UPDATE

Things keep rolling at 356RESTORE. I think we have the roadblock broken at the paint booth. The problem seems to be how perfect do we want the finish. Well, we want the finish and paint as perfect as the owner wants. If the owner wants perfect, we can do it; if the owner want street, we can do it! The problem is there can be a $2000-$3000 difference. I’ve been driving what I consider street finish for the last five years and have had a lot of complements. My 356’s are driven and they have chips and scratches. What I have to do is communicate to the finish guys how much time to spend vs what the owner expects.

OLD BUSINESS

Our thanks and the Red Cross’s thanks for your support of the “Fat Tire Classic”. 356RESTORE raised $135 and Ryan and the biking babes picked up another $500 for the Red Cross. Plus, Ryan and the ladies (my term) had fun and were competitive. (I think I could get 18″ wheels on a 356. Anyone want to sponsor a REAL Fat Tile Classic?)

Other old business. Barb and I had a great time on the Canyonlands 1000. We drove the 356B Sunroof Coupe at speed for 1800 miles and saw some great sights in southern Colorado and Utah. While the weather was hot, we used the 356 air conditioner-a spray bottle and turned in the vent wings. I hate to admit it but we never caught the Ferrari.

FUNNY BUSINESS

356RESTORE doesn’t have an employee’s handbook so we decided to take July 4th off. I guess we will also take future holidays off. Anyhow, Barb and I hadn’t been to Central City to test the slots so we decided to go up early on the 4th. We parked for $5 and got a coupon for $2 back at a certain casino. So we went to the casino and got our $2 plus a $10 roll of quarters. Barb got half. I was playing a slot machine and saw it had an ID plate that was 342. I decided to look for slot machine 356. I found it and was doing real good when Barb came back broke. She took three quarters from my machine and put them in the next machine (#357), pulled the handle and won $1,250! I can’t convince her to buy a lift for the shop so it looks like we get a remodeling for the master bath.

PROGRESS

We did some real nice work on Joe’s Speedster. The seams look good and the body fairly straight. More finish will be required to the level the owner wants. The bottom was stripped, painted, caulked and undercoated and should be good for another ten years (more with maintenance).

Joe will install the suspension and bring the Speedster back for final finish and paint.

We also started on Warren’s ’65 Coupe and finished the nose repair, door lower skin repair and battery box. Door skin repair is one of the most difficult repairs on a 356. I think we did an excellent job. We left the repair in bare metal so Warren can see the repair. If you have repair, you should insist on seeing the bare metal repair. I have seen many many poor repairs that were covered by bondo and didn’t last.

We also picked up Jim’s Pre-A Speedster from storage (thanks Tom Scott) and hope to find new storage as we won’t start this project until next year. (MSgt Jim doesn’t return from Italy till August ’95.)

We also bought another 356 as a shop car. So we have the ’60 T-5 Coupe, ’63 Coupe and two ’65 Coupes which we will finish for sale over the next year. The ’63 Coupe should be done in a few months and Mike has a $500 deposit for first right to buy. After the ’63 is sold we will start on one of the ’65s and it should be done and available for sale at year end. The ’60 Coupe could be a wedding present for our oldest son next spring but it will take lots of work and he and his fiance have to be involved.

PARTS

We recently acquired an additional large inventory of restoration parts. Not much mechanical parts but lots of interior and exterior items. Some nice turn signals at half of retail, lots of switches, seats and interior trim, A gas tanks, Speedster seat hinges, T-6 back up lights, head rests and six Blaupunkt radios. All the radios work! I send them to Wilford Wilkes back east and he is the specialist in 356 radios. If you want first choice call 840-2356.