Drive Your 356 Day
Porsches and Pastries
Both events are this Sunday September 19th. A few years back, the Sunday closest to Dr Porsche’s birthday was selected to be “Drive Your 356 Day!” 356 folks have drives and events and pictures are featured in the 356 Registry. This year Porsches and Pastries coincides with “Drive Your 356 Day!”. So drive your 356 to 356RESTORE and enjoy great food and camaraderie. All Porsches and others are invited and we usually have a few special 356s. A few years back we had an 1952 America Roadster (one of sixteen built). The event is this Sunday at 356RESTORE from 11:00 to 4:00; call 303-841-6475 for directions. There is always plenty of food (Barb and Jen used to own a bakery).

356 Registry
Many of you who receive this newsletter don’t belong to the 356 Registry. You should! It is now a true registry with over 8,000 356’s registered and available for information on the 356 Registry website www.356REGISTRY.org. Check this out to see if there is history on your 356. The 356 Regristry provides a bimonthly magazine which is excellent! And now all the previous editions for the last thirty years are available on CDs! It has tremendous information on how to maintain and enjoy this special car. To join the 356Registry you can find info at the 356REGISTRY.org. website or contact Barbara Skirmants at 810-688-9090. See you on Sunday!

Tech Tip
Last month we mentioned the Optima battery which is the best battery for your 356 as it has great starting power and doesn’t leak acid. One issue is this high tech battery doesn’t look right in a 356. Well, someone has designed an Optima cover that looks just like an early six volt battery. Unfortunately it is only available to the 356 B and C. I bought one of these “cloaking devices” and think they are great. It looks like the inventor got a battery case and the Optima fit inside at an angle. The top looks just like a standard 6 volt battery with 3 vent/fill holes. You can use the standard battery cover and nobody can tell the difference. The vendor is Foreign Intrique at 1-800-8070. You may have to wait for your order as demand has been exceptional and it is a 356 hobbyist that makes them.

Progress
Well Porsches and Pastries always gives us an incentive to clean up the Shop and finish a few 356s.

Mathew’s ’59 Coupe went off to the painter after we fit the nerf bars and special GT gas tank filler through the hood. This particular filler has a hinge which needs an opening big enough to clear and which would also let rain inside the front compartment. No problem! Off to Wal-Mart and we found a Tupperware type dish that fits perfectly and is flush to the hood. With a drain hose the problem is solved.

David will pick up his ’58 Coupe at Porsches and Pastries. He will trailer it back to Albuquerque on his home built dolly/trailer. Come and see this rig! We completed all the metal work and he will take it home to dry fit everything before paint. (This 356 took a hard hit.)

So we will start on the other Mathew’s ’55 Coupe with front end and threshold repair while we wait for the new rear clip, which it really needs. We will bring down the Shop ’58 Cabriolet which should be ready for paint in a few weeks as the metal work was done years ago. We sold this Cab a few years ago as we had too many projects. Miles and his Dad did a lot of work on it together until his Dad unfortunately passed away. So we bought it back.

We also have to put the engine in the Shop ’64 Irish Green Coupe and give it a road test.

If we like this 356 as much as we think we will with the Al Lager engine, we will keep it and sell the Shop ’63 Black Sunroof Coupe. We will also move the Shop ’57 Carrera into the shop and get it ready for paint.

Then we have another David’s 356 Coupe from New Mexico and a ’55 Coupe from Longmont. I get a ’54 Coupe in exchange for doing the ’55. So that will be up in the future along with the ’58 ex-race car which will be come an outlaw and the other outlaw project. So it looks like we are busy through next year.

It is time for a break! Barb and I are off to the 356 East Coast Holiday in Williamsburg, Virginia September 29th-October 3rd. We will let you know about this event in the next newsletter.

The next Holiday is April 7-10, 2005 in Boerne, Texas (30 miles north of San Antonio). For this one we hope to have time to drive a 356. However, we attended a Holiday in Galveston, Texas years back and the drive across Texas is a real long one! Barb still reminds me that we drove into the night because we could not wait to get home!