Porches and Pastries
We had a great turnout for Porsche and Pastries. Over sixty two 356’s and about one hundred and seventy folks. Sixty pounds of brisket along with a whole lot of ribs and pork loin were consumed. Doug the chef and BJ’s cousin did a great job and many, many folks commented on how good the barbeque was. Doug and his wife Kathy went to Kansas City the next week and got an award (18th out of 500 teams) for their sausage side dish. We will have to have some of Doug’s sausage side dish for the next P+P.
And of course the pastries, Jen hasn’t lost her touch and they were all great. We saw many friends we hadn’t seen in a while and we will probably do this again.
RMVR Enduro
Last year Bill Frey and Scot Petitt drove the 356RESTORE 1952 356 coupe race car in the year ending Enduro race. Both Bill and I were impressed with Scot’s first drive in the almost sixty year old race car. This year, we decided to let Scot drive the full hour and forty-five minute race (with two mandatory ten minute pit stops). Scot did excellent. He qualified twenty-eight out of fifty-two production cars and finished seventieth ahead of four 911’s and two 914’s. We love it when one of the oldest Porches still racing beats the 911’s.
Concours Results
This was the 27th Annual Exotic Sports Car Show and Concours d’Elegance. The winners of those who had their 356’s judged were:
356 Closed
Montie Lehman ’56 Coupe
Mike Deutcher ’64 Coupe
Bob Thompson ’65 Coupe
Al Gordon ’64 Coupe
356 Open
Conway/Shapiro ’56 Speedster
Chris Marsico ’64 Cabriolet
Bob Lewis ’58 Cabriolet
The Favorite Porsche Award went to Dick and Debra Koenig’s’57 GT Speedster. This was also our favorite and one of the best 356’s we have seen. Dick even made the aluminum GT hubcaps.
Of course the real winners were the Children’s Program of United Cerebral Palsy receiving $100,320. This was one of the biggest and the best car shows and we will do it again next year so plan to participate.
Kit’s ’64 Coupe
We had Kit’s ’64 Coupe at Porsche and Pastries and she received a lot of favorable comments. But the real fun was she got to drive it home to Fort Collins after twenty two years and a recent restoration by 356RESTORE.
Progress
Work continues on the rare Twin Grille Roadster from Oklahoma. We have not had to replace much metal, only the diagonal and right rear fender brace. Almost all the metal work has been cutting out poor previous repairs and making it right. On the good repairs the welds were not ground then coated with fiberglass and tar. Messy, messy work but we are almost done and then it will be off to the painter where we will have it painted in black primer. We will then dry fit everything and have the 356 evaluated prior to going to the finish coat of black paint.
There are a lot of unique features on the D’Iteren Roadsters. This is part of the fun of working on these cars. We knew from past work that the original doors on D’Iteren Roadsters were stamped with the serial number on the door bottom not on the inside panel like the other Coach builders. However, the Oklahoma Roadster doors have no serial number stampings. Maybe it was in chalk or grease pencil and disappeared. It does have the serial number stamped on the fuel filler lid while the other T-6 bodies do not. Also on T-6 bodies in the engine compartment at the rear are two access holes to reach the inner fastener on the tear drop taillights. These are covered by large rubber plugs. On the Oklahoma Roadster we found the same sized hole to access the “60” script. We had never seen this before. It sure looks factory but could have been done by a previous owner. Another mystery! The windshield frame on Roadsters were either brass or pot metal according to research. But on Barb’s Twin Grille Roadster they were aluminum!
Some Roadsters had the “Porsche” script on the dash, some did not. How could a Concours judge make a judgment?
The 356’s are not like Corvettes which have a rigid standard of authenticity based on factory records. Porsche had various Coach builders build their deigns and specifications but obviously the Coach builders could add their own proven techniques such as the undercoat under the hood of Karmann 356C coupes.
BJ has finished the extensive metal work on the Texas ’60 Coupe and is now doing the body work prior to paint. The body work should be straight with no major collision repair or clips and the gaps were good. This will also be a black 356. The objective continues to be a driver at minimal cost. The big hit to this plan was the engine with a hole in the third piece due to fire extinguisher residue. Dirt got inside and ruined the engine. We will replace the engine with one of our spares which checked out good on the engine stand. To keep the cost down we will use spare interior pieces and dye them black. They call it dye but it is really a vinyl paint. With various colored panels we can make them match. A few bucks versus a few thousand for new panels.
Grandpa News
Alex went to a friends birthday party. All eight girls got to ride in a pink limousine to a salon where they got their hair done and nails polished. They then dressed up and sang and danced on stage.(How can you top this?)
