Porsche Speedster Frenzy - Driving Buddies

At the Speedsters, Spyders, and German Cars event, we met many German air-cooled car owners. In the case of all the replicars, every machine we saw appeared well-crafted and constructed with great attention to detail. Four 356 Speedster re-creations especially captured KIT CAR's fancy, not necessarily because they were superior to the rest of the bathtub-inclined show field-but rather because their owners all desired to sneak out of the event early to go on a well-planned, 100-mile cruise of Paso Robles, California.

As luck would have it, KC got to ride in the passenger seat of Eddie Janis' Vintage Speedster. Being a Paso Robles resident, Eddie's responsibility was to figure out a fun 100-mile cruise in the lush, rural, wine country landscape of Paso Robles. After seeing Mr. Janis' impeccably detailed Vintage Speedster, we thought the wine country cruise would entail some outstandingly curvy roads and some stunning scenery. We were right.

Going along the jaunt with us was Dale Bates in his jet black Intermeccanica. Readers will remember that KC featured this stunning replica not too long ago. Another Intermeccanica owner made the journey, but this time it was in his Pre-A replica. Vancouver, Washington-resident Scott Sloan drove his "Stonegray" Speedster Pre-A Intermeccanica, which replicates the early "Bee Hive" Porsche Speedster from 1955. A JPS Motorsports '57 Speedster owner, Terry, from Northern California joined our gang, rounding out the rumbling bathtub pilots in our group.

Since we already featured Mr. Bates' beautiful Intermeccanica, we decided to do a triple feature on the three other Speedsters that took part in the cruise. Each of these three Speedster replicas were from different replica companies and had different paint and interior schemes that fit their owners' individual tastes.

With Eddie being the designated cruise director, it was fitting that KC should ride shotgun in his Vintage Speedster. This gave us the opportunity to take many action shots of the Speedsters winding their way around the Paso Robles region. Indeed, Mr. Janis is the owner and proprietor of Peacemaker Specialists (www.peacemakerspecialists.com), a company that restores and preserves the Colt single-action pistols of the late 1800s and early 1900s. Riding shotgun in his car made sense from that standpoint as well. Should you take a moment to visit the Peacemaker Specialists Web site, you'll understand why the man's '57 Vintage Speedster replica looks and runs so well.

Terry's and Scott's Speedsters also showed superior fit, finish, and impeccable attention to detail. Terry has a business that involves faux finishing of home interiors. Seeing his JPS Motorsports Speedster and looking into the deep Infinity Liquid Copper paint enables you to realize why he's so good at his chosen profession. On the other hand, Scott wanted his Intermeccanica Pre-A Speedster to stand out in a crowd of Teutonic sports cars. So, what do you think he did? He consulted the original Porsche paint hues and selected code 5710, which is called Stonegray and was used on Porsches from '57 through '59.

Each of these Porsche-philes have re-created versions of the 356 Speedster that fit their personalities and individual inclinations to perfection. Though these three buddies have different manufacturers' Porsche replicas that each appear distinct, all three of their cars go very fast. What's more, these guys all know how to drive them-and they do. Any one of these three babies could win Best of Show at any number of enthusiast auto events. However, they're actually driven-they're not just trailer queens. So, KC's hat goes off to Eddie, Terry, and Scott and their tasty Teutonic re-creations. We're glad these three buddies drive 'em even more than they shine 'em and show 'em! It's car builders and owners like them that keep the kit car hobby growing strong.