Aloha Bummer!
We didn’t get to Hawaii for vacation. I am a private person but there has been concern so this is what happened.

After Christmas I thought something might be wrong even though I felt great. I had had a chest x-ray that was negative but we did a CAT Scan and saw something suspicious in my right lung. We did a PET Scan and confirmed a tumor, we did a biopsy and it was cancer but curable by surgery. The surgery was done and it was more extensive than planned but it was successful!

All this happened within a month and the recovery period has taken five weeks. It is recommended that successful cancer surgery patients also follow up with chemo treatments to ensure the cancer is completely gone. We just started these treatments and will wrap it up in June and get on with the rest of our life with just monitoring.

Progress
Obviously I didn’t contribute much to progress at 356RESTORE. The good thing is that since we are working on shop cars no customers will be impacted by the slow down in progress. The exception is Bruce’s rare Speedster and he is in no hurry (yet!).

The Slate Grey ’64 Coupe was sold and is going to Florida. The sale price was at today’s market which was about seven thousand dollars more than we would have expected a few years ago.

We finished most of the minor items on the Shop ’57 Sunroof Coupe and it went to Autoweave. We did the carpet and headliner in the ’57 as this detail was added to our 356 Restoration book. However, I cheated and asked Autoweave to make our work look better.

The Shop ’57 Speedster was picked up at Autoweave and we are anxious to get it ready for sale. The engine has been built and needs to be installed. We need to install the windshield and a few other items. (It amazes us that a stripped down 356 like the Speedster can sell for so much.)

Joe Leoni came by and checked out the electrics in the Speedster. We had used a new wiring harness which is really a Coupe wiring harness. The factory just cut off the wires not needed for a Speedster i.e. radio, cigar lighter, interior light, etc. We did the same thing.

Those that have seen the Speedster say it looks great. It should, as everything is new or restored. While not a show 356 it is one of the best drivers we’ve done. We hope the new owner drives it. When we have a few mile on it we will take it to Paragon Motorcars where it will be eye candy with all the other exotic sports cars.

Sports cars at the level of the Speedster are not sold through the newspaper or on E-bay. A specialty shop like Paragon Motorcars is the correct sales arena. Check out Paragon at www.PARAGONMOTORCARSDENVER.com.

Also back from Autoweave was Scot’s ’55 Coupe. This is the 356 that we restored in exchange for the ’54 Coupe. We painted the ’55 the original Turkish Red and Scot opted for a light gray leather interior. This is one sharp bent window 356. We put the windshields in and will have the ’55 trailered back to Scot for final assembly and checkout.

BJ should have the Shop ’58 Coupe ready for paint in a few weeks and we will probably bring down the Shop ’54 Coupe as the next project. We also have the Shop ’57 Silver Outlaw Coupe at Autowweave and it will be fun to get ready to sell.

Selling a 356 outlaw is difficult. You have to find a buyer that wants an outlaw 356 exactly the way its been done. We also have a few days work on Rob’s ’58 Cabriolet which is at Trevor’s. So you see the shop is full!

I am not sure how much energy I will have over the next few months so if anyone wants to help out we can find you a project to take home and pay a reasonable fee. Most of the projects would be cleaning, painting and restoring parts. If you are interested give us a call (303) 840-2356.

Those of you that belong to the 356 Registry receive their excellent magazine. Check out the latest issue which includes a picture of a pink 356! Yes, it is true. Porsche would do almost any thing to close a sale. We understand the factory created a paint code for the pink 356 so it could be ordered again. A lot of the mysteries about options and non standard parts on a 356 are answered by the Kardex built data. That’s what the customer wanted, that’s what the customer got.

There are only a few absolutes about 356s. (The few that I believe at present I am keeping to myself as a judging tool.) You cannot say all 356s had this part or this part was only on such and such 356s. This make restoring 356s more fun for me than say restoring Corvettes. 356s were hand made individualized cars. If you wanted a Pink 356 you could get a Pink 356.

Tips
Its almost time for the 356 driving season and you must do something, Please.

Check the date on your tires! We have heard some real horror stories about 356s destroyed and drivers injured when a classic tire of the 356 period let go because it was old.

Go to www.356Registry.org and click on technical information and then click on tire safety and date codes. If your tires are over seven years old replace them! There are not many replacement options in 165 x15 anymore. We have been buying Kumhos from Tire Rack for about forty dollars each. They are good tires, others are available.

Open Shop
One of the things I have to be careful about over the next few months is infections. So we will shut down open shop Saturday afternoons until July.