Mister Towed's SWB 250GT SEFAC build.

[zagmad]

Beetle or mk3 mr2. All its outer panels come off like the z3. Not sure how the soft top lines would fit in with the Porsche shape. May need to make it wider for the mk3. But if had it molded it could made on both ;-)

[Psycho pops]

Will you manage to avoid SVA? Look forward to hearing more about his one.

[Mister Towed]

Thanks for the interest everyone.

To answer a few questions:

No build thread just yet, might open one in the relevant section when I get started on the car.

Nice ideas about the donor - hadn't heard of the Pie Valley MGF based chassis, I'll have to google that later - but nobody's hit the nail on the head yet and I'm keeping that one close to my chest I'm afraid.

Just bear in mind that it is going to be a proper outlaw capable of making string-back gloved Porsche purists choke on their Pimms (apologies in advance to any Porsche purists reading this who've just spat Pimms on their favourite string-backs because they're so outraged at my criticism of their choice of hand wear, ok, I'm a d*ck).

The body has been around the block a few times although never with a chassis under it. The doors have been 'glassed shut, the front hood doesn't fit properly and the scallops for your fingers to go in under where the door handles fit have been cut out and filled flat. It's at least twenty years old, has had an unknown number of owners, none of whom ever even really started building it and the (very nice) chap I bought if from thinks it might be a Pilgrim body, but it could have been churned out by any one of the twenty or so manufacturers of Speedster bodies who've come and gone (mostly) over the last thirty odd years.

The body was on ebay for less than twenty four hours on a 'buy it now with best offer' basis. I saw it about ten minutes after it was listed, finished my very large glass of wine, looked over my shoulder to make sure my wife was still on her night shift at the hospital and hadn't sneaked home while I wasn't watching and submitted an offer of 60% of the asking price. Counter offer of 75% of 'buy it now' received the next evening and accepted without hesitation.

Even the wife's (semi) happy. She's not really into cars so long as she gets a new one every two years (and she does really like my Spyder), but a couple of weeks ago we put 'Top Gun' on the TV and when Kelly McGillis locked up the brakes in a black Speedster when she's pissed at Tom Cruise, she told me she wanted one of those and I said, well, funnily enough so do I!

Just a few minor issues with the spontaneous ebay purchase of a Speedster body, sight unseen... I live in Norfolk. The body was in St Austell. I don't trust Shiply drivers. I only have a piddly little box trailer. I only have a piddly little Nissan Micra to tow the piddly little box trailer with. And it was a 700 mile round trip. And it pissed down the whole way.

So, this trailer -



And this body -



And 350 miles across country in a torrential downpour. What could possibly go wrong???





Well, nothing actually.

Okay, so I daren't go above 45mph and it killed the fuel consumption, dropping it to about 30mpg from its usual 45 (when suitably thrashed), but it was eight and a half hours of relative calm in the slow lane listening to the smooth vibe of BBC Radio 2.

To be fair, I've had better ideas...

[Mister Towed]

Originally Posted by Psycho pops

Will you manage to avoid SVA? Look forward to hearing more about his one.

Sorry 'pops, you posted while I was typing. No IVA/SVA for me, and will be tax exempt.

[swifty]

P1040554_zpsdd2fsp3s.jpg


LOL............MrT did you say you are a traffic cop....nice one.

[Mitchelkitman]

You won't be going the Pie Valley buggies route then, as it would need IVA with the new chassis. I don't know what would come up with the google search, but (if you read Complete Kit Car you may have seen it briefly) the chassis is designed so the length can be easily altered (at chassis manufacturing stage) to fit any of the wheelbases used by buggies, thus any buggy body can be fitted (well, length-wise anyway, there may be details different, but you get the drift)

[Mister Towed]

Originally Posted by swifty

Attachment 3717


LOL............MrT did you say you are a traffic cop....nice one.

Nothing to see here. Move along now, move along...

[jones]

That looks like a great project and now you have the body to match your dash. Good luck!

[Mister Towed]

Originally Posted by Mitchelkitman

You won't be going the Pie Valley buggies route then, as it would need IVA with the new chassis. I don't know what would come up with the google search, but (if you read Complete Kit Car you may have seen it briefly) the chassis is designed so the length can be easily altered (at chassis manufacturing stage) to fit any of the wheelbases used by buggies, thus any buggy body can be fitted (well, length-wise anyway, there may be details different, but you get the drift)

Didn't get any more info from Google but now that you mention it I think I saw it at a show a year or so back, maybe Stoneleigh last year. Great idea and that's going to be one helluva buggy to drive, but I'm not keen on IVA, so won't be going down that route.

[Mister Towed]

Originally Posted by jones

That looks like a great project and now you have the body to match your dash. Good luck!

Thanks Jones, yes I do like the early Porsche three dial dash.

[Triumph Special]

Hmmm, Spitfire-based, I wonder?! Excellent purchase, hilarious trailer shenanigans!

[Roadster]

Shame about the 250 Mr T
But I love the 356, I almost built a Dax Californian before I built the buggy.

I don't know if you've seen this
https://youtu.be/k0F8K6S447A

[Mister Towed]

Originally Posted by Triumph Special

Hmmm, Spitfire-based, I wonder?! Excellent purchase, hilarious trailer shenanigans!

Hmm, Spitfire based. Interesting idea. I suppose there could be space at the back of the chassis for an MGF subframe and motor... Do I want the constant worry of overheating and HGF though?

[Mister Towed]

Originally Posted by Roadster

Shame about the 250 Mr T
But I love the 356, I almost built a Dax Californian before I built the buggy.

I don't know if you've seen this
https://youtu.be/k0F8K6S447A

Love that clip, and wish I had that workshop and the skills to use it.

But at least I know I can fabricate stuff in fibreglass in my shed instead.

Oh, and as for the trailer, everything was perfectly legal - it's a quarter ton trailer and the shell weighs about 150kg's. It was properly secured with straps, ropes and a wooden crucifix screwed into the body of the trailer so it couldn't move a mm. The centre of balance was directly over the trailer wheels so the tow hitch wasn't pushing down or pulling up on the tow ball and it was displaying all the correct lights and reg number at the back.

I did expect to get pulled by the Motorway patrol at some stage, but trundled past a fully marked up BMW 5 series cop car that was sat on the hard shoulder on the M5 and the white hats didn't bat an eyelid. The trailer towed without a hitch (pun intended) and was certainly more stable than most of the caravans that were fishtailing past me in a desperate attempt to get in front of me so they could slow down on the uphill stretches and hold me up in my hi-po articulated rig.

I did get a few funny looks from truckers when I pulled into their truck park at the services though...

[Barber]

Skoda Rapide? or MGF?

[lancelot link]

Lots of guessing but Toweds not giving it away just yet by the sounds of it ...It all sounds very interesting , looking forward to seeing it develop ...

[froggyman]

Nice project, hope the build thread will be as comprehensive as the Sammio one. Good luck.

[Jaguartvr]

Seats are very tempting but just too far away to collect.

[oxford1360]

Here you go, Mr T -

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Classic-VW...IAAOSwvg9XUJMq

You'll have it finished by Sunday.

[redratbike]

Love 356's ... Yes outlaw is the way

Subaru turbo?