Thread: should I not buy a Street Beasts Car ?

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.....also try hotrodhotline.com ..... If you've got 30 g's to spend I think you can find a really nice '32 to '34 Ford that isn't a Street Beasts..... Bill

Street Beasts has re-organized a couple of times due to financial problems.

Seems they took money and didn't deliver.

They used to be in Florida and probably still are.

Florida doesn't do much about pursuing people running scams from an incorporated business.

Far as I know the present owners are the same ones who did the initial BS stuff.

Most places a Street Beast shows a lack of basic hot rod knowledge and the cars are looked down on for a myriad of reasons.

Join the NSRA, you get a subscription to their mag and it's loaded with nice cars for sale.

Well, I have a street beast that I'm building. Seems that all the negative comments are from people who don't have one, and most haven't seen one either. I've been doing the build for two years, including hot and cold weather, and the fiberglass is holding up just fine. In my eyes, the quality has been good, and they have done everything they promised.

I just had a painter come to do an estimate, and he was impressed with the quality of the glass and the fit of the doors and hood. That's just with my alignment, not with any professional adjustment or body filler. He said he expects 100 hours of body work, including blocking, smoothing, and resolving any issues to make it perfect. Compared to others I've seen, this sounds like a very reasonable amount of time. Seems most figure at least 50 hours just to block and prep for paint, so I think I'm doing good. He also said he just finished doing a Heritage Willys that took over 500 hours of body work to get the door and hood lines straight, and has been back to him several times for issues that came up due to the poor quality of the glass. So, SB may not be the best, but it's surely not the worst!

What I see with SB is that many of the people who build them think they are saving money. They plan from the start to have a "bargain". What they end up with is a not-so-good job. I'm doing the best I can, using the best parts, and getting a good finish, and I have a car that I'm confident I can be proud of for a long time coming. I've seen a lot of them over the years, and the difference is all about what level of effort the builder put into doing good work.

Buy what you like. Look it over, and if it's done well, enjoy the car!

Originally Posted by Sounder

Well, I have a street beast that I'm building. Seems that all the negative comments are from people who don't have one, and most haven't seen one either. I've been doing the build for two years, including hot and cold weather, and the fiberglass is holding up just fine. In my eyes, the quality has been good, and they have done everything they promised.

I just had a painter come to do an estimate, and he was impressed with the quality of the glass and the fit of the doors and hood. That's just with my alignment, not with any professional adjustment or body filler. He said he expects 100 hours of body work, including blocking, smoothing, and resolving any issues to make it perfect. Compared to others I've seen, this sounds like a very reasonable amount of time. Seems most figure at least 50 hours just to block and prep for paint, so I think I'm doing good. He also said he just finished doing a Heritage Willys that took over 500 hours of body work to get the door and hood lines straight, and has been back to him several times for issues that came up due to the poor quality of the glass. So, SB may not be the best, but it's surely not the worst!

What I see with SB is that many of the people who build them think they are saving money. They plan from the start to have a "bargain". What they end up with is a not-so-good job. I'm doing the best I can, using the best parts, and getting a good finish, and I have a car that I'm confident I can be proud of for a long time coming. I've seen a lot of them over the years, and the difference is all about what level of effort the builder put into doing good work.

Buy what you like. Look it over, and if it's done well, enjoy the car!

Good comment about folks thinking they're gonna save a few bucks.
Not true in almost all cases Street Beasts or not.

I am curious though, and no insult intended, is this your first hot rod build?
Have you worked with any other aftermarket body manufacturers offerings?

My experiences have been with Wescott and Brookville.
Both were quite satisfactory.
The Brookville roadster is to the looks like you could drive it stage for just over $14,000.
A chunk of change for sure, but not as bad as it could have been.
About $2500. to get it plumbed, wired and drive train rebuilt should have it up and running in primer.

All work to date done by me and I'll be the guy doing the engine, trans and paint.

That said, a friend of mine was building hot rods for others in his street rod shop and had some interesting things to say about the poor fit of the Street Beast's doors to body among other things.

More than a few bad words were interspersed into the conversation....

I think what turns most people off about SB is the fact that no "real" ford part will work on them. So having something different wont happen other than paint. The biggest problem is resale -its just not as popular,but I dont see a problem with having one for someone just getting in to it.

Hey, look what I just found on eBay
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Ford-...12871341QQrdZ1

WoW! That looks familiar! Nice car be even better if they would take $12.5 for it. But you can get a nice steel car for just a little more than the current bid of $25k. Maybe not as shiny as that one, but still pretty nice.

Lots of Redo things? What do you think needs to be redone?

Originally Posted by DennyW

Do you really want me to get all the pictures and point them out ??

Now that I've seen the EBAY pics. I know I'm stickin' with my assesment.

Originally Posted by DennyW

Do you really want me to get all the pictures and point them out ??

The longer you look the worse it gets.

Oh oh!!! Looks like there might be a bidding war as a second guy has jumped into the fire. At least the name seems to fit the car, "Toxic" 34

Originally Posted by NTFDAY

The longer you look the worse it gets.

Yeah, at first glance it looks really right, but like the guys said, if you start looking at the dash, under the hood, at the undercarriage and the engine, it is sort of rough. I think he would have been better off posting just a few pictures, because in some it looks really good, but in some others the flaws start to show up.

I'm not knocking the car, but for the money they are asking I would want something much better.


Don

Check out these pictures, look at the frame paint, dash, etc.


Don

Darned it that doesn't look like a Gibbon body . . .

The other funny thing is that if you noticed the write up, it says it was re-listed because someone "hijacked" his post!!!!

Pat