Jaxports Streetster

Jaxports Streetster Jaxports Streetster
Specialty File

Just when you think you've seen it all, along comes something that defies imagination. Something like the Jaxports Streetster--a $30,000-plus scaled-down replica of a '50s hot rod powered by a Harley-Davidson engine. It seems like a loony idea. What's the point of mating a couple of technological fossils?

But the Streetster makes perfect sense, at least in the mind of its creator, Jack Van Dyke, a tall, lean, youthful-looking 51-year-old from Lansing, Michigan. "This is a specialized vehicle that is a high-profile deal and a big bang for the buck," Van Dyke contends. "If you pull into a Dairy Queen and there's a guy with a $35,000 motorcycle, or a $35,000 street rod or a $35,000 Lexus, this is where the attention is going to be".

Although we didn't cruise any Dairy Queens, the roadster scored high on the street-charisma scale. Everywhere we went, it drew more double-takes and smiles than do most supercars. One young woman hung out the passenger-side window of a passing car and squealed: "Oh my God! Nice car!"

It's the look that gets them. Van Dyke got it right. His hot-rod homage is based on an icon, the 1932 Ford roadster, known affectionately as a "deuce." In replicating it, Van Dyke aimed more for essence than accuracy, faithfully capturing a deuce's raked stance and classic design elements--most notably, the grille shell and the bustle-back rear deck. Although the Streetster is roughly three-quarter scale--it weighs 1200 pounds, is a shade more than 10 feet long, and stands but 31 inches tall at the cowl--it's just a few inches narrower than a deuce and has about the same interior space, which is not much.

Van Dyke sells the Streetster as a kit (for about $9000) or partly assembled ($32,000). He warranties his components against manufacturers' defects for 90 days and disclaims any other liability. "It's [the buyer's] responsibility to put this thing together," Van Dyke says, although he's willing to help with advice. Because it's assembled from components, Van Dyke says, the Streetster is exempt from federal standards and can be legally licensed as a passenger vehicle.

Still, the Streetster would be little more than an adult pedal car if its solid underpinnings weren't lifted almost intact from a racing car that Van Dyke manufactures.

Van Dyke's company, Jaxports, has been building "dwarf" racers since 1991. These unappetizingly named circle burners are downsized replicas of vintage coupes that compete on ovals nationwide. They use sheet aluminum bodies, late-model Japanese motorcycle engines, and stout, NASCAR-like steel-tube chassis. They're hobby racers, but, Van Dyke emphasizes,"We're talking about 130 horse power in a 1000-pound car. You have some serious performance."

Van Dyke turned to racing as a respite from a "24/7" job--24 hours a day, seven days a week--as the owner of a medical-equipment company. After a few seasons of campaigning an Oldsmobile in IMSA GTO road racing, he discovered the dwarfs, which could "generate as much adrenaline for $50" and started building them as a sideline, ultimately producing about 75 cars and rebuilding many others.

In 1996, Van Dyke sold his medical-equipment business and, looking for a project, started development of the Streetster. "Philosophically, we were already at motorcycle-powered cars," he recalls, and he had the hardware. "The driveline of this car--brakes, suspension, steering--is 98 percent out of our racing program."

The Streetster uses a dwarf's chassis stretched to an 85-inch wheelbase and without the roll cage. The frame rails and the crossmembers are one-by-two-inch box tubing strengthened with 1.25-inch round tubing around the engine and cowl. It's all TIG-welded in a jig and, Van Dyke says, the front-suspension geometry has been designed on a computer. The body is composite with structural reinforcements.

The front suspension uses fabricated unequal-length control arms. The rigid rear axle is located by adjustable trailing links, and each corner is sprung with compact coil-over Pro shocks. The front spindles and the disc brakes are modified Chevette components, and the rack-and-pinion steering is custom-made by Sweet, a NASCAR supplier.