Great article. I love it when the writer shows what real work looks like, and the subject of the story doesn’t sugar-coat it. Things really do take near forever–and that’s when a pro who knows what he’s doing is involved. You put a dilettante like me on the job & no telling how long it will take or what it will look like when it’s done.

Quite a few of the Speedster guys can’t tell a 3/8 socket wrench from a ball peen hammer. And a fair number of them are proud of this fact. They “buy the best” from Intermeccanica or some other builder and get a fully-assembled, and often well-sorted, brand new car from the mfg. Plus dealer-like maintenance–to the degree that’s possible given…[Read more]

It’d be cool if someone could make a template and post it here. Some enterprising individual could fabricate some of their own. And a rubber gasket would be simple enough to cut.

I’m glad the parts business for our cars hasn’t gone the way of the kit car manufacturers. They’re hard enough to get parts for as it is. That’s why I order what I need way ahead of time so I’ll have it when I get to that part of the assembly. newkitman40772.6331828704

This is interesting stuff, Paul. Seems like part of the “fun” of the replicar hobby is keeping tabs on the manufacturers, their bankruptcies and other foibles. Tough business, looks like. Reminds me of the night club trade though, in that the same names of owners often stay around much longer than their trade or corporate names.

And here is Great Lakes Replicas’ site from mid-20006, when they were the authorized dealer in Michigan for CR II:
http://web.archive.org/web/20060613061630/http://sebring-mx. com/PMOSSBERG40772.6037384259

And here is Classic Roadsters site from December 5, 2000, when Gary Rutherford owned the company:
http://web.archive.org/web/200012052337/http://www.classicro adsters.com/
The site looked the same in July 2003, just before the sale to Don Scott.PMOSSBERG40772.6611689815

Don Scott’s CR II’s web site is long gone. But web.archive.com crawled the site back on February 10, 2009 and took a snap-shot.
If you are interested, you can go back in time here:
http://web.archive.org/web/20090210201551/http://classicroad sters.com/#specialsPMOSSBERG40772.603275463

Larry, thank I emailed MG Magic and below was their response.
Rob,
Sorry, Post Caps are no longer available.
Please visit http://www.MGReplica.com for all available parts.

Thanks,

BA

Bill,What’s the name of that Quarterly magazine? I ask because I came across one 6 months ago and haven’t seen a copy since. newkitman40772.6336111111

My Lafer is insured with Hagerty, too — also for $10K. That includes a slick quarterly magazine on collector cars, as well.

Ah yes…that debate has raged for years.
I LOVE asking street rod owners if their fiberglass bodied rod came from a kit. Inevitably the answer is NO. It’s a fiberglass body, but it’s not a kit.
I take a slightly different approach Tom. I tell people it’s a replica of a ’52 TD, built from a kit manufactured by Classic Roadsters in 1982.
I’m proud…[Read more]

And by the way, Gary Rutherford’s IMAR Industries is also out of business.PMOSSBERG40772.5837615741

Looking back on it now, it’s sad to read Don’s posts, which are so enthusiastic and to see the support he was receiving from owners of Classic Roadsters cars.
Near as I can tell, CR II delivered its last Cobra kit in December of 2007 and spent 2008 trying to sell the company and its assets. In fact, at one point, the entire company was listed fo…[Read more]

Here’s some more…
From a Press Release July 16 2003:
IMAR industries (Fargo, ND) (this is Gary Rutherford’s company) announced today (July 16th, 2003) that their replica division (Classic Roadsters) was purchased by Don Scott of Minnesota Classic Motorsports (Sauk Centre, MN). IMAR will continue with it’s main focus of the marine division.The…[Read more]

They bought up Classic Roadsters Ltd. also.
Here’s a brief history of Classic Roadsters Ltd:
https://tdreplica.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=730&P N=14
 PMOSSBERG40772.4598842593

 MG Magic had them ”on sale” a few months ago but I cannot find them on their parts list now. I think they were  $88.00 then. Might be worth a call to find out.

 Thanks Paul, I was hoping that I was not too far off. The kit car industry changed so much and so fast that it is hard to keep the facts seperate from the rumors.

Larry,
That sequence sounds pretty close to my own memory!

I have mine insured thru Haggerty for…[Read more]