Even 70 years on, the Porsche 356 Speedster is one of the firm’s most recognizable cars. It’s also the one with the worst price-to-horsepower ratio. A base 50 hp (50 PS) Speedster could cost you $300,000 and one with the rare Carrera engine (which still only made 108 hp / 110 PS) could set you back a cool million bucks.
You could build yourself a replica, of course, but even doing that well could cost you far more than $50,000. So if budget is really an issue but you simply must have a vintage German Speedster, allow us to present this eye-catching roofless BMW 2002, yours for $15k.
Related: This Glorious Honda-Powered BMW 2002 Has A 9,200 RPM VTEC Surprise
BMW did sell a Bauer-built drop-top version of the 02 in the 1960s and ’70s, first a full convertible, and later a better-known model with a fixed roll hoop and window frames. But neither went as far as this home-brewed conversion we spotted on Silodrome, whose back seats have been junked and the area covered over with a fixed tonneau complete with headrest humps that look like wedges of cheddar.
The Florida-based seller says it was modified for use in SCCA (Sports Car Club of America) events, and shots of the interior show that whoever wielded the angle grinder also took time to fashion a roll cage structure to make sure the finished car was only the same color as a banana and didn’t bend like one.
Fitting that cage will have put back in some of the weight removed with the roof, but losing the bumpers must improve the power-to-weight ratio and also clean up the look. We’re not struck on some of the details, like the pepper pot wheels, but there’s the germ of a good idea here, and it feels like this car could be made to look pretty sweet with a little work.
And maybe while you’re at it you could drop in a twin-cam M42 motor out of a later 318iS to provide a 40 percent bigger kick than the meager 99 hp (100 PS) the single-carb M10 delivered in a stock 2002 sedan of this era.
One of those stock 02s will set you back around $27,000 in good condition, Hagerty says, while this car – needing some work to remedy things like a cracked windshield – is being advertised by 17 Classic Cars in FT Lauderdale for $14,950, which is nearly half as much. So at least it’s lightweight in one sense.
