Is There a Pony in Here?
We recently were told of a 356 parts stash and got it for a fair price, but no pony. (Barbs favorite expression from an old Peanuts cartoon where they were shoveling manure).

A contractor doing a remodel found a garage with car parts. The owner had died and the family said “Take them or throw them out”. The contractor’s buddy was a car guy and identified the parts as Porsche 356 parts. The contractor contacted the local PCA chapter and they contacted 356RESTORE.

No pony i.e. no four cam stuff or Pre A or Carrera just lots of B and C used parts. Stuff that can be restored and used again. We also have a lead on another 356 parts stash and hope to have details soon.

Progress
Previously, we mentioned the ’60 Roadster stored since 1972. While we thought this was a record we were recently contacted by a guy who started the restoration of his 1956 Speedster in 1965 and it has been stored since! He recently completed the restoration and they did a great job. He needed our advise on Speedster seat installation as he was missing some parts. The neat thing is they bought the parts needed for the restoration in the early 60’s from the dealership. All original parts!

We had the ’60 Roadster media blasted and there was more damage found under the paint and bondo. Both doors had the lower skin repaired with brazed metal covered by bondo. The door repair failed and there was additional rust damage. Remember this Roadster had been stored for thirty six years. The additional rust damage was due to not getting the damaged area clean. That is the great advantage with media blasting. It exposes the rust and allows it to be blasted away.

We won’t restore a 356 unless it has been media blasted. If you miss one small spot of rust it will grow until you have a bubble in the paint or a weak seam. Even in a stored 356 the rust will grow.

When we were disassembling the ’60 Roadster for blasting we found the bumper decos were original and in good shape. They can be restored. The reproduction bumper deco available today has split ends and is the wrong contour to fit the bumper. There is only one manufacturer of bumper decos and he obviously doesn’t believe in “if you are going to make it , make it right.”  It can take a day or more to fit reproduction bumper decos and maybe an hour for originals.

We had disassembled the parts and pulled the engine to get the ’60 Roadster ready for media blasting. We decided to pull the wheels, used the ratchet wrench with 10 mm socket. The lug nuts would not move. Switched to the torque wrench – no go. Tried the Cheater bar, just spun the tires. Went to the pneumatic wrench with 110psi; still no luck. Finally, a propane torch to heat the nuts and the pneumatic wrench did the trick. Who says there is no humidity in Colorado. Obviously enough to rust the lug nuts on a Roadster stored for thirty six year!

Tech Tip
We have mentioned the work lights available at Home Depot before. They are rugged Halogen floor lights with a switch for 250 or 500 watts. They are on sale now for $14.95 and come with two 500 watt Halogen bulbs, (a $6.95 value). We use them in the shop almost every day and even adapted one to illuminate our outdoor pond at night.

Progress (Continued)
While waiting for painting and blasting to be done we did some small jobs for local 356 owners. Ted’s Convertible D had the threshold dec os installed wrong and we corrected them and some other items. Don just had a passenger seat whose seat back wouldn’t stay in position. We fixed this and showed Don how to do it if it happened again. Woody had a sliding panel for his sunroof fabricated and we installed it and made some other areas more correct. When we told Woody what his SC Sunroof was worth in today’s market he decided to sell it. While we are not 356 market forecasters, we do keep our eye on the 356 market and think it has peaked. There are fewer buyers with less money. The big spenders have spent and the economy affects the remaining buyers. But a fun car, with value that gets 30 + mpg will stay in demand.

Gary
A good friend and 356 enthusiast was driving his ’35 Ford hot rod when he got hit by a lady looking for her cell phone. He got beat up pretty bad and his pride and joy hot rod destroyed. He is through therapy and at home. If you know Gary Moschetti and want to wish him well his phone number is 303-494-7281.

Progress (continued again)- remember in real letters when you added PS or PPS? This is it!

BJ has the ’60 Cabriolet about ready for paint. The Shop ’54 Coupe is at the painters. The Shop ’58 Outlaw was sold. The Shop ’54 Irish Green Coupe is at the mechanic’s for checkout and is probably sold and will go to Michigan. BJ will get back on the ’64 Shop and ’64 Coupe when he finishes the ’60 Cab and I am starting with the battery box floor in the ’60 Roadster.

We plan to pick up a ’61 Sunroof Coupe as our next customer job. We did the metal work on this 356 years ago and once again the owner did not have time to finish the project.

Grandpa News
I am not sure when it started but Jen and Grammy started calling Alex “A”. She seems to like it but with Jen with an accent from Minnesota I sometimes hear “Eh? A” which causes me to grin.

Alex recently swam a half lap of the pool with her instructor swimming along beside her. Not bad for a soon to be four year old. Olympic in 2020?