Motoring
Willing and skittish
Alan Judd
Last month I summarised uxorial dis- cussion concerning the kind of open- topped car my wife might favour, if any. This month one arrived.
Not ours, alas, and only for a few hours, but it was fun while it lasted. The Chesil Speedster is a contemporary replica of the late 1950s Porsche 356 Speedster. Built, not surprisingly, at Chesil Beach in Dorset, it is derived from the VW Beetle, as was its progenitor. The Beetle chassis is jig-short- ened, reconditioned and rust-proofed; the running gear is replaced and the air-cooled rear engines rebuilt or replaced in 1600cc, 1800cc or two litre variants; the humpy Beetle body is exchanged for the altogether more svelte and curvaceous Porsche config- uration. It looks pretty good with the hood up and, like most convertibles, even better with it down. The lines are distinctive and pleasurable. It is a car you want to stroke.
The example we had was five years old and had travelled just over 23,000 miles, given which it had held together well. The glass-reinforced plastic body is strong, with no ripples or waves, as sometimes occurred earlier in that technology, and the only blemish on the paintwork was a few crows' feet around one wing mirror. The colour was a fairly contemporary green which suit- ed the car, though it might have been bet- ter still to have something more appropriate to Porsches of the period, such as silver. Seats and trim were leather and the metal dash was simple and attractive, with just five dials and a wooden wheel. The metal pedals were sensibly sized and placed, although the degree to which the brake was offset towards the centre wouldn't have suited my back for very long. The manual hood was quick and easy to operate, even allowing for getting out to fold the rear windscreen when lowering. The close-spaced, four-speed gearbox was gratifyingly quick and precise.
Top speed from the neat 90bhp 1800cc engine is around 100, 0-60mph takes about nine seconds and fuel consumption aver- ages 30-35mpg. These aren't, in modern terms, figures to drain the blood from your face, but don't worry: when you're this close to the road it feels plenty fast enough and, hood up or down, you get all the roar- ing and buffeting you want. Plenty of torque and the long-legged fourth makes for easy driving; you can accelerate from 20 in top. A narrow windscreen means that with the hood up it's like viewing the world through a periscope, but you get used to it and, anyway, I've always fancied a subma- rine. This car's true nautical equivalent, however, would be a very lively dinghy with the ballast in the stern and a light bow. If it were a horse you'd describe it as willing and skittish. The ride is lively, but with sen- sitive handling it seems to behave well enough — on radials and in the dry, any- way. The brakes (front discs, rear drums) felt adequate.
An integral sub-chassis and strong body make for reasonable safety, given that it's a small low car, and you can add a modern VW steering wheel with airbag if you want. If you choose it to be built from an older VW (as this was) you could be exempt road tax; the alternative is a contemporary donor from Mexico or Brazil. Overall it seems to be well and thoughtfully put together, a generation or two ahead of the sort of kit car with which many replicas are associated, although for anyone not living on the hard shoulder of a motorway I'd suggest a sump guard.
Supplied by TRM of Woking, Surrey (tel and fax 01483 825484), a Speedster will set you back £15,950 or more, depending on specification. Residual values are said to hold up well. What you're buying is good looks, reliability, easy access to spares, no rust and lots of attention wherever you go. For about a third of that, however, you could get a very good restored MOB, Stag or Lotus, while for about the same money you might, according to one price guide, get an original 356 Porsche dhc in good condition (another price guide has it that you would have to pay £10,000 more).
Personally, sports cars have never had my love. They're cramped, uncomfortable and noisy and they encourage me to drive faster than I should. I do appreciate the looks of some of them, though. As for my wife, she thought this one appealing 'It's up to you, of course, Smithson. You can accept the company's generous retirement package and live out your remaining years on a comfortable pension, or you can do the honourable thing.' enough to take it for a spin. The spousal verdict: 'Good, basic, bottom-bumping fun.' I wonder where she went.
PS: I wrote last month that dealers' slang for a grand is a 'Jeffrey', in honour of Lord Archer of Shepherds Market. Nils Wetterlind writes from Bangkok to say that the term should be 'Archer' and the sum two grand, since that was the amount donated for ser- vices not rendered. I got my information from a dealer but Nils, I suspect, has history on his side — which shows once again that, in any- thing to do with cars, it pays to take nothing on trust and to shop around.
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