Hechtspeed attends Planes of Fame's Central Coast Airfest 2026

 The crew arrived Friday evening to Santa Maria, California after about a 3 hour drive from Tehachapi. It's a pretty drive into the San Joaquin Valley and then into the mountains and through the Cuyama Valley and finally into Santa Maria on the coast. As we drove up to the airport, the T33 was doing his practice demonstration. We stopped and got out of the car outside the gates and enjoyed various warbirds practicing. We grabbed some In-N-Out before coming back to watch the Mig15 do a sunset demo! 

We got up early and were first in line at the airshow. We call that "rope dropping" an airshow! haha

The morning was filled with typical coastline "soup", but it burned off before the show got going. It was a high of like 74F by mid-day. It was perfect!

We headed out after the show and made the 3 hour trek back to Tehachapi. I started the long drive home Sunday morning early and was rewarded with this beauty of a sunrise looking East!

The first Hechtspeed Mustang gathering and Touge Run!

 I road-tripped down to Tehachapi, California in the 2008 Mustang to attend the Planes of Fame Museum's "Central Coast Airfest" warbird airshow in September. That gave us Hechtspeeders a chance to get our Mustangs together. We did the TK's Pizza place and then afterwards caravanned over to the Tehachapi airport to get some photos. We were hoping to catch a P-51D Mustang outside that we could park next to, but it was hiding away in its hangar. Maybe next time!

Here we are lined up at the airport. We have 4 S197 Mustangs and 1 SN95.

From left to right, we have Brent's 2006 Windveil Blue GT. You can see his latest update, the matte white hood, roof and C-stripes. Then we have Sally, Poppi's 1995 modified GT with fresh paint. Then there's my 2008 GT. Followed by Bentley's 2005 Red Baren (its not quite Red Baron level anymore, hence the different spelling heh heh). He had an "incedent" with a barbed wire fence, we'll leave it at that. Then Brad's 2010 (or 11?) Roush V6 with the 19x11 SVE R357 wheels from Red Baron.

Here's Brent and I on our way back to Tehachapi after a long touge run past Caliente. There are some awesome, remote windy roads up in them thar hills! We road half way up in the other brother's car. That was fun to see Blue Baron up close and personal. The key differences to mention are that Blue has 4.10 gears and more power mods (shorty headers, pullies, Ford Racing Intake mani with no TGVs, lighter flywheel). The difference in how fast it revved was very noticable. Brent commented about how flat mine turns. Maybe mostly due to the 295/30/19 shorter sidewall tires compared to his 305/35/19s? 

It was a lot of fun cruising around town and the mountain roads together! It was worth the 10+ hours of driving each way! 

S197 Blue Baron Update: New SVE R355 19x11 wheels

 Quick update to share on my bro's S197 3V Mustang GT, I call "Blue Baron"! He has done a bunch of updates to this car and the now retired "Red Baron"! Go check out his S197 videos through this link HERE.

The most obvious updates you can see from the outside are the 19x11 +50 SVE R355 5 spoke wheels in Satin Bronze! Lots of concavity to enjoy!!!

The Windveil Blue with bronze wheels is a great combo!

The other update you'll see is the MMD color matched duck tail spoiler out back!

Some large and in charge 6 piston "Brembo" calipers from Rockauto/the Roush RS V6 car are now up front in black with some new 15" rotors and the tried and true "Track Day Pads" from PowerStop!

Do yourself a favor and check out the youtube videos Brent did to highlight all that has been done to this car. Recaros are coming soon (swapping the K-link rear suspension bits for some Boss Recaro buckets!). 

Project Sally SN95: Repaint Deep Forest Green

 I have an update to share about pop's 1994 Mustang GT! He's doing bodywork and is going to have it repainted. He thought about painting it himself in the garage, but he lives in California and doesn't want to chance getting a big fine or something. So, he contacted a local shop in Tehachapi who will give him a cheaper price if he does all the bodywork preparation. Dad is 73 now and is not as spry as he once was, so its taking him some time to sand and do the bodywork. He's made steady progress over the last month or so and I wanted to share some photos of that work here on the blog.

First, how about a photo of Sally in her prime with her Deep Forest Green (code: NA)! 

This looks like a pic of Sally after a fresh wash. This would have been probably around 2000 after dad bought the Centerline drag wheels. 

Here is a pic taken after working on some of the dents and dings with bondo and primer. Before things got serious!

Dad removed all the plastic body pieces, which includes the rear quarter side scoops, hood vent scoops, but also the C pillar window trim piece. 

Removed the headlights and the front and rear bumper covers. This will allow access for paint into the gaps between the panels. 

Some interior bits being removed as well to be able to get the plastic rear quarter window trim off. He ordered up a new drivers side door panel. I'd love to see some Corbeau bucket seats in here, but the 1994 original grey cloth seats seem to be doing ok. Dad rocked seat covers for most of its history, so they are well preserved considering they are 32 years old now. Holy crap we old!

Dad hosed down the foam bumpers and behind where the bumper covers trapped 32 years of road grime.

Here's a pic of the rear seat belt mechanism and what's behind the interior panels.

Stay tuned for some more updates once it gets paint!

 

Looking for a Project Car! Aircooled VW Bug!

 So, the red 1976 914 I posted about last week, which was for sale locally for $3k, has sold. There is one other 914 project for sale, but its a bucket of parts and a bare shell that was acid dipped and then left to corrode. So, I am continuing this "Looking for a Project Car" idea with a follow up post about another aircooled car, the VW Beetle or Bug. 

In Brazil they are called a "Fusca" which is the Portuguese word for "beetle". One thing I'm noticing, is a theme with where my mind goes when I think of getting a project car, which is that I get very nostalgic. You can't get much more nostalgic than to go back to where it all began for me and my first car, this 1972 VW Beetle (Standard). I say "standard" because in the 70's, VW also sold the Super Beetle, which had a different front suspension and (McPherson strut style) slightly different body panels (vented lower nose and rounded windshield) that help tell them apart.

Let me give a brief review of how I got into Bugs in the first place. My dad wasn't into Bugs at all. But, he did have that 914, which uses a VW Type 4 engine. I got some exposure to the aircooled Vdub world through my short stint at Mark Stephens High Performance as noted before. While those 2 things may have been a minor factor, the key factors that got me hooked were 2 things. First, a kid a year older than me in school, who I knew from Church, Steve Keene, had a 2-tone black and white 1967 (again, this is memory I'm relying on) VW Bug that was lowered, nice exhaust and it sat on really cool polished Centerline wheels (like in this photo below).

Steve worked at "Great Wall" Chinese restaurant in town. He was the link for me getting a job there as a delivery and take out kid. I remember getting a ride in Steve's bug once or twice. I can still picture that experience. The car was really nice inside and out. It was low and it was loud. I also recall getting a ride in his dad's split window early Bug. It was primer grey or some kind of light color like that. I remember sitting up front. If you have ever ridden in an old VW bus, its a unique experience. With that flat nose, you sit up high and very far forward. The steering wheel is like a big school bus steering wheel and its very horizontal. There is nothing like it. 

The second factor, which I'm guessing came after this initial experience with the Keene's bug and bus is reading and buying VW Trends and Hot VW's car magazines at the local grocery store (Save Mart in Tehachapi). I got seriously hooked on the feature cars and how-to tech articles and cool wheels and parts that were advertised in these mags. The first car I can remember really wanting to buy as my first car was the Type 3 Squareback. I don't really know why, except to say I thought they looked really cool, especially slammed with some cool Porsche Fuchs wheels or maybe some steelies, hub caps and white walls. Here's a couple of cool examples I found on the internet. 

What's funny is that performance wasn't a big part of my enjoyment of these Vdubs. It was stance and old car interiors and simple mechanicals and customization. There is a part of the aircooled car world that is into drag racing and I was interested in that aspect too. I liked the idea of having a bug that could pop a wheelie at the drag strip. haha

In small town Tehachapi in 1996 there wasn't any Squarebacks for sale. I recall going to see one that wasn't running, but I guess the cost and work involved to get it running wasn't appealing or possible to me. There were more bugs around than anything, so that was a natural go-to for me.

I think I actually found my bug in the paper in the Classifieds section. There was a very small ad with the year/make/model, the price and a phone number. 

Sorry for the picture of a picture here. This was the night I bought and brought home my 72 Bug. A quick Google search says this color code was "54D Marina Blue". I bought it for $600 from a family friend, Steve Guenther, who lived in Stallion Springs. I don't know if I knew it was Steve's car that we were going to see when we called and arranged it. I can't remember. I had just been hired to work at Scott Bomar Machine in Tehachapi, California about 2 weeks after I graduated from High School. So, I had a job to get to and some income. I was waiting to turn 19 to serve a mission for the Church and was trying to make some money. I still have a memory of going to look at it and test drive it. I remember my dad drove it and when he stomped on the brakes to feel them out, it swerved hard to the right. He said something like "welp, the brakes need to be adjusted". LOL You can see the sign in the window that says "$750". I had the money and my dad helped me figure out what to offer. Steve took the offer and we drove it home! This picture was after we had returned home and I was showing it to my siblings. That's almost 12 year old Lexy posing with me.

Here's some additional photos below showing how my dad and I repaired the huge dent in the passenger side door and rear side panel.

My dad was able to get a lot of the dent straightened out. He also attempted to heat and cool the metal to get it to shrink up a little. You can see it took a lot of bondo to do the rest. Yikes! 

In this last photo, you may notice the front was lowered. We removed like 2 or 3 of the 7 or so torsion bars that are in the front beam. I love a raked bug!

I left on my Church mission for Brazil in February of 1997 and the car was used by my sister to drive around, including delivering Domino's Pizza. I wish we had a picture of it with the delivery sign they used to put on the cars. 

As the time for my mission to finish got close, my dad started asking me about what color would I want to paint it. I remember Burgundy and off white 2-tone was an idea. Its funny because I hate burgundy. I call it "Grandma Red". haha The red paints were more expensive, so we talked about other colors. I think painting it in the original Marina Blue was another option discussed. We ended up going with a Corvette Yellow. I didn't realize that my dad was actually in the process of repainting the entire car and re-doing the interior and freshening up the engine. When I arrived home in January 1999, here is what I came home to:

Dad even picked up these cool 8 spoke Empi wheels from a Vdub shop in Lancaster where he got other parts, like interior panels and headliner. Dad got the heads reworked by the same Mark Stephens High Performance shop in town and a cool exhaust. I was blown away by how cool the car looked and how good it ran! I took it up to Utah where I went to school. I had it up there for a year. I got engaged in February of 2000. I needed money and we didn't need another car, so it went up for sale. I told it to a guy and his teenage son for $4000 or so. I haven't seen the car at any shows or online on any of the local VW clubs Facebook pages. 

Here's a pick of the bug with then girlfriend Christy at the 1999 August Wasatch Vintage VW Club Car Show.

So, here we are 26 years later and looking at potentially picking up another aircooled Vdub. They are still cheap to own and fix. They're still pretty plentiful. They are simple to build and repair. They look super cool when lowered and modified. It would be a lot of fun to pick up a project Vdub and get it going for less than $8000 would be the goal. Something I could cruise around town and take to Vdub events locally. Here is one that is currently for sale an hour away for $3000. It looks to be mostly there and with a rebuilt engine that looks clean, it looks like it could be close to getting running with elbow grease.

I have a message into the seller on Facebook Marketplace, but nothing yet. What is with people who don't respond to legit interest in their cars for sale. Also I don't get the people who try selling cars with terrible pictures and essentially no information in the ad. Like, help us out with at least some basic details on what you are selling. It drives me crazy!

Here's some really cool aircooled Vdubs for inspiration! Here's a "Cal Look" raked style, a slammed white walled style and a road race style bug. Did you know Germany and Brazil had a "Bug Cup" race series for bugs? Heck ya!!!!

Looking for a Project Car! Porsche 914?

PMB Performance's shop 914-6 flared racecar (Salt Lake City, Utah) 

 
Welcome to 2026! I've been doing this blog for 18 years.  My first post from this Hechtspeed blog was in May of 2007. Yikes! It's been a really fun blog to keep all these years. Its just a journal of my car hobby and you can see, I'm all over the place. I think that makes it fun! It's been over a year since my last post in December of 2024. I still have the 2008 Mustang GT. It's "winter" so its rocking the winter wheels and tires right now. It's fine, I don't love the look. I can't wait for warmer weather to put the 19s back on it. 

Photo taken at the Nov 1 Sandy Mall Cars-n-Coffee

The Mustang has been "done" for almost 2 years now. I'm enjoying it. It's a great car. It's the nicest car I've owned so far (not including my wife's new Honda family cars). Sure, I could put more money into the Mustang. The thing is, I already have $23k into it and its maybe worth like $15k (if that, honestly). Its an 18 year old Mustang GT with 138k miles. Its nothing special. You can find stock Mustangs from 2005-09 for under $10k. I just turned 48, 3 of my 4 kids have moved out and my youngest is 16 and driving, working and hanging out. So, I have more time on my hands and have been working on saving some "fun money" for something. I'm bored! I'm looking for something fun to do with my extra time.

I'll walk you through where my head is at lately. There are lots of cool things I could work towards as far as my car hobby goes. Here's some of those ideas in no particular order:

1. Keep building the Mustang (ideas such as: Coyote swap, supercharge the 3V 4.6L, gut it and make it more racecar, change up the wheels and get some expensive, really cool wheels (like $2500-$4000) like, Volk TE37s, Apex forged 18x11s, etc.

Pros: Scratches the project car itch, means the Mustang can stay parked in the garage year round. Make the Mustang even cooler. Cool wheels are the most viable option here, and cheaper than a 5.0L swap or Supercharger.

Cons: Engine swap is scary, will mean the car is not operational for some amount of time, might mean it can't pass emissions. Supercharger makes the car more nose heavy, even more powerful and thus even less useable on the street, its already pretty fast for city speed limits. 

2. Keep saving (probably at least another 5 years of saving and not touching the Mustang) and get a Factory Five Racing kit (Daytona Coupe MK3, Shelby Cobra MK5 (lots of leg room now)

Pros: This would result in the coolest future car to own in the future. Assembling a FFR kit is just sounds so insanely cool. It's the ultimate obtainable dream.

Cons: This option takes the most patience (many years away, so what do I do between now and then) and the most money! ($25k+ for the kit, plus a donor car, or buying new/used drivetrain parts separately) It requires the most space (you have to put the fiberglass body somewhere while you are building up the frame. Many boxes of parts needing to be stored somewhere. You need to store the Mustang donor car somewhere until you have a shell and either sell it or take it to the dump.

3. Get a "cheap" project car, something that's not likely driving but could be fixed up to get it on the road for not too much money.

Pros: Cheapest option to get another car, to get me a project that doesn't take the Mustang out of commission. Will provide the most satisfaction (taking a non running/driving car and get it driving). Let's me build up the car over time as I have money and time. Provides a chance to have "the hunt" for the perfect project car. Once its to a good driving condition, could potentially be sold for a small profit to keep funding the next project (maybe? is that wishful thinking? stars would have to align).

Cons: Means the Mustang has to park outside (Dad says just get a nice car cover for it). Could mean the repairs end up more expensive than I thought or planned or have budget for. Could end up selling it for a loss (but the idea is to by a cheap project so the costs are low and thus the financial risks are low. Not zero, but lot you know).

So, with Option #3 here, a cheap project car, let's talk about what cars sound interesting to me:

Aircooled VW Bug/Squareback/Karman Ghia, Porsche 914, old Ford or Chevy truck from the 40s-80s, MGs, Jensen Healey's, Fiats, Japanese cars (old Corollas, Celicas, Datsun 510s, 240Zs, Civics), old Volvo 242, old Ford muscle cars (Falcons/Mustangs/Cougars/Mavericks/Pintos) and so on. That's a lot of options and there's even more than that (like old VW Jetta/Rabbit/GTi). In this large group of options, there's a lot of different types of cars too, cruisers, trucks, hot rods, commuter cars, etc. 

Whoa! That's a lot!

Yesterday, Corey and I actually drove across town 10 minutes away and looked at a 1965 Ford Ranchero with 289 V8 for sale for only $3000. It had been posted Saturday evening and I ended up messaging the guy around midnight. Here is a picture I took as we walked away with the "Thanks for your time, I'll think about it" farewell. It's definitely worth the $3k asking price, it runs but doesn't drive. But, the work involved, according to the seller, sounds pretty simple to get it to be a running and driving car (trans not hooked up-they tried swapping from floor shift to column shift and bought wrong column, water pump). Peeking underneath and around the windshield and in the interior, the rust repairs needed eventually are the hold up for me. Which will be a normal discovery with any of these projects I'm looking to buy, I know. It looks really good from a distance eh? Cool cars! I dig the GT wheels too.

For the rest of this post, I'm going to explore the Porsche 914 idea for Project option #3. Why the 914? The 914 is a cool sports car that is budget friendly (relatively speaking obviously, compared to some other options). It's a Porsche! But also, its not fully a Porsche. So, sort of best of both worlds when you're on a budget. My dad had one as well, which gives me some really cool history with it. I really like aircooled Vdub Bugs, Karman Ghias and Type 3s (Squareback, Fastback, Notchback, Type 34 Ghia) and the 914 is the peak of the aircooled VWs. I love that there is a wide body racecar version of the 914! It has real racecar cred'! Another point is I already have a V8 muscle car! I like variety! After building my Mustang into a pretty decent track prepared street car, but only having gone to the track once, I've learned that I'm not a committed track driver guy. I like the idea of it! At this point, I'm not ready to commit to the track life. When it comes down to it, I want to tinker, I want a project, I want something that I can get running and make it look really cool. I am interested in joining up with like minded people. If I got a 914, I would be part of the Porsche world, albeit on the bottom of the todem pole, which I wouldn't mind at all. I think I would enjoy the sports car enthusiast culture that the Porsche world brings. 

Let's get into my 914 history. I'm surprised I've never really dug into my dad's 914. It looks like I posted one picture years ago of his car in my blog. My dad owned a 1975 (or was it a 1976? memory is fading...) Porsche 914 with the 1.8L (technically 1795cc). A quick search tells us that there was the "1.8L" 76-84hp option(depending on the market, which we know the USDM got the lower hp rating) or a "2.0" 88-95hp option. I interviewed my dad about a year ago to write a life history. Below is the info I got from him about the car (I got basic story and info on each car he's owned), plus some additional details after talking to him on the phone tonight.

1975 Porsche 914: Bought in 1993 for his 40th birthday (35 mpg with a/c on). This was a car he wanted since they were new in the early 70s. He commuted in it 100 miles per day to Edwards AFB and back. On a hot summer day, Rodger picked at a paint chip and it quickly escalated to a full repaint in the garage in the same Copper Metallic (L99K) color (reading a BaT post of a Copper car for sale, it says this was a 1975 only color). The engine was out of the car about 5-6 times as well during a rebuild with fresh cylinder head work and a new camshaft (first cam wasn’t right). Engine parts were bought from a small VW shop in Tehachapi called “Mark Stephens High Performance”. I ended up working there for 2 weeks during the summer but they weren’t busy enough to keep me employed. It was a killer cornering car that drove like a go kart. The only downer about the car was the transmission needed a rebuild as it had difficulty shifting into a couple of the gears. It had a 4 tip “Pacesetter” exhaust that sounded nice and gave it a deeper tone. Dad says it was too loud and droned going up the hill on the way home from work, the one thing that was annoying with the car.

I'm looking at this pic of dad sitting in his 914 and I'm now a few years older than my dad when this photo was taken. Yikes! Time flies eh! Here's some recollections I have on the car. In 1993 when dad bought the 914, he had been driving a 1990 Geo Metro xFI hyper commuter car. He was commuting 100 miles per day 5 days a week. In like 3+ years, the Geo had over 100k miles on it. He was bored of driving the Geo and wanted something more fun and had always wanted a 914. After his mission, dad and mom had broken up temporarily and he said "screw it" and went to buy a new red 914, but was going to need to have his mom sign with him on the loan. For some reason it didn't work out at that time in the mid 70s but 20 years later he made it happen. He paid around $3000 for this copper one. It was in town in Tehachapi. He continued commuting to Edwards AFB in the 914. It had an a/c system installed and with that small interior compartment, it was ice cold for those Mojave desert commutes! Dad added a bumpsteer kit to correct the geometry when lowering it. It had ride height adjustability in the front and he had lowered it a little. The brakes were meh, but the car being so nimble and light (under 2100 lbs) it didn't need much brake. Dad started running into an issue with having to adjust a lifter too often. One day when trying to adjust the lifter again,  a valve seat fell out and the piston was running into the valve. That's when the can of worms opened up as they say and the "while I'm in there" situation unfolded. Dad had the heads reworked with the trademark Mark Stephens valve seat mod, along with bigger pistons/cylinders to get the displacement up to about 1900ccs. He also put a cam in it. The cam must have been defective or too big because it broke the end of a valve twice (which meant the engine had to be pulled out several times. So in went a smaller cam. and all was well for the rest of his ownership. He chose a hydraulic cam because adjusting lifters was a pain.

I was 15 years old when he bought it. I soon got my permit. This 914 was the second manual car I ever drove. I still remember the first time I ever drove it. My dad and I were driving home from Bakersfield right as the sun was going down. He pulled off the 58 freeway out near the orange groves and parked the car and said, "Ok, you're turn to drive it". It was a really cool experience! The synchros were toast so shifting into 2nd and 3rd gear were slow and annoying. I also remember the e-brake didn't work that good. If the car was parked on the driveway, which had a slant, and you went to put the clutch in an start it, it would start rolling down the driveway. So, you had to do this heel-toe dance to keep a corner of your foot on the brake, but blip the throttle to help it start up and stay running for a second. Well, one day I was taking the car somewhere and we had a family friend with his truck parked behind the 914. It was a little to the side and I thought I would have room, but when I started it, I got distracted by this heel-toe start up sequence and it rolled back ever so slightly and bumped into the truck and cracked the passenger side taillight. Well, that taillight is a Porsche part wouldn't you know it. That was like $150 back in 1996 or so. Oof! Sorry pops! Don't worry, with 4 boys, Karma has paid we back just fine! haha

I remember feeling so cool when I would drive the 914 around town or to the high school. While its known as the "Poor Man's Porsche", its still a Porsche and a very cool looking sports car! That with the nice sounding exhaust and targa top removed and stored in the truck, that's one cool machine!

One final memory of the 914. I remember riding shotgun with dad up and over the hill from Brights Lake to Stallion Springs. There is a nice winding mountain road (Touge! or Die Alpenstraße if you're german! haha). Dad starting taking the corners hard and at one point, we were 4 wheel drifting the 914. It was scary and thrilling and I was impressed with dad's racecar driving skills! I was hooked!

Beautiful restomod 914-4 by PMB Performance in Salt Lake City

One of the beneficial attributes of the 914 being the "Poor Man's Porsche" is it does make it affordable to the everyman like me. Really nice examples with the factory VW Type 4 1.8 or 2.0L engines can be had for around $15k-20k. So, this makes picking up a project car somewhere in the $5k range, give or take, depending on condition.

My Pantera buddy, turned Porsche buddy Corey and I have been talking 914s. His idea is to do an LS V8 swap or a Porsche flat 6 swap, like a 3.4L water cooled flat 6 engine from a Boxster (which is mid engine too), with either option using a Boxster transaxle. While that sounds amazing, the swap idea is not something I'd be doing anytime soon. My thought is to get a 914-4 and just get it running and driving as is with the 4 cylinder. I think a modified 2.0L with dual carbs making about 100-130hp would be plenty of fun in a car that weighs 2000 lbs. I would want to do the metal box fender flares, which can be bought in steel for about $1000 from PMB Performance (no, PMB is not sponsoring this blog, but they should eh?! ha)

Another clean 914 spotted at the PMB Performance Cars-n-Coffee in November 2025

The 914 still has pretty good support for replacement panels and parts. I think it being a Porsche sports car has helped keep the aftermarket alive through all these years. There were 119k total 914s made from 1969-1976 world wide and they were raced as well, which always helps a car live on after its production is ended. 

The box flared flares are a big draw for me. I love the factory "narrow body" lines for sure, but I'm a huge fan of wider is better with wheels and tires for that aggressive "bulldog" look. So, if I picked up a 914 project, I would plan to do flares at some point. Just look at this thing!

Gorgeous 914-6 with box flares at PMB Performance event

I've been watching the local Facebook Marketplace here in the Salt Lake City area for a long time. There are certainly 914s which come up for sale, but not many. So, the pickins' are slim as they say. Right now, there is this red 1976 914-4 project for sale down in Pleasant Grove (about an hour from home). It looks mostly all there, looks to have a mostly straight body, but its not running and likely has rust in the usual areas. But, what are you going to do, any 50 year old car is going to be similar. This one is for sale for $3000.

His ad says "Definitely a project." haha You got that right. I've sent a message enquiring for more photos of the engine bay and floors to try and get an idea of its condition. It's been listed for about a month you can see as well. It would be sweet if I could pick this up for $3000 or even less and get it running with minimal investment.