Progress

Lets take inventory. Today we have five 356’s in the garage and four in the basement shop. No! We moved Tony’s ’65 Coupe to the paint booth so we only have eight 356’s at the shop (this makes our address – 8356 N. Sunburst Trail legal). So at the paint booth we have three 356’s. Then there are three in the barn and one in the Black Forest. That makes fifteen 356’8 under our supervision and let’s check the schedule board. We have twenty two 356’s that need work in the future. It adds up to thirty seven 356’s. So as we have said before, we really have fun restoring the 356 model Porsches; it looks like we have a few more years of fun.

This month, we got Alan’s ’60 Roadster ready for Slate Gray paint. He wanted show quality so we have to spend another week, slowing down other projects (356RESTORE does not recommend the over restoration of 356’s).

John’s Speedster still is being fixed. The real solution to this problem would have been to replace every panel due to poor previous repair. But this would have really increased the cost of restoration, so we will continue to work around the previous repairs.

Tom’s ’52 has been idle while we waited for him to do some special insulation in the longitudinals. This is another 356 that needs every inner panel replaced or repaired but it goes easy on the rotisserie.

Rhome’s ’61 Roadster awaits replacement of the whole mid driver side where it got T-boned over twenty years ago. And of course a friend asked us to do the final assembly of a really nice ’59 Sunroof Coupe restored in San Diego. It sounded like a one week job, so we said ok, but when the 356 arrived, it was missing lots of parts. The metal work, finish and Signal Red paint on this car was excellent. We assembled the rear bumpers, installed the instruments and ordered parts needed to continue assembly. Then the customer called and said he was going to repaint to the original Fjord Green. So we disassembled every thing to get it ready for the painter. We won’t paint this one as we are fully committed in both the shop and paint booth.

Tech Tip

I mentioned we assembled the rear bumpers on the ’59 Sunroof Coupe. All of the restorers are having significant problems with the reproduction bumper deco available today. The deco is only available from one source and it doesn’t fit out of the box. It is best to fit the deco on your unpainted bumper. It may take three to four hours to get the contour correct. Remove the center rubber buffer to allow pounding on the aluminum without scarring the exterior. Also, replace the small carriage bolts with the proper metric size or you will find them spinning in the slots after a few tightenings. Right now it is best if you can salvage your origina1 deco’s perhaps just replacing the rubber buffer. If your buffer has pulled back from the ends just remove the bumper guard, cut the buffer behind it and slide back to the end. A little glue helps.

Swap Meet

We went to a Swap Meet last weekend but the weather was bad and few buyers showed up. I traded and sold some parts and found a real buy. I bought ten A-B backing plates powder painted and complete for $5 each. I saved at least $25 each and will also save hours cleaning and painting for future projects.

West Coast Holiday

This newsletter goes to 275 Porsche 356 owners primarily in the five state area. Some of you are not active in the local or national Porsche clubs and may not know of the big event to be held in Colorado this June. The event is called the 356 Registry West Coast Holiday. It is being hosted by the Rocky Mountain 356 Porsche Club

We will start in Snowmass on Wednesday, June 14th with events and parties and then drive to Crested Butte on Friday and conclude on Sunday, June 18th. We already have over 75 356’s registered and expect well over a hundred.

You are welcome to participate even if your 356 is not drivable. This is an excellent event to check out 356’s similar to yours and gain valuable knowledge. Plus you will meet some great people who share your enthusiasm for the world’s greatest sports car.

Barb and I are registrars for this event so just call us for details (303) 841-6475 or (303) 840-2356.