The 31st Annual Colorado Concours D’Elegance and Exotic Sports Car Show will be Sunday June 8th. We usually have around 450 sports cars and lots of Porsches including 25-35 Porsche 356. Once again, this for charity show is at Arapahoe Community College on the grass.
As we mentioned before your 356 can be for display or judged. We recommend having your 356 judged as this will give you feedback on what areas of you 356 can be improved thus maintaining or increasing its value.
We’ve commented on the 356 values and market previously. We just checked the 356 Registry classifieds and out of thirty eight 356 listed nineteen are for 356 wanted. This tells us values and holding but can be increased if your 356 is in very good condition.

Barn Find

BJ’s cousin Doug in Iowa (the BBQ guy at Porsches and Pastries) had a friend who had a friend selling a 1964 Porsche project. They were asking $6000.
We asked Doug to check it out and we set up a time with the seller. He said someone else had already looked at the 356. Doug sent some pictures to us. It was your classic bar find picture. A completely disassembled dusty 356 sitting crooked on saw horses in a barn. Parts were in boxes and they were scattered and the seller didn’t know if all the parts were there. He thought the engine was there. Doug said he and a friend could pick up the 356 and parts and store them at his place until we could get them to Colorado. So we called the seller and offered $6500. He said that the first guy offered that amount so we said $6600. The seller said he would get back to us. He did and said the first guy offered $8000. We said we wouldn’t get into a bidding contest but our $6600 offer would stand.
So , they are still out there. Almost all the project level 356 are projects purchased cheap and are never completed. Many stored for twenty, thirty or forty years.

Website

The 356Restore.com website has been updated and is now compatible with smart phones and social media. We have had over one hundred visitors in just a few months. The website includes the twenty plus years of these newsletters and short descriptions of all the 356s we have worked on. We have worked on all the models except the Gmund, American Roadster and Carrera 2.

Formula 1

The new season has started. We enjoy road racing and lost interest in Nascar years ago. The new Formula 1 cars are 1600 cc V6’s. This is probably the same engine size of your stock 356. Early 356 had engines sized at 1300 and 1500 cc’s. Displacement, cubic centimeters, was used to decide racing groups and championship. While the stock 1600 cc 356 has 60, 75 or 90 horsepower the Formula 1 cars have 650 horsepower and more added by recovering waste heat and kinetic energy plus they are turbo charged. The turbo runs at 125,000 rpm. Stop! Think about this, 125,000 revolutions per minute! We can’t even picture something spinning that fast. Of course, all of this advanced (and expensive) technology yields very high speeds and competitive racing which we enjoy watching. The technology will be in the future cars we drive but there is still nothing like driving a fifty plus year old 356. No power steering, no power brakes, you can hear the engine and feel the performance in your hands and seat. This is driving enjoyment. Today’s cars are road appliances.

Progress

BJ is just about finished with the metal work on Casper, the 1961 Shop Coupe. The original hood fit was poor but fortunately we had a better fitting hood in our parts inventory. We also recently repaired a kinked hood. The owner had also purchased
a new reproduction hood . We did a quick repair to the kinked hood and it fit ok but still needed some work. So we tried the new hood. It would not fit. It sat high in the left front corner. We checked if the 356 was level. Across the front of the hood opening it was off. The owner said he was unable to adjust the left headlight and suspected a previous repair in this area. It was obvious the left front fender had been repaired and then the hood was made to fit. To use the new hood would mean replacement of the front of the left fender and fitting it to the new hood. We decided to a better repair to the kinked hood and it fit. The owner will have to see if he can return the new reproduction hood. They are expensive but it is great to have hoods now available. With the strong interest in 356s it is great to have reproduction parts available.
Speaking of fitment, we have installed over forty rear windshields . We can usually reuse the original rear windshields as they are seldom damaged. So on the Shop ’64 Coupe , we purchased a new rear windshield seal, installed it on the windshield, inserted the aluminum deco, placed the installation cord and placed it in the 356. It would not fit! Why not? It’s the original and we removed it. Tried again, no go, tried again, same. Ordered a new seal. Nope. Ok lets try another rear windshield as we have plenty. No go! Frustrated. Our plan will be to check the opening for the windshield. It was not damaged, and there was no body work done is this area. If it is still a no go, we will take it to a windshield shop to see if they can install it.
We just picked up the Shop ’56 Speedster!

Grandpa News

Alex went to her first Denver Nuggets with Grandpa and Grandma. Samantha loves all day preschool.