New Look

We hope you like the new look of the newsletter. We’ve also enclosed a new business card. While the card gives our new web site address, it is still under construction. We will let you know when it is up via the newsletter.

New recipients of the newsletter may not know about the dedication. Freidrich Weber was the body man at the first Porsche automotive facility in Gmund, Austria. He would form the aluminum skins for the first Porsche 356. He also enjoyed his liquor and often would not show up on Monday. But when he did he could make more 356 parts than anyone else. He became a legend; my kind of guy.

Road Trip

BJ and I packed the truck with parts and left for the big L.A. Swap Meet on Friday, February 11. We had ice and snow pack all the way to Santa Fe. We made good time and stopped in Holbrook, AZ. The next day after a quick stop in Flagstaff to visit my sister, we arrived at the Swap Meet site in Anaheim. Saturday evening was a pizza, beer and spaghetti reception to honor Al Cadrobbi. Al was the four-cam Porsche guy in California. He has a national reputation. Although he suffers from Parkinson disease, he did a very gracious job of accepting his honors. There was probably 250300 folks in attendance.

After the festivities, I was able to sneak my truck into the Swap Meet site and avoid the mad rush expected the next morning. We stayed at a motel across the street Sunday morning we set up along with probably 150 other vendors. The buyers and lookers came in waves. We did real well and made over four thousand dollars. We also met repeat customers from Europe and South America. We also got to chat with Dick Weiss from Ohio who flew out with fellow 356 enthusiasts. Dick, after many years, has completed the restoration of his Carrera Speedster. Way to go Dick! We also met with 356 friends from AZ, NM and TX.

In addition to the Swap Meet there was a huge Porsche car show. Probably 300 Porsches mostly 356’s and lots of race cars. I would guess 2,000-3,000 folks attended the event. Based on past swap meet experience we loaded up at noon and headed out of town. We decided to go back via Las Vegas and got there about 5:00. We stayed at the MGM Grand; a great hotel!

There were plenty of celebrities there for the ESPN Sports Awards Show. In addition to playing the slots (I lost $60, BJ won $ 100) there is lots to see and do. Turned in early and hit the road. Utah is beautiful in the winter. We had no weather or traffic problems and got home after eleven hours of fast driving.

Progress

Charlie’s ’64 Coupe came back from the painters; we put it back together and he drove it home. We had to paint the 356 three times due to surface contamination problems. – In the future we will only paint 356s that are blasted to bare metal.

Charlie sent us a nice E-mail thanking us and complementing us on our work. This was nice as we seldom get feedback but it is how we feel about our work that is important.

We completed all the metal work on Scotty’s ’54 Coupe and since he was considering having it trailered to AZ for paint we also put it in primer. This involved painting all the sheet metal inside and out, then doing all the seams, caulking and undercoat Since I don’t have a paint booth in the shop this involves smells in the house. It’s great that Barb puts up with this. Scotty decided to have his ’54 painted here so we will trailer it to his painter in Aurora.

BJ also complete his ’64 Coupe and it will be off to Autoweave for upholstery. BJ did the headliner and most of the carpet.

I completed all the metal work on the Shop ’56 Sunroof Coupe except for the gas tank floor. I was able to cancel my order at Tweeks as Tom Conway of Carquip in Boulder called and said he had the piece. He sold me the piece for $175 which was great as one vendor wanted $800 for the same item. So this 356 will be ready for paint soon.

Rhowme’s ’61 Roadster should be back from the painter in a week or two. We will put this Royal Blue Roadster back together.

With a few cars moved out, I will pick up a new Shop car-a ’61 Coupe. I agreed to buy this 356 and the owners have graciously held it until I had room. This 356 requires a complete rear clip and other metal work. The previous owner had this 356 hand stripped which under the bondo revealed significant collision damage in the rear and also front. When they bought the 356 they were told it had never been damaged. This may not have been a misrepresentation as the owner before them May have also been told no damage. The brazing and poor repair dates the damage to the early ’70’s. In the early 70’s the 356’s weren’t worth much and the repair technology was crude. Overlapped sheetmetal was a common practice. We repair these poor previous repairs all the time. Who knows which owner even knew about the damage.

We also are going to look at a possible Shop ’61 Roadster project. So the fun and excitement continues.

Aloha!

(Guess where Barb and I are as you read this.)