FREIDRICH WEBER’S WORK

It was great to see the work of the man to which this newsletter is dedicated. Bill Jackson showed his 1949 Gmund Coupe at the WestFest event and the UCPA Concours. Bill’s Coupe is the seventeenth 356 Porsche built. Good old Freiderich must have been sober when he had beat the aluminum on this car because it is beautiful. These early cars were the foundation of Porsche as a car company and the beginning of the 356 model we all enjoy. Thanks to Bill and Lynn for sharing this treasure.

PROGRESS

Well I anticipated too early the paint work on Ron and Marcia’s 356 Coupe. It is almost ready for paint. I am concerned that we are spending too much time for final finish work. But this is my problem to solve. We need to get Ron and Marcia’s 356 done 1.) to get paid and 2.) to get the shop ’63 Coupe ready for paint.

So, we have two 356’s at the paint booth and two in the 356RESTORE shop and three in storage awaiting work. The two in the shop are Joe’s ’57 Speedster and Warren’s ’65 Coupe. Joe’s Speedster took a lot of study before I just decided to pick up the plasma cutter and cut apart major panel sections. The problem was the Speedster had been rebuilt on a donor chassis and the fenders, lockposts, cowl, nose and doors just didn’t fit. The hood and deck lid were in good shape so we rebuilt the doors and had enough good metal to reposition the rest of the car. I had to cut into the inner fender to raise the front fenders to meet the hood. I also had to cut and reweld the front fenders as they were too fat i.e. when you sighted down the side of the car, you could see the fenders bulge in front of the doors. I also had to cut and reposition the right rear fender which was pulled down i.e. no bulge, just a deep dip. The best way to check out panel fit problems is to string the car (a Tom Conway tip). You tape strings down the side of the car longitudinally about an inch apart. Your doors should be repaired and in their final position. The strings will shown the high and low spots and also curve breaks. In the case of the Speedster, The strings showed where the fenders had been pulled down too far (dips) or pushed up (bulges). The Speedster is progressing nicely and should be done next month. Warren’s ’65 Coupe is a driver and needs new bottom door skins, a battery box and a nose job. 356RESTORE will do the major rust repair and Warren will do the finish. Here again is another example of 356RESTORE’s philosophy. This 356 is a driver, the owner will do a lot of the work and we will do the difficult skill work at a reasonable price. Speaking of price, I am going to raise the shop rate to $25 an hour (still a bargain). I am hoping to break even in this our second year of having fun restoring 356 Porsches.

Speaking of Warren’s Coupe is another example of not only a driver 356 but of Porsche dependability. I could see the paint blisters on the rear deck and guessed a carb fire. Sure enough, when I opened the lid I could see the fire had fried all the wires to the voltage regulator and did a nice job on the regulator itself. But everything works! The 356 starts right up and while the wiring should be replaced, Porsche dependability is still there.

Another example was Abby’s 356. While there wasn’t metal on the bottom, the engine was worse. The oil was as thick as 90 weight; the carbs had at least a quarter inch of shellac and all the cooling fins were packed with oil/dirt. But the engine ran and even passed emissions. So while I hate to see these great cars abused I do have to admire their dependability.

SHOP HOURS

The shop is open Mon-Fri from 8:00 AM to 3:56PM. On Saturdays from 8:00 AM till Noon. Afternoon on Saturday is still open shop till 3:56 PM. Someone drops by just about every Saturday afternoon to check out the work and shoot the breeze-why don’t you?

During shop hours the phone is 840-2356; after hours 841-6475.

Note:

The shop will be closed June 15-20 while Barb and I take the ’63 Sunroof Coupe on the Canyonlands 1000 tour.