Grand Sports: An unscientific survey of owners of D&D replicas
 

Idle curiosity and too much caffeine today, I guess. I know there are owners of D&D Grand Sports who monitor this forum and this posting is directed at you.

I'm interested in D&D serial numbers, the lower the better. If you don't mind sharing this information with me (privately by email is fine), and if you have a particularly old or early D&D GS, I'd like to know it's serial number.

Let me define "early" as being any car with a serial number lower than #021 or any D&D car with what appears to be a Julian date for a serial number in lieu of a sequence number. Reason for this threshold of #021 is that I'm aware of cars #021, #022, #039, #040, #044, #050 and many others with higher numbers, but none any earlier.

Why? I thought you'd never ask. I'm the current custodian of a Julian dated D&D car (chassis 31392), with no sequence number, and I want to know more about it. It might be the oldest tube frame D&D car existing or maybe it's not. Dean Hoskins allowed that it was "one of our first replica cars", but couldn't provide any more specific information.

So this is just curiosity on my part. Nothing more and nothing sinister about my request for information. If you don't mind sharing information about your car, I'd sure like to hear from you.

Thanks in advance,
Jim

How many of D&D cars have the same serial#???????????:eek: :eek:

Hmmmm..... interesting question. I would think there are no duplicates, but are you aware of some?

Jim

D&D Corvette/Dean Hoskins
Akron, Ohio USA

Excerpted from "The Cleveland (Ohio) Plain Dealer" newspaper, 16 January 2003:

01/15/03
Karen Farkas, Plain Dealer Reporter

Akron (Ohio) William Hoskins builds replicas of 1963 Corvette race cars. His work attracted the interest of men around the country willing to pay about $50,000 for the striking vehicle. But Hoskins promised more than he could deliver, police said. He was arrested Monday and charged with three counts of theft by deception for taking money and not providing cars.

(Toledo attorney) Eugene Canestrano, whose client is involved in civil lawsuits against Hoskins, said Hoskins built two types of Corvette Grand Sport replicas. He said there are only about 22 original cars remaining. "If you saw it, it would turn your head because it has enormous curb appeal," he said. He said his client, Alpha Beta Design Inc. of Toledo, found Hoskins on the Internet and signed a contract in February 1995. "Hoskins has a certain amount of notoriety and as a craftsman, he's not bad," Canestrano said.

But after years without getting the car, Alpha Beta sued Hoskins in Summit County Common Pleas Court. It was granted a judgment of $56,434 in 2000 but agreed to let Hoskins finish building the car in lieu of payment. The car was delivered in November 2001, but was incomplete, and his client now seeks a judgment for work not done, Canestrano said. Foreclosure action against Hoskins is pending.

According to police documents, David Hudson of Kissimmee, Florida, paid Hoskins $52,000 for a car in July 2000; Dean Schumacher of Waterford, Michigan, paid $42,000 in July 2001, and Thomas Lutge of San Francisco paid $58,000 in August 2001 for Grand Sport replicas. Hoskins assured them the cars were built. But when buyers called his company, the phone was disconnected, so they contacted police.

Officers found no cars were built and the men had each been sent the same identification number for the car on their receipt.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:
kfarkas@plaind.com, 1-800-628-6689
hotlink to entire 'Plain Dealer' newspaper article: http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer

Footnote: I've been cautioning the world about D&D since 1994... and for several years right here on this Consumer Alert page (altho', sigh, all the while the kit car magazines went right on accepting their advertisements and--in lamentable disregard of reader complaints--publishing rave-review feature articles about them). Yet good folks still go right on swan diving into the empty pool. Sigh. Curt Scott


******************

1 June 2002: We received an inquiry from a reader who wants to know if "GSReplica," who is now advertising in Kit Car magazine, is one and the same as D&D Corvette. I just received a call from GSReplica's Mike Miller, who assured me that his company has absolutely no affiliation with D&D, and indeed are aware of the problems that D&D's customers have experienced.

Over the years we've received several serious complaints about this on-again, off-again advertiser of 1962 Corvette Grand Sport replicas and related component parts. Today we received, from D&D customer (Charles and Leslie Howard, in Colorado), an affidavit alleging that the firm and its principal William ("Dean") Hoskins have once again predictably failed to live up to their promises and contractual obligations. On or about 20 October 2000 the Howards, in accordance with prior agreement with D&D's Dean Hoskins, sent a cheque for $2500 for certain Corvette parts, accompanied with Mr. Hoskins' personal assurances of prompt delivery; on several occasions thereafter Hoskins promised Charles that the kit was scheduled for immediate shipment, or had already been shipped; no parts were ever received by the Howards. In the month of December 2000 alone, Mr. & Mrs. Howard left at least fifteen (15) telephone messages with D&D personnel or on the firm's answering machine, with not a single call ever having been returned. Sighhhhhh.

Once again here's an excerpt from the 4th Rule of our "10 Golden Rules for Selecting and Purchasing Your Specialty Car": "Apply the 'telephone test' of character: Don't even consider doing business with anyone who can't exhibit the simple courtesy of returning your telephone calls." And it's far more nefarious for a firm to disregard/avoid telephone calls from a good, paying customer, as is alleged in this case. How do you spell "Caveat Emptor"?

My frame had no numbers. I guess he forgot. I had to drive to Akron myself to get my parts. This was back in 98. Dean had a good idea but had no idea of how to do it. The bodys where poor at best. I said this before. There are so many guys selling Deans parts and cars that I can't keep track. I just want one of these companys to show me that they are building a quality product I would buy and build another one. :toetap:

If '98 was when you bought your car from Dean, then this was almost certainly well after the period when both body and frame received ID numbers that look like Julian dates. I'd imagine your car had at least one and maybe two VIN plates (one on the driver's side hinge pillar and one on the left side motor mount) that were of the form "DDGSxxx" where "xxx" was the three digit sequence number.

My car was constructed in the '93-'94 time frame and has neither of the VIN plates that yours probably has.... just the identification numbers that look like Julian dates.

Also, but unrelated to my VIN quest, the frame under my car does not resemble any other D&D frame I've ever seen. It looks rather like (but is not identical to) a Mid-America frame. It's an unusual car, but fortunately one that was extremely well crafted.

Jim

#003
 

I own S# 003 with under 100 miles on it since it's completion. there were 136 made is my understanding, and I'm very curious how many were made before they started putting the sequential VIN on them. Let me know if you have any intel on this or the value of the one I have.

thanks, Don

Reading all this took me back to 1989 and my experience with the California Daytona Spyder
Good read thanks

I owned a D&D GS. Bought it from OJ Hanna. He had all kind of problems. I sent $400 for a hood, I’m still waiting ��. Sold car years back and regret selling the car.

Don,

I don't know if it can ever be positively determined how many D&D Grand Sports were made. At least one car (ours) did not have a sequential serial number. At least one car has no known serial number. I am aware of a car with a serial number as high as 192. And there are some inconsistencies in the format of the numbering after sequential serial numbers were employed.

That being said, sure, 136 is as good a guess as any.

I'm aware of a D&D with serial number DDGSC003. It is a very early car which I would have thought would have more than 100 miles by now. Is that yours?

Would you mind posting a few pictures of your D&D?

Jim

Joe, any idea what the serial number of your/OJ's D&D was. I have a few pictures of the car when you owned it and a few more since Marty bought it. But I don't have a record of the VIN.

And I don't mean to seem like I'm being nosey. D&Ds are just very interesting vehicles due to the sordid/troubled history of their builder. Even our D&D prototype has a checkered past: It was once owned by a German racer who intended to import it into Europe and represent it as the REAL GS #003. US Customs, Lawyers, and even GM got involved....

Jim

Very interesting conversation. Good luck with your search.

Vin
 

My ca had no number that I know of. Asked OJ but he had no idea. Mine car is now in Europe.

Thanks, Joe. Yours is now the second one I know about with no known VIN.

Jim

Jim, as you know, my D&D was #DDGS039. As you also know, Dean was a good engineer and fabricator, and a hopelessly inept businessman. I taught him about bump-steer, and showed him how to use an Appleton sprint-car power steering rack to cure it when they built my frame. I sold mine in 1998 after building it and driving it for two years, to a collector on the east coast whose business (and car collection) was in Boston.

Hi John,
I do clearly remember that you are the one who educated Dean about bumpsteer. With left and right tie rods differing in length by 3/4", it was terrible.

I was bright enough to recognize the problem, but not smart enough to make it right. So I took our D&D prototype to Dick Guldstrand and said, "fix it". Night and day difference....

Jim

HEHEHEHE, I am retired in the Caribbean, this is DANTE, of D & D Corvette. My car was 007. We numbered all the cars, DDSC (for coupes) and DDSR for roadsters We used my '64 coupe to make the molds. Gene Schiavone was kind enough to let us pore over his "Penske Grand Sport Roadster" to take measurements and photos. I have avoided the idiots who have crafted BS stories about the molds, blah, blah, blah.. Dean was a GENIUS and did all the engineering without any of the 5 real Grand Sports EVER having molds taken. PM any time...... let the rest of the Bull-Shit artists know.....Adams and any of the rest had NOTHING to do with the D & D molds.... We just loved Corvettes, especially the GS......it was fun!

NFW, Dante' of D & D, all the cars had individual serial #'s, DDSC (coupes), DDSR (roadsters).....

My original car had no D & D serial number as we used my '64 Coupe's real VIN tag. That was the #65 car with Zora Arkus Duntov's signature on the passenger door, Shinoda's on the dash and Jim Hall's above the dash.

That would've been our 3rd Roadtser body.... Dante'