Events

May 23rd is the deadline to have your 356 registered for judging at the 20th Annual Exotic Sports Car Show and Concours d’Elegance. Entry forms are available from Sandy Dumcum at 303-691-9339. After the 23rd you can have your 356 displayed but not judged and the entry fee goes from $25 to $40. The event is June 8th at Arapahoe Community College. We hope to enter the recently restored Shop ’61 Roadster; if it is still here. More later.

Details are now available on the Speedster 50th Anniversary Event. This will be held June 25-27, 2004 at Pebble Beach, California. The event will honor the America Roadster, Speedster, and Convertible D. Over 325 of these models are expected. Other 356 models can participate. This will be a first class event. The 356s will be displayed at the Quail Lodge. One event is dinner at the Monterey Aquarium. Barb and I had dinner there at the 1998 356 50th Anniversary and it was the highlight of our week. Registration opens June 1, 2003. Details via the 356REGISTRY.ORG website. Click on Events.

Progress

The good news is we may have sold the Shop ’61 Roadster and the Shop ’56 Speedster. What happened was we met a guy who specializes in selling Sports Cars. We met Jeff when we evaluated a really nice ’58 Cabriolet at a local dealer. The Cab was a beautiful 356, possibly low mileage and priced reasonably. When the potential buyer passed on the Cab, we provided Jeff with our evaluation and also mentioned we had a Speedster for sale. He said he had a potential buyer. He came out and took pictures but they didn’t turn out. The next time he came the Shop ’61 Roadster was done and he also took pictures of it.

When Jeff sent the Speedster pictures to the buyer, the buyer said while he was still interested in a Speedster he was also interested in a Roadster. Jeff sent him the Roadster pictures and the buyer jumped on it at a very, very fair price to both 356RESTORE and Jeff.

Flushed with victory, Jeff sold the Speedster to another buyer a few days later. Again at a fair price considering we needed to do some rework. Both deals are pending and hopefully will close. This means we will need some more shop cars. If you know of any 356 projects for sale let us know.

More Progress

The major effort to get a new front clip on Ted’s ’61 Cabriolet went quite well. BJ and I spent two hours positioning and measuring the clip on Ted’s Cab and then waited a day to make sure it was correct. Another hour to double check the measurements and BJ tack welded the clip in place. We were able to use the clip as a jig to get the fenders in alignment. This 356 had been hit in the front at least twice and a poor clip had previously been done and everything was out of alignment. We had removed at least ten pounds of bondo some 1/2″ thick. After the clip, we replaced the rear seat area which was rusted out and that finished the major metal work on Ted’s Cab. Next up is working the gaps and contours and getting it ready for paint.

Vern has finished the shop ’64 Coupe so we will pick it up and drop off Gene’s ’61 Cabriolet for its Oslo Blue paint. So while BJ gets to finish Ted’s Cab, I’ll start putting the ’64 Coupe back together.

Thanks

We want to take a minute and thank vendors that work so well with us. When we needed those rear seat bottoms blasted for Ted’s Cab, Blast Tech turned them around in a day. When we sold the Shop ’61 Roadster, Autoweave installed the rear boot we forgot in a day. And when it was obvious we would not have time to start up and check out the Roadster, Trevor got it done in a few days. And lets not forget Vern who persevered with the paint mismatch on the Roadster, redoing it three times! Thanks guys!

Other Activities

The Restoration Book has been at the publisher but has been delayed by other projects (a drag racing book by Cindy Crawford?) Shortly this will take more of my time as we get into editing. The book will probably be titled “Porsche 356 Restoration – Do it Yourself” or something like that.

We are also waiting for pictures of the Shop ’57 Carrera from the grandson of the original owner in Thailand. We need these for the article we wrote for the 356 Registry. We also got some shop work done and now have an office with our roll top desk. We still have to do the shop ceiling.

Tech Tip

Do you have a turkey baster? You need one to remove the old oil from your oil filter can when you change oil. You should be changing oil every 3,000 miles or sooner if you drive infrequently. You can also use the baster to remove old brake fluid before bleeding your brakes which you should do every year.

These two maintenance activities will do the most to prolong the life of your 356.