[Donncarng]

Can some one give me a CURRENT comment on the street beast kits, the last thing I saw was written in 2001! Are they worth dealing with? I have built cars in the past but not a street rod and I am interested in doing this, any comments would be appreciated, thank you

[302 Z28]

They are the pits, they look (especially their 34) nothing like the original. Viewed from any angle they look funny. The resale on them is dismal. The one piece body/rear fenders/running boards make repair virtually impossible. At rod runs they are the brunt of many jokes. You would do well to stay far away from them. There are too many good bodies out there to be fooling around with Street Beast's.

Vince

[fitzwell]

Vince pretty much summed it up.

Run as fast as you can......They are junk, on a good day

[Deuce]

Originally Posted by 302 Z28

At rod runs they are the brunt of many jokes.

There are too many good bodies out there to be fooling around with Street Beast's.

Like Vince said so well ... The street Beast is the Rodney Dangerfield of street rods ... they get NO RESPECT

As a fellow Carolina resident ... I would strongly suggest you go to the Street Rod Nationals in Louisville KY in a few weeks. It is August the 2nd to August the 5th ... Click here for more information.

http://www.nsra-usa.com/annual.htm

All the major body manufacturers will be there. A lot of them even have show specials ( better prices ) Some of the manufacturers have a body/frame combination package.

There will be over 10 thousand street rods there also. You can see for yourself the lack of RESPECT the Street Beast receives ... in fact they ( as a manufacturer ) do not even attend and this is the MAJOR show of the year.


Read this ...

Street Beasts

[powerrodsmike]

I just had the dubious pleasure of making a set of windows work in a set of doors off of a 2 year old street beast 34 coupe kit...

It took me over 10 hours to get the windows to function properly in that set of doors. It required cutting out the improperly placed factory steel reinforcement, making all new window channels, reworking the steel reinforcement so it would not interfere with the window travel, reworking the cheesiest POS window regulator I think I have ever seen, shaping the window opening so it was wide enough to allow a window to move up and down in it.

Please keep in mind that I currently own a street rod shop, I deal with many hardware issues such as this, and when I worked for Poliform I built over 120 fiberglass 34 coupe bodies, about 1/2 of them had operating windows that I installed.. I have designed window installations for prototype bodies as well as done many retrofits.

I can say that I am more than qualified to comment on the quality of a fiberglass car body.

The door inner and outer panels are glued together with bondo, the glass work is VERY crappy and very resin rich. The steel, (I was amazed that there was steel installed, there never used to be), was bent up and rusted, it was glued in with bondo. In one place under where the steel that was supposed to be under the hinge mounts was glued, the assembler failed to see a pop rivit on the hinge land before he set the steel in. It left a 3/8" gap between the steel and fiberglass, and was actually in the way of the window track. I had to cut it all out, clean off the hinge land and reglue it down tight.

If the quality that I saw in those doors are any indicator of the overall quality of those kits, (which is part of a kit that was purchased less than 2 years ago), then I would say that they have not changed one bit in the last 20 years.

The guy who brought me in this set of doors said he had called the street beast tech support many times and was NEVER helped with any of the problems he had. And he was the original purchaser of the kit. He bought it direct from Street Beast.

Oh and if you look at the companies history, you will see that they used to be Fiberfab, then Classic Motor Carriages. they no longer do business in their home state of Florida because the Atty general ran them out because of so many fraud cases.

I think I'd rather have the runs than work on one of those cars.

Hope this helps,

Mikey

[powerrodsmike]

And if you think I'm making up the part about the Florida Attorney General.....

http://www.miaminewtimes.com/2006-03...ly-background/

And I have not worked for Poli form since 1997, and they do not build the 34 coupe at this time,anyway, so this can't be any kind of advertising.

Later, mikey

[302 Z28]

Great information Mikey. The more people we can educate about this company and their shoddy product the better .

Vince

[F&J]

Just reading along here....

Most or some buyers would assume that their choice of glass body was built by a rodder craftsman, when in reality, I am sure that some are assembled by low paid minimum wage workers. So, If they are just that, they would have no idea of potential "working or fitting" problems as to how a window setup needs to be. Their boss has a new employee just work with a guy who maybe had a few months there, for a day, to "learn" how to do it.

Same things happened when RVs got so popular and factories set up in farm country to take advantage of the out-of-work farm workers.

I don't like to down talk someones products at all, but "if" that is the 34 that's all molded one piece stuff without the seperate body parts, I always wondered why anyone would buy something like that. Remember that thread about "kit cars-comments at shows"? To me that 34 body was not a rod, never should be called a rod. Just a big molded blob that lacked any class at all. IMO, it shouldn't even be allowed at a rod meet. Sort of like a Glassic Model A, or a Shay model A, showing up at an antique show.

[powerrodsmike]

Originally Posted by F&J

Just reading along here....

Most or some buyers would assume that their choice of glass body was built by a rodder craftsman, when in reality, I am sure that some are assembled by low paid minimum wage workers. So, If they are just that, they would have no idea of potential "working or fitting" problems as to how a window setup needs to be. Their boss has a new employee just work with a guy who maybe had a few months there, for a day, to "learn" how to do it.

I was the "working" shop forman for 11 years at Poliform. My main job as working was assembly of the replica bodies. It didn't matter one bit whether the guy working for me was a 5 year man or a 5 minute man...the product was always the same high quality.


Blaming poor quality on the workers is not ANY valid excuse. Ever.

I have seen those Classic motor carriage/ Street beast kits at shows and was amazed that anyone would buy them at all.

The quality is shoddy because that is what that company builds and sells.

Originally Posted by F&J

I don't like to down talk someones products at all, but "if" that is the 34 that's all molded one piece stuff without the seperate body parts, .

That is exactly the POS we are talking about here.

I will talk down about that company and the crap they build all day long. Because they deserve it.

Here is another story about them...by one of their own.
http://www.geocities.com/aztec7fan/s..._aguilera.html

Later, mikey

[Centerline]

Originally Posted by F&J

........I don't like to down talk someones products at all, but "if" that is the 34 that's all molded one piece stuff without the seperate body parts, I always wondered why anyone would buy something like that. Remember that thread about "kit cars-comments at shows"? To me that 34 body was not a rod, never should be called a rod. Just a big molded blob that lacked any class at all. IMO, it shouldn't even be allowed at a rod meet. Sort of like a Glassic Model A, or a Shay model A, showing up at an antique show.

That's exactly the one. The biggest problem is that if you put a StreetBeast 34 Coupe next to a real one they look nothing alike. The StreetBeast actually looks more like a toy than a car in that context. One other thing, the only parts made for a 34 Ford that will fit a StreetBeast 34 Coupe (or Vicky for that matter) are the door handles. Nothing, absolutely NOTHING made for 34 Fords will fit a StreetBeast.

Take this into consideration..... there's a reason StreetBeast doesn't use the word "Ford" in any of their advertising. Ford took exception to their using the Ford name because their fidelity to the real thing is so bad. Other body manufacturers don't seem to have that problem but Ford won't let StreetBeast use their name period. That should tell people something about the company right there.

Bottom line is that anyone who buys a StreetBeast deserves what he gets. Period, end of story.

[Deuce]

Two original style 34 Ford 3W coupe bodies ... ABOVE





Two Street Beasts ... above



Here is the fabricated Street Beast frame ...

See how the original style body has a windshield frame? The fenders flow with the body ... the grille looks like it belongs ... The white Street Beast still even has the 4 lug wheel pieces from the Pinto/Mustang donor car .

There are lots of the Beasts for sale ... most of the owners are not happy with them and I would bet that there are almost as many unfinished ones as Street Beasts on the road.

Here are a few things that will show up on a internet search about the Beast ..

http://www.34ford.com/bbs/bbs.php?st...&threadidx=250

http://members.tripod.com/~Jackak10/34ford.html

http://www.streetrodding.com/index.c...hread/id/26161

[302 Z28]

Originally Posted by Donncarng

Can some one give me a CURRENT comment on the street beast kits, the last thing I saw was written in 2001! Are they worth dealing with? I have built cars in the past but not a street rod and I am interested in doing this, any comments would be appreciated, thank you

You did good asking on this forum, you could have been stung real bad.

Vince

[F&J]

You did good asking on this forum, you could have been stung real bad.

Well, then maybe someone can put up some other bodies that come with a good review? ....

[dinger]

[QUOTE=Deuce][
The white Street Beast still even has the 4 lug wheel pieces from the Pinto/Mustang donor car .

QUOTE] You have got to be kidding....That would be time to send it back to the factory for me....argggg. A bad sign of quality. Dan

[pepi]

The quality is shoddy because that is what that company builds and sells.




That is exactly the POS we are talking about here.

I will talk down about that company and the crap they build all day long. Because they deserve it.

Here is another story about them...by one of their own.
http://www.geocities.com/aztec7fan/s..._aguilera.html

Later, mikey[/QUOTE]

Yeah ! no kidding call a spade a spade , these I never say bad things about whatever just slay me , what a clown, he sure would the first one I would ask for an opinion.................. some people children, unbelievable