Sweet City Ride

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by Prince Of Petworth August 18, 2015 at 10:02 pm 20 Comments

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Thanks to Petworthian for sending this amazing Porche from Petworth.

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Bob

That’s no Porsche. That’s a kit car meant to look like a 356 wide body. A real one wouldn’t have a badge on the hood. Maybe that’s why Prince referred to it as a “Porche”.
jdre

Anyone know what year this model is? It looks 60s ish, but it’s got those 80s swollen wheel wells/fenders.
justinbc

waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaant
varnumGuy

Great car! He lives right around the corner from me, zipped past (well as fast as you can zip in a car that’s that low to the ground over a hole in the street) yesterday and that thing has a great growl, or whatever you call the cool sound a car like that makes.
spookiness

This has to be a kit car. The choice of wheels alone is very suspicious.
- jdre
  
  That was my thought. It looks like a blend of decades’ styles, whatever it is.
- GBinCH
  
  Maybe so…I really like the car except for the wheels!
- Anon
  
  And you’d have to be absolutely, positively insane to park the real thing on the street. And not just in DC, but practically anywhere.
  - sproc
    
    It’s pretty amazing what you see regularly parked on the street in this city. Don’t get me wrong, I love cars and hold no grudges against anyone who can afford and enjoy an expensive one. I just don’t understand why you’d own a new car costing well north of $50k if you had to park it curbside every night (several examples of this in my neighborhood).
- bobo
  
  Most definitely a kit car. No 356s had fender flares like that or the ability to mount wheels that large. Plus with how valuable a real 356 is, you wouldn’t be parking that on the street.
whovous

My best guess is that it is some sort of a Porsche Speedster kit car, most likely on a VW frame.

http://www.volksrods.com/forum/showthread.php?t=29837
- NorthbyNE
  
  Definitely. There are several companies making the wide body Speedster clones, but this is probably a JPS Motorsports “SC” model. Costs just over $32k.
  - Ekington Chick
    
    Agreed, the JPS kit is the most likely given the california flairs, although there are a couple of manufacturers who offer similar styles (e.g. Speciality AutoSports and Snakepit). Ultimately, its a VW bug with a nice body shell and a throaty exhaust to give it the right sound. Given how light the fiberglass shell is and how low to the ground it rides, the small 1600 vw engine (some companies use Subaru engines) can make the car seem far faster than one would think. As you mention, prices for these finished replicas run in the high $20ks to low $30ks.
    - andy2
      
      You can also get some of them with a Porsche 2L – the more important details are the transmission and the suspension. I loved my bug but the suspension and handling on that thing was not always fun.
jonah

Nice car. Poor driver and neighbor. Saw it over the weekend and it was attempting to pass cars on Upshur in the oncoming lane.
- dat
  
  Not. Cool. On that note, what is with people roaring down rock creek church road and crossing the double-yellow to pass???
textdoc

Nice car… but that is a somewhat questionable parking job.
andy2

Definitely a replica and I’m guessing the poor parking job is because the car is so low that is the only way to open the doors without scrapping the hell out of them.
I like it – but would prefer a more stock replica over the wide body speedster – more along the lines of a 356 Super 90 or 356D cabriolet.
Anon, A Mouse

I know this car, it was for sale in MD last year for $28K. I happened to see it while I was biking on Pennsylvania Ave about 2 months ago going between a few stop lights. The engine/exhaust sounds amazing – especially for how rediculously big the tailpipe is :)

Here’s the text from the ad. http://www.getusedcar.net/detail/us/oBonBAYprTYUprpArAn/Porsche-356-Speedster-Wide-Body

1957 356 speedster. This car has a 1835cc engine dual Dellorto carburetors and just rebuilt. It has five lug disk brakes all the way around. Its built on a 1970 VW suspension (IRS) and VW engine. Also has a 4qt deep oil sump, heavy duty sway bars front and rear and a roll bar.
- spookiness
  
  To paraphrase a regular feature on an automotive blog, total crackpipe.

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