)...When I recently stumbled across this forum by accident and I read some of the threads/topics I realized what I had been missing out on all this time!
This seems to be a great hangout place for classic Porsche enthusiasts and one of the few forums where real Porsches and replica's are treated equally!
So I registered and this is my first post.
So let me introduce myself:
My name is Antoine Godschalk and I live in the picturesque village of Vinkeveen in the Netherlands. Over the years I owned several (real) Porsches and approximately 15 years ago I owned a Chesil 356A Speedster replica. I loved that car and wasn't planning selling it, but unfortunately I suffered a financial set back and I was forced to sell (life is what happens to you, whilst making other plans)
But...
As it turns out I had the same (childhood) dream as Ferry Porsche; I’ve just fulfilled my dream slightly different…
Years ago when I first stumbled across pictures of Speedsters in SCCA race trim on the internet I was stunned and I knew immediately that when (not if) I would build my own car, that car had to look like one of those, rather than ‘another fiberglass copy of an original’.
So I started to make plans to build –or rather (re)create- a Porsche 356A SCCA racer. I started collecting photographs of Speedster SCCA racers and made drawings of how my car had to look like. I looked for characteristics and features I really liked and which of those I would like to incorporate into my car. There was only one little hitch: my car had to be road legal…
When I turned 40 in 2007 I decided the time had come to make my childhood dream become a reality and the actual build of the car began. Being a lawyer I’m consequently technically impaired so I knew when I started to build the car that it would be a humongous challenge.
Unfortunately my technical impairment implied also that the build most of the time was one of ‘two steps forward, one step back’ and I can honestly say that being a perfectionist with a slight OCD didn’t help either. Luckily I had a group of great supporters that kept believing in my abilities even when I started doubting them (not my supporters, but my abilities).
But now it’s finished I can truly say:
BUILT BY A BLOKE IN A SHED ONLY USING HANDTOOLS!
And I'm pretty proud of the end result...
The engine of my car is pretty special: it's a Riechert Type 4 (AT):
The engine runs perfectly and it's a joy to drive this car...
Greetings,
Antoine
