Introduction
We have had a lot of positive feedback on this newsletter, so we will keep it going. It adds a little to our overhead, but at $22.50/hour we are still the lowest price, knowledgeable 356 restoration ship in the state area.
This month, the ’54 Cabriolet was removed from the rotisserie with its bottom done and the ’61 T-5 Coupe shop car went into storage in a friend’s barn (where all 356’s should be stored) and now the shop has the ’54 Cab (Tom’s), ’62 Coupe (Abby’s), and ’61 T-5 Sunroof Coupe (Jim’s). We still expect the ’57 Speedster (Steve’s car) within the next few weeks, but there’s plenty of work for Ryan and I. Ryan is doing great! He has been out of welding school for a few years, serving in the US Army Rangers but is now laying down welds as good as mine (better? don’t tell him!).
With Jim’s car on the rotisserie and Ryan and I working side by side, we quickly completed Jim’s left inner longitudinal, rear closing panel, longitudinal, threshold, front closing panel, rocker panel, and front bulkhead. We also did the same repair on the right side and should have the diagonal and battery box done by the time you read this. When we couldn’t work together on the ’61 T-5 Sunroof, I would work on the exterior of Abby’s ’61 Coupe. I completed the repair behind the quarter windows, the front and rear of both doors and the engine tray.
Notes:
We visit other restoration shops as often as we can and they do great work! However, 356RESTORE does work we don’t notice in other shops. When we do a front/rear strut or longitudinal, we clean out the inner cavity and paint with two part epoxy primer. This is how we stand behind our 10-12-15 year rust free guarantee (depending on when I retire).
Tech Tips
On Jim’s ’61 T-5 Sunroof Coupe, we had to open the area from the rear strut below the torsion tube up to the shock mount. What did we find? Fiberglass. Some one packed this area with fiberglass insulation and on Jim’s 356 which had been stored for many years outside, it was still damp. Please, if you are going to store your 356 outside-don’t! And don’t cover a 356 with plastic. All it does is create a hothouse of rust. If you need garage storage, give me a call. There is a broker who specializes in garage space.
Contest
We had one correct answer to our contest question on where wood screws were used on a 356 in a non wood area. Since the respondent was a professional who traded his knowledge for our knowledge on other 356 areas it was a draw. We were thinking of keeping the contest open for you hobbyists, but will semi-close it and come up with another contest. The correct answer was wood screws in the fuse block or wood screw for the upper door chrome trim. There may be other wood screws we missed, so 10% off to other correct answers!
Philosophy
Our approach to encourage 356 owners to participate in the repair of their 356’s seems to be working. While we have a shop full of 356’s, we are still doing house calls where the owner helps with the cleaning and grinding. We recently evaluated George’s ’64 Coupe and expect to spend a few days on numerous rust repairs. We do have to charge $20 for loading our equipment, but the hourly rate is $22.50/hr. The more you can do, the less the repair will cost. As always, advice and evaluations are free. The idea is to get these great cars back on the road!
Parts
We sold a lot of parts at the PCA Swap Meet but still have a good inventory left. We will be at the West Fest Swap meet at Ed Carroll’s Porsche in Fort Collins on May 2nd. We would appreciate more parts, so if you have some, we will take them on consignment (80/20). This saves you the hassle of carting your treasures and 356RESTORE gets the visibility of being a source for parts and repairs. Call us at (303) 840-2356.
