's a Bugeye Sprite with a 215 Buick V8, updated IFS. It's available to be purchased, though he's chipping away at it and not actively advertising. I was tempted but clearly don't need any more projects.

I've been getting to know the Speedster's owner, Bill.
He stops by now and then to check out my 914 and we inevitably get to talking about the Speedster. This is a bucket list car for me, and to make it even more bucket-listy, Bill's is a '58 model, just like me!

Anyway, Bill was having issues fitting the top frame as it had become bent over the years.
He gives me the hugest compliments in saying 1) he is impressed with my work and 2) asking if I could help him fix and fit the top.

Fast forward to yesterday.

I've never worked on anything this rare or valuable. And to top things off, it had already been painted!

Let me tell you, even with temps in the 40s, I was sweating from nerves as I worked out a fixture to repair this. Yes, essentially it's "just bent" but still... and Bill is meticulous.

Well, the fixture table came through beautifully and all went as planned! So much so that Bill then says, "You know, this one top bow isn't perfectly straight either..."

He's coming back today... Wish me luck!

Some other progress pics, for your enjoyment. This thing is unreal...

There is nothing prettier then a Speedster coming together.

How cool to be a part of this cars build!

Agreed. Speedsters and E-type roadsters....

Back in the early '80 my Dad had a couple shops in the S. NH area. One of which was a VW/Porsche specialist of a sort.

It was his first auto body shop and the guy he hired to do the body work was a VW/Porsche guy and it just so happened that the mechanic hired was too.

I got to work there in the summers when I came to visit and had been doing so at his other shops since about 1977.

I came in one early summer and the body guy asked if I wanted to learn body work as he had seen me before help the mechanic out and learned a ton about T1 engines and Beetle stuff. Well I said sure. We'd start the next day.

I spent he rest of my time that summer learning how to sand, then learning how to sand some more, then learning how to sand with a DA, then learning how to sand wet, etc. More sandy that a summer at the beach! I learned slightly more than that, like applying filler, rasping filler, fiberglass, basic stuff. I never got to spray a panel (on anything not just the Speedster).

It was his personal Speedster, I cannot remember the year. I think I was 10 or 11. I still hate sanding to this day.

I was into VWs and Porsches for life.

What a great find.

Another pic?

Working on straightening the top bow:

Tweak, (panic a little) tweak, check, (phew, but needs more...) tweak, check (man, this is nerve-wracking...) Check...and I think it's time to see how it fits on the car.

Halleluiah, I didn't screw it up!

Bill is thrilled. He called it a home run.

Sorry, I forgot the "before" pics but it had a serious "s" bend in the middle bow. The frame isn't fully secured to the car (no latches so not attached to the windshield frame). I can still see a small area that isn't quite perfect, but I'm not sure I can get it much better.

Back to working on my 914, where I can bump into it without concern, thank you very much.

@ConeDodger

Hi Rob - the front looks similar to Bill's but I don't think he raced under that number. Plus the rear hips look different. I'll check w/him and see if maybe that was an earlier/later version. God knows he was constantly updating or testing new ideas...

Nice to see he's using the correct 400mm wheel, I see too many restored Speedsters now with the 420mm wheel, and it never looks right.

Damn, I wanna be him when (if!) I grow up!!!

--DD

The Speedster is near the end of a full restoration.
I don't know him or the car but it's obvious.

I don't think that's any sort of secret! Nor was it my intention to imply otherwise. Just look at the side of the car. The reflection doesn't hiccup at all across the door gap. I could be wrong, but I don't think the paint or panel fit was like that from the factory.

It was taken down to bare metal and fully metal finished. No filler.
All the original parts that were in good enough shape to be used were re-chromed or re-plated. He found some NOS parts and only when there was no option was a repop part used.

Bill isn't after a 100 point resto. He wants to drive it. He likes the hot rod parts he installed when he was racing it and he's gonna run them. He does have all the original items like the brakes and wheels but remember, it had a 4-cam in it so there's evidence of panels that were cut to accommodate oil lines, brackets added for the oil cooler, things like that. It's an ex-race car and, IMHO, a remarkable return to street car-ness.

I'm honored to be able and help an 81 year old, ex-racer get his favorite car back on the road.

Great car. Those wheels are so cool.

Yeah, hanging out with the old guys is the best, the stories they tell are mind blowing!

I now see that I responded to the Ed Turbo comment of Aug, 8 2017 !! before all the following pics and comments. DUH !
Love the real American magnesium wheels.

Great story and it’s great that you are helping put it back together and the knowledge he passes along is priceless.

That sure is neat, and great job on the frame.

One has to wonder what other fun stuff will turn up when Martin is involved...

Nice work.

We should all give some love to our cars and get out and drive them this year!

Is anybody else worried about THAT motorcycle THAT close to the car?

certainly a dream come true.

Jeff our mechanic found a speedster in a barn recently!Click to view attachment

It is sad to see such a lovely car just sitting. Perhaps we could take him some fruit and gift cards?

The paint looks great, this is normally what you come across with a Speedster barn find, not much paint.

I stopped by to help Bill with another project and couldn't help but take a couple more pics. The Speedster is running/driving and awaiting its interior.

Period mag wheels, restomoded with a polished lip, all done by the 83 year old owner. New CN36s, too!

This car is beyond cool.

The next milestone will be taking it to the Novato Cars & Coffee. Hopefully in July or August.