The owner wanted a restoration but 356RESTORE was too busy. Another shop stripped and discovered huge rear end damage. Their metal work estimate went from $5,000 to $12,000. The owner pulled the car. We bought it, put on a rear clip and did other rust repair. Changed color from green to black to match the interior. Sold it for $15,500 to the wife of the previous owner as a birthday surprise for her husband.

This was a family 356 but was parked ten years ago when a missed shift caused engine damage. 356RESTORE did a complete restoration and the owner did the undercoating and final assembly. The 356 went to San Diego as part of a retirement plan but after a year is now back in Denver.

This was another full restoration. Typical rust repair. Jim rebuilt his engine with European heater systems using the Maestro’s books. This 356 is now a daily driver.

Mentioned earlier, we returned this Roadster to Rhome and told him to fit everything to the car before it was painted. We were concerned that due to the heavy damage, parts might not fit i.e. windows to top, bumpers, etc. Rhome never not around to it and it came back for us to assemble, paint and reassemble. Only a few parts didn’t fit and the 356 is now in original color of Royal Blue.

This was a California 356 but none of the numbers matched. Typical rust repair and is now ready for paint. I think the original color was Aquamarine Blue but I went with another color. It sold in late 2001.

Scotty mentioned earlier actually raced against this 356 in 1954 and 1955. It is also only three serial numbers different from another Pre-A Coupe he owns. So he has sisters. We were able to save the floor pan, longitudinal, and rockers. Major metal work was to the rear which had very, very poor previous repair. Heavy brazing, warpage, and bondo 3/8 inch deep.

This was just supposed to be a scratch and shoot; a color change from Black to Auratrium Green. It have us a lot of problems as today’s paint reacts with yesterday’s paint material. We had to paint it three times!

BJ is my son and a few years ago moved from Minnesota to Colorado. He now works with me in the shop. After a year of developing his welding and restoration skills we thought it would be good for him to restore a 356 from start to finish with hands off by me-just coaching. We found a ’64 coupe just ten miles away which had been stored outside for 12 years. It had the typical rust which BJ repaired and it is now painted the original Ivory and has a black interior. BJ and his wife, Jen, had the option of selling the finished 356 or keeping it. They kept it and call it “Marshmallow.”

This was one of the few insurance jobs we’ve done. The 356 was stored outside in Basalt, CO under a pipe and canvas car cover which was tied to the rear deck lid. The wind came up, the deck lid was twisted and the pipes beat the car. This is when I learned about “betterment” i.e. insurance only paid for 70% of the paint job since it couldn’t be better than it was before the accident.

Another mountain car from Minturn. Complete restoration and New Aquamarine Blue paint with black interior. Forgot to weld up the mirror hole on the door. Bruce reminded me because he was going with a fender mirror. Had to repair the door. Bruce put in a roll bar and uses this 356 in Autocross. Now in California.

Another Vail car. I evaluated this one eight years ago but Rocky didn’t have the time or funds. Seven years later he calls for the restoration. After we finished he drove it to the Durango Holiday.

Owned by a dentist who sent it out to Aspen to be restored by a friend of his brother. After four years and $42,000, the Speedster wasn’t done; the restorer lost his shop and walked away. We finished the 356 including a repaint of Aquamarine Blue