My Speedster ~ The Black Sheila

[Manny]

Hi,
Before you ask why call it "The Black Sheila" believe you me get the wife to name the car and she will feel part of the project and give her blessing on a bigger spending budget .
As mentioned before I had a dream of building a speedster for more than twenty years, last year April 2013 I decided that the time has come to kick start the long awaited dream.
I looked around for many months and finally got an ideal VW Beetle donor car, then contacted Universal products to see if they could build the car after paying the deposit the project finally started....it has not been easy as I work in Angola and photos and requests had to be done via e-mail, last year has been nothing but speedster, a really exciting project.
From the start I wanted my speedster to be as close as to the original cosmetically, but don't be fooled easier said than done it will always be a replica.
So lets start with the photos that I do have and I will see if I can create a time line of the build.
The Donor Car
Refer to Photos

[Manny]

The Speedster fiberglass kit from Universal Products

[acpaterson]

[Manny]

Now that all the major items have been sourced the actual build commenced, I made it very clear to Universal Products what needs to be done to the speedster as it took many years of research of what was needed to build my speedster, the very first the raised portion of the indicators the be shaved flat, the hole for the deck lid locking device not to be drilled. The mock up then commenced hoping all goes well.

[Manny]

From the beginning my choice of colour was going to be the classic black hence " The Black Sheila" with Red interior with Oatmeal carpet.
I received photos from Universal Product prior to paint everything seemed well.

[Manny]

The speedster arrived from the paint shop, she was a beauty my vision started to materialize.
While universal products was busy preparing the speedster I was sourcing all the parts :

Midland Wheels: 356 Replica Wheels 15" x 4.5
Errols Tyres: Sprint Classic Vredestein Tyres 155 SR 15
Stodart: All the emblems
Sierra Madre: Interior trim
Sierra Madre; exterior trim
Sierra Madre: rubbers
CIP1: Various Beetle Parts (Local vendors had no Stock or the parts was not listed)
E-bay: Various Parts
The Samba: Original Steel Bumper ( hate the fiberglass bumpers)
Vintage speedster: Bumper Guards
Parts Obsolete: Various original 356 Porsche parts:
Mr Kadron: Kadron Solex 40 dual carbs

[Manny]

Once again I did request Universal Products to mount all the specific parts as per my spec sheets and CAD drawings.
The speedster started to take shape, unfortunately me being in Angola it was difficult to verify all the trim fittings and etc.

[Manny]

My son in law took delivery of the speedster in November 2013 actual fact Universal Products delivered the speedster to my home.
I arrived a week later eager to inspect the speedster I noticed a few errors that was not to my liking, me being a perfectionist decided to change these error's to my detriment spent the whole November and part of December with more and more changes creating a vast amount of work and repainting the whole car. I am truly blessed to have a great son-in-law who helped me immensely with this project although far from finish we are getting their slowly. The picture below is and idea where we are with the project.

[Manny]

Some more photos of my speedster project

[Manny]

Some more photos, although I am leaving for Angola on Sunday the build has to go in pause mode, hopefully i will be back in March 2014 I will keep posting developments.

[Firebird]

Awesome. It is great to have you on here. Nice to see more pics of the car cause I didn't take nearly enough yesterday.

[beetlefanatic]

Absolutely gorgeous!

[Tony Z]

Stunning car!
Welcome to the forum, good to have yet another expat onboard!

[riaanj]

Cool bananas man, that is one great looking car you have there, can't wait for the updates..

[Manny]

Thanks for the kind and welcoming words.

Attached is an original speedster interior which I set as a benchmark for my current build.

The last three weeks i was busy with the following :

Attached the front and rear steel bumpers, hated the fiberglass bumpers.
Replaced the old brake lines with completely new lines, removed the very old single master cylinder and replaced with a dual master cylinder.
Currently busy rewiring the speedster with a new harness I did not like the stock standard beetle harness it was a total mess from previous owners tampering and cutting and joining, very difficult to trace which is which wire.
Engine mock up complete awaiting new tins and fan shroud to complete engine cosmetics ( Porsche engine look alike)
Replaced mechanical fuel pump with electric fuel pump.

To do list:
Fit replica 356 bucket seats and upholster.
Finalize the upholstery and carpets
Remove the beetle stock emergency brake from the tunnel, fit a genuine under dash emergency brake and run combi e-brake cables, all brackets, tubing and mechanical parts already fabricated.
Fit fuel petcock valve, currently manufacturing connector reservoir to stock tank.
Fit genuine engine lid latch, mounting brackets complete
Fit new tins to engine (awaiting delivery)

Wish list:
Modify headlight position......
Rear seat correction......Still Contemplating if i want to this