This will send cold shivers down your spine...

I personally find the Porsche 917 being one of the world's most beautiful cars -all categories, all years- ever built.
So, having a bit of time to kill before leaving the office, I did a search on "917 AND images".
And sees the following....



The entire history can be found here

This has to be the ultimate insult to a genuine 917...

Anyone with nice 917 links? Post them here!



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1972 911S Targa
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My project!

[This message has been edited by Bo (edited 04-07-2001).]

Shivers down my spine? I don't think so; not for a 917 LAZER KIT car. IF, IF I were inclined to purchase a kit car, it would be the old Speedster but even many of those looked pretty tacky.
-
On this site, or on the PCA Potomac BBS about 6 or 8 months ago, Obin (I think it was Obin) posted side by side photos of a REAL 917 and this 917 Kit car. The differences were significant.
-
Chuck

Definitely a fake...

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William Armentrout
1973 911T
2.7 carerra rs specs
www.geocities.com/william_armentrout

I'm with Pat on that one. A speedster kit, or I guess for me, a spyder kit. I know, I know James Dean and all of that, but his car was sweet looking.
Imagine putting a 3.2 in that thing?

Incidentally, does anyone know where I can find a pic of the car AFTER the accident. I had read years ago they had trouble extricating Dean from the car, and out of morbid curiosity, I wonder how the car looked, where it was hit etc.


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Kurt B
'84 Carrera Cab.
carrera_cabriolet@yahoo.com

Dean's Spyder was pretty mangled up and for a while, was on tour for a road safety group (don't let this happen to you...). Supposidly, in transit, it disappeared and has never been found.

If you're interested in the 917 and always wanted one checkout http://www.project917.itgo.com/

Dag Girl, nice pantsuit

I saw one of those Lazer 917 kits on a Beetle chassis at an auto show last year. It was awful. It reminded me of the little cars on the stands outside of the supermarket, so mommies can keep their brats happy.

Wow, now that I think of it, it's the same damn thing!

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Mark Szabo
1986 911 Targa 3.2
1987 Escort 5-speed 1.9 RIP
The Porsche Owners Gallery

Wow that LMK917 Replica looks awesome! If ever I was to consider a kit car that would be it. I wonder how much the kit costs?

I recall seeing photos of the Dean car years ago. It was quite a mess.

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'83 SC

Man....is it getting hard to tell who is sincere and who is sarcastic on this board anymore. I'm hoping most of this 917 stuff is sarcasm. (Hi orbmedia, how's it going?)

Good James Dean site: http://our.tentativetimes.net/cholame/?clkd=iwm

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Clint
73T mfi coupe

[This message has been edited by Rustbucket (edited 04-06-2001).]

On the "old" website, prices were listed as $42K (US) for a rolling chasis, finished in Gulf-Weyer colors with wheels and vintage race tires. NO engine/transaxle, however. I often thought a 993 twin turbo with a properly set up G-50 would make that thing faster than I wanted to be, and you'd still only (!) have ~$65K in it. Cheap at the price!

Rustbucket,
I was serious. Did you take a look at the site that JohnC referred to? I admit most kits like that Laser suck but that Australian 917 kit looks identical to a real 917.
Orb

http://www.vintagespyders.com/

I visited this shop last November and got a ride in a customer's car souped up to approximately 150 hp. In a 1200 lb car thats more than enough. Very well made car, you have to wait about 6 months if you order a new one though.

If you go here:

http://www.spyderclub.com/photographs.htm

see pix of a six in a spyder - supposedly throws the balance way off, but sure does look nice.

Also visited Tom McBurnie at Thunder Ranch who continues making Spyder replicas similar to Chuck Beck's original design (torsion bar rear susp. vs coilover on the Vintage spyder). I was going to visit Chuck, but plans changed. He imports Spyders from Mexico and sells alongside his Lister Chevy Replica. Supposedly he likes to take visitors on 135 mph test rides in his Lister, over railroad tracks to demonstrate the high-speed handling.

Kurt

Poor James Dean.... there is a little grocery store near the intersection where he was hit. Inside you'll find all you *never* wanted to know, as well as some "memorabilia" for sale.

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Doug
'81 SC Coupe (aka: "Blue Bomber")
Canada West Region PCA
members.home.net/zielke/911SC.htm

The police man that went to initial scene of the James Deam "accident" has become a minor celeb. He was on TV the other night explaining how it had changed his life. He said that at the time it was road accident and treated it as such, i.e. people hurt, im a police officer and I need to help. He seemed a bit disgusted with peoples morbid curiosity with it. But hes been giving interviews ever since, but I dont think he has ever profited from it.

Anyway, if you look at the pics of the car you can see that the Drivers side doesnt look to bad compared to the passengers. JD died from internal impact injuries as I recall. The passenger looked far worse but he survived.

And yes that replica looks awfull. There are some good looking 356 replicas though. But as ever they never quite stand up to scrutiny when compared to the real thing.

As for 959 Replicas.....

In the UK a few years back 427 Shelby AC Cobra replicas where VERY popular. The best ones where based on Jaguar XJ6s. But even those never quite looked right. They used to make them at the bottom of my road when I was a kid, kinda made a big impression so I still dream of having one.

Alex


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911 2.7S Targa
email:alex@cascade.f9.co.uk

JohnC -
the replica you referred to sure looks like the real thing!


Without looking in one of my P-books for reference, I certainly can't tell this kit from a genuine 917.

Probably rather expensive... but then again, no matter what that kit costs, it would be noting but a **fraction** of what one of the real 917's would cost.
A screaming 3.2 in that thing would make it an EXCELLENT weekend warrior!


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1972 911S Targa
************************
My project!

[This message has been edited by Bo (edited 04-07-2001).]

Check out www.kitcar.com/ They have lots of links to different sites. Of special interest is the Beck 550 Spyder. It has to be one of the best. www.kitcar.com/beck/home.html Beck is supposed to be working on a Porsche 904 but there's no info on it.
Bobby

The area I live in is home to the Intermechanica Porsche 356 Speedster replicas. If you have ever seen one of these beauties, you'll understand why they almost cost as much as the real thing!!
They have built a few with 911 motors, but the hot 1600 VW engines they install are more than enough to propel these ultra-light cars very quickly.


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Doug
'81 SC Coupe (aka: "Blue Bomber")
Canada West Region PCA
members.home.net/zielke/911SC.htm

Hello

wanna see the real thing ? http://www.evil-photographer.co.uk/cars/Porsche/917K%201970/P917K.htm

The 917 replica is probably right on the money as far as the body goes.Some time back I was considering building a GT-40 replica (not the ERA kit) and found this 917 replica.Well i called the guy, he lives in australia, and asked him how he was able to get the chassis dimensions/configuration correct, he told me he had a friend who had owned a 917 and that he had taken lots of pictures etc...so I suspect the chassis is a direct copy(its just a simple space frame). As for the body he probably got hold of some 917 body parts, nose back etc, and made some molds from them, which is why visually, you can't tell the difference between the real and replica.
As for myself i had the chance to go carlisle Pa for the kit car show. I looked at the ERA gt-40 and as I approached the vehicle I was in awe of just how short/small these cars are (gt-40/917). If you sat on the floor with a phone book or two under your butt, that is the height of these cars! Soooooooooooo
remembering what happened to james dean i.e got smashed into by a rather large car because the driver could'nt see the little "low" car, I decided to not build the gt-40 and went with a 930.
But a cheetah replica would be cool!...... but thats another subject..........