356 Registry

Periodical Mail·lime-Dated Material· Change Service Requested
Postmaster: Send changes to 27244 Ryan Rd . Warren , MI 48092
356
Registry
Volume 26, Number 2
~uly/August 2002
Upcoming Events
The Miscellany File
President's Letter
Vic Skirmants
_ 0
Technical
'
12
Prescott Kelly
14
Brett johnson
16
IJim Schrager
18
Racing in the '60s
Pat Tobin
21
Four Cam Forum
Dick Koenig
28
Restoration
In the mail
.. ...... . ......... .. .. .. .35
Porsch e Only Swap Meet Steven Baun
36
Tennessee 'Iub s
38
Bart Lee
International 356 Meeting
Wes Morrill
39
Reviews
Bill Block
41
Dana Point
Don Rutherford
42
Years Ago
Jim Perrin
43
The Maestro
Harry Pellow
44
Classified Ads
..... ... ... ......... .. .. .46
Vintage Racing
Keith Denahan
50
356 Registry magazine is the official publication of 356Registry, Inc., an organization oriented exclusivelyto the interests, needs
and unique problems of the 356 Porsche automobile O\\11er and enthusiast. The missionof the 356 Registry, Inc. is the perpetuation of thevintage (1948-1965) 356 seriesPorsche through 356 Registry magazine, the central forum for the exchange of ideas,
experiences and information, enabling all to share the 356experiencesof one another. 356 Registry, Inc. is a non-affiliated, nonprofit, educational corporation, chartered under the statutes of the State of Ohio. Subscriptions are available only to members.
Membership dues are $30.00in the USA, whichincludes $24.00 for a 6-issue annual subscription to 356 Registry magazine, $40
in Canada and Mexico, $50 foreignaddresses.,All ratesare in U.S. dollars, checksMUST be drawn on U.S. banks. An application
form for membership is available on the bac'slwrap c~ver of this magazine, from membership chairperson Barbara Skirmants,
27244Ryan Road, Warren, MI 48092 USA, fax (586) 558-3616or on our website at 356Registry.org.
Onthe cover: Aase Bros. parts yard, 1990
Onthe outer wrap: Pat Tobin at Willow
to
,.
356 Registry magazine (ISSN10666877) is published bi-monthlyfor
356 Registry, Inc. by MDesign, 215 W. Myrtle Street, Stillwater, MN 55082.
Periodical Postage paidat Stillwater,MN and additional mailing offices.
POSfl\IASfER: Send addresschanges to
356 Registry, 27244 Ryan Road, Warren, l\1I 48092
The opinions and statements expressed in 356 Registry magazine are not necessarily those of 356 Registry, Inc., its trustees, officers or thePublisher. Technical dataand procedures describedhereinare the opinions ofthe authors and carrynoclaim ofauthenticityor suitability for a particular purpose from 356Registryor the Publisher. Any proceduresdescribed herein are carriedoutat
the reader's own risk. Porsche®, the Porsche crest, Carrera®, Targa® and the distinctive shape ofthe Porsche models are trade
dress and trademarks ofPorsche AG and are used with permission. Publisher reserves the right to editor refuse publication and is
not responsible for errors or omissions. Now getout in the garage and change your oil.
:\0 pan of356 Registrymagazine maybe reproduced in
anyform wi thout theexpresswritten permission ofthe
publisher, Copyright © 2002 by 356 Registry, tnc. c/o
M Design, 215 W. Myr tle St., Stillwater, MN 55082.
Printed ou a Heidelberg 5-color press in Red Wing,
Minnesota U,S,A.
Local/Regional 356 Groups
' These groups offer activ ities, information and fellowship for 356
enthusiasts from a particular geographical area . Each group operates
independently and is not sponsored by the 356 Registry.
WEST
Porsche 356 Club
Bob Fitzpatrick
2373 8 Baro na Mesa Rd.
Ramo na CA 920 65
76 0-7 88-93 54
35 6b,ob@ cox.net
356 CAR Club
Jim Har die , 1920 Shelfield Dr.
Carmichael, CA 9560 8
916-972-7232
Central Coast
Wes & Dian e Mor rill, 252 09 Cas iano
Salinas, CA 93908
83 1-643 -0356
356 Southern Connecticut
Register, Ltd,'
•
P.O. Box 35
•
Riverside, CT 06878
w3 .nai.nelredwardh/ed 4yhtm
,
Typ 356 Northeast Peter Crawf ord
11 Pearl St:
Marb lehea d, MA 0 1945
781 -631 -60 12
www .Typ3 56N E.org (website)
pcrawford356@yah oo.com (email)
MIDWEST
' 356 Group Northwest
356 Gro up Northwest
Bruce Rockw ell, P.O . Box 1451
Gig Harbor, WA 9833 5
253-858-2788 [email protected] m • Win dige Stadt 356 Klub
Dale Moody
19532 Governo r's Hwy
Sierra 356 Porsche Club
Hom ewood, IL 60430
Glenn Lewis, 2000 Royal Drive
708-7 98-2637
Reno , NV 8950 3
Rocky Mountain
Po rsche 356 Club
AlGordon , 12773 Grizzly
Littleto n, CO 80 127
303 -979 -1072
Mountalnland Porsche 356 Club
Edward Radfo rd
1568 Conn ecticut Drive
Salt Lake City, UT 84 103
80 1-52 1-7330
HawaII 356 Owners Group
Terry Felts
161 Hanoh ano Place
Honolulu, HI 96825- 35 15
808 -396-60 17
[email protected] om
SOUT/;:!
Southern Owners Group
Ray Ringl er
3755 Creek Ston e Way
Mariett a, GA 300 68
Three [email protected]
Tennessee Tubs
Nat e Green
4003 Sunnybrook Drive
Nashville, TN 37205
ngreene@m athewspartners.net
Florida Owners Group,
Rich W illiams , 457 0 47th St.
Sa rasot a, FL 3423 5
813-758-0356 .
[email protected]
EAST
Potomac 356 Owner's Group
Dan Row zie
80 0 South Sam uel St.
Charles Town WV 254 14-1416
356 Mid Atlantic
Dan Haden
715 St. Andr ews Road
Philad elph ia, PA 19118
356BURGH
Lenny Santora
1345 Falla Drive
Bethel Park, PA 1510 2
412-835-6 594
lenn yg356 @aol.com (email)
geocities.comlwelco meto356burgh
(website)
Fahr North
Phil Saa ri
3374 Owasso St.
Shoreview, MN 55126
651-484 -0303
[email protected]
356 Motor Cities Gruppe
Barbara Skirmants
27 244 Ryan Rd.
Warren, M I 480 92
58 6-558 -3 692
Oh io Tub Fanatics
Richard King
33 0-678-6259, [email protected] m
SOUTHWEST
A rizona Outlaws
Porsche 356 Club
Mike Wroughton
19870 N. 86th Ave.
Peoria, AZ 85 382 , ph.623 -36 2-8356
mwrou gh ton @aol .com
Zia 356
Joy ce Y. Hooper
4700 Westridge PI. NE
Albuqu erque, NM 87111
JYHRetired@w ebtv.net
Tu b Club
Bob Morris , 397 Creekwood Dr.
Lan caster, TX, ph. 972 -227-8357
bob .morris@h allib urton .com
Lone Star 356 Club
Ma rk Rot h
49 15 S. Mai n, Su ite 114
Stafford, TX 77477 (Houston)
281-277-9595
l
[email protected]
OUTSIDE USA
Maple Lea f 356 Club of Canada
Scott Gray
467 Sandle wood Road
Oakville , O N L6L 3S3
sg ray88@coge co .ca
Australian Porsche 356 Register
P.O. Box 735 6, St. Kilda Rd.
Me lbourn e, Victo ria 300 4, Australia
356 Down Under
P.O. Box 47 677
Ponsonby, Auc kland , New Zealand
nz356down und er(cl)xtra.co.nz.
To subscribe to the Registry's electronic mail list,
send an email to [email protected]
with the single word subscribe as the message,
or go to the Registry's website at
356registry.org
The new password for members-only pages: Zenith
Valid through September 15, 2002
Officers
Chuck House, President
([email protected])
11073 Begonia Ave.
Fountain Valley, CA 927 08
714 -418 -0779 (hm), 949- 567 -452 1 (wk)
949-567 -4510 wk fax
Bob Campbell , v.P. , Event Insurance
([email protected])
2096 4 Canterwood Dr.
San ta Clarita, CA 91350
661-2 51-3 500
Patty Yow , Secretary
([email protected])
Randall Yow , Treasurer
(RandaIIYow@356regis try.org)
811 S. Elm Street
Greensbo ro, NC 274 06 336 -272 -6336 (wk)
336 -545 -8994 (hm), 336-275-9 116 Fax
Trustees
Bob Campbell
(BobCampbel [email protected])
20964 Canterwood Dr.,
Sant a Clarita, CA 9135 0
661 -25 1-3500
Magazine Editorial Staff
Gordon Mal tby, Editor
A lice Ross-J inks. Production Manager
215 W. My rtle si.. Stillwater, MN 55082
65 1-439-02 04 . fax 651-439-7620
(GordonMa ltby@3 56reg istry.org)
Dr. Bill Block, Book Reviews,
356 Registry Database Monitor
([email protected] om)
423 Hawk High Hill. Me tamora . MI 484 55
810-678-3017
Keith Dena han. Vintage Racing
21537 11Oth Ave. S.• Boca Raton . FL 33428
56 1-482- 05 16
Dr. Brett Johnson, Restoration Editor
([email protected])
7510 Alliso nville Rd.• Indianapol is. IN 4625 0
3 17-841-7677
Dick Koenig . Four Cam Forum
7S 710 Donwood Dr.• Napervi lle. IL 60540
630-369-4492
Prescott Kelly, 356 Collec tibles
(PVKe lly@ The lnstit ute lnc.com)
16 Silver Ridge, Weston. CT 06883
203 -227 -7770
Chuck House
([email protected])
11073 Begonia Ave.
Hunti ngton Beach , CA 92 708
7 14-4 18-0779(H)
Harry Pellow, The Maestro
([email protected])
206 55 Sunri se Drive. Cuperti no, CA 95014
408-727 -1864
Joe Johnson
([email protected])
618 Gatewood, High Point, NC 27262-4722
336 -886 -5287 (H)
J im Perrin , Histo rian
([email protected])
Box 293 07 . Columbus. OH 43229
614-882-9046
Roland Lohnert
(RolandLohne rt@3 56reg istry.org)
1422 Twin Oaks Ln ., Castle Rock, CO 8010 4
303 -663-4363
Jim Schrager, Marketwatch
[email protected]\)
54722 Little Flower Trail
Mishawaka. IN 4654 5
219-259 -926 1
Vic Skirmants
(Bar ba raSkir mants@ 356regi stry.org)
27244 Ryan Rd., Warren , MI 48092
586-575 -9544 (W)
Randall Yow
([email protected])
811 S. Elm Street
Greensbo ro. NC 27406 336 -272-6336 (wk)
336 -545 -8994 (H). 336 -27 5-9116 Fax
(Iub Services
Barbara Skirmants, Membership,
Renewals,Circulation
([email protected])
27244 Rya n Road . Warren , MI 48092
586-558-3692. fax 586-5 58-3616
John Jenkins, Travel Assistance Network
Uohnj enki [email protected] )
3 122 Kings ley St., San Diego. CA 92016
619-224-3566, 619-224-3933 Fax
M & M Ente rprises, Wes & Diane
Goodie Store ([email protected])
25209 Casiano, Salinas. CA 93908
831 -643 -035 6. fax 831 -643-1333
Dr. Brett Johnson, Porsche Factory Liason
(356drb@ indy.net)
751 0 Allisonv ille Rd.• India nap olis, IN 46250
317-84 1-7677 , fax 31 7-849-2001
Vic Sklrmants, Technical Editor
(Barbara Sk irmants@356reg istry.org)
27244 Ryan Rd., Warren. MI 48092
586-575-9 544
Hal Thoms, Photographer,
W. Coas t Vintage Racing
(phot obyha l@ao l.com)
13341 Ethelb ee Way, Santa Ana. CA 927 05
714-73 1-719 1 (W)
Pat Tobin . Pat's Posts
([email protected])
17092 Chatswo rth St.,
Gran ada Hill s, CA 91344-5849
818 -368 -1262
Wefjsite Staff
Chris Markham, Webmeister
([email protected])
7185 W. Zayante Rd., Felton , CA 9501 8-9466
83 1-335-3582
Robin Hansen, Ass 't. Webmeiste r,
ema il List Monitor (rhansen@3 56reg istry.org)
John Audette, Website Technical Editor
([email protected])
Rick Dill , email List Monitor
(rdill@c yburban.com)
HOTELS
Registrar: David Bambridge ,
#404-1108 Nicola St.
Vancouver, BC V6G 2E2 Canada
see the website at
WestCoastHoliday.com
The Best Western Sands at English Bay & The
Coast Plaza StanleyPark are hosting Holiday participants. The Hotels are two blocks from each
other, a five-minute walk. Both have dedicated
parking & additional securitywill be in place for
the event. The Best Western Sands will be hosting
the Swap, Tech Session & HospitalitySuite.
BEST WESTERN SANDS: $110.00 USD
(approx.) per night, 100Rooms, Single or Double
occupancy, plus tax. 604-682 -1831
COAST PLAZA AT STANLEY PARK:
$120.00 USD (approx.) per night, 50 Rooms,
Single or Double occupancy, plus tax. 50-I bdrm
Suites$150.00 USD(approx.) per night, Single or
Double occupancy, plus tax. 604-688-7711
Thursday, Sept. 19th.
3:00pm- 1O:00pm: Registration & orientation
7:00pm: BirthdayParty for Ferry Porsche.
Friday, Sept. 20th.
8:00 - 8:30am: Corralling of all cars for optional drive
& Scavenger Hunt toWhistler, BCalong the "Sea toSky
IIighway."
9:00am: Depart forWhistler.
11:00 - II:30am:Arrive a! Whistler with courtesy Hotel
lawn parking.
11:30 - I:OOpm: Break for independent lunch, shopping, sightseeing.
1:00 - 3:00pm: Depart Whistler & drive back to
vancouver,
6:00 - 10:00pm: Meet at Harbour for optional Dinner
Cruise.
Saturday, Sept. 21st.
9:00am: Assembly for trip to Van Dusen Gardens
Concourssite.
9:30am: Depart to Concourssite (I5 minute drive).
10:00 - 3:00pm: Peoples Choice & Judged Concours
(lunch onsite) .
7:00 - 1O:00pm:AwardsGala!
Sunday, Sept.22m1.
8:00 - II:OOam: Parts Swap Meet.
1O:00am:Tech session
Throughout the event ihe Goodie Store & Hospitality
Suite will be availableto all registrants. It's recommended that swap meetitems be declared as"spare parts"!
356 Registry West Coast Holiday - Vancouver, B.C. - Sept. 19-22, 2002
Registration Form
(Registrations not received by August 20th will be liable for a $20 surcharge. ' The Harbor Cruise & Awards Gala are subject to limited space .
Space will be assigned on a first come , first served basis. All others will have their money refunded .)
Registrant Name
Co-Registrant Name
Contact Address
#_
City
_
@ $100
_
_ Jr. registrants@$60
State (Prov.)
,Zip- --
Email
_
Phone
Are you planning to drive a 356 to the Holiday (circle one) YES
Are you trailering? YES
NO
Model:
NO
Plan to participate in the swap meet? YES
How many miles will you travel to attend the Holiday?
Year:
1@ $120
_
NO
_
' Harbo ur Cruise: $45 x
=$
_
*Awards Gala:
=$
_
$60 x
Do you plan to participate in the optional drive? YES
Body Style:
NO
Color
_
PEOPLES CHOICE & JUDGED CONCOURS: 1S-0pen cars, 356 & 356A; 2S-Closed cars, 356 & 356A; 3S-0pen cars, 356 (T5 & T6); 4S-Closed
cars, 356B (T5&T6); 5S-0pen cars, 356C; 6S-Closed cars, 356C; 7S-Special, Carreras, race cars, modified or non-production Porsches 1948-1965.
What class will you be entering?
Peoples choice event:
Judged event:
Registration fees include for each Registrant and Co-registrant:
_
a T-shirt, welcome reception , Hospitality Suite, event patch and a Decorative 2002 WCH Grill Badge.
Please mark T-shirt sizes: Small #_ _ Medium#_ _ Large#_ _ Extra Large#_ _ Extraaaaa Large#_ _
Make checks payable to : (All fees are in US dollars)
TOTAL ENCLOSED
356 West Coast Holiday, 2002, c/o David Bambridge, #404-1108 Nicola St., Vancouver, BC V6G 2E2 Canada
4
$
_
~-------- -- -- ----- - - ---- -- ----- ------ --- --------- - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Volume 26 . Number 2
pComing Events
PLEASE NOTE CHANGES TOTHIS EVENT!
Jul y 13-14
Auburn, Indiana
The Midwest Porsche Swap Weekend will be held
at the new (and not yet open) Kruse Car and
Military Vehicle Museum in Auburn. The Porsche
Toy, Literature and Memorabilia Meet will be held
in the museum on Saturdayfrom 6pm- 1Opm. The
car and parts swapmeet will be held on the
grounds of the museum on Sunday from
6:30am-3 pm. Porsche car display open to all
attendees with Peoples Choice voting. Porsche
tractorrides, too! Vendor accessat 4pmSaturday.
Vendor fees: $25/tahle Sat., $25/space Sun. or
hoth days for $40. Earlybird shoppers- 5pm
Saturday for $10, regular shoppers, $5. No charge
for shoppers or car-displayparticipantsSunday.
Jul y 20-21
Pittsbur gh, Penn sylvania
Drive, show or race your 356 to support the
Autism Society of Pittsburgh Charity. join us PORSCHE is featuredmarque this year. The race is
free but all the proceeds from the sale of t-shirts,
posters etc. goto this wo rthycause. It is truly road
racing as it oncewas and should be. Bring a picnicand the whole family. QualifyingSaturday, race
Sunday, plus concours. Information at
wwwpvgpa.org or contact Lenny Santora at 412835-6594, [email protected]
October 5
Stuttgart, Germany
The 6th International Porsche Modell Club
Summer Swap will be held in Stuttgart. The 2000square-meter swapmeet and exhibition will display Porsche models and memorabilia (books,
posters, magazines, brochures, art, stamps, pins,
etc). Site will be open fro m 9:30 am-15:30 pm,
Entrance fee-Euro 4.00. For more Swap information contact PMCClub Management at: PO Box 2,
NL-7800 AA Emmen, Netherlands. F:LX ++ 31-599671044. email: [email protected].
August 22-25
Duluth, MinneSOL'l
356 Registry North Coast Holidayalongthe shores
ofGitcheGumee, hythe rippling big sea water. See
page 13 for registration information.
October 11-13
St. George, Utah
Second Annual Red Rock Drive. j oin
Mountainland 356 Cluh to tour Zion and Bryce
Canyo n National Parks. We will enjoy some great
scenic byway roads with limited traffic. Contact Ed
Radford, 801-521 -7330, [email protected] or Ric
Hammond, 801-278-0374.
September 14, 15
Ventura, California
German AutoFest and Speedster Fest. See ad on
page 19.
Jul y 21
Henderson, Colorado
Gmlind 2002 presented by Rocky Mtn, 356 Club,
Rocky Mtn. PCA region and the PDTRoNA (sec
page 10). 10-6 pm. 356sget premium placement
on the lawn. Tractor cross, car show, food, drink
and music. Call George Maybee at 303-655-9831
email [email protected]
September 22
Worldwide
Drive Your 356 Day. Send us your photos!
October 4-6
Santa Barbara, California
The Porsche 356 Club's Fall Festival. See below.
July 20, 2 1
Effingham, Illinois
Tweeks Porsche Funfest 2002. www.madirect.com
'Ientative Schedule: Oct. 4-Regislmtion; driving
tours to shopping in Solvang, or wineries, or local Santa
Barbara/Monticeto lour, llospitality room all day. Oct 5Concours, car placement, 7 am, lunch on site,
Banquet/Awards dinner, Memorial lIall, 6:30 prn, "Take a
vicrorylap and samplefamousSantaBarbara cuisine." Oct.
6-Swap Meel, Hotel parking lot, am. Depart.
Ileadquarters Ilotel: Hotel Oceana, 202 W.
Cebrillo Blvd., Santa Barbara, CA 93101. Hotel is located
acrossfrom the beach, Roomrates for 3;6ers attendingthe
event: S170-$260 per night. Toll-free reservations: 1-800·
96; ·9776, or 80; ·96; -4; 77The Headquarters Hotel is located next door to the
Vets lIall where the SaturdayNight Banquetand Awardsdinner \\;11 be held. The Hotel is also close to the Concourssite
at Santa Barbara CityCollege which is ong rassybluffs overlooking the boat harbor. The Swap ~I ee t on Sundaymorning is located right across the street in the large parking 101
on the beach. Saturday, everyone can show their car, then
tour through this beautiful coastal arm, then pUI a cover
over your 3;6 andwalk 10 dinner. location, location, location. What couldbe better than that?
Latest detail s at: www.porsche35 6c1ub.org
October 18-20
Prescott, Arizona
The 2002javelina 100, Prescottto Winslow. Enjoy
driving some of Arizona's finest two lane roads
through Skull Valley, j erome, Cornville and
Winslow. Tour with the Outlaws and stand on the
corner in Winslow Arizona. Contact Mike
Wroughton, email mwroughtontsaol.corn, 623362-8356.
Vancouver, BC
September 19-22
356 Registry West Coast Holiday. See page 4.
The Porsche 356 Club Fall Festival MMII Santa Barbara, california
October 4 - 6, 2002 Registration Form
Makechecks out to: Porsche 356 Club and send with registration formto: Fall Festival MMII,
d o Jeanne & Felix Macaluso, 10177 SwallowAve., Fountain Valley, CA92708
Registrant Name
_
Co-Registrant Name
_
Address
City
State (Prov.)
_
,Zip - - - - - - - - - Registrant
$90 x 1
_
Email
Phone
_
EVENT SHIRT: Mark for Registrant & Co-Registrant
Co-Registrant
=$-
$35 x
=$-
Total
CAR INFO: Full Concours_ _ Street__ Wash & Shine__
I
I
YOUR CAR: Pre-A_
A_
B_
C~
Open_
=$-
Concours Lunch $15 x
Awards Dinner
S#_ _M#_ _ L#__XL#_ _ XXL#
$80 x 1
=$90
Closed_
Unrestored_
$--
Sp.lnVRace_
July/August 2002
5
have, over the lastten years or so, developed almost total immunity to the
orphans-by-the-side-of-the-road disease.
There was time whenjust a distant glint ofchrome
through the weeds would lure me off into the
woodsto see just what kind offorlorn oldvehicle
was there, desperately in need of salvation.
Thinking back over all the junkers I've inspected,
I'm glad that very few of them ever got to follow
me home at the end ofa tow rope. So rather than
bemoaning the"ones that got away," I'm celebrating the ones that missed owning me. And withone
of those bottomless pits of a project, that's just
how it goes - the car owns ) '011 .
Last week, however, I just had to stop and
check out a classic hulk. Not a classic car, but a
car with the classic signs of decrepitude: rust
holes, pitted chrome, engine parts in the back
seat. In my defense I must point out that I did
drive past it three times (slowly) over a period of
several days before succumbing. So why did I
stop? Il wasn't flashyin its faded brown paint (but
that didhelp hide the rustspots) anditwasn't rare
or desirable-when new or now. In fact there wasn't much to be said forit except that itwasold, but
it called to me like a siren's song. How could I
resist?There it was, a '53 Plymouth - my first car.
I'm pretty sure the Cranbrook was the bottom of Plymouth's lineup that year. Mine came
amaze my car friends, but more amazing is the
fact that it worked. For a while.
After three years or soI sold itfor $30. Sixtytwo percent depreciation in 36 months may sound
like a steep dive, but that car was well used up.
And I never looked back - until a fewdays ago.
There on the side ofthe road, I looked over
this apparition from my past. Same year, same
color, three-on-the-tree, flathead six. This was a
two door and mine had four, butthe same wierd
I
Gordon Maltby
"Therewas the time the brake line
ruptured and I repaired itwith bondo:'
The Brown
Siren's call
from an aged relative who hadgiven up driving. Il
was 13years old-uglyandout-of-style, butatleast
old enough that your highschool peers knew you
weren't driving the family car - tbat was uncool.
I'm not sure why the price - $110 - sticks in my
mind to this day, but I know it was a significant
amount at the time. The Cranbrook (my buddies
had other names fo r it) was a good, tolerant car
and I learned some valuable lessons about maintenance, and what happens from the lack thereof.
There was the time the brake line ruptured and I
repaired it with bondo. That story never ceases to
green interior greeted me as I opened the door.
The doorthen promptlysagged about four inches
as the bottom hinge floated free ofits anchor.
Il was one of those "squint" cars where if
you narrowyour eyes a bitit doesn't look too bad.
Peeling back the 0001' mat, however, brought the
true scale of a restoration process into clear,
sharp focus.
Rust. Rust holes. Rust bubbles.
Bubble, bubble means toil and trouble and
in this case, a whole new 0001'. Oh, well. I don't
have any extra money, I don'thave anyspace and
I guess I really don't need to be back in high
school. Saved once again! I can go back to the
garage and concentrate my efforts on current
DUAL CIRCUIT CONVERSION KITS
Fiberglass
Dash Tops
Everything you need to make the upgrade!
Protect yourself(and your 356) with the
safety of dual circuit braking.Over400
kits sold. For drum or disc brakes. Easy installation.
DRUM BRAKE
$199
00 DISC BRAKE
$299
A & B/C
$190 00
00
German-Made Brake Sets
2 front and 2 rear hoses for A, B, C
$48
6
Volume 26. Number 2
00
/set
Fiberglass
A Bumpers
Outstanding Quality,
Looks like steel!
projects - a little over a lifetime's supply at this
writing. I pat myself on the back for showing such
restraint and wisdom, Right.
Meanwhile, I hear more and more stories
about people buying cars thattum out to be complete disasters. I know the "I got screwed" refrain
is an old, old song and some people just like to
here themselves sing in public, But latelythe sour
notes seem to be everywhere, and I can't help but
wonder why. I can understand that a general
repair mechanic might not know all the nuances
of a 356 motor, and that a knowledgeable structural appraisal is not readily available in say,
Elbow, North Dakota. But a rod knock isn't that
hard to diagnose and doors patched with duct
tape and bondo could be spoiled by any good
body man. And these are seen on cars that go for
big money. Ebaysales? You don't want to know.
Truth be told I don't have a lot of sympathy
for the careless buyer. There was a time when a
car like the 356 was indeed a mysterious machine
to manyand good info was limited to a few manuals and some suspect rumors that circulated
amongmechanics with justenough information to
be dangerous.
Potential buyers, listen up. I have a news
nash for you. This is the information age. On the
market nowthere are more good books than you
canshakea spot-rot magnet at, includingBuying,
Driving and Enjoying tbe Porscbe 356. Jim
Schrager has exponentially increased the ease
with which a buyer can educate himself before,
during and yes, aft er the sale. In the spirit of full
disclosure I must explain that I published that
book, and I normally don't make such blatant
plugs. But I know Jim wonders, as I do, why so
many buyers seem determined to ignore the help
available and just plunge ahead.
With the Registry website, the talk list and
dozens of local groups around the countryto offer
hands-on assistance, it's a golden age for classic
car buyers. And it is in our best interest, as a
group of enthusiasts, to do what we can to help
potential comrades. Disgruntled, disillusioned
new owners 11111 not the 356 faith keep. Ir's up to
us to lend a hand.
Probably the most effective means of creating a fair and honest atmosphere for a new buyer
is to provide him or her with resources and referencepoints for deciding, first, on a car and then a
price, That's what's great about a local club . a
group with a variety of cars for a new person to
see and learn about, not to mention a wealth of
knowledge to share. later in the process, the
members can recommend a shop or appraiser to
help in the decision.
I've met plenty of people who simplywould
not be happy with a 356, and I've told them so.
Mlen the question comes up at a party, "Hey, I'd
like to get my wife a sports car. Should I getheran
old Porsche like yours or a Miata?" I generally
advise against the bathtub, especially ifthe second
question is whether alc can be filled.
Once a potential buyer has been "qualifi ed"
(no, I don't mean whether they're uortby, just
interested enough) they can be guided toward a
certain year or model. Starry-eyed newbies often
lust after a Speedster and, failing to find one at
their price, give up. But hey, they might find a lifelime of joy with a Bcoupe, Who knows? Probably
not them if they've never spent lime in either car.
Here's where the personal touch comes in.
Assumingthe would-be356er is not a lime-waster,
lire kicker or other bozo type, it would be helpful
(and maybe even fun) to take them for a ride or
even let them driveyour car during a clubouting.
Look at it this way: there's nothing wrong with
making newfri ends, and rememberwhen you fi rst
wanted a 356? Maybe you had a friend or a brother or a father who revealed to you the divine
secrets ofthe 356 brother (andsister-) hood. Or
maybe you didn't. But wouldn't that have been
cool?
So make an effort to help a newbie. lIelp
them take those first steps without stepping in it.
Come 10 think of it, maybe that Plymouth's brown
paint was a sign after all.
~
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7
ver notice how good it feels to drive a
356 again when you haven't been
behind the wheel in a while? On the
way to the last Arizona Outlaw Javelina 100, the
Roadster developed the dreaded cracked oil cooler stand syndrome in the middle of the California
desert. Luckily, I managed to nurse it home but
unfortunately, I was also in the middle of remodelingthe garage and tearing into the engine hadto
wait longer than I would have liked. Well, finally, a
few weeks ago this last Mother's day, Marsha and
I got to take the Roadster out again for a great
drive along the Pacific coast and had a blast. Yes,
playing with your 356 in the garage can be fun,
especiallyif you like tinkering on them like I do,
but it's notnearlyas much fun as opening it up on
a stretchofhighway on a gorgeous day.
How to Build aHoliday
E
~ -~'
ChuckHouse
who have helped leadthe way in establishingsuch
a great forum to share our 356 experiences. We
owe each of the recipients a debt of gratitude for
their dedication and service to the 356 Registry
and its membership.
You should see a new page on the Registry
web site soon which will take you to a "Holiday
Planner" guide. The idea of the page is to inform
those contemplating a Holiday or in theprocess of
planning a Holiday about some of the things to
think about or pitfalls to watch out for. It's always
better to learn from someone else's mistakes so
with that in mind, several past Holiday Chairmen
have contributed to this guide in the hopes of
making life easier for future Holiday planners.
Take a look, whether youare thinkingabout planning a Holiday or just out of curiosity. It will at
least give you a better idea of the planning that
goeson behind the scenes. Speaking ofHolidays,
we have two more coming up this year so don't
forget to check out the application forms in this
issue for both the North Coast and West Coast
Holidays. They should both be great events and I
hope to seeyou there!
~
f.:- ~-
Farleft: At the Charleston Holiday, Karen Sue
and Mike Wroughton with Chuck and Marsha.
Above: Hall of Fame Award recipients at a meeting in the early 1990s, from left: Jerry Keyser
received an award in 2001, as did Vic Skirmants.
Brenda Perrin and Bill Durland. Above left: Joel
Horvitz was seen for manyyears with his Carrera
Speedster. Henow ownsa 550 Spyder. Left: Jim
Perrin at the Hershey Swap meet, 2001.
Hall of Famers
Last year we started the 356RegistryHall of
FameAward, the purpose ofwhich was to recognize significant, long term contributions to the
356Registryand its membership. This year's Hall
of Fame recipients were announced at the East
Coast Holiday in Charleston, South Carolina duringthe awards ceremony. Jimand Brenda Perrin
were inducted into the 356 RegistryHall of Fame
for their long term support of the club and their
service as club Historian and past Secretary for
many years. Bill Durland was inducted for his
work in the formulative years of the club serving
as the first Secretary, first Membership Chairman,
Trustee and past President. Last but not least was
Joel Horvitz, who was a past Trustee and served
many years as the club's fi rst Treasurer.
Volunteering time and effort for the benefit or
enjoyment of others can sometimes be thankless
so let's all strive to show our appreciation to those
8
Volume 26. Number 2
P1:RSONALIZ1:D AUTOHAUS. INC.
356 Tall 4th Gear Available· 28/21 Ratio
Quality 356 Repair & Restoration
Vintage Race Preparation
~
356-911
& 4-Cam
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email [email protected]
See us on the web at:
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own work. Nineteen sections
covering all aspects of Porsche"
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starting with the engine and proceeding through the fuel
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Featured here are netoly introduced engine components to
add power and value.
1720cc Pi ston & Cylinders
• Quality permanent mold pistons. "hypereutectic" 13%
silicon, insurin g stre ngt h and thermal contro l.
Alumin um Oil Cooler
Latest and most efficient design - Supe rior U.S.
manufactured unit for all356& 912 engines.
• Balanced within 1/2 gram. rings gapped and installed.
• Lightweight offset wrist pinfor Quiet operation.
• Improved cooling compared to
cur rent Porsch e or 36hp coolers
used bysomeengine builders.
• 45%lighter thanoriginal steel
• Cylinders are supe rior castings
finished on the latest Sunnen
units, minimizing possible
engine case cracks.
• Special mounting fasten ers for
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CNC hone (CK-21).
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$695
SuperLite Crankshaft
By Scat Enterpri ses. the world leader in special
cranks for custom applications,
• Machined from a 4340 lab certified billet, far higher strength
and life that the original SC/9 12German version.
• Special Superllte counterweight design gives 20% reduction
in rotating mass = faster rev s. longer bearing life.
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• NEW! From original German supplier.
• 2 versions - Super 90 & C/ Se.
• Plus - Complete line of clutch paris in stock,
• NEW! Allnew billets, not regrinds
• Several designs. street to full-race
• Plus. all other valve train components
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July/Aug ust 2002
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ORDERING INSTRUCTIONS
Include check or money order in U.S. funds payable
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CA resident s please add 7.25% sales tax.
To Order Call
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or fax (24 hours)
831-643-1333
Email [email protected]
n earlyJune we celebrated the official
establishment of the PDTRoNA
(Porsche Diesel Tractor Registry of
America). The ceremony was held at George
Maybee's (President) estate in Henderson,
Colorado. The background is "Gmiind", a correct replica of the original "Pfoertnerhaus" in
Gmiind, Austria, which was builtbyGeorge with
the help of Helmut and Christoph Pfeifhofer
approximately 2 years ago.
Attending the ceremony were Mr. andMrs.
Fred Schwab, President and CEO of Porsche
I
Cars North America, Atlanta, GA, who was gracious enough to take timeout ofhis busyschedule to attend this special event.
Mr. Don Adis, owner and President of
Prestige Imports, Inc., the Porsche dealer in
Denver, was kind enough to exhibit a 2002
Porsche Carrera Cabriolet. George's wife Seppi
and my wife Rose Marie joined us in displaying
our tractors in front of the building.
Tractor ownerscancontact George at 303655-983 1forinformation aboutour new organization. Roland Lohnert
•
START!
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Bursch Racing Header
Deluxe Plug Wires
Front Disc Brake Kit
• Made in Germany
• German TUV-approved
• Retains 5x205 mm lugs
• Maximum stopping pow erl
• No spindle modifications
• Easy installation
only
$29.00
• Beru connectors, 100% silico ne jacket
• Extra-long connectors - easy to reach
• Individually numbered - easy to install
• 1 5/8 " diameter tubing for max. h.p.
• Street legal with turbo muffl er
• Includes 90 ' stinger for racing
• Elimin ates heater boxes
Starting at
$1099.00____
.,
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for basic kit
Bursch Quiet Street System
Electronic Ignition System
• Eliminates p oints - better starts
• Retains stock appearance
• Easy to install - no "black box"
• Available for 6 or 12 volt
only
$99.00
• Street legal with that great Bursch soundl
• More horsepower over the entire RPM range
• Easy installation with 2 year factory warranty
Ask about free fre ight for 356 Reg istry members on Bursch!
~2i:ii:iaiiiiA:i:liS2m'=i:i:~:i:i:i~~~~' te I
10
Volume 26 . Nu mber 2
fits A & B models
VISA - M/C
626 .445.01 08 fax 626 .445.7581
•
~
C
'
J:
elcome to
luth!
Hotel rooms are filling fast!
Please make your reservation
and Register today!
Registration prices increase to $125
August 1st! Sign up now.
Schedule of events
Fahr No rth in vit es yo u to join us
alo ng M inn esota's beautifu l Nort h
Shor e of Lake Superio r thi s summer!
Headquarters hotel is alo ng the
w ater 's edge at Canal Park in Du luth .
Nearby is the aerial lift brid ge, an ore
boat museum , the D uluth maritime
museum , the Great Lakes Aquarium,
the North Shore Scenic Rai lroad, the
Depot and Lake Superior train mu seum ,
the Du lut h Omn im ax theater, the
Co ngdo n mansion, a garden park
w ith 40,00 0 roses, Harbor and Lake
tour s on the Vista Fleet, the mi leslong scenic Lake W alk, hundreds of
restaurants and mu ch mor e - alo ng
w it h scenic dr ives in ev ery direct ion.
Reserve yo ur room at the Inn on
lake Superi or now. Call 888-6684352. M ent ion 356 Registry. Rates:
$ 145-$ 185 .
Thursday, August 22
Registration opens
12 noon
Explore Duluth/Superior on your own
6 pm
Cocktail w elcom ing party
Hospitality room open
Friday, August 23
.8 am
Registration opens
Hospitality room open
.7 am
Tour of Cirrus aircraft plant
9 am
Tour to the North Shore and
Split Rock Lighthouse
.4 pm
Tech Session
6 pm
D inner Cruise
Saturday, August 24
Registration open until l Oam
Hospitality room open
.7-9 am
Concours prep (wash area)
8 am-2 pm
Concours
Lunch onsite
2 pm
Tech session, restoration
.4 pm
Literature meet
6 pm
Cocktail hour, music
Banquet
.7 pm
Sunday, August 25
Continental breakfast
H ospitality room open
.7-11 am
as usual
Swap meet
356 Registry North Coast Holiday - Duluth , Minnesota - Aug. 22-25, 2002
RegistryMember Number,
Day Phone
Registration Form
_
Registrant Name'
_
1@$99=$,
Co-Registrant Name'
_
1@$89=$,
Jr. Registrant Name(s)
_
Contact Address.
_
City
State,
Email
_
Are you planning to drive a 356 to the Holiday (circle one) YES
Year:
Model :,
Open /Closed,
Need truc k/t ra ile r space? YES
NO
_
_
Concours? YES
NO
NO
Registrant & Co-Registrant fees in clude: Thursday welcome reception (cash bar),
embroidered wind breaker, event pin & patch , hospitality room and access to all events.
Please mark windbreaker size(s): Medium#_
_
Zip - - - - - Meal selections:
-
_
_
#_ _@ $50=$.
_
-
Friday Dinner Cruise:
Prime Rib
#_ _
Catch of the Day #_
_
=#_ _@ $40= $,
_
Concours Box Lunch:
Lemon Chicken Wrap #_ _
Ham/Swiss on Rye #_ _=#_ _@ $12= $.
_
Saturda y Banquet:
Lake Superior Feast
_
#_ _@$36=$.
Large#_ _ Ext ra Large#_ _
Make checks payable to : 356 North Coast Holiday, 2002
Mail to : Stan & Jane Bonnesen , 19328 Co. Rd 462, Grand Rapids, MN 55744
TOTAL:
= $.
July/August 2002
_
11
he S-90 engine was introduced so
Porschecould have something peppier
than the 75 hp Super, without the complexity, expense, andweight oftheCarrera. So why
didso many first owner S-90 drivers express disappointment in this engine's power output? After
all, with additional compression ratio compared
to theSuper-9:1vs. 8.5:I-bigger Solex carburetors, 32mm versus 28mm venturiis; and finally
40mm intake valves compared to 38mm, theS-90
should easily have produced theadditional 15 hp
compared to the Super. So why didn't it in many
instances? Surprisingly, the culprit may be the
cylinder head; manyoriginal S-90heads just don't
do the job.
I've been doing myown cylinder head development on a flow bench since 1985. During all
these years, I have learned some fairly basic lessons on what works and what doesn't. When you
analyze the S-90 head, it is simplya "B" cylinder
head with larger intake valves and larger ports.
The larger valves don't help that much, and the
larger ports are not very well done in many
instances. The port is a standard Super port that
has been enlarged, and that enlarging is where
some S-90 heads fail. One thing I've learned on
the flow bench is that the inside radius ofthe inlet
port is the most important area for proper flow.
Looking at some original S-90 heads in this area
will reveal which ones should flow well, and
which ones willnot. Ifthecurve from the manifold
to the valve seat is smooth, the head will flow
decently. If there is a sharp step, that head will
NOT flowwell!
T
Going with the flow
Pure flow numbers in a bare port are also
not the absolute measure ofa good cylinder head.
Getting the flow past the valve and into the chamber is the importantaspect. To get good flowpast
the valve, you need good velocity. When I create a
setof all-out racecylinder heads from stock C, SC,
or 912 heads, I install 40mm valves (not S-90)
and open the seat to accept the 40mm valve. I do
"California" Used 356 Parts
EASY
European AutoSalvage Yard
4060 Harlan Street
Emeryville, CA 94608
(510) 653-EASY
Fax (510) 653-3178
email: [email protected]
12
Volume 26 . Number 2
Vic Skirmants
The Not-So Super 90
not hog outthe bottomof the seat; I leave it stock
diameter. This produces a venturii effect and
speeds up the flow pastthe valve. The S-90 valve
seat is opened up too much for good velocity.
Short of trying to reproduce a slew of flowbench data, I'll describe the typical flow numbers
I have observed at .45" maximum lift. The race
heads of course go way beyond this, but that
wouldn't make a fair comparison for a stock lift
cylinder head.
The other data that needs to be explained is
my "dummy" carburetor set-up for the flow
bench. The Zenith dummy carb is a straightthrough gutted carburetor with 4" individual
velocity stacks; that's 32mm. The Solex dummy
carb contains a 38mm venturi with 5" Parabolic
velocity stacks.
I only have flow data for three sets of S-90
heads. The maximum flow I have measured on
these varied fro m 71 cubic feet per minute (CFM)
to 74 CFM. The average C, SC, and 912 heads
show numbers fro m73 to 77CFM. Remember, the
latter have 38mmvalves versus the S-90 40mm.
A"B" cylinder head with correct porting for
Solex carbs shows 80 CFM; that's with a 38mm
valve! The same head with Zenith carbs shows 76
CFM; comparethat to theS-90! Old "A" headswith
proper small porting and Zenith carb show 71
CFM. My custom small-port raceheads for Zenith
carbs show 80 CFM.
Afully-prepped S-90 head with S-90 valves
will flow 86 CFM, while a fully prepped C-SC-9 12
head with special 40mm valves will flow 96 CFM.
Remember, all these numbers are at .45" valve lift.
In summary, many S-90 heads in stock configuration don'tflow as well as a properly done Bhead,
or the laterC-SC-912 heads.
Compression tester
vs. leakdown tester
Gordon asked me to make some comments
regarding compression testers and leak-down
testers. Most people understand the compression
tester: put a gauge in the spark plug hole and
crank the engine with the starter. You then get a
number in pounds per square inch (psi) and
compare that to the other three cylinders. Okay,
the numbers are all the same; is the engine
healthy?I don'tknow.
Or,onecylinder is low. So where isthe prob-
lem - intake valve, exhaust valve or rings? I don't
know. Neitherdoes anyone else.
What should the number be for a healthy
engine? I don't know. It depends on the cranking
speed, carburetor opening, compression ratio,
andcamshaft overlap. For instance, a good condition Normal engine at 7:1 compression ratio and
60 horsepower can read higher than a full-race
12:1 compression ratio 160 horsepower engine
with a very radical camshaft!
So, what good is a compression tester? It
does show you if a cylinder is bad in relation to
the others, but it does not tellyou what the problem is. And how do you do a compression test on
'\
the engine stand? You don't!
Leak-down tester )
A leak down-tester does not require the
engine to be cranked over. The engin~ is stationI
ary, with a wrench on the pulley/bo lt or some
other means to keep the ~gine fro m turning. You
do need a source of compressed air.Thegauge is
screwed in the cylinder, theair supply isattached,
and depending on the type of tester, you can
directly read percentage ofleak-down, or pounds
per square inch retained versus psi put in. The
tester I use has two gauges; onereads the amount
ofair putinto the cylinder. I adjust it for 100 psi.
The second gauge reads how many psi the cylinder isholding. With 100 psiinto thecylinder itwill
never hold 100 psi; there will always be leakage
past the rings. On a good cylinder I do expect 9798 psi.
If there is leakage, you can use your ear to
determinewherethe problemis. Listen at thecarburetor to determine if there is a leak past the
intake valve. Listen at the exhaust pipe for a leak
past the exhaust valve. You will always hear some
leakage at the oilfiller, indicatingleakage pastthe
rings into the crankcase. However, if the number
for one cylinder is low, and the carb and exhaust
test are negative you should hear an appreciably
greater amountofair at the oil filler thanyou hear
fro m the other cylinders. If you don't and you can
hear air below the engine sheet metal you could
have a cracked or loose head!
Now you know how healthy your engine is,
or at least where the problem lies if it's below
spec. Theleak-down test isvery particular. If there
is surface ruston a valve or seat, the number can
befrighteninglylow. Smacking theendofthevalve
with a rubber mallet will usually permit the cylinder pressure to blow ant some of the rust and
increase the reading.
You say your valves aren't rusty; you just
drove the car yesterday? Well, I've got news for
you. When an engine stops, there are two to three
valves that remain open. Any humidity will cause
practically instant surface corrosion. It happens
all the time. Subsequent operation cleans everything up again. Don't worry about it. ~
A rookie builds and uses a
leakdown tester
Gordon Maltby
nap-On tools makes a very nice cylinder leakage tester that retails for about
$280. Theywere very kind to loan it for
this article. It comes with a C:L~e and two spark
plug adapters. Depending on your engine, the
"longthread" adapter maynotwork, possiblybottoming out on the piston dome. Their short version seems to work fine. The tool is fairly compact, light and quite sturdy-the only criticism I
could make is that the hose going to the cylinder
could be stiffer. It twists under high torque and
getting the thing installed tight enough in the
spark plug hole can be a problem.
I was pleasantly surprised to find that the
912 enginein my'57 coupe has verylittle leakage.
There was a momentofapprehensionon #2 when
a distinct hiss was comingfrom under the head. It
turned out to be the end of the tester, which had
not seated properly in the hole. Re-installing the
hose solved that.
The Snap-On instructions say to bring the
engine to op temp before testing, which seems to
make sense. The next step is to remove all spark
plugs and bring the engine exactly to m C-on
the compression stroke- for that cylinder. You
can line up the pulley and generator marks, but
accuracy is important, so take care at this step.
Also, remove any tools like a wrench used to tum
the pulley. If the piston is just off its high point,
100 Ibs. of pressure may tum the engine quickly.
You don't want a whack on the handwith a spinning wrench handle.
Onceexactly 100 Ibs of pressure is supplied
(that's where the regulator comes in) , you can
connect the hose to the cylinder and watch the
gauge to see ifit drops. I've read several different
opinions, butthe consensusseemsto be thatupto
S
10%is normal butifyou're at 20%or more you've
got some problems.
To me, a more important observation is figuring out where anyleakage is taking place. The
tool needed for that is your ear. A mechanic's
stethoscope-or my own cheapo version, the 3foot length of nylon tube-gets you up close and
personal with any hissing or whistling. Noise
through the carbs means an intake leak. Through
the exhaust port or muffler means an exhaust
leak. Listen at the oil filler for pressure leakage
past the rings, into the crankcase. Bad seals at the
cylinder / head interface can be heard under the
head, through the heat flapper area or throughan
adjacent spark plug hole in the upper tin. Of
course, if the engine is bare and on the bench, it's
a piece of cake.
For water-cooled cars, you can also check
the radiator for bubbles, indicating a bad head
gasket. Is this a great tool or what? It does everything but pick lotterynumbers for you!
Making your own
After a discussion on the 356 talk list piqued
my interest and convinced me a tester would be a
good thing to have, I took Bob Slayden's advice
and visited two web sites that gave directions for
building your own cylinder leak down tester. Bob
Bertaut has an interesting site at \V\\'W.650motorcycles.com/LeakDownTester.html and Mike
Nixon's is wwwxsl l.com/tips/misc/mtscj .shtml
Both of these sites describe a simple tester with
one gauge, but I opted to try to duplicate SnapOn's arrangement with two gauges.
The basic setup is an air regulator that can
handle over 100 psi, a gauge and the appropriate
couplings. The gauge/regulator unitshould have a
female 1/4 inch (or whatever size hose and ends
you use) coupling to connect to your air hose, and
a male coupling at the outlet. The hose from the
tester to the cylinder would have a female 1/4 inch
air connector at one end and a spark plug thread
Left: The Snap-On kit Above: The roll-yer own
variety. Below: the two important tools - leakdown tester and custom listening tube.
at the other.
I made much of mytester fro m pieces laying
around the garage, and one of the items I found
W;L~ an old compression tester hose and spark
plug end. You can also use a grease gun hose
(available at the hardware store) :U](( a cut-down
spark plug, the inside of which you have tapped to
connect to the hose end. This is a hassle, butitcan
be done. I ended up using quite a few adapters
which makes the whole thing a bit inelegant, but
hey, it works!
You maywant to look for a smaller regulator
than shown here, but the Campbell/Hausfield unit
was all I could find. Graingers and Sears usually
carrysmall ones, but the onlylistings I couldfind
on theirweb siteswere for filter/regs.
The parts youwill need dependon what kind
of regulator you get (mine had four holes to fill)
but it's all pretty intuitive. If you already have a
good compression tester, you can probably use
the hosefro m that. One item noted byMike Nixon
on hiswebsite is to make a damper valve between
the supplied air and the gauge. In the case of my
home-built, that would be a wad of epoxy in the
center pipe, drilled out I mm. In all, I have about
$60 invested - not much moneyfor somepeace of
mind.
J uly/Aug ust 2 002
13
tarting a couple of years after the
launching of the factory enthusiasts'
magazine, Cbristopborus, the factory
added calendars to their offerings. They carried
the Christophorus logo and script name plus the
legend, "Kalender fur die freunde des hauses
Porsche" or "calendar forthe friends of the house
of Porsche."
The calendars were usuallysold via an insert
in the magazine sent to subscribers and to the
complementary list of factory "friends."
Distributors and dealers could also order them
for gifts or to sell to the public. We do not know
how much of the latter happened, as dealer
imprinted/stamped calendars are rare. The first
calendar we know of is for the 1956 year, and
Porsche is stillofferingthemtoday- often with several different thematic calendars a year. (If you
have ever seen a factory calendar earlier
than the 1956 one,please let this contributor know)
The old calendars are magical. They
use photographs taken from the factory
magazine itself, from advertising, or publicityphotos-or in somecases, "out-takes"
from those photographic shoots. The use of
color shots is limited in these earlycalendars, but the buyer got a wholesome 24
pictures in each one. These calendars presented only a half-month on each spread,
not the full month to which we are accustomed, so the calendars had twice the
usual 12 photographs and accompanying
calendar pages. The half-months are
always 14 or 15 or 16 days depending on
the length of the month.
S
Prescott Kelly
-'-l-I-Ii
-,- ,-,-,- ,-
11912°1 211221 23
-j26\27 28!29j1
.===.-- ,- ,- ,- ,-
The first German cheesecake shotshown in the
'56 calendar. These continued in the calendars
for many years. All of them were relatively
benign. Today theyare just funky.
Right: Jon von Neumann's warhorse 550.06,
with the signature front air scoops partially
closed off, at an airport race in California. The
1957 calendar wasthe first to use color photographs-12 in total.
Below: This 1957 calendar shotof a local club
tour has to be along the Pacific Coast Highway- I
think. Can anyone identify the location bythe
fish house restaurant? Can we restage this historic photograph?
Early 356-Era
Christophorus
Calendars
Left: Anovelty shotfrom 1956, a catwith a balloon
with a face drawn on. Novelty shots were rare in
these calendars - andusually had a point related to
thecars like therear engine pla<emenl
- I- I~ I·"- I­
] 3' "4' i'5 1'"6-',~i'
1
J!i 11 11218 114
111===1 ' , ,-,-
World Championship driver Juan Manuel
Fangio aboard an early Porsche Diesel
tractor. the AP-18, akathe "Standard" - the
two cylinder model. Albert Prinzing, long
the financial chief of the Porsche firm isat
his immediate left.
Left: Also from 1957 is this most famous
Porsche cheesecake shot. The photograph
was also used in the highly collectible factorybook, Liebe zu Ihm, and in black and
white in an issue of Christophorus.
14
Volume 26. Number 2
The 1956 calendar is unique when compared to the following years in that it has a gray
cover vs, the more typical red, and all of its 24
photographs are black and white. The first five
calendars were all about 7 by 10 inches in size,
with a white plastic rotary binding. Their 24 photos are a combination of racing shots, travelogue
shots-usuallyfrom Christo articles, novelty shots,
what we call "fashion" shots, and car and factory
publicity shots. The racing shots are probably the
most meaningful to 356 enthusiasts, but the fashion shots are the most interesting: fun ky, old
clothes and hairstyles, clearlydatedand conservative cheesecake poses, and innovative staging to
highlight 356 features and idiosyncrasies, Each
photograph has a caption, only in German in the
'56 edition, with additional languages added later.
The back covers typically give the credits for the
photography, design, and production.
The 1957 calendar adds 12 four-color photographs-everyother picture-and hascaptions
in both English and German for the first time. The
'57 edition shown here is an unusual factoryvariant wi th cardboard backing which has a semi-circular clear plastic holder at the top to grasp the
folded up pages and therefore allowthe calendar
to be wall-displayed open. Most of the calendars
were distributed without the backing board.
The 1958-59-60 editions change to a hanging format with a hard gray plastic backing supporting a white string, negating the need for the
former large backing board. Now the calendars
have the white plastic binding at the bottom and
fold dO\\11 while hanging on a nail/ screw/
tack by the string at
the top. Captions continued in German and
English andthephotographs continued to
be half in four-color
and half in black and
white. Continued
next issue.
Right: This is the
array of 1956 to
1961 calendars that
are the subject of
this article. The
1956 calendar had
the uniquegray
cover; the 1957 the
rare cardboard
holder; the 1961 a
new largersize.
Editor's note:
More calendars
next month!
_
----_ ... __ ..
... _...
:=-;-..:. =
==:."====
:-: :=.."":'.:..~.
---_
........
-...
---::--===::.. .:-:::.."':.::=_..-.- ....'M
J~]~[] - I-I - I T I
j~i3j '4i·5i6 i j jir
t
10 i11 i 12i 13' - '~ -
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This shot from the '58 calendar shows Hans
Herrmann at Sebring and the notes mention
that the extradriving lampisfor the curves on
the night course. Note the imprint on each
pageofthis calendar: Porsche PartsCorp, 1245
Howard Street, San Francisco.
Above right: Acouple of 550As in the handsof
Edgar Barth 1#21) and Count Carel de Beaufort
(#29) on the Carrousel at Nurburgring. parallelinga famous photograph from the 1930's of
the Auto Union Silver Arrows in the same corner.
This terrific photograph of John Edgar's racing
team is in the 1958 edition. The caption writer
claims the mechanic is exchanging the warm-up
plugsfor the race plugs. Sounds dead right to us.
got an e-mail from the folks at Porsche
Cars North America letting me know that
the offer to replace Atlanta generated
Certificates ofAuthenticity, which did not contain
build dates, with ones that do-at no charge-will
endAugust 31, 2002. After that time you will still
be able to getthem, butyou have to pay thestandardfee.
Moving along, I keep reading about people
who have problems with their 356 starting,
including my own experience several months
back. Forthose who don'tremember, on theway
back from Chattanooga lastSeptember, the starter
on my '55 coupe didnot heed thecall to function
at the last fuel stop in Kentucky.
My fix was to let the car rest until mid-May
andtry it again. Worked fine, butnotcontent with
a positive outcome, I decided to jackup the car
and have a look. Yes, there was the starter, looking pretty much likeI expected it to. Couldn't find
any trace of a ground strap on the transmission,
so I put oneon. It still worked.
Well, time certainly flies while investigating
356 trivia. Hard to believe it was way back in
JanuarylFebruary 2001 when we lastlooked in on
356Bs with front Porsche scripts. Chuck House
has supplied another data point with #87322 ,
which does not have the script. The last one that
didisstill #86992 , buttherange isabout 250 cars
narrower thanks to Chuck.
Late shifters
I
Flashing
Joe Leoni of 356 Electrics sent me a prototype copy of his wiring schematic book for the
1955 Pre-A. I hadnever really looked at hisbooks
forlatercars, because my newest 356is my 1955
coupe. I must say that I was suitably impressed.
One of my comments to Joe was that I was
unaware ofPre-As that hadthelight flashing func-
tion of the center horn button. My well optioned
coupe is very lateproduction andhasjust thesingle brush steering column that was used for cars
without light flashing. I had assumed that when
the 356A was introduced, it became a standard
feature on allcarswith hornrings. Flashing lights
was not the reason that the partial horn ring was
added in April 1954 (per Conradt) . It was so the
horn could be activated without releasing the
steering wheel.
Joe's source for the information was the
wiring diagrams used in the 1954 Porsche factory
workshop manual. I have a photocopied version
of this book supplied many years ago byRichard
Miller andsureenough, there in dotted lines is the
light flashing circuit including a relay.
Interestingly, it is there on all three diagrams: for
coupe, Cabriolet and Speedster. There is no mention or discussion in therestofthemanual's electrical section or inthePre-A parts manual, for that
matter.
When I posed thequestion to the356talk email list, only a single car, Cabriolet #60704, built
December 8, 1954 with two brushes on thesteering column was reported byTony Ryan, who was
notcertain ofits authenticity. Anybody else? How
about anybody that has a Pre-A Speedster with a
horn ring?
1
4Z-4J
~
::~~
44 ~
49 -~
48 - - J
52 -
,, ---~
10
16
Volume 26. Number 2
Jim Brezeale from EASY in Emeryville,
California put together a really nice discussion of
356B/C shifter mechanisms forthefolks on theemail list. For those not yet online, I've included it
here.
T5 356B and T6 356B shifters are interchangeable by exchanging shift rods and guide
ring supports and shift couplers, along with the
complete shifter assemblies. I will now explain the
different shifters using Stoddard's 200 I Edition
catalog for reference.
There are actually 4 shifters (really 5, if we
count Carrera 2s) for 356Bs and 356Cs, not 3 as
described in Stoddard's catalog (page 32). The
first shifter is the "early T5 356B" which has a
shift rod with a ball and a pin through it on the
base of the lever. The shift rod has a slot that the
pinfrom thelever sits in.The castaluminum shift
housing does not have a provision fora shift lock
andthe guide ring support is held in place by the
rear mounting bolt fortheshift housing.
Shifter # 2 is notlisted in Stoddard's catalog.
It is essentially the same as the early T5, but has
the provision for a shift lock. This shifter should
be referred to asthe"late T5 356B" shifter. It uses
the same guide ring support as the later shifters,
but still has the pin through the ball at the base.
Note: The shift lock hole is smaller than the later
ones and will not accept a later shift lock.... no
way, no how! Late T5 shift locks are very rare and
are actually chrome plated. Most late T5 shifter
housings have a rubber plug in the hole for the
lock.
Shifter # 3 is listed in Stoddard's catalog as
"late T5 356B & T6 356B." That is notquite correct; it should belisted as just a T6 356B. It is the
first shifter that does nothave thepinthrough the
ball at the base. It uses a nylon cup that fits over
the ball that then fits in the shift rod. It can be
identified by looking for a guide pin (# 21) in
Stoddard's catalog) also a spring ring (#23) . It
does have a knob for the heater control, but is the
tall version. The shift rodnolonger hasa slot init.
This is the shift lever that is the best one to replace
a T5 shifter. These shifters all came with a shift
lock. The shift lock is brass and is the same part
for T6 356Bs and 356Cs. There is a collar
attached to the shift rod that the base of the shift
lock mates with to lock the car in reverse.
The last shifter is the 356Cshifter. It uses all
the same shift lever parts as the T6 356B shifter
but uses a lever instead of a knob to activate the
heater.
Replacing a early T5 356Bor Late T5 356B
shifter with a T6 356B or 356C shifter will greatly
improve shifting and also rids the car of lots of
annoyingnoise from the shift linkage. ~
And yet another variation
TomTate writes, "As you probablycan
see there is no provision for a heater control
knob. That means that it is off a Carrera. This
one is off my '63 Carrera 2."
We won1t be hurt if you
tell us we1re cheap.
Vintage Racing / Restoration
Products & Services
For the 356 GT:
• Louvered aluminum decklidskins • Oiltank screen & bracket
• GT louvers foryour steeldecklid · Rollbar with stub ends
• Gas cap with fin - nickel plated· Gasfiller neckand tray
• FullSupport Wheel Spacers for DrumBrakes
•Aluminum GT mirror covers
• Brake Backing Plate Conversions • GT Make-overs
if!!oiJ~ ~ ~ '; Plexiglass windows forallyears
. .
• Performance exhaust tip
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.'.
• Starter services:
. '"
6v rebuilds, 12vconversions
:trfli!iJj~
•Aluminum tonneaus with headrest fairing
(We hear it all the time.)
Racing / Restoration Products & Services:
• Zenith Ca!bs - Race Preparation
• Wood Steering Wheel Restoration and Refinishing
• VintageRace Decals - Many Styles and Sizes
All Work Performed by European Craftsmen
Robert Kann
Phone I fax (562) 431-1523 • Los Alamitos, CA
Catalog Available • [email protected]
Porsche 356 Tool Kits
• Excellent
Reproductions with
mostly German tools
• Hazet wrenches
and screwdrivers
•lire pressure gauge
and lots more
B Kits startingat
$475. +shipping
Chris Purer
24222 Via Aquara Ave. Laguna Niguel, CA92677
Tel: (949)3630891
Fax :(949)495 8061
e-mail: [email protected]
Trevor's Hammerworks
Phone
440-953-0501
Fax
440-602 -9885
Online at: www.356panels.com
July/August 2002
17
•
y now most of you realize that I hold little
stock in price guides. However, for the
• complete novice, price guides perform the
important function of providing a starting point.
This allows a beginner to quicklylearn that a driver B Coupe shouldn't cost $50,000, or that as a
rule, open cars cost about twice as much as
coupes. Although these are useful general rules,
those of us wanting a more detailed market view
need to go well beyond the introductory basics a
price guide provides.
In working up a value, I like to construct a
range ofactual saleprices from lowest to highest.
Looking at basket cases is fairly easy, as they
appear frequentlyinthe 356 Registry,Hemmings
and on eBay. However, I am always looking for
verified sale prices on top-of-the-world cars, as it
is much hardertovalue a near-perfect 356than a
Jim Schrager
Top of the World Cars
blue-grey-green with a yellow vinyl interior. This
bent-windowCoupe from Australia was built inthe
rare right hand drive configuration. It was powered by a 1500 Super, the top engine offered that
year. This lovely machine had a reported 12,950
miles from new, wore its original coat of paint,
correct baby moon hubcaps, turbo wheel trim
rings, and correct low-style
bumper guards. The paint
appeared quite good, despite its
age. There were threeowners from
new and a good string of paperwork to prove these claims. This
car sold at the rather staggering
sum of $107,955, proof that low
mileage and originality can blow
the top off any price chart.
This price also reveals that
auctions can be an excellent place
to sell your special 356as long as
there are at least two people pres-
ent who simplymust have it. This example sets a
newworld record for a pushrodCoupe and allows
us to measure other very nicecars against this one
to construct our own market view of originallow
mile pre-A356Coupes. It also shows that buyers
ofexceptional cars tendto ignoreprice guide values. These cars make their own markets.
The next car on our list is a very special
Roadster, a 1962 1\vin Grille S-90. 1had previouslymentioned this car, butwas able to obtain
more detailed information plus an excellent set of
photos of the car courtesy of its new owner,
Michael Hackney. This was perhaps the most
unusual Roadster built, and it was faithfully
restored with cost as no concern a few years ago.
The panelgaps, paintwork, chassisanddetails are
allcorrect. The colors are Black with a red interior and the option list is the largest I have ever
seen on a Roadster, including: two headrests, two
armrests, fog lights, seat belts, a cigarette lighter
and ashtray, antenna, radio mounting bracket,
noise suppression kit and two loudspeakers, a
tonneau cover, chrome road wheels, anti-drone
mats, paint touch-up stick, a chrome luggage
rack, a sun visor with mirror and a plastic suitcase.
The car was the subject of a photo essay in
911 & Porsche Wor/d. The gentleman who previouslyowned the car chosenot to use it forfear he
would depreciate the value. I am delighted to
report that Mr. Hackney is using the car as it was
horrible one. Mostlythis is the case because there
are few cars this good in the world, and if and
when they sell, the price is often kept under
wraps. So here, for your edification and enjoyment are three top-of-the-world pushrod cars to
set your scales: a pre-A Coupe, a 1\vin Grille
Roadster, anda CSunroof.
An exceptionally original 1954 356 Coupe
sold atChristie's inLondon on 25March, 2002. It
wasAzure Blue, a verymellow 1950s-100king light
intended. He has alreadyshaken down the minor
glitchesthat needed attention, such asa non-operationalfuel level sender.
This carwas sold in a private transaction for
the price of $85,000 and sets what seems to be a
new record for Roadsters sold in the lastdecade.
This is an important data point as I think about
Roadster values. Every "lesser" Roadster, in condition, options or color combination should be
priced lower than this example. By how much, is
of courseopen for the market to debate.
The final car is currently for sale. The reason I have selected this car is that manyof us have
18
Volume 26 . Number 2
seen it around the various Holidays and 356
events since its debut at the Cypress Gardens
Holiday in 1996. This is Casey Clavin's 1964
3S6c Sunroof Coupe, in the colorsofSky Blue
with a red leather interior. This car has been the
subject of one of the most careful and thorough
restorations I have ever seen on a Coupe. It has
won numerous awards at 356 events all over the
country. In addition, it has been driven about
17,000 miles since the restoration andhas proven
to bea dependable andusable machine. Here are
thereasons whyI have found this car to be among
the top-of-the-world.
First, the body is exceptionally straight. If
you looked carefullyat thepanel gaps, this car can
be the standard by which all others are judged.
Anyofyou who have tried to make a carwith lousy
OILFILTER - MAHLE
$4.75
AIR FILTER ELEMENT ALLWIZENITH .. 9.75
1600 ENGINE GASKET SETCOMPL 89.50
OILLINE INLET
8.50
OILLINEOUTLET
8.50
OILSTRAINER GASKETKIT
1.50
GENERATOR PULLEY HALF INNER
9.25
GENERATOR PULLEY HALFOUTER
9.00
A-B-C- TRANS GASKET SET
.45.50
SWEPCO GEARLUBRICANT(GAL)
34.50
BOSCH 050 DISTRIBUTOR
85.00
POINTS FOR.050 DISTRIBUTOR
2.50
CAP & ROTOR FOR 050 DISTRIBUTOR 19.50
KINGANDLINK PINSET GERMAN
62.50
BlC HOODHANDLE withCREST
75.00
CHROME LOCKINGANTENNA
19.50
A-B-C STAINLESS BRAKE LINE SET .. 42.50
BRAKE MASTER CYL,N8 w/reseNoir . .89.50
.11 "'~"":hll7i-1BRAKE MASTER CYL, CISC
$99.50
C BRAKECALIPER KITF OR R
12.50
A-B-C OUTSIDE DOOR HANDLE
19.50
A HORN GRILLE
21.00
B-GUPPERHORN GRILLE
21.50
B-CLOWER FOGLAMP GRILLE
23.50
A-B HUBCAPBABYMOON
21.50
B HUB CAPS90 WITHENAMEL CREST 37.50
C HUB CAPWITH ENAMELCREST
37.50
A SIDEVIEWMIRROR AERO
.41.50
B SIDEVIEWMIRROR PONTO STABIL .41.50
C SIDEVIEW MIRROR DURANT
.42.50
B-CBUMPER GUARD FOR R
98.50
A BUMPER DECOF OR R
65.00
B-CBUMPER DECOF OR R
62.00
A ROCKER PANEL DECO
50.00
B-CROCKER PANEL DECO
.48.00
CUSTOM-FIT CAR COVERS $109.50
can about parts for newer Porsches, too
" I very much appredate an
original interior the same way
many of you might appredate an
original enginecase:'
gaps into something as lovely ns this one know
howhard this can be. Here you have a car already
there.
Next, the car has a beautiful oldleather interior, not a newone. I know manyAmericans want
everythingnew, new, new. But the Brits treasure an
original leather interior with a bit ofwear, which
they call "patina." They would no sooner replace
it with a perfect new interior as we would throw
away the original engine case and stick in a 912.
In my view, the Brits have it right. I very much
appreciatean original interior the samewaymany
ofyou might appreciate an original engine case.
Additionally, the colors on this car are very
rare. Theymaynot be toeveryone's taste, butthey
make the car stand out in a crowd, even at a
Porsche 356 concours. Although color is very
subjective, I think this combo adds to the value.
Finally, the car has fine mechanicals and is
ready to drive anywhere and enjoy. I previously
appraised this car as worth $35,000 at the East
Coast Holiday in 1998. Today it is for sale for
$40,000. Is it worth all of $40,000? Only the
market will tell us for sure, but in my guess, it is
certainly in that ballpark. Anyone wanting a car
this nice surely realizes that there is almost no way
to start with anyCSunroofCoupe andget it in this
condition forless $40,000. We will follow the sale
and report on theoutcome.
Noting top-of-the-world prices is an important part ofunderstanding values forthe 356s you
are interested in. This is true even ifyou, like me,
are farmore interestedin driving one rather than
looking at one inyour garage.
Corrections, comments, criticisms always
welcome. Find me on-line forfastest response at:
[email protected] or 54722
Little Flower Trail, Mishawaka, IN 46545.
Monday-Friday 9 am-5:30 pm
Visit us an the Internet at:
www.fore ignintr igue.com
Emeil to: [email protected]
We also carry a f ull inventory of parts for all other
Porsche models - P lease call.
-
v...
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July/August 2002
19
Northwest Bullsession 2002
By Bruce Rockwell
he Bullsession this year was held at the
Newport Yacht Club in Bellevue,
Washington. The location chosen by
Robert Cugini was marvelous, with lots ofparking
and a backdrop of beautiful yachts. While the
weather was notthebest, atleast it didn't rain during the event. I know that it was raining in some
areas in themorning so that some members drove
non356s, butwe still had50 cars; sunny weather
would have seen at least 60 cars. The Bullsession
has thus grown into oneofthelargest non-Holiday
events in thecountry.
Cidalina and Dave Bambridge, along with a
large group from north of the border were there
to promote the up-coming West Coast Holiday
2002 in Vancouver, B.C. Cidalina had a small
Goodie Store set up on her car showing shirts,
jackets and other items for the up-coming event.
Dave said that 200 rooms had already been
booked, so don't procrastinate, Sign-up now.
The highlight oftheday hadtobethepop-up
cards produced by Robert Cugini. One card was
given to each participant and when the card was
opened, two Porsche car pop-ups stood outfrom
the body of themain card. Robert used this as a
way to give outdoorprizes. Ifoneofthepop-ups
was red you won the grand prize, a $35 gift certificate from Wes and Diane Morrill's Goodie
Store. If you hada blue one, you received a large
356B wiring schematic or a Porsche racing poster
from thepast. Yellow was a cedarplank for baking salmon. All black cars, nothing. This was a
very clever and novel way to handle door prizes.
The pop-up cardwill no doubt become a collector's item among 356Porsche nuts.
Lunch was handled byLarry's Market, oneof
the premier gourmet stores in the area and consisted of deluxe box lunches with all the fix'ns,
Robert's wife Mary and Shelly Parent from
Robert's company, APPART, were there to help
hand out the lunches and give directions. Tina
Richards andMargie Rockwell handled theregistration table andgot to meet new members aswell
as greet old ones and they were kept plenty busy,
as over onehundred folks came through thedoor
oftheyacht club.
It would be nigh on impossible to name all
who were there, but it was good to see both Jim
Shuh and Garrett Goldsmith on hand to see what
they and thelate Bill Mitchell had started sixteen
years ago. As thesaying goes, you've come a long
way, baby! Thanks to Robert and Mary Cugini for
alltheir hardwork. It was a most enjoyable day.
T
,.,
Clockwise from top: The Newport parking
lot wasfull of 356s, and Jan and Syd Baker
weren'tafraidto put the top downin spite
of the weather. JimShuh (left) and Garrett
Goldsmith. Cidalina had a fantastic display
of clothing with the West Coast Holiday
logo. Robert Cugini made beautiful pop-up
cards in honor of the event
20
Volume 26 . Number 2
ne of the reasons whv Rita and
I, with babyJanice, m~ved fro m
Tulsa to Los Angeles in 1958
was for the sports cars. True, I
was making a career move. But
we owned one of probably six Porsches in Tulsa.
The prospect of being in a hotbed of sports car
activity, including racing, filled us with excitement.
We began hanging over the fence at every
race - Riverside, Santa Barbara, Pomona, Del Mar
etc. Ken Miles was our hero, regularlywhupping
sports-racing class cars of larger displacement
wi th the 1600 cc Porsche Spyder. And in the production-class races, we saw people who looked
much like us out there having a great time. 1I0w
I yearned to get out there and havea go.
I think I began to learn the fundamentals of
race driving when I put racing tires on the stock
'56 Normal Coupe. Actually, theywere the Dunlop
racing tread pattern and rubber compound which
Dunlop dealer Gardner/Reynolds (Ed: that's the
waythe name is shown in theirad from the time)
could glue onto street casings as racing-grade
recaps. That gave the car a LOT more stick than
the skinny, bias-ply 5.60 X 15s that 356s used in
those days. Suddenly freeway ramps, especially
the delicious 270 degree ones, could be taken in
a very aggressive manner. And, of course, we
joined the Porsche Owners' Club and began running all the performance events.
The term "Motorcross" wasn't used much at
that time and place; the events were either
"slaloms" (tight turns on a large parking lot
marked with pylons) or "time trials" on a larger
course, such as an abandoned air strip. Eventually
the club began calling the slower events
"traloms;" those on longer courses at near-racing
speeds were stilI "timetrials." The clubheldtime
trials once on an abandoned air strip at Tecate,
Mexico; sometimes space was available at
Edwards Air Force Base and other locations.
The original '56 Normal Coupe cameto grief
on St. Patrick's Day 1961. A dear, sweet grandmother in an Oldsmobile ran a red light fast and
late. The cars met corner-to-corner and the
Porsche, outweighed 2 to 1, got the worst of it.
After I got out of the hospitalwe choseour second
356, a 1%0 Super Coupe, #109550. The '56,
legally totaled, was miraculously repaired and
sold; it is #58007 in caseit is still alive anywhere.
O
Car swaps, engine swaps
But as we began to participate more actively
in POCperformance events, wecame to regret the
weight penalty of the B Coupe. So we sold it and
bought a very clean '59 Conv. 0 (#85906). Not as
light as a Speedster, but lighter than a coupe and
more suitable as a familycar through the week. I
switched engines, selling the Coupe as a Normal
and running the Super engine in the Conv. D.
I did the modifications to the Conv. 0 that
were permissible in stock class. Webco valve
springs were installed for greater protection
against valve float and I put on a sport exhaust
with a "stinger" for track use or muffler for civilization. The brake shoes were re-lined with
Frendo, a marvelous racing lining. This stuffwas
great - for street as wellas competition. The stock
linings, especially on the pre-B cars, were rockhard and squealed like mad after they acquired a
glaze in street driving. The Frendo was softer, no
squeal, a better bite, and high fade resistance. I
discussed with Al Cadrobbi the lesser life that
could be expected from the Frendo in street driving. "Yeah," he said, "the original stuff lasts
100,000miles and the Frendo only goes 50,000!"
One ofthe criticisms ofthe 356 drum brakes
is that they were not always consistent. Several
years later, when disc brakes became legal
on the "A" cars forSCCA racing, Bob Kirby
installed them on his racing Speedster,
"Fred." He opined, "I don't thinktheystop
any better than the GT (wide drum)
brakes, but they're more even - when I
stomp on them I don't have to wonder
which way the car is going to lurch."
Racing
in the
Sixties
by Pat Tobin
Building a better brake
I came up with an idea that made
the drum brakes work beautifully. Noting
the axial vent holes around the faces of
Spyder and GT Carrera 60mm front
drums, I wondered if recently-liberated lining
material in powder form, having no convenient
exit from the stock Adrums with no forced ventilation, might swirl around, becoming trapped in
"puddles" between shoe and drum when the
Top: Pat Tobin in action at Willow Springs in
1964. Above: TheTobin Conv. Din 1963- family
car for four. Thetrue all-purpose sports car:
readyfor a trip to the grocery, a POC time trial
or racing drivers' school at Riverside.
July/August 2002
21
brakes were applied, resulting in a flaky and
unpredictable alteration of coefficient of friction
from one application to the next.
My solution was to provide vent holes, but
notaxially(parallel to the axle, or spindle). From
the inside ofthe drums at the "comer" where the
iron drum band meets the alloy inner drum face,
I drilled 1/4" holes outward at 45 degrees. I made
a template to position the holes so thateach of the
ten peeks out through one wheel opening,
between"spokes." Myreasoningwas that the centrifugal force ofair within the angled holes would
induce outward air flow, providing circulation and
takingthe liningpowder with it. From that dayforward I had perfectly even braking on the street
and on the track. And the brakes no longer had
the tendency to "oval." I don't know if my vent
holes had anything to do with that or not. But no
one who has not done this mod will ever know
how sweet 356 drum brakes can be. Along with
the patented Tobin adjustment technique, that is,
which is described in Registry Vol. 23 Number 6,
March/April 2000. As stated in the article, there
were at least three different instructions given in
the factory owners' manuals for adjusting drum
brakes over the lifetime of the 356. Two of those
instructions are just wrong; the third and last is
almost correct.
The rear wheels were de-cambered about 11/4 degrees, a nice compromise between street
and competition driving. The front end was lowered to the limit of the torsion bar adjustment
anchors, which didn't quite bring it down to level
with the lowered rear. And of course, Dunlop racing caps on the tires.
From traloms to track
Rita and I began occasionally winning our
class in pac traloms, Eventually my income
reached the point where we could start "setting
up" togoracing. Ineditor Gordon Maltby's book,
PORSCHE 356 and RS SPYDERS, the frontspiece
photo shows three Speedsters. That was at Dodger
Stadium inlate '62 or early'63. The lead car, #22 ,
is Alan Johnson. Rita and I were there, hanging
over the fence as usual. That evening I simply
looked upJohnson's number in the phone book
and called him. After congratulating him on the
win, I told him I was about to startsetting uptogo
out, and would appreciate his advice. He became
mymentor.
Alan sold me a roll bar for $20 and an aircraft seat belt for $5. Then I showed up at
Riverside for the mandatory drivers' training sessions. The Conv. D was just as I ran it for daily
driving and pac competition events on the weekends. I even left the big-as-a-barn windshield on
because I didn't have a cut-down racing shield to
substitute. And with no cover for the passenger
seat and area behind the seats, the air drag was
similarto pulling a parachute behind the car. The
22
Volume 26. Number 2
D had coupe gear ratios, putting me at a disadvantage with stock Speedsters which had a shorter 3rd and4th. But what the heck - I just wanted
to get out there and earn my ticket. The Conv. D
was still our one andonly familycar.
Usually three sessions were required before
a driver earned his regionallicense. Then after he
hadproven himselfcompetent and safe in several
regional races, he was granted a national class
license for races countingfor "divisional" points.
After a chalk talk regarding the basics of
line, safety, following the rules etc., we got in line
for a slow tour of the course. We doubled up so
there wouldn't be so many cars on the track; my
first tour of Riverside was as a passenger in a
Morgan. The track looked about a block wide; I
wondered what all that width was for. When it
came time to do laps in our own cars, I was
assigned to instructor RickMuther, whowas brave
enough to ride with me on my fi rst few laps at
speed. I knewvery little of racing line. Rick kept
pointing to one side or the other of the track, saying, "you ought to be there now," giving me my
"clipping points," for which I didn't yet have a
feel.You can'tget a good feel for line and clipping
points until you are going as fast as you can.
By the second session a month later, it was
surprising how much had soaked in through
osmosis- drivingthe courseagainand again inmy
head. This time I went out and raised some hell,
and I found out that the course is actually quite
narrow! At speed using the correct line, virtually
every inch is used in the turns. I found that by
playing my cards right I could go up through the
Riverside esses with myfoot flat on the floor, without lifting, in 4th gear. I was turning 2:02's, a
decenttimefor a stock car but certainlynot competitive with the cars modified for racing and
more experienced drivers. I was having so much
fun theythought I was never goingto comein, and
I didn't untilsomeone flagged me in because they
wanted to go home. Miles Gupton, a leading 356
driver and driving instructor at the time, said,
"You're charging!"Sweet to hear. True, I had been
TheTobin family, Janice, Rita, Pat in Los Angeles.
August '59 (Brian was born a year later). With
the original'56 Coupe,
working through a lot of traffic. Then E. ForbesRobinson Sr. (father of Elliot Forbes-Robinson
Jr.), who was chief of licensing for the club, surprised me by signing and handing me a national
competition license, saying I didn't have to come
back for the third training session. And I could
rundivisionaleventsrightaway. So we were ready
to build a car and go racing.
The state of the art
At this point, I would like to say what racing
inthe 60swas 110t. It was not drivingthe carto the
track, unloading the \vifeigirl friendwith the picnic lunch, popping off the hubcaps, taping up the
headlights and having a go. That was club racing
in the late '40s and early '50s. Evenwhen Rita and
I came to California in '58, production class racingwas alreadyindedicated, modified carswhich
were usually not driven on the street. I'm talking
about the front runners. It was still possible to
bring out a car that was almost stock and race,
and as long as required safety equipment was in
placeand the driver had a competition license. A
few did so, and had their own race back in the
pack. I supported them enthusiastically, feeling
that theyhad as much right to be out there as I did
so long as they stayed out of the way. There was
no rule which said that you had to build your car
to the ma.x in order to come out andenjoy racing.
Until 1960 or thereabouts, the California
Sports Car Club had been the dominant organization in Southern California and sanctioned all the
races in the area. When the Connecticut-based
Sports Car Club of America had matured into the
dominant organization in the rest of the country,
for a brief period oftime both groups sanctioned
separate races in So. Calif. But thatwas awkward,
and the Cal Club people wanted to compete for
SCCA championship points. So the Cal Club was
absorbed, becoming the California Sports Car
Club Region oftheSCCA.
Until about that time, a valiant attempt had
been made to keep production class cars almost
showroom stock. But all the front-runners were
runningracing Guns, andeveryone knew it.Aracing cam is usually just a new profile ground onto
the lobes ofa stock cam, so a racingcam canbear
the same numbers as a factory stock cam, and
cannot be proven otherwise without instrumentation. Finallythe club justgave up andallowed any
cam profile to be used, ;L~ long as it was ground
on an original stock cam. At the same time any
compression ratio became legal.
And perhaps most significant, cars began to
be classified bydemonstrated performance rather
than on the basis of displacement alone. That
made for much more interesting racing. Most of
the Porsches had been racing in F Production as
Normals; Supers were in E Production. But with
the elimination of distinctions based upon stock
cams, all 1600 cc Porsches were in E Production
along with Alfa Romeos, Morgans, Lotus Ts, an
occasional Austin Healy, something called a
Fairthorpe, and my nemesis, theElva.
Remaining restrictions were severe, however: .040" over stock bore, stock carburetorquantity, type and throat diameter, stock valve diameter. For example, Zeniths had to be run on any
356A. One guy, Terry Hall, rana BSuper-90 road-
ster with Solexes, Super 90 heads with the larger
intake valves, anda camber compensator, but that
put him up into class D where he W;L~ running
against faster cars, and he suffered the weight
penalty of the heavier car. Severalyears later, Alan
Johnson brought out a lightened B Roadster. But
those are the only two Super 90s 1 remember in
So. Cal. SCCA racing.
We could use the Carrera GT (60 mm wide)
front brakes, but1never had them until I was out
of racing! No disc brakes in '64 - they were
approved only for C1SC models. That was a technicality - 1don't think anyone raced a Cin SCCA
because therewas no more power potential than
from the 356A, and the C didn't have a light
Speedster body. An SC could make more power
but also had heavy bodies andwould have had to
run in class D; not appealing. In '64 we could use
only the stock 4.5" wheels; 5" wheels became
legal in '65. Fender flares were not required for
tires andwheels barelywider than original. By '65
some had begun running an oil cooler up front.
But compared with today's SCCA competitive cars,
ours were almost virgin.
The new Goodyear Blue Streaks supplanted
the Dunlops which had been the racing tire for
many years. Caldwell's in Pasadena did
racing-quality recaps on the Blue Streaks, and
that's what I ran. Former divisional champion
Denny Harrison told me once that new Blue
Streaks were good for 1 to 2 seconds a lap over
recaps, but I was supportinga wife and two kids
andracing all on a single salary- I couldn 't afford
a set ofnew tires more then once, no matter how
important the race.
Safety regs weren't nearly as numerous. No
special fuel cells were required; we didn't even
have to carry a fire extinguisher! An aircraft lap
belt and two shoulder straps were required, and
theywere fairlypicky about roll bars.
Motor homes were all but non-existent; I
began to notice them around '66. Most drivers,
wi th family and helpers, came to the course in a
station wagon filled with parts and tools, towing
the race car behind. At most tracks there were no
permanent rest rooms. We justcontendedwith the
hot, stinking"AI's & Annie's." The Ritz it wasn't.
"Sponsorship"
The handful ofpro racing shops that existed
were dedicated to pro efforts. Dan Gurney's All
American Racers started up in this time frame,
andthere were a few others dedicated to Indyand
other racing venues which paid prize money.
More were spawned when the Can-Am serieswas
initiated. But SCCA was strictly amateur in those
days; we raced for $10 trophies and bragging
rights.
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July/August 2002
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In the modified "Sports Racing" classes,
carswere sometimes supplied and sponsored bya
dealer who had a lively interest in racing and
could benefit from the advertising. John von
Neumann, who owned Competition Motors, the
Porsche and VW distributorship for Southern
California and the dealership in Hollywood,
owned and had his shop prepare Spyders driven
by the late Ken Miles. Otto Zipper, who co-owned
a dealership in Beverly Hills, later provided
Spyders for Miles and a 904 or two for other top
drivers. Vasek Polak owned and prepared a large
number of Porsche race cars until his untimely
death just a few years ago. Bob Challman Lotus
was also in Manhattan Beach. There were others,
and of course [ am speaking of Southern
California where [ lived. I'msure the situation was
similar in other parts ofthe country; I recallreading ofyoung Roger Penske driving a Spyder for a
dealership in Pennsylvania owned by his father.
But intheproduction classes there werevery
fewfull sponsors which provided the cars and did
all the preparation. The onlyone which comes to
mind in the So. California area is Chick
Vandagriff's Hollywood Sports Cars which prepared winning BMC cars (MG, etc.) 95% of the
SCCA was strictly amateur in those
days; we raced for $10 trophies and
bragging rights:'
/I
drivers did all their own wrenching, relying on a
friendly repair shop for special tools and equipment beyond the realm of private ownership.
Therewere a number ofindependentrepairshops
whose owners participated in racing preparation
on the side, andsometimes also drove. For example, Roger Bursch, originator of the sport exhaust
systemswhich bear hisname, assisted several top
drivers with building and maintenance of their
cars, which ran under his shop name, Scientific
Automotive. Bursch had a Clayton chassis dyno
which was invaluable for tuning and testing.
AI Cadrobbi, who had built several winning
pushrod racing engines in addition to his many
better-known "four cam" Spyder and Carrera
engines, showed me how to build my first racing
engine. He sold me an engine stand and gave me
a few special tools, then I was on myown \vith AI's
consultation andsupport. The slogan AI chose for
his PorscheJVW repair shop cracked me up.
During an era when some dealers' "Authorized
Service" shops had a reputation for shoddywork
at top prices, AI chose as the name of his prosperous independent workshop, "Cadrobbi's
Werkstatt - Unauthorized Service."
There was one young doctor running in E
productionwhen [ was there; his enginehad been
built byVasek Polak, personally. Vasek was amazing - [ don't knowwhenhe slept. Even bythat time
he already owned a couple ofprosperous dealer24
Volume 26. Number 2
ships and, as noted, was very active in modified
(sports racing) classes with the dedicated
Porsche race cars. The thought of him working
late at night, personally building up a 356 racing
engine for a customeris just mind-boggling. Yet I
have seen a photo of him doing exactly that, grinning and wrenching when most of us were probablysound asleep.
Most of the Porsches running in production
class were 356A Speedsters, '56 through '58, just
six to eight years old. Hurts, doesn't it, to thinkof
racing Speedsters that young? We didn't have to
worry about rust and a lot of today's other geriatric problems. Arunning stock Speedster could
be picked up for about $2,000; brand new they
didn't cost much over $3,000. Eat your hearts
out, Baby Boomers! But to be fair, for street use,
theSpeedster was considered the bottom, notthe
top of the 356Aline. They were the "entry level"
Porsche and no one who could afford another
modelwould be caught deadin one, with that ugly
topandsidecurtains! So what iftheydidlook neat
with the top down; remember, in those
days 99.5%of356s were only-car daily
drivers and the tops were up a lot. The
Speedster allowed the young couple
with a VWto getinto a Porsche a couple of years sooner, period. I don't
know ofanyone who chose a Speedster
because they preferred it to the "civilized" 356s. But for racing they were
ideal: light weight, lack of heavy side
windows, and thin buckets with lots of
side support.
All parts were easily available
through Porsche dealers; there were
virtually no independentparts suppliers
such as we have today. We got "racer's
price" from dealerships which supported racing; that was usually the dealer's
cost plus 10%. Vasek stocked unusual parts that a
normal dealer wouldn't have. In rare cases parts
would quietly be provided free to really top drivers with a mission. In the early '60s, after the
Spyder days, the late Ken Miles invaded Eproduction with a SunbeamAlpine. It fellto topSpeedster
driver Davey Jordan to uphold Porsche honor.
Davey, who was out there on a shoe string like
most owner/drivers, was quietlyslipped free parts
and body work by Competition Motors. And he
heldoffKen Miles in the Alpine most ofthe time.
At one driver-training class at Riverside,
instructor Bob Challman brieflywaxed philosophical. He said that we were out there "to dispose of
disposable income." I was stunned, and the faces
of the other fledgling drivers showed the same
reaction. Most ofus were out there on moneythat
should have gone to buy new shoes for the baby.
The idea of that being "disposable income" was
startling, at best.
With the ticket in my pocket, we knew we
weren't going to race the Conv. D, so we began
looking for a Speedster. Luck more than smiled
on us. Bob Kirby had a stock '58 with some
minor body damage on the rear and the engine
in a basket. Perfect. $800 brought it home.
Butwe also needed a tow car, which would
double as the family car. For the first timesince
[957 our daily driver would not be a Porsche.
Alan Johnson was about to sell his '58 Ford
wagon, stick shift. This Ranch Wagon had an
interesting history. Originally it was owned by
Clyde Freeman, Hamms Beer distributor for the
Pasadena area. The sky-blue wagon had originally been emblazoned on the sides, "From The
Land of Sky Blue Waters." But on weekends it
went racing, towing Clyde's Spyder. After later
towing Alan's Speedster to the track for a few
seasons, itwas oursfor $600. For allthree owners the Ranch Wagon worked all week and then
tugged Porsches tothe races!There's a mutt with
a pedigree by association. Later, it took my
daughterJanice to college for a couple of years.
Raw material. Speedster, just towed
home, which would become the race car.
And would you believe I still have it?Anyone who
knows me well would believe it.
Once again I switched engines, selling the
Conv. D with the rebuilt normal engine which
came in a basket with the Speedster. As mentioned, the '60 Super engine was rebuilt by AI
Cadrobbiandme into myracing engine, version 1.
I also switched transmissions, gaining the
improved Type 716 from the '59. (The main
advantage was that there was a wider choice of
competition gear sets available for the 716n4 1
than for the earlierType 644.) And a new ZF limited slip, $150 (racer's price) fromVasek.
My Christmas presentfrom Rita was a set of
Mahle .040" overs. The only otherpistonavailable
at the time was byMC, who specialized in custom
pistons formotorcycles. The original barrels were
bored to fit the 40-overs and cut to set the com-
pression at about 10.0:I. (When they became
available, we switched to Forgedtrue racing pistons with the "step seal" top ring.) We had to run
on commercially available pump fuel, butthat was
not a problem; Chevron "White Pump" was about
102 octanein those days, and "Powerine" brought
a tanker of top-octane pump gas to SCCA races,
fueling the competitors free. And yes, they kept a
recordof how many times each car gassed up!
At the time, a roller crank from a pre-'58
356 Super was considered a necessity. I was told
it had to do with the roller big ends surviving
momentary loss of oil pressure. But by the time I
was setting up, the S-90 slosh valve was available,
as were extended push-rod tubes and the larger
oil pump. (I won't mention the baflle of sheetaluminum I installed in the case, which, fatigued
from vibration, broke off and lay loose in the
sump until the next time I split the case!) Also, I
had the main bearing shellsgrooved in the center
so that there would be a constant, rather than
pulsing supply of oil into the crank to the rod
bearings. Being stubborn in my convictions, I
decided to have a go with a plain crank. I went
with a friend, also setting upa racingSpeedster, to
pickup his rebuilt roller crank. My friend mentioned that I was also setting up to go racing. In
response to inquiry, I replied that I was going to
use a plain crank. "Oh," said the rebuilder, "then
you're not ready to run up front." That stung. I
believe that I was the first in this area to run up
front (a year and a half later) with a plain crank.
Then I just didn't hear anymore about the rollers.
For a racing cam profile, I chose Racer
Brown; most others used Iskenderian.
Conventional racing practice was to run valves
with the skinnier 8 mm stems fro m pre-A cars;
again I remained conservative and stayed with the
newer 10mm stems. Stronger valvesprings were
used, and much attention was given to correct
length push rods, rocker geometry etc. Or it
should have been. I ran long alloy (short steel
end) push rods for quite some time, wrong for
iron cylinders, which probably kept the valves
fromseatingfirmlywhen the engine was good and
hot. I lightened the flywheel and changed to the
200 mm clutch, but that was about it for engine
mods. The strongest E-Production Porsches were
putting 100 hp on the road, measured in second
gear on Roger Bursch's Clayton chassis dyno. I
never tested the first engine for hp, but it was not
up with the front-runners.
Chassis mods
Not much was allowed on the chassis in
those days. I installed the sturdier, tapered rollerbearing spindles from the '59. Most of us ran
stock wheels - not a wise move, but early on we
had no choice. With the added bite of the new
Goodyear Blue Streaks, I cracked several wheels
right across the "spoke" area. Never had one let
go at speed, but it was always a worry. And the
wheels were only6 to 8 years old, like the cars.
I used the brake mods I hadworkedout on
the Conv D: Frendo linings and mym\TI system of
venting holes and adjustment technique. We
changed the rear wheel cylindersto VW17mm dia
(fromthe Porsche 19mm); that was our modified
"racing braking differential."
The front torsion bar anchors were altered
so that the car could be made level after de-cambering the rear a conservative 1-1/2 degrees. We
were not yet re-rnachining the uprights for fro nt
camber; Al Cadrobbi originated that on Dick
Smith's GT Carrera. After a few races I ordered
several competition-ratio gear sets for the 716
trans. Even though the '58 gearshift was shorter
and stiffer by virtue of its more rearward mounting, we added a short-shift adapter.
Steeringwheel?We just run what we brung.
In my case, not only was it the skinny original A
wheel, it wasn 't even the smaller diameter
Speedster wheel! Somelate Speedsters, including
mine, were supplied with coupe steering wheels,
larger than the former Speedster version and
equipped with a horn ring. I was used to it, and
those things just weren't that important. I did
remove the hom ring. Very sm:111steering wheels
became useful in racing light-steering formula
cars with cabins so narrow there isn't room fora
larger wheel. I am amused by those who think
they must have a sm:111steeringwheel in order to
be a racer in any kind of car. Areallysmall wheel
can be a disadvantage - you don't have the leveragewhen a lot of muscle is needed. That can tire
your arms and lessen precise control of the car.
I built a new rollbar for the racecar. There
was the cut-down windshield, mirrors on the
fenders etc. I installed a direct-reading oil pressure gauge, fed from the engine by slim Nylaflow
tubing. Most of the guys used the accessory VDO
electric, but it was so sluggish that you could be
out of oil pressure for five secondsand not know
it. Especiallywith the plain-bearing crank, I wanted the news on a timely basis ifit was suckingair
bubbles in the tums. Never happened.
I reinforced the driver's seatframe. Even at
that tender agethe wooden framewould comeunglued when presented with keeping an energetic
driver in place during high corneringforces.
And that's about it. Simple, compared with
what became legal (therefore mandatory for
fron t-runners) within just the next few years. I
even left the parking brake installed; most took
those parts outto save a few pounds.
Next time, we'll go racing, This will not be a
blow-by-blow account of every turn, every race. I
will try to conveywhatit was like to race in '64 '66, and recall experiences that I feel are interesting, or better yet, funny. And we did have some
good laughs.
Continued next issue
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ost people thinkabout the 356in its
finished form, Details oftrim, finish
and performance are uppermost in
our minds. But, have you ever wondered howthe
cars were actuallymade- from the ground up? I
had the opportunity recently to chat with someof
the men who really know. These guys worked in
the Reutter Factory , building the cars and supervising the different aspects of production. This
interview, first in a series, introduces Meister
Gerhard Dickert, oneof the very first employees at
the Stuttgart factory and later a Chief Inspector
and then head ofthe Experimental Department.
M
The Work of Mr.
Gerhard Dickert
Building
the 356
bodies a
Karosse
Reutter
28
Volume 26 . Number 2
Dick Koenig. When most of us think of
Reutter, we think only of the Porsche 356 cars.
Reutter was a body builder who did subcontracting for Porsche. They also built bodies for other
firms as well. What can you tell us about these
other activities of Reutter?
Gerhard Dickert , Karosserie Reutter didn't start with Porsche in 1950. They had a very
good reputation already. All over the world there
wasn't a single president or head ofstatethat rode
in a Mercedesor Horch whose bodywasn't made
at Reutter. For a long time, before Porsche,
Reutter made the Wanderer cars: it was possible
to make up to 32 bodies per day. Also,theymade
many other specialized vehicles, including vans,
streetcars, and busses. Reutter celebrated their
fiftieth anniversary in 1950, shortly after starting
with Porsche.
OK. The integrated frame and body construction was very new at that time. I read that
nobody hadever done this be£ r
at
Reutter for this difficult task?
GO. The body builders at Reutter were
experts- the best in the business. They weren't
afraid of anything. Even though this was a new
challenge for them, they were so skilled they had
no fear. For example, I was told that in former
times they used to make bets on who could make
the most difficult parts the fastest. One part was
the trunk lidon the Wanderer that hada recess for
the spare tire. Do you know what I'm speaking
about?
OK. Yes, 1 think so. This piece is like a
doughnut sliced down the center. The spare tire
rests in it.
GO. That's right.Another tricky part was the
front fender on the Daimler with the recess to
hold a spare tire that stood upright. But, those
guys could do anything. They were the best and
theywere our teachers.
OK. It's clear that Reutter enjoyed a very
good reputation. As all of us know, they did an
excellent job on the 356s. When did you join
them?
GO. I started at Reutter in 1950. I went over
ona Fridaymorning and inquired. The Meister of
the factoryasked me to weld a few pieces of metal
together using oxy-acetylene and then electric.
Next, he handed me two pair of tin snips and
asked me to cut a curve in a piece of metal. He
tested metoseeifI chose theright-handed or lefthanded snips to cut the circle. Obviously I knew
the difference. Finally, he asked me why I was
leaving myoId joband I told him they hadn't paid
mein 4 weeks.
w' hired andstarted imme-
Gerhart Dickert making a dash panel in the earliest days on the Augustenstrasse location,
where so much hand finishing was done.
Below, right: Mr. Dickert looks through the windshield, one of a grou p of men who worked
together on the early steel Porsches in Stuttgart.
The same group is shown opposite in a photo
probably taken by Mr. Dickert .
worked until noon on Saturday, but at Reutter we
worked the full day. That's how it was during that
time. We didn't think of our jobs as having a set
quitting time. Most of us worked until we were
done.
OK. Did you have your Meister certificate
when you started?
GO. No, I passed my exam in 1955. It took
me 2 years of preparation, but the actual exam
itselfwas only3-4days. Mysituation was unusual
because it generallytakes 4-5 years to become a
[ourneyman. I had wanted to become an engineer
and earlier, during the War, took some courses
andtests at the officer's school inVienna. So, I had
most of my theoretical studies finished when I
came to Reutter. My official certification was
called "karosseriebaumeister," which means
bodybuilding or manufacturing master. I don't
think you have the same title in the U.S. Mostly,
you have autobody repairmen, and this is quite
different.Afterward, I took more courses at night
school and during vacations to get all the special
REFA certificates that were
required fo r my administrative
responsibilities in quality control
and inspection. I finished my education in 1961.
OK. \\11at aspects of body
building were you involved in?
Exactly, what didyou do?
GO. During my first years, I
worked in Production, actually
building the bodies. Then, in 1954
I was promoted to leader of the
Experimental Group. We had only
a small space in the production
area where we worked on modifications and improvements to the
bodies. My jobwas to seethatthe
cars could be made correctly and
thatour production tools andprocedures would work smoothly.
Later on, as we recognized how
important this work was for production, I was made chief of the
Experimental Department. From
1961 until I retired, we built the
first prototypes under series production conditions. I was responsible for all models through the
959 and finally, the Boxster.
OK. You mentioned earlier
thatwhen you firstcameto Reutter,
you worked in Stuttgart. Most of us think of
Reutter as being in the Zuffenhausen suburb.
Could you discuss this?
GO. Yes, the old Reutterwerk was located in
the center of Stuttgart on Augustenstrasse. This is
where I began and where the first steel-bodied
cars were made after Porsche moved from
Gmiind. In 1954 we started moving to the new
building in Zuffenhausen, I was one ofthe first to
be transferred andwas the leader ofa 7-man production team in the newfactory.
OK. What was it like when you started in
Stuttgart?
GO. After the War, the
French took over our assembly
plant. Later the Americans came
and we thought of them as our
actual liberators. The problem
with the French was that they
carried off anything that might
be useful back to France. One
thing they didn't want was a
tooling pressthat we had named
"Paula." This old press was very
temperamental and needed a lot
of love or she wouldn't work.
Fortunately, there were 2 guys
who got along with her very
well. There were someother old
tools and 2 small spindle press-
es, butnot verymuch. That's what we had to start
with but, ofcourse, there weren't manyorders for
our cars just then either.
Paula was an incredible press even though
old. It was the onlymachine we had to make the
deep and round curves on the larger panels, like
the fenders androof. Incontrast to modem presses that have male and female dies made out of
steel, Paula had a male form made out of wood.
Insteadof a mating female die, Paula used a thick
piece ofrubber like a membrane, that pressed the
sheet metal around the wooden form. This
method of tooling is ingenious, but unimaginable
by today's standards. The tooling costs are modest, but the method is onlygood for rough shaping ofa limited number ofparts.
OK. I can imagine that, with only Paula to
help out, there was a lot of handwork involved.
GO. That's right. Paula only provided the
rough shape and then everything had to be fi nished by hand. In those times, we had to cut most
of the metal with hand shears. We got so many
blisters! One comment I remember very clearly
was made bythe Old Professor just after I started.
lie said, "One thing I know, there won't be more
than 500 cars built." He was a genius, everyone
recognized that, buthe underestimated, as we all
did, how popular this car would become. It was
clear, though, that production would begin with
simple tools and manual methods. All of us made
our 0\\11 tools at that time. Things were created,
"home made" so to speak, as we needed them.
Everyone had his 0\\11 personal set of hand tools.
Later on, aswe grewbigger, Porsche had the tools
specially made by Hahn and Kolb in Stuttgart,
Lapple in Heilbronn andAllgaier of Uhingen.
OK. Could you describe building the first
few cars?
GO. I was a member of the team of seven
men who built the first steel cars in Stuttgart. We
allworked together andhelped each other. There
was a good friendship among us, no jealousy.
Porsche production wasn't large enough so everyone hadto be able to do many jobs. There was no
July/August 2002
29
Thecrewof Reutter workmen who built the first steel-bodied 356 prototype in Stuttgart pose with
their handiwork. Mr. Dickert was the photographer. Below: Thebasic chassis was quite strong,yet light
enough that it could be carried by two women.
one else, just us, so we hadto get the jobdone.
The building in Stuttgart had two levels.
Upstairs we built the entire inner frame section
andthen 4 men carriedit downstairs to attach the
outer body. We wereveryproud that the frame was
so light and could be carried easily. Nothing like
this hadever been donebefore. Most of the metal
was so thin-I .25 mm in the beginning and later
only 1.00 mm. The inner frame was made in two
sections. The front nose box, which carries the
spare tire and fueltankwas built as a separateunit
and later attached to the rest of the frame to create the integral unit. We had a frame jig, butthat's
stretching it a bit because this device was very
primitive- made of wood. This platform was 3
meters by6 meters and hadreference points to fit
and align everything.
30
Volume 26. Number 2
OK. Did you ever have problems with alignment? I'm thinking
about the wooden patterns not
being the best and everything being
so new and experimental. It would
only be natural. Howwould you fix
something as complicated as a
Porscheframe?
GO. Yes, we did have problems, especially in the beginningwhich is what we are talking about
now. Later on, we got better tools
andmore skilled workers, so everything became gradually more precise and faster. But, in the early
days, if a worker didn't pay attention or welded too long, there could
be distortion. There might be other
reasons, such as ifa partwas bumpyand had the
wrong shape or if the surface wasn't clean and the
weld didn't hold properly. Whatever the reason,
we had certain tricks to bring the frame back to
alignment. Usually, we would tryto stretch a section and then clamp it again onto the frame jig.
When that didn't work, we hoisted the frame unit
inthe air anddropped iton a wooden plank. That
was ourlast resortand onlyusedon the mostserious problems, when nothing else would work.
Always, we tried to learn from our mistakes and
not repeat them again.
OK. Yes, I know about that trick with the
board. It's easy to warp the frame unit on a softtop carwhile installing a newfloor during restoration. Manyamateur restorers here in the U.S. have
borrowed your trick!
GO. I can tell you another story about the
first steel car, which was finished in March 1950.
We were building this car under a short time
deadline for Prince von Furstenberg, a friend of
the Old Professor. We made the entire box-frame,
the innerstructure, with the helpof templates and
home-made tools. In the process, we created a
large distortion. Everything was tried to fix the
problem, but with no success. Our Master
Kleinholz, an experienced man whohad beenwith
the Old Professor since 1935, asked him for
advice. He came over and examined the partial
bodyfromabove andbelow. With a piece ofchalk
he markedwhere and howthe spot and line welds
were to be made. The improvement was enormous: the warping had been reduced by at least
half.
Later on, we wereworkingontheouter body
of this car and it wasn't right either. 1tried to fix
some problems with lead-pewter alloy. Kilo after
kilo of this filler material was smeared on but I
couldn't get the fit quite right. We didn't know
what to do next. Meister Kleinholz came over and
said, "If Old Professor Porsche sees this, he'll
tearboth our heads off." Suddenly, thedoors right
behind us swung open, and the Old Professor
appeared, saying, "All right, whose head should I
tear off first?I'm not used to such badwork." You
can imagine how shocked and embarrassed we
were. While this was difficult for all of us on the
team, most ofus accepted the criticismbecause of
our deep respect for the Old Man. lie was a true
genius and clearly showed us what the standards
were. He understood both the theoretical and
practical- that's what I mean by genius. Imagine,
at his age, crawling under the car to inspect the
welds so that we would make themcorrectly. This
was incredible. But, one man on the teamtook the
criticism very personally: he quit before we started on the second car.
OK. We have focused on the very beginning
in Stuttgart and the earliest steel cars. I imagine
things changed by the time you moved to
Zuffenhausen.
GO. The factoryin Stuttgart remained open
until about 1960. We operated both locations in
parallelfor about 6 years. Afterward, we were just
in Zuffenhausen.
From our beginnings with the first few cars,
Reutter and Porsche grewquickly Every fewyears
there was somethingdifferent- some improvement
to make the cars better. When I moved tothe new
factory, we alreadyhad more guys in the shop and
had added two new presses, which were named
Bambi and Macki. With these larger presses, we
could do a better job of making the larger parts,
like fenders and roofs, without so much need for
hand work. Reducing the amount of hand work
was always a concern because itwas so expensive.
OK. I understand what you're talkingabout.
It's still true today. Manual labor that requires
such skill is so expensive. Also, when you have to
do something twice becauseof mistakes, its difficult to stay in business for long.
GO. Yes, yes. What I told you about were
problems we had mostly in the beginning. We seldom made the same mistake twice because we
worked together and learned from each other. It
also helped that we were able to developthetechnical aspect better, For example, by this time in
1954 we had replaced the wooden frame jig with
a newer coordinate measuring table made ofsteel.
This was a much more accurate three-dimensional fixture. Later on still, in the 1970's, our prototype work wi th the 911 race cars required even
more accuracy- to within 1 millimeter, At this
time we developed a computer-controlled system
to replace the manual operation. The cheapest of
these machines cost around 1.8 million OM.
While it was important to shift fromwood to
the stronger steel for the large frame fixture and
many of the stamping dies, we didn't eliminate
wood entirely until the 1960s. Our doors, for
example, were still made on wooden fixtures for
several more years.
There were still some challenges with our
bodies- parts that didn't fit quite right. One problem was the seam where the roofwas welded to
the rear fender on the coupes. The stampingofthe
roofpanel, in the back, had somewrinkles in the
metal around the sharp curve for thequarter window. There was too much metal to press into the
small curve around the window, resulting insome
wrinkles. When we welded the roof to the rear
fender, the heat from the torch caused the metal
to stretch more and there were big bumps that
were difficult to smooth out. You won't believe it
when 1tell you how we solved this problem. One
dayoneofour regular welderswas absent and we
replaced him with another fellowwho happened
to be left handed. This guyshowed us the secret.
It was natural for the substitute guy to weld in the
opposite direction (fro m left to right) than the
right handers, Instead of starting at the quarter
window frame, where there was all the excess
metal (wrinkles) accumulated in the sharp corner, he started at theoppositesidebythe rearwindow, where the metal was perfectly smooth and
had no wrinkles. lie cut a v-shaped slit between
the fender androof, with the metal touching inthe
back but having a small gap in the front- where
there was excess and wrinkles. During welding,
the metal stretched from the heat and pulled out
The early press "Paula" was succeeded by larger,
more efficient units-like the one shown herethat could form complex shapes like the roof,
hood and fenders,
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but how could that be if both cars were actually
manufactured?
GD. Your situation was notnormal, butspecial circumstances occurred from time to time. I
understandyour question quite well. From 1956,
after I passed my Meister exam, until 1961 , I was
theChief InspectorforBodyShell Quality Control.
I worked very closely with my inspectors. If I
missed something, then my colleague Mr.
Eisenbarth certainly would have caught it. So,
there was nothing improper about your car, I can
assure you ofthat.
It could happen that parts intended for specific cars could get mismatched. I wouldn't call
"Wewere able to cut down on the
amount of leading and hand finishing.
By the 356(,there was much less lead
than on the first cars:'
The body j ig held the multiple panels in alignment while they were joined, but skill was all important in the welding process.
Below right: By 1957, Speedster production had
ramped up to the point where components were
kept in stock to continuously build the cars.
the wrinkles in the roofwhile closing the gap at
the front ofthev-notch. It wasso obvious what our
problemwas after we sawtheleft-hander weld the
seam from theoppositedirection.
The second main problemwas thetransition
area from thefront fender to the windshield area
on theSpeedster cowl. When the cowl was assembled, we would get warpage in the areaswhere the
cowl meets the fenders. This required shrinking
the metal with a torch andwas very difficult. Only
a few of our guys could do this very well. KarlHeinz Walter was one of the best. We never were
able to improve our stamping to eliminate these
wrinkles from the cowl, but we did get better at
shrinking over time.
I would like to say that our procedures got
better andbetter. We were able to cutdown on the
amount ofleading andhand finishing. By the "C",
there was much less lead than on the first cars.
There was a great improvement in our methods.
DK. I would like to ask a question that
seems to fit heresomehow. It is about an unusual
situation involving my GT Speedster, which has a
build date of May, 1957. Nobody can figure out
what happened. The car has never been wrecked
andthere aren't anyreplacementpanels from collision damage. There have been the usual rust
repairs to the undercarriage, but that's not rele32
Volume 26 . Number 2
vant to our discussion. The front subframe (cowl,
dash and trunk) was made from earlier model
stampings- prior to the mid-year changeover in
January, 1957. Another unusualfeature is theYIN
plate, which hasa much larger size than normal.
Finally, there is a different chassis number
(82134 versus the 83319 stamped on my body)
written in crayon on the underside of the dash. I
checked with thePorsche archives andfound that
there is another Speedster with theYIN82134. It
appears that mySpeedster has parts from 2 cars,
this a true mistake because the car still passed
inspection. When I started at Zuffenhausen we
only had one production "line," so to speak. All
models were made togetherin the same room by
the same people. There wasn't the separation that
would start only a few years later with the
Speedster. In 1954, demand for the Speedster
wasn't so high, so each one was made to a special
order. We didn't keep an inventoryon hand of all
the parts needed to build several cars as we did
for the more popular coupes. Consequently, we
had to make each and every part first, before we
could assemble a Speedster body. To keep track of
allthe parts andmake sure that nothing was missing or lost, we wrote thechassis number in crayon like you described on themain pieces, like the
hoods andbumpers, andtheinner frame sections.
At the start of 1957 it was decided there was
enough demand for Speedsters that series production should begin. It no longer made sense to
build the cars one at a timeas in the past.Awhole
crew of men was assigned to these cars onlyand
the parts were produced in larger quantities to
keep a 3-4 day supply in inventory. With these
changes, it was no longer necessaryto keep track
of each car on a chassis-by-chassis basis. Also, the
paint shop was mad about the chassis numbers
written in crayon because these marks were diffi cult to remove and often showed throughthe final
paint. So, the crayon writingstopped.
I took over the quality control position just
before Christmas in 1956. We were planning for
the changes to start in j anuary, The way 1 can
explain your situation is that your front cowl subframesection was made in 1956, probablyforthat
other car. The part might have gotten lost under a
pileof other parts. later on, whenwe were cleaning up it was discovered again and immediately
used on the next car in production, which was
yours. This is only a guess, but it happened now
and then. Another explanation is that there was a
mistake in counting and they actually gave two
pieces the same chassis number - in other words
they created a spare. There were two guys making
this fro nt subframe in 1956, Rupp and Sturm.
Maybe there was a miscommunication.
OK. 1was sure all along that everythingwas
properwithmy car, butdidn't know thereason for
the different parts. Your explanation gives me a
nice memento to one of the finer points of the
made-by-hand process.
Could you describe your job as Quality
Control Meister a lillie more? \Vhat exactly was
involved?
GO. 1 was responsible for the entire body
shell in finished metal, up until it was ready to go
to the paint shop. The surface had to be 100%
perfect because we used no plastic fillers like
bondo, On top ofthe metal was only paint. So, the
metal had to be accurate to within a thousandth of
a millimeter. By the time I took over this job, the
inspection process had developed to include severalsteps.Thiswas much beuer than in the beginning, when we built the whole subframe and then
discovered that it was warped. After every step of
production there was nowa quality control checkpoint. Our new method was much better and we
had fewer mistakes.
OK. I can imagine, however, that there
could still be problems, especially with the hand
work on the outer body panels. 1I0w smooth is
smooth, especially around a sharp curve?
GO. Actually, we had a good group and
nearly everybody worked well together. But,
you're right, there was one difficult inspector. He
was always lookingfor 100%accuracy andwould
examine the work in detail until the men went
nuts. One day, one of the workers had enough
Here are original VIN plates
from two of the author's
Carreras. Thebottom one is
the typical size and shape
with most of the information
pre-stamped by machine.
Nearly all 356shad a plate
generally similarto this.
The other plate, which was
original to the 1957 (;1
Speedster, is much different,
not only in size. All of the
information was stamped by
hand, the plate is flat with
no raised letters, the metal is
thicker and the finish is dull
galvanized rather than the
customary shinytin plating.
harassment and said he wasn't going to make the
metal any better, So, I was called over to settle the
argument. The angry worker told me that, if I
wanted the finish any better; I should do it myself.
So, I did. I showed him what his mistakes were
and howto correct them. Even thoughhe was still
angry, he accepted mycriticism because I showed
him how to do the job correctly. That was one of
my strong points at Reutter, and later Porsche, 1
never asked anyone to do something I couldn't do
myself. There were always two sets of clothes in
my office - one for the shop and the other for the
office.
I would like to tell another story, this time
about the Experimental Department. We were
building a 928 prototype and were under a time
deadline to get the bodyshell painted. One of the
men installed the axle pickup 10 mrn out of place
and nervously asked a more senior man what he
should do. Under normal working hours there
wasn't enough time to fLX the problem, but it
couldn't be left as is. The older worker advised
him to tell me about the problem. The fellow was
assured that I would first chew him out for the
mistake and then develop a solution.
That's exactly what happened. Then, I went
dO\\1I to the shop and asked for 4 volunteers to
stay late and help mefix theproblem. We finished
the repaira quarter hour before our appointment
at the paint shop. Afew days later, the worker I
had scolded came up to me and said "What I
experienced a few days ago, I will never forget. I
would like to work for my Meister exam now."
That's a good story about how we were
inspired to such highquality. I feltstronglythai the
car always came fi rst, above the man's feelings.
ButI was thereto helpandcoulddo so bymy 0\\11
example. The men always respected this.
OK. 1I0wdidyour Experimental Department
at Reutter differ from what they did at Weissach?
GO. Weissach didn't come until later. Both
of us could do many of the same things, but they
were more interested in research and development leading to the first model, or prototype.
Then, we took over and determined how the car
could be built under series production condi-
tions. Ofcourse, we worked closely together with
Weissach. One example comes to mind. The 911
Targa, when first introduced, was unstable in the
back. We worked on this a long time, trying different reinforcements. Finally, we added transverse rings and then it stayed rigid. The learning
from this model helped me later on when there
was a similar problem with the 917 Longtail race
cars. lIere, too, 1was able to stiffen the body in
the rear byaddingan additional panel tosolve the
problem of the tensions.
My greatest satisfaction in all this experimental work was a 911 body made entirely of
stainless steel. That's my masterpiece! It traveled
67,000 km. on display and is now in the
Deutsches Museum in Munich. The car was built
under contract for Mr. Thyssen who O\\1IS the
large steel company. lie wanted this special body
to advertise his products. After BMW refused, we
were approached. Weissach didn't think they
could do it, so 1was asked. 1 requested 6 weeks
"Thesurface had to be 100%perfect
because we used no plastic fillers
like bondo. On top of the metal
was only paint'
before deciding so that I could do some experiments with various tools and materials. I wasn't
sure either, if this could be done. The job wasn't
easy because stainless steel hardens when you
hammer or bend it. That meant that wecouldn't
use our dies and tools as we normally would
because they weren't strongenough. So, there was
a lotof handwork involved, just like when I started 20 years earlier. Also, in those daysit was diffi cult welding stainless without any of the seams
being visible because the welds tended to be
porous. Anyway, I took on the job and all the
problems involved when nobody else would.
That's whythis stainless car is my pride and joy.
OK. All ofus admire the high qualityofyour
efforts with our cars. What I aIII struck by is how
these standards were establishedin the beginning,
by the Old Professor himself. His critique of the
veryfirst car you helped build on Augustenstrasse
July/August 2002
33
clearly instilled the level of excellence you followed throughout your career at Reutter and
Porsche. This example helps clarify, for me at
least, what a geniushe was. You were very lucky
to have known him.
NOTES
The diesweren't strongenough for the stainless
steel, so parts were made in smaller segments
and welded together. Mr. Dickert writes: ''The
individual parts wereplaced separately in the
deep pool press because the tools would have
beendamaged through the thick steel.
The roof was processed in three parts and
brought intoform, shaped and welded together.
The preparation required a high level of competence, which my colleagues (e.g. Mr. Wild and Mr.
Deeg) had at the time. The hood consisted of two
parts. The frontand rear fenders consisted also
of two parts. The stainless steel processing was
at that time in its beginning:'
GT aluminum mirror
housing, curved
mirrorand stand
(R & L side)
a s se en on th e
Spyder Sports
GT S peci al ,
I am deeply grateful to several people for
their help with this article and the series about
Karosserie Reutter. Mr. Klaus Boizo, the Chief of
Porsche Classic, helped with the initial introductions that made everything possible. In addition to providing many period photos for this
article, Mr. Klaus Parr graciously offered his
conference room at the Historic Archives and
the translation assistance of the very capable
and patient Mr. jens Tomer. Then, Mr. Peter
Albrecht, the renowned automotive journalist,
transcribed the tapes. Finally, Ms. Tania and Mr.
Oliver Walter of Stuttgart helped proofread the
rough draftwith Mr. Gerhard Dickert. I appreciate the help by all ofyou.
Thanks alsoto the Deutsches museum for
providing a photo of the stainless steel 9II in
their collection. You can find out more about
the museum at: www.deutsches-museum.de
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34
Volume 26. Number 2
356 Performance
Guide...... $24.95
SHASTA PISTONS& CYUNDERS
(1) 86mm x 9.25 cr, Piston & cyI set
.$1095.
(2) 86mm x 9.25 c.r. Piston set only
.$695.
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.$1150.
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WEBWID POWERRJL RBJABlf ENQNES WITH 1HEPROOUCIS WESBlJ
202 16 Lakeview Dr., Lakehead, CA 96051
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530-238-2198
Fax 530-238-2846
www.shastadesign.com
In the Mail
On a road trip to Wyoming, at mile marker
356. Photographer: Ed Johnson of Shell Knob,
Missouri, owner of the
Super 90. Pictured are
grandchildren Rachel and
Luke, and son Dan from
Marshalltown, Iowa - the
owner of the Normal.
Rachel.If years old, drove
a 356 for the fi rst time on
this trip.
~....;::.;:.
Danieljohnson
The 1st annual 356 Reliability Run drew
nine cars for a l'II1Sty run through the Tennessee
mountains. We met at a locallandmark, The
Court Cafe, in Lenoir City - a 50's style diner that
would lookin place on Route 66. The runwas
about 130 miles andincluded "TheTail of the
Dragon" in Deals Gap (below) on Hwy 129. (See
www.Taiiofthedragon.com) This is a worldrenowned motorcycle route with 318curves in
11 miles. The long distance award went to Fred
and Carol Uhlmann from Bellbrook Ohio in a '64
SC coupe. Look for nextyear's date in the spring
Ly1l11 Sbeeley
calendar.
I took these pictures in 1957 while (was in
the U.S. Army, stationed on the island of Oahu,
Hawaii. This was before Hawaii became a state
(1959).
The racetrack was set up on an abandoned
airfield in the northern part of the island. At that
time, ( didn't know one sports car from another,
but ( must have thought that bathtub-looking car
W;L~ pretty neat. Perhaps an attempt can be made
to find outif the owner or car is still around?
My next exposure to a Porsche was the purchase of a new '64 356C in March of 1964. I still
have that car.
That leads me to another question. Is there a sub-group in the
Registry of a One-Owner Group
(OOG)? ( seem to remember something about this in the magazine a few
years ago. H. If. (Bill) Oldenboom
Bart
Sanderson's
daughter Grace
(left) is a regular
reader ofthe
Registry, Perhaps it
helps her fall
asleep?
Right: Vic Riverawrites:
"Here's Neil Goldberg trying
to locate a 356engine (during
last year's 356 International
Meet.) According to Marco
M., the S\11SS army used the
356 industrial engines to run
their anti-aircraft trailers."
Below: Jan Rodriguez's
email says, "Times are tough
here in the South. This is my
new house after
restoration."
July/August 2002
35
By Steven Baun
he 26th Annual event fortheCentral PA
Region has once again grown to new
dimensions. With the parking lot construction from last year behind us, we had three
huge parking lots forthe2002 Porsche Only Swap
Meet. We also added our first Swap Meet
Autocross on Sunday.
Using a slightly revised layout for 2002, the
Friday group of volunteers organized the vendor
lot, Porsche Corral, Porsche Only parking andthe
People's Choice lot. When thelots were organized
and our club tent set, we were ready for the
Saturday attack ofPorsche owners andvendors.
The first shift of volunteers arrived at
5:30am-a very darktime ofday. With flashlights in
hand, a check is performed to seethat allbarriers
are in place and to wake up a few vendors that
have already loaded in thenight prior. At 6:30am,
the main gates are opened and in pour the long
line of vendors and early shoppers. The line of
vendors finished around 8:20am, as many ven-
T
Clockwise from top: The Porsche corral held a lot
of thoroughbreds. Therewere 356 parts, including some 4-cam stuff. Also, the usual eclectic mix
of new and old. Late in the day, there's always
time to check out a car and exchange opinions.
Vic Skirmants sold parts while Barbara signed
up new members.
o
c
'"oE
a:
ro
36
Volume 26. Number 2
dorshadalready done some seriousbusiness. The
Porsches started rolling in at 7:00am and continued through the noon-hour. The additional space
we gained for 2002 was soon filled by Porsche
"Only" Parking and the Porsche Car Corral. By
11 :45am we were about80 percent filled. On-site
we had over 840 vendor spaces filled and over
100Porsches in thecorral. APCA member counted over 850 Porsche cars on the grounds of
Hershey by 12:lOam.
Over 100cars were entered in The Peoples
Choice Concours. The Best of Show was awarded
toEric Wahlberg withhis 1958 Porsche 356A. The
$10.00 entry fee was donated to Four Diamonds
Fund.
Warm temperatures andsunshine during the
early part of the day brought record crowds.
Vendors were busy handling the buyers while the
Porsche folks checked out all the heavy iron. By
mid-afternoon the sun disappeared and light
showers arrived. The day ran extremely well and
ended around 4:00pm.
Each year this annual event grows anddraws
Porsche people from all over theworld--yes the
world. It's amazing to think this event started in a
dealer parking lot and has grown into the largest
gathering of Porsches anywhere. WOW! The date
for 2003 is Saturday, April 26th.
Ahuge thank you is extended to the volunteers, Swap Sponsors and Swap Partners! This
event is huge success because of the energy and
effort from everyone involved.
We look forward to seeing you in year
2003... bring good weather!
Steve Baun is the Swap Chairman of
the Central PA Region, PCA
III
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we watch cars sell at auc tions all over th e world.
Alfas. Ferraris. J agu ars. Porschesnearly a 'c ry type of collecUble car ever made.
Forget asking prices .
We vtew the car. we rate th e condllton.
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September 14-15, 2002
W d's Only Ind
Show
Meetthe Porsche' Industry's leading manufacturers, suppliers,
tuners and restoration experts!
Open Saturday and Sunday at9 am
Concours d'EI ance
Peoples Choice on Saturday, full-judgedConcours on Sunday!
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Thousands of rare and collectableitems for Porsches .
Don't missit!
Porschee·Only Fa
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Place your Porsche' infront ofthousands of enthusiasts,
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Huge Porsche··Only Swap Meet
Acres of parts and accessories for Porsche .
Find what you need, sell what you don't need.
SPEEDS1ER FEST 2002
All 356 & 911 Speedsters are invited to participate in the largest
gathering of Porsche Speedsters in the World. For two full days,
you will have center stage in front of thousands of Porsche
enthusiasts, with awards and a Speedster Parade each day!
Drive it, drag it, haul it
or tow it, but gel your
Speedster to this
event! Entry is $40,
includes two
admissions for both
days. Only cars with
Porsche" serial
numbers will be judged
and eligible for awards.
Call, Fax or Email us for a full color brochure on all Exhibitor/Event/Entry Information.
Email: [email protected] or visit us at www.german-aut ofest .com
Bob Campbell German AutoFest LLC, Santa Clarita, California Voice 661-296-6545 • Fax 661-263-0431
July/August 2002
37
Cal Turner's 550juxtaposedwith Arkus-Duntov
and Dean photographswere just one sample of
the first-rate museum displays.
at a great museum! You know the
logic. Because it's only a short trip
you never go. My first visit to the
National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green,
Kentucky has been in that category for almost 20
years. The second visit will be sooner, almost certainly next year.
My very first sports car rides were inmy high
school friend's '57 fuelie . His family name was
Ruby, his uncle's name was Lloyd and his cars
always seemed to run quite well - so well that he
hardly ever was able to find one of those allimportant, in those days, impromptu street races.
Then he got a '63 Stingray coupe about the time
Sam, who sat behind me in homeroom, showed
up with a heart attack-beautiful dark gray 356
coupe. The contrast and comparison were formative to me.
Along the way therewere various MG andTR
rides andthegirlfriend whose fatherlet us usehis
AH, but none of those quite measured up to the
'57 Corvette or the 356 Porsche. So, from a personal perspective a PCA event at the National
Corvette Museum makes perfect sense. Larry
Hayes, Events Coordinator at the NCM, and PCA
regional folks from Indiana, Kentucky and
Tennessee put together the three day event, The
Visit 2.0. They should have top marks across the
chart.
Sponsors and contributors were; Auto
Assets, Inc., Blue Grass Motorsports, Bob Ingram
and Family, Buxton Motorsports, Cal Turner III,
Cytech DoublePark, Elfi Arkus-Duntov,
ImagineAuto, Inc., Justin Bell Motorsports,
Bloodworth Motorsports, DynoTec Motorsports,
Jim Watson and Tom Trabue's 1960
Beutler-extraordinarily rare, 100% original,
always driven, never trailered.
Vick Rivera poses the question, "Do guyswho
own onlywhite Porsches have all the fun?"
Jim Watson conducts Friday's first seminar,
Porsche 550 a 356, in the National Corvette
Museum's Engineering/Design center.
Calister Turneranticipates the day when dad
adually hands over the keys.
PCNA, PCA and 1\veeks. Of course, the really big
sponsor was Chevrolet. Larry and his staff did an
outstanding job with the display in the NCM
EngineeringlDesign Hall with Porsches from the
550 right through to the 996. There was a constant flow of speakers and films in the Chevrolet
Theater. Therewere vendor services anddemos in
the parking lot. There was a participant-judged
concours on Friday. There were three dailytours
of the Corvette assemblyplant - a must do - the
tours are quite well done. It is obvious they have
visitors in-house allofthe time.
Friday after barbecue there were Kart races
followed Saturday morning by an autocross with
real cars. There were scenic roads tours on
Saturday afternoon. Did I forget to mention the
office chair drags staged in the driveway Friday
afternoon?
Perhaps one of the most interesting things
about Porsche cars is the company itself. They
probably are able to have almost absolute choice
in whom they hire and it shows. I had the good
luck tomeet Chris Gilman, from PCNA, whospoke
in the Chevrolet Theater on the subject"Cayenne
Development & Production." Chris is responsible
for the Cayenne project in the U.S. So one asks
oneself, towhat sortof guydo theyhand that task?
Well, seems he grew up with after school and
summer jobs wrenching cars, regular and race.
Then engineering school, of course. Friday
eveningChris left BowlingGreen to meet his crew
andhisHusaberg in easternKentucky. Seems heis
something ofan accomplishedoff-road racer.
Another of the speakers, Bruce Anderson,
met enthusiast and collector Cal TurnerIII. Turns
out Cal now owns the Anderson's Pebble Beach
winning 356 GT coupe. Cal learned that that particular car is Mrs. Anderson's very favorite of
them all. About two anda half hours later that particular carrolled off a transporter foranAnderson
family reunion. It was then placed in the display
inside the museum. Thursday evening Jim and
Vernetta Watson invited me to go with them to
Logan'sinJim's Beutler. I satsideways intheback
seat. Closest I've been to 1960 in a long, long
.
~
lime...
W
38
Volume 26. Number 2
ross-country and cross-Atlantic jet lag
was quickly offset bya stay in a "farmhouse" bed & breakfast in
Copenhagen, Denmark, huilt in 1821. Our hosts,
former residents of the UKwere extremelycordial
and wedecided to stay with themagainon our way
backto theStates.
The ferry took us, LOTS of luggage and our
Rent-a-car from Denmark to Sweden. Diane's
grandfather camefromthisarea ofSweden almost
100 years ago. It was a nice adventure looking
around this large port city that combines Old
World architecture with "Europe's Biggest Mall."
The journey to Skovde took us through
beautiful rolling farmlands withimmaculatelykept
fields, barns and homes, Even the livestock were
clean! Skovde is a city of about 50,000 residents
that supports Volvo's single worldwide engine
assembly plant. A growi ng University foc uses on
the world of technology and science, has approximately 4,000 students. On a bluff perhaps 500
feet above the cityamong the pines stands thefirst
Resort Billinghus Hotel, host facilityfor this year's
event. The staffas wellas the people ofSwedenare
very accommodating, friendly and willing to try
and help us poor confused foreign travelers trying
10 figure out the Swedish Kronor / Dollar / Euro.
We were immediately greeted by the chairman of the event and President of the 356 Club of
Sweden, fredrik Brynt, Fredrik and his committee
C
were busy setting up the grand display featuring
the nicely restored Gmiind Coupe#034owned for
many years by Mr. Anders llalvarsson. Interestingly, we found that #48 is alive and well in
Sweden also, though its owner wishes to remain
anonymous.
fredrik hadlocated a 356for our use - a Sky
Blue SC Sunroof, courtesy of the car's owner Mr.
Sven-Folke Johansson. It was a beautiful car and
we were very grateful.
Most participants arrived Thursday afternoon and after the customary wash down of the
hug-laden cars, a "typical Swedish Buffet" dinner
was served 10 some 300 enthusiasts. Diane, Bill
Block, DelJohnston and Hobin Watson must have
gone through 10 pounds of incredible smoked
salmon and numerous traditional Swedish fish
specialities. Swedish folk music bya classical duo
27th International
·/·Rorsche
SJ(ov(le, SweiJen
Ma ~ 9tll - ~ 2tll 2002
on cello and violin accompanied u .~~!l!t;
dinner. And of course, this kind til 112,illiJ]
-: ....,' , . . . •.
. .
•
required a traditional walk through ilig'(" \1&1.
' 3 5 6·j M eet!!]g(~,;.i;_:i"?':
lot past all of the sleeping 356s. Way up"'~n~·~tl~~~·""' U'i]lo:A.c.~u.:::lI'1:.c:~~"'J~~~~
doesn't get dark until after 10 pm.
friday's driving event took small groups of
356ers from the hotel, across the II' sh countryside through bright yellow
fields
which contrasted beautifully wi
fields of alfalfa, spring wheat an
Most of the homes and farms in
painted in a dark blood red p'
snow it would be easy to find
farm.
We arrived in the town of
skirts the shore of LakeVattern, the
lake in Sweden. Our stop today wo
fortress built in 1821 by King Gu~o
140 Porsches lined up on a cobbl
lot providing a brilliant photo oPP.2
and just the fi rst such opportuo'
event. Guided tours of the fo
arranged for the participants in Ger
and English making the experienc
most all the attendees. Based on
description and our observations, it's 0
no invaders ever mounted an attack
fortress. The advanced design of tli m
defense systems would have surely wiped out AAYJ1f1'~
attempt at seizing the fo rt! Lunch at the Officer's
Mess duplicated what is served daily to the still
active personnel at the fortress. It remains an
important part of Swedish defenses and until
recently, was the storage location for Sweden's
gold reserves.
Diane took part in all the driving events and
placed right in the middle of the field - very
respectable, considering she had never touched
the steeringwheel of this car until the first run of
the slalom, 1 was able to put together two runs
through the slalom course with a netdifference of
0,22 seconds. Not bad, except the winner came in
Top: And you thought the dandelions in your
at 0.00I seconds!
Returning fro m the first day's drive, a very yard were bad. Above: Wes, left, and Fredrick
Brynt.
loud thump...thump...thump noise started coming
from beneaththe car - a wonderful way to start out
with a borrowed car! Thoughts immediately
turned to a failing gearbox, wheel bearing or
some other major breakdown. It turned out that
one of the lug nuts had not been put on snugly.
Some of the new powder coatingchipped away on
one wheel allowinga lug nut to work itself loose,
thus the thump, thump sound.
A dinner featuring local pork tenderloin
cooked to perfection was served Friday night and
all retired to tirekicking andsocializing in thebar
to cap offthis first full day of activities.
Saturday morning again started out with
clear, crisp weather and a test drive to make sure
our coupewas readyfor the rally. Groups then left
the starting gate in both North and South direc-
tions across the Swedish countryside. Diane and I
founda field awash in yellow flowers and quickly
snuckthe Sky Blue 356in to snap some reallynice
photos.
We faced tests challenging our knowledge of
various 356 parts, identification of former
Porsche employees key to the development of the
356, and tests of skill in negotiating the Porsche
through different obstacle courses. Questions on
the rallye included such well known subjects as
"is this carburetor from a '56, '58 or 1960
engine? Sincewe own a '63, howwould we know?
You will find no pictures of our trophies for this
event, so you can make theobvious conclusion on
how wefared.
This un-timed, sell-guided "Hally Billingen"
July /A ug ust 2002
39
took us over 90 km ofthe most beautiful Swedish
countryside on some great Porsche roads, many
ofwhich were one356wide. With a morning stop
for coffee and more delicious pastry at the
Hornborga Naturum (a beautiful wildlife sanctuary), we were off again to enjoy more sceneryand
later "doing lunch" along the road. Compared to
the photo rallye in the UKin 1991, this onewas a
breeze. The UKevent nearly caused a divorce in
the family. Amateur "rallyists" will understand
how those things go.
Arriving back at the hotel, we opened the
GoodieStoreagain forthe late shoppers, who had
been waitingforthe "end ofthe event" sale.
We were then off to the closing ceremonies
and banquet. The Committeearranged for a special traditional Swedish Folkdance group to entertainus on the back lawn overlooking the city during the cocktail hour. Almost all the dancers are
over age 50. One has to wonder if this traditional
dancing will die out without a new generation
Above: Folkdancers on the lawn. Right: A Gmiind
coupe and an ice-racing 356 with some serious
studded tires.
comingforward to keep it alive.
Henne Lembeck, Presidentofthe Dutch 356
Club, has presided over the annual gathering for
some24 years and decided it was timeto pass on
the baton. Fred Hampton, who heads up the 356
partofthe Porsche Club Great Britain, has agreed
to assume the roll of Coordinator for the 356
International Meetings, and laid out his informal
hopes for the future of the 356 Faithful for the
banquet guests.
Following Fred's comments and kudos to
Henne, Porsche Cars AG recognized Henne's contribution by presenting him with a signed original
painting of his cabriolet. Averyspecialgift!
Dinner followed with a traditional Swedish
meal featuring Roast Reindeer (from those bred
and raised in commercial herds - not Santa's
boysl) The awards for the driving events were
dominated bythe German contingent this year and
unfortunately this reporter failed to obtain the
names. The traditional gifts for the host President
were presented. Diane and I were honored to
presenton behalfofthe Registry, a silver icebucket engraved with the 356 Registry Logo and the
name of the event.
You would expect Sunday's swap meet to
commence at "dawn thirty," but not in Sweden.
Nine-thirty amand nota minute earlier. Of course,
after a night of Reindeer and who
knows what fromthebar, nowonder
things didn't get rolling until late the
next morning! Several lots of parts
appeared and we tried to find some
unique pieces to bring back to the
States, but none jumped outat us.
As everyone started to pack up
and pull out for their respective
homelands, the weather duplicated
what happened in Holland last year.
Prior to the event, it had rained. No
rain during the event, and at 12:30
Sunday afternoon with all but a
handful of participants on the road
home, the sky opened up! Quoting
Chairman Brynte commenting on the
good weather, "God must drive a 356"!
Fredrik's family invited us to their village east
of Skovde and so we caravaned around Lake
Vattern and arrived in beautiful Borensberg, a
town of 2,500 which has two canals flowing
through it as it connects two lakes. One of the
canals starts on the West coast ofSweden, andcan
veo
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40
Volume 26. Number 2
be navigated allthe wayto Stockholm, on theEast
Coast - a trip we would like to take some day.
Fredrik had arranged a room for us at the
world famous Gota Hotel situated right between
two canals. Built around the turnofthe 20th century, this small hotel welcomes King Gustov each
summer for a crab feast. Locals are not permitted
to fish for crab for several days leading up to the
King's visit, thereby assuringa sufficient supplyof
the delicacy for the King's entourage. The hotel
was closed for the season, but somehow Fredrik
got the owners to leave us a key, and we had the
whole hotel to ourselves for two nights!
We had a wonderful time with Fredrik and
his family and moved on down through central
Sweden to ]onkoping to have lunch with the
Secretary ofthe Porsche 356Club, Kurt Bertilsson
and his wifeAnnbritt. We ended up on the South
Coast in the Blekinge region, where Diane's
grandmother had resided prior to emigrating to
the U.S.A. With help, we located thevillagewhere
she lived and spent most of the day touring the
region.
Rather than ferry back to Copenhagen and
our llight home, we opted for the new Oeresund
bridge that runs between Malmo Sweden and
Copenhagen, Denmark. It's the longest bridge in
Europe and goes for almost 25 kilometers including the approach and tunnel that completes the
complex right under Copenhagen International
Airport!
Fredrik and his outstanding volunteer staff
performed flawlessly throughout the event from
the first evening's welcome dinner to the end of
the Rallye on Saturdayand were continually being
commended throughout the event for their wonderful service.
We had a great time at a great event and
would encourage membersto consider attending
an International 356 Meeting. 2003 will see the
Grand Hotel at Brighton England as the host site
May 30-] une 1. Their website is www.grandeast~
bourne.co.ukloffers.htm
irst came the Porsche 50-vcar anniversary book Moments. Now come the
50th anniversary books of the major
importers. New this year are Porscbe und die
Scbtoeiz 50 jabre Porscbe-Import durcb die
AilL4G 195 -2001 from the Swiss importer AMAG,
and Porscbe in Australia - Tbe First 50 }'£mrs
fro mthe Australian importer Hamilton. Unlike the
embarrassing lack of mention of the 356 in
Moments, about half of each of these two books
devotes itselfto the 356.
The Hamilton book is middle sized (11
inches square, 95 pages) and primarily photographs. Whether for convenience sake or with a
nod to nostalgia, the old Porsche trick ofpartially
hand-tinted black and white photographs is
employed. In an historical book this works fabulously well. People look at the pages with enjoy-
F
ment ofnever-seen vintage photographs, andsuddenly realize: Those are black and white photographs! The artistic values work extraordinarily
well with black & whites, black & whites as sepia
tones, black and whites entirelycolored, black &
whites with one or two background cars colored
and original color photographs. About 40 pages
are devoted to the356 period.
The story starts in the summer of 1951 ,
when Norman Hamilton encountered a 356on the
Grossglockner. He followed it back to the factory
(more likely to Porsche Austria in Salzburg) and
became Australia's Porsche importer. By Julythis tells you something about the flexibility of
Porsche back then-Hamilton and a friend had
picked up the first two production (as distinct
from the Great Britain show car) right-hand drive
356s, a Fish Silver Cabriolet anda Marooncoupe.
Fortunately, Hamilton was on vacation and carried
a camera. The carswere driven across the Alps to
Genoa andthen shippedtoAustralia.
The cars were presented at a cocktail party
in South Melbourne and then campaigned in hill
climbs and speed trials. A radium green coupe
was the third car, brought over early in 1952. But
that was it for a while, since the Australian quota
system pegged Porsche sales at 2.5 cars per year.
So all Porsche activity fell to three cars- no more
could be imported until 1954. These three cars
accounted for magazine covers and road tests.
The radium green third car, even ran the first
'Round Australia' RedeXTrial. Clearly not suited
for this type of off road racing, it suffered 14 flats
Bill Block
Birthday Books
and a close encounter with a kangaroo, but it finished. This led to a decade ofVW off- roaddomination. But a Porsche was first.
James Dean's Spyder 550-055 may have led
a short life but its litter mate 550-056 was a successful race car in Australia. Again the aesthetics
of the production are wonderful, with a fullycolorized
photograph of the Spyder
overlaid by 550 blueprints.
550-0056 was so successful
that other drivers boycotted
it at the Gnoo bias circuit.
Philip
Schudmak
received a bylineas contributor, so you can be sure the
356facts are correct. FranklynooneintheUSwill
buy this book as a historical document. Rather, it
is truly a classy celebration, right down to its silver cover on the soft-bound version with
embossed Porsche serial plate. The hardboundis
blackwith a depressed silver Porsche serial plate.
The books are a limited edition and are $50
Australian for the soft bound and $165 for the
hardbound. Shipping is $50Australian.
The other 50-year anniversary book,
Porscbe und die Scbueiz 5 0 jahre PorscbeImport durcb dieA,1L4G 195 -2001 is available as
a hardback. As with the Australian book, about
50%is devoted to the 356. Starting a little before
the AMAG time, two photos of a Gmiind coupe
with a folding sunroof are presented from 1949
when it was shown at the Geneva salon to 1962. 1
figure that ifthe car made it to 1962 itshould have
made itto the present time. Anyoneknowanything
about a light green 1100 cc Swiss registered
Gmund SO-7237?
The Senger period is covered briefly. The
meat of the book starts with a superb photo of a
body bumper vee-windshield Porsche.
Cbristopborus photos, Swiss ads and road tests
are reprinted. Unfortunately, unlike recent 356
Suedisb Treffin, they are not in English.
Especially charming is a bill ofsale for # 11081, a
radium green, 1.1 p*10135* liter, car with several interesting options. Again, 1wonder if this car
has survived. An additional two-page spread covers a factorydeliveryin 1954, complete with pho-
...................
50 "h~ I"ww ......~ od...u , .. NlW; J' 51 • JOlt
.~ _ .
oJ'
',,# '
/_~.:.
tos of Werks 1. As you might expect the Swiss
Beutlers are ShO\\l1.
Unfortunately, my ability to read German is
embarrassingsmall, so most ofwhat 1gain is by
looking at the pictures. Uwe Biegner, who supplied this book, says it isalso availablein French.
Since 1 read French, perhaps soon 1can tell you
more. In anyevent itis a lovelypromotional book,
which I think goes for $25 - $30.
Along with the other "birt hday books; Porsche
Club Great Britain has produced a 40th
Anniversary book, included with their recent magazine. Dr. Michel Thiriar's new book Ibelow) on
Ferdinand Porsche will be reviewed next issue.
July/August 2002
41
he Porsche
356 Club held
their annual
Dana Point Concours on
June 9th.The day started
off with intermittent light
rain but the rain stopped
around lOa.m. and the
sun finally came out just
as we were breaking up.
There were ahout 160
cars and 300 people. The
weather was absolutely
spectacular for photographers during the actual
concours.
This year several
other groups were invited; there was an impressive turnoutoftwenty-one
912s and the Gruppe R
had a similarly good representation. This event
just keeps growing
although it is hard for it
to get hetter.
T
By Don Ruthetford
Jim Derich's Elva and Bill Perrone's 550 werepart
of the four-cam group.
The Walker's Carrera Cab had its first outing after a quarter century in
the restoration process.
Steve Johns, organizer of the Four Cam-arama discusses his as-yet unfinished 904. Ten four-cam equipped carswere in attendance representing
almost every body stylefrom Bill Perrone's 550 to Cheryl Dunkel's
Carrera 2. Robin Rennick's rare RHO '58 coupe was presented by
European Collectibles. Gerald Barnes brought his RS-61. Johnsestimated
the four-cam turnout would have doubled if the weatherhad been clear.
42
Volume 26 . Number 2
Left to right: At the awards presentation. JohnWillhoit (with Bull
horn), JohnTurk (assisting) Bob Fitzpatrick (Concours Organizer I
Chairman). At far right is Bob Kann in his ever-present Hawaiian
shirt.Bob's Speedster wasone of many in the Race Car group.
10 Years Ago
In the March April 2002 issue I wrote about
Vol. 16, No.2. The next issue from ten years ago
is Vol. 16, No.3 , Sept.Oct. 1992. There is no issue
thatcorresponds to ten years ago.
20 Years Ago (June-July 1982)
The "Of Interest" section of the Registry of
twenty years ago announced that Otto Mathe of
Austria wo uld be coming to the 1982 West Coast
Holiday. Mathe, at the time ofhis deatha few years
ago, OI\11ed a famous open-wheeled iceracer with
a Porsche engine, a Denzel, two Gmund coupes, a
Berlin-Rome car and a 550 Spyder. I believe he
Jim Perrin
may have purchased the two Gmtind coupes new!
Mathe didindeed attend the 1982 Holiday, andhis
Berlin-Rome car was the hitoftheshow.
Vic Skirmants' column covers a variety of
topics. They included converting from six to
twelve volts, clutch adjustment and recent racing
news. Vic was offto a good start with four straight
winsl
BrettJohnson's column includes a photo of
a canvas strap and cheap buckle that was in
Millard Eakin's early Speedster. Although notwell
known at the time, it is now recognized that this
was a common belt used by the factory to hold
down the spare tire in a Speedster. I wonder how
much theysaved each Speedster by using that belt
instead ofthe standard leather one! Brett's column
includes a short article by Albert Young, describing the resurrection of a rough Speedster he had
purchased several years earlier. How rough you
ask? Rough enough so that the selling price was
only $1001 In addition, Brett also discusses various pre-Adashes and steeringwheels.
Dave Seeland's Four Cam Forum column
covers several topics, including suspension modifi cations and conversion from drum brakes to
disc brakes. Dave reports that he took a third in
class with his 1958 Speedster at the Reno Porsche
Parade. Since Reno in the summer can get a little
warm, I think this was the Parade in which the
concours preparation areawas in a very large airconditioned hall. Guess what the atmosphere was
like after hours and hours of all kinds of cleaners,
waxes, paints, etc. etc. were used bythe concours
entrants? It wasn't good! This was also the Parade
that had an interesting thing happen to Stephani
Anderson when she was chairperson of the
Goodie Store. Before the Parade started she and
all her helpers were setting up the Goodie Store.
She camewalking down a hallway:UJd pointed out
to a helper that he and his verylarge armful of tshirts were heading the wrong way. The helper,
who she did not know (but who was wearing a
Parade badge), suddenlydropped all the t-shirts
and bolted for the nearest exit.
Charlie White's column discusses early
Porsche literature. Included is a photograph of a
550 Spyder piece; the cover has a 550 in a circle.
It is still so rare that I have onlyever seen three
copies of it.
The ads section of the Registry includes an
ad sent in bv Blair Emert of Phoenix. Kl. IIis
550A- 117 w:~ offered for $22,000. ~
Vintage Posters
Porsche - Ferrari - Mercedes
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Finest selection of 1950-60'5 & earlier imagesl
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Original Memorabilia
Factory publications, photos, signs, advertising items, race programs, rallye plates,
post cards, vintage models, original ads.
356 Leather Goods
Key fob/holder, Messko tire guage pouch,
interior luggage straps, owners manual
pouch , spare tire strap, GT window straps .
The finest quality leather and craftsmanshipl
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.5" handle extension, 14 oz.
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July/August 2002
43
Continued from last issue.
he Maestro saw the William the engineer's now-running 912 and asked
"So, do you want me to point out the
Mistakes?" "Sure," he said. "Go ahead. ButwhatI
came about were the Carbs. I just can't seemtoget
them adjusted. When I rev the engine up it won't
comedown. THAT'S why I'm reallyhere."
So the Maestro went out to eyeball the
Engine. First, finding a few things "wrong" wasn't
hard (like the upside-down distributor clamp)
butother than a few minor defects, it was a dam
Good Job. And William had Innovated. He used
Aluminized Insulation on the SIDES ofthe Engine
Compartment and a polished COPPER plateon top
of the insulation on top of and in fro nt of the
engine compartment.
That made for a good Radiation Shield and
better heat and sound insulation. Not a bad idea
at 'tall. But then the Maestro noticed the Original
.061 "Vacuum Retard" Distributor STILL in place!
With the vacuum linesconnected!
"You STILL have the Original Distributor in
there?" said the Maestro in Disbelief.
"Yes. Is that bad?"
"Usually," said the Maestro. "They're like the
.031 Replacement Distributors that end up with
wayyyy too much TimingAdvance!" (The Current
Record Holder is a "031" Distributor with FIFTYTHREE (53) Degrees Distributor Advance!) "So,
have you checked the Timing?" asked the Maestro.
"Well," said William. "I set it at Top Dead
Center forfire up, like your Books suggest."
"Yes," said the Maestro. "But that's just for
Fire Up! After it's RUNNING you want to set the
High Speed Timing at 33 Degrees or so, BEFORE
you tryadjustingthe Carbs. So, didyou checkthe
HighSpeed Timing?"
"Uh, no."
So the Maestro grabbed his Trusty Sears
Timinglight with the Magic Dial, shined the light
of Xenon Truth onto the Pulley and was AMAZED
to find the engine idling at about 15 Degrees
RETARDED.
The Maestro popped offthe Vacuum Line to
the Distributor, killing the Vacuum Retard. The
Spark bounced up to about 5 degrees AFTERTOC.
STILL wayyy too retarded! II should be 4 degrees
ADVANCEDwith the vacuum line OFF!
"Why, it probably only has 25 degrees or so
High Speed Advance," said the Maestro
Confidently. "And THAT'S why your Carbs won't
adjust - it's hard to adjust the Carbs when the
Timing's too Retarded!" The Maestro proudly
rewed the Engine up to check the High Speed
Timing. II went Beyond 25 degrees. II went
Beyond 30 degrees. II went Beyond the Factory
Recommended 35 Degrees HighSpeed Advance!
IIwent BeyondFORTY Degrees Advanced. II
went Beyond FORTY-FIVE Degrees Advanced! To
FORTY-SEVENDEGREES!
T
44
Volume 26. Number 2
"Oh, look," said the Maestro. "Here's
William. He rebuilt his 912 engine himself, successfully. But it still had the Original 061
Distributor that had over FIFTY degrees Advanced.
I replaced it with a New .050 and BOY, did that
912 RUN!"
"Right, William?
"Wellllll..." said William. "II sure DlD run
, Well - VERY well. Better than it EVERdid in the30
years I've had it. But now I've got a Problem- a
91 ~run
MAJORProblem."
Uh oh, thought the Maestro. He doesn't look
Happy. Was it something I did? "What's wrong?"
asked the Maestro.
This Original .061 Distributor was FORTY"I don't want to tell you with these people
SEVEN Degrees Advanced at High Speed! Even
present."
though it was 5 Degrees RETARDED at idle! Ergo,
"Oh, hell," said the other Customer whowas
it had over 52 DEGREES Advance in the
buying
the Webers. "Go ahead. We've ALL made
Distributor! If that holds upon the Sun Distributor
TurkeyMistakes
in our lives at one time or anothTester, it'll be a NEW RECORD for Original
er. Tell us what happened."
Distributors! And give the .031s a run for the
Williamwas clearly uncomfortable, edgy and
money! The Maestro IMMEDIATELY began the
Sales Pitch for the .050 Distributor. The 912
"But I was in a hurry,' said
Engineer could seeThe Truth in the Strobe Light's
Flashestoo, and said "OK, let's do it."
William. "And I FORGOT TO PUT
Cranking the engine over to TOC on #1
THE OIL BACK IN!
Cylinder, the Maestro popped out the .061,
grabbed a Tested & Proven .050 and put it in unhappy, but launched into his Story nonetheless.
with theDistributor Clamp now on the Right Way!
"Well, I changed the Oil this morning..."
He got the .050 down fully and cranked the
Uh Oh, thought the Maestro. And were there
Pulley a quarter inch to the left to simulate 5 deg
lots oflittle pieces inside?
advance- a good placeto start with the .050. Then
"But I was in a hurry," said William. "And 1
he rotated the .050 counterclockwise until the
FORGOT TO PUT THE OIL BACK It'll!
points jussssst began to open. And tightened the
There was a Pregnant Pause ofSilencein the
clamp down until it jussst grabbed the body a bit
Room. Both the Maestro and the Weber Customer
but made the Distributor still rotate-able.
looked at each other in Disbeliefand Concern.
He pulled out the wires from the old .061's
"How far did you drive it?" asked the
Cap oneat a time and inserted theminto the .050.
Maestro.
Then he had William fire the engine up. With the
"About 5 miles... on the Freeway!"
Timing Light hooked up, the Maestroset theHigh
Groan, thought the Maestro, That's all it
Speed Timing at 33Degrees, and checked theIdle
takes. Despite those late night TV commercials
that show them DRAINING all the oil OUT of the
timing. II was just about 5 degrees. Not bad,
thought the Maestro. NOW, let's trythe Carbs.
Engine, then DRIVING THE CAR WITH NO OIL
THIS time, the Solex Idle Mixture Screws
(only their Miraculous Additive) , and NOTHING
actually DID something. Not much, but
BAD HAPPENS! Right!
Something. The Maestro rewed the Engine up. II
"So, what happened?" asked the Maestro,
rewed uplike a Good Porsche Engineshould. And
fearing theworst.
it came down to idle like a Good Porsche Engine
"Well at first I heard a small knock. Then it
should! The Maestro mentioned that.
got louder. Then it got REALLYLOUD, so I stopped.
And William said, "Well, it sure SOUNDS betThat's when I realized I hadn't added any Oil!"
ter. And it does idle now."
"So you had it towed?" asked theMaestro.
"Oh yes," said the Maestro. "Trust me. II IS
"No. I called TripleAandtheydon't carry oil
Better now."
anymore! But they DlD take me to a gas station
And the 912 Engineer, who had ownedthe
where I bought some oil. I returned to thecar, put
car for THIRTY (30) Years drove off into the
the oil in and drove it over here."
SettingSun, happywith a New Lease on Life for
"You mean it's OUTSIDE?" asked the
him and his 912.
Maestro. "IIJUST happened?"
"Yes!"
• • •
A Week later, the Engineer with Altitude
Geez, thought the Maestro. So he went out
returned to the Maestro's Shop just asthe Maestro
with William to eyeballtheoil-less Engine. William
was finishing up a sale of a set of Webers to a
fired theEngine upwhilethe Maestro eyeballed it.
Knowledgeable 912 Owner.
Clatter, Clatter. Knock, Knock. The Maestro rewed
Harry Pellow
(an a
without oil?
up the engine a little, and heard more & louder
Clatter, Clatter, Knock, Knock! Geez, thought the
Maestro. This is BAD. Really BAD! !t sure sounds
like a Rod. Maybe more than one.
So he had William turn the Engine off, and
he went back inside the Shop to get his Oil
Pressure Gauge that hooks up to the Inlet Oil Line
going to the Oil Filter. Returning, the Maestro
hooked it up and signaled to William to fire the
engine up again.
The gauge took longer than it should to
begin registering Oil Pressure. Finally, it showed
10 psi. The Maestro revved the engine up gently,
but the poor 912 could only eke out a mere 20
psi, along with Really Bad Knocking sounds! The
Maestrosignaled William to turn it off again.
"Well, I'm, afraid you've spun a Rod
Bearing. The Oil Pressure is really low and the
noises are really BAD."
"Don't even trytodrive ithome.TOW it! Tear
it down and see how badit is. If you're Lucky, it'll
just be a Rod, maybe a Crank Grind. Bearings.
Gaskets. And a thoroughcleaning of everything."
Poor William. He had FINALLY rebuilt his
engine after two years of trying, and now he had
killed it - accidentally! He feltTERRIBLE.
The Maestro tried to cheer William up by
telling him some of the boo-boos the Maestro
himself made. Like when he used to drain theoil
by removing a BOLT fromthe sump plate, andletting the oil drain over I5 minutes through the
6mm hole. But onedayafter an oil change, as the
Maestro was driving down the Freeway Entrance,
his oilpressure gauge went to near Zero! WHAT'S
THIS screamed the Maestro silently to himself. He
stopped. Got out. Looked under the car-to seethe
last ofhis 4 quarts of oil drip outfrom where the
6mm Bolt hadfallen out. DAMN!
So he used a cheese Head Screw from the
shrouding to plug the hole left by the 6mm bolt
that fellout, and added the three quarts of oil he
kept as The Emergency Supply in the trunk. And
vowed- NEVER AGAIN! NO MORE BOLTS in the
Drain Plate! Only Studs! This will not happen
again!
Though these Stories cheered up William a
bit, it didn't take away the Rod Knock in his
Engine, and the dreaded work of doing yet
ANOTHER engine Overhaul after spending TWO
YEARS doing the first one, and having it FAIL a
week after everythingwas running PERFECTLY!
That Haste. It MakethWaste.
William had the 912 towed home (Triple A
again), got ambitious and pulled the engine out
that night. He tore it apart on Saturday, down to
the Case, and brought the still-together Case and
the rest of the parts to the Maestro's Shop. The
Maestro, against Mrs Maestro Wishes, went to his
Shop on Saturday, explaining that a fellow
Engineer was in Distress and needed Help.
William had removed all the Case fasteners, but
the pistons were stillattached.
So the Maestro removed the retaining circlips, removed the wrist pins and slipped the
Pistons offthe Rods. (He also noted howeasily the
Original Circlips can become a Dangerous
Projectile and how having glasses has saved the
Maestro's eyesight several times over.) Having just
said that, and with a "sproinnnnnggg", a Circlip
shot across the Shop at High Velocity.
"See?" said the Maestro. 'J ust Like that."
William moved back a ways.
After splitting the case, the true dimensions
of damage were revealed. So, GentleReader, what
happens to an Engine that Runs Out Of Oil? With
NO oil, that critical oil "wedge" upon which the
Crank rides and never touches the Bearings ain't
there no mo'. The rapidly rotating parts touch.
Touching means Friction. And Friction means
Heat. Heat & Friction mean wear.
All FOUR Rod Bearings were deep into the
Copper. Two hadspun, breakingoffthe "tangs" on
the end of the Rod Bearings that retain them, and
then went spinninginside the Big End of the Rod.
Did I mention that ALL the Rod Bearings were
down Deep into the Copper, the Babbit-Iike material having long since exited, Stage Right. And Left.
All four Throws of the Crankshaft were
"Blackened" by the Heat generated, the Big Ends
ofthe Rods blackened halfway up their Beam.
In fact, as the Maestro was removing the
Rods from the Crank, he told William, "Y'know,
ifin I didn'talready knowwhat the Causewas, just
bylooking at this Crank andthe FOUR Spun Rods,
I'd sure say RUNNI GOUT OF OIL was the cause.
Ifin itwere just ONEBad Rod, the other Rods
wouldn't have been affected. But when ALLFOUR
are bad, it's an oil-supply problem.
"So, what did you find in the oil? asked the
Maestro. "Lots oflittle pieces?"
"Yes," said William. "Mainly copper pieces
butI found a Dowel Pin too!"
"ADowel pin?" asked the Maestro. "Where
the Helldid a Dowel Pin come from?"
And then the Maestro flashed on his OWN
engine- the Trusty Rusty Hot Rod meant to last 6
months 15 years ago, now with over 100,000
miles - wherein he found a "dowel pin" in the
sump once. The Maestro querried the Vast Data
Base in his somewhat twisted Brain until it came
up with the answer. It was a SOFT PLUG from the
Crankshaft! The plug that plugs the oil holes the
Factorydrills in the "Cross Drilled" later B/C/912
Cranks to feed oil to two outlets in each Rod. The
Factoryplugs the entry end with a "Soft Plug."
This Crank got hot enough to MELT (or otherwise dislodge) one Soft Plug. And sho' 'nough,
when the Maestro checked all Four Soft Plugs in
William'sCrank, he found one MISSING- the one
William had found in the sump. So, add Another
Signofa Spun Rod Bearing: Missing Soft Plugs.
"So," asked William. "When you found the
"Soft Plug" inthe Sump, didn't you tear the engine
down immediately?"
"Er, ah well, No," said the Maestro. "I was
wayyyy too busythen to work on myown stuff. And
besides, there's SOME oil still reaching the Rod
and Ford Model Ts ran with NO Oil Pump at all!
SoI figure, since it's still running well, regressing
to a Model T is the 'Default' condition."
After removing the Connecting Rods, it was
Intuitively Obvious to the Most Causal Engineer
that this Crankshaft NEEDED A GRIND!
Fortunately, it was a Standard Crank, never before
ground and it wasn't seriouslyworn, just Scratchy
and Ugly and down a thou or two, So a grind to
First Under oughta solve allits Problems. (As will
replacing the missing softplug, ofcourse. But that
goes without saying.) The Maestro eyeballed the
rest of the parts. William's Heads were sealing
Perfectly. The Brand new 912 Cylinders and
Pistons were scratchyfromall the !tty bitty pieces
ofRod Bearing wanderingthroughout the engine.
But hone-able. And maybe usable with new Rings.
There was the expected Copious Quantities
of Crud in ALL the Main Bearings. But they get
replaced.
The Oil Pump Gears were a little scratchy,
butnothinga little "dressing"with a file forhalf an
hour each wouldn't fix. And the Oil Cooler will
have to be cleaned REALLY well! (And the Gold
Plated Wire in the Devcon "Fix" had worked! No
leaks!) So overall, poor William didn't get offtoo
badly. All of the Expensive Partswere salvageable.
He will need a Crank GrindIPolishIBalance. The
Rods reconditioned or replaced. Bearings. A
Gasket Set. New Rings. And cleaning of all the
partscontaminated with the Anthrax-like particles
from the Rod Bearings, nicely distributed by the
Oil Pump, bypassing the Bypass Oil Filter and
deliveringthem directly toallpoints ofthe Engine!
And THIS time the Maestro was a-building the
Engine! All that Free Advice the Maestro gave out
came back- in Spades! William had learned his
Lesson.
These things happen, ifin you:
Keep the 356 Faith
6t4"''f £""0"''1
-c
,
c e Le b r a r e s ...
'f0 ~t."rs i", t~t.
PQrS'~t. P ts 6usi",t.ss
July/Augu st 2002
'
4S
Member's free ads
Arizona car. $58,000. Dick Stromfors, Litchfield Park, Al .
623-925-7443, [email protected]
*'56 Speedster #82588 SilverlBlack interior. Mechanically
excellent. New top, curtains and upholsteryby Autos In!'1.
MichelinXAS's less than 1000 mi. onfresh Stoddard motor,
rebuilt transmission, new brakes. All tools, jack, etc.
$47,000. Bill Leith, Dedham, MA. [email protected].
*'58 356 Convertible D #85611 , 1600S, Silver/red leather,
black top, excellent driver. $36,000. Fred Brubaker,
Allentown, PA, 610-434-8778 (d).
*'58 Speedster 1600 #84894:Totalrestoration priortopurchase in 1995. Previous owner from Mesa, Arizona. Ruby
Red w/tan interior. No Rust.
Engine #616-7 a Super 90 in excellent condition. Verify
with Eric @ Eurocarwerks. Car has 2500 miles since
restoration. Disc brakes, side curtains and Nardi Steering
Wheel. Showroom condition garaged and covered. Randy,
Houston,
TX.
713-461-5181.
[email protected]
*'58 Speedster #83909, CA car. Guards Red. All new tan
interior, canvas linen top & tonneau cover, seats powder
coated then upholstered. Defroster vents, steering column,
roll bar, gas tank & other metal parts all powder coated.
Ground up restoration, no rust. Totally undercoated.
Rebuilt 1720cc big boreengine. Professionallyinstalled roll
bar, chrome wheels, rebuilt tack &
speedometer. All other original chrome parts were rechromed. Driven 2,872 miles since restoration. $53,000.
Glenn Treser, Daly City, CA. Phone/fax 415-333-2967.
[email protected]
*'59 Coupe, 1600N, #105387, car is apart on included
rotisserie, some restoration done, most new rust panels
incl., engine #p66223 (not orig), rebuilt, ready to go,
transaxle 644 type, rebuilt. have all glass, car is 95%complete. $4800 for all. Dig. pics available. Jim Adkins, MO.
573-624-9933. [email protected]
*'59 Sunroof Coupe #106439, P72901 numbers match.
Meissen Blue, repainted. New tan leather interior, headliner, rubber floo r mats, older correct oatmeal carpet. New
pan, longitudinals, and much more underneath. New
brakes, master cyl. New rubbertrim, seals. New king pins,
link pins, bushings. Newer battery with 6-voltsmart charger
NewerMichelinxzx165x 15 on 5.5" chrome wheels. New
complete clutch job. Elec fuel pump wWebers, K&N air filters 1700 kit w/ tuned exhaust, 912 cam. New steering
damper, allgood suspensionparts. Original owner's manual, other books, 6 years of 356 Registry mag. Misc. parts,
extraLaCarra wood rimsteeringwheel andboss. Blaupunkt
SW radio works! All records and receipts saved. Sell or
trade toward newer BMW RllOOS plus cash. $26,000
spent, sell $22,500 OBO JeffSweitzer, Minneapolis, MN
(h)952-925-4281 (w)61 2-33-1822 jsweitzer@mindspring
" 52 356 PRE-ACab. #15019/engine # P30626 2nd owner
14 years. Picked up originally from Max Hoffman. Radium
Green/Original Green leather seats. Original Enginelfrans,
Unmolested car. Toolkit, Drivers Manual, Brown Key
Fob/original key. Original red tip Antenna. Car has been
used as a guide for other restorations. Wish to trade for a
nice '65 Cor SCCab. Driver. Bata Mataja 818-504-2404 or
bmataja@earthlinknet
*'55 Speedster. #80239. Black with red interior. Big Bore
Kit. New black lowbowtop. New black full tonneau. New 5112" chromes w/ moons. New Yokohamas. Beautiful
46
Volume 26. Number 2
*'59 B Cabriolet, #154926, 1600S, Red/tan leatherette,
black top, excellent driver, new interior top $29,000. Fred
Brubaker, Allentown, PA, 610-434-8778 (d) .
*'60 356 B Roadster 1600N. # 88212; engine p603297.
Callfornia black plate driver. Nice car. Second owner.
$30,900.JohnSchlosser, Bakersfield, CA. 661-398-8678or
[email protected].
*'60 Roadster, #86853, Eng #600155, Trans #32056, Signal
Red, tan leather, tansquareweave carpet, tancloth tonneau.
700 miles since bare metal, ground up restoration.
Professional body, paint, interior, engine work All new or
restored original parts, newchrome,newrubber, newYnZ
harness, newMichelin XZX's, Optimabattery, etc. Ready to
drive now! See web page for pictures and more info at
http://home.earthlinknet/-mmljal. Asking $52,500. Jim
Lynch, DFW, TX. 800-217-8718, jalmml@earthlinknet
*'60 356B T-5 Cab. Silver w/ red interior. Hard top and
newer soft top. New tires, master brake cylinder and brake
shoes, fuel pump, coil, Weber Carbs. Body in good condition-floor pan replaced, AMlFM radio. Driven regularly.
$28,000. George 612-926-7065, Minneapolis, MN.
[email protected]
*'62 356B Coupe T6 RedIBlack, #118628, Full ground up
resto in '97.Outlaw wlReccaro seats & Momo wheel, Tinted
windows. Orig. parts avail. New chrome, new brakes, 5
1/2" Chromes w/crest caps and Michelins. Full interior
done including gauges. '59 motor w/ 912 cam, steellifters,
Hi ratio rockers, Big Bore, S-90 flywheel, 200 MM clutch,
Solex 40 Pl1-4 carbs. $17K OBO. Rick Woltz, Kailua,
Hawaii. 808-262-541 7
" 63 356 B T6 #119864 Silver/red int. New paint orig. I
owner car complete. Needs work Engine not running,
$4800. Peter at 860-824-1 247, CT.
" 63 B Super Coupe, Slate GreylRed int., Chassis 212525,
Engine 705170. Great entry level driver currently used
every day. Many recent upgrades. Body in good condition
w/minimal rust (none in floorboards, longs, or battery
pans).Awonderful driver thatcanbe restored at your own
pace while still enjoying actually driving it. First $12,000
stealsit. Pies sentuponrequest. Mike Mckee, Charlotte, NC
at 704-525-5678 or [email protected].
*'63 356 B T6 Cabriolet S-90. European. Yellow/black.
Matching #s. Great daily driver. Okay resto in mid '80s.
Black plate CA car. Usual rust/a couple of small rough
spots. Rare inside/outside thermometer. New top, headliner, boot, clutch, rebuilt tranny. Rebuilt engine maintained
byMaestro. Webers.Blaupunkt. SF BayArea. $19,900. 510435-5189. Pics avail. , [email protected].
*'63 356B Super Coupe. #211637. Beautiful, professionally maintained car, drives superbly. Straight body & exc.
panel gaps. White w/exc. black int. Top end rebuild. Shifts
beautifully. Blaupunkt, headrest & luggage rack Appears to
be all orig. panslsheetmetal-veryminimal rust. Tiny paint
flaws. Drive it anywhere. $13,500 OBO. Jim Giordano,
Bellevue, WA. Digital photos avail: gio @sprynet.com or
425-603-961 2.
" 64CCabriolet, #160959, Silver/red leatherette, blacktop,
recent cosmetic restoration, excellent condition, $35,000.
Fred Brubaker, Allentown, PA, 610-434-8778 (d).
*'64 356CSunroofCoupe. RubyRed w/taninterior, classy.
Very solid, supertight driver in mechanicallyexc. condoAll
workprofessionally done/documented. Recently rebuilt SC
engine. Body panels have great gaps, minimal rust (Al
Car). Nice interior. Could use new paint but still turns
heads. Relo to newhome on LONG gravel roadforces sale.
$19,500/obo.
Peter
Hoppman,
[email protected]. 703-753-8888. Photos
avail. In N. Virginia near Manassas.
" 643 56CCoupe #12701.WhitelNew Red Interior. Chrome
Wheels. Orig. Owner. Prof. Reblt. Enginelfrans.lSteering
Box (Low Mileage) New- Gas TanklBatterylTires. Minor
rust on Fr. Bumper & lower front panel. Orig. Tool
KitIBlaupunkt Radio. Fully Documented. Looks & runs
great. Show car prospect. $18,000. Jim Mc Gowan, 12
Lorna Vista Ave, Larkspur, CA 94939. 415-924-2342.
[email protected]
· ·65 356C Coupe, #221280, Eng #716574. Redlblk.
241,500 miles. Good condition. Owner for 26 yrs. 17Kmi
engine. 25Kmi clutch, 42Kmi tranny, IOKmi MichelinXZX,
3 yr, body. No rust. Daily driver. $12,500. Jim Elam, 7743
Clough Pike, Cincinnati, 0 11 45244. 513-231-0687.
· '65 356C vintage Racing Coupe. Bali Blue w/Teal stripe.
Orig. floor pan. Never any rust. Really too nice to race. All
the right stuff. $28,500. Roger Ender, 3804 Westridge Fr.
Ln., Clemmons, NC 27012.336-766-6290.
392-2421. Louise, WV.
· Pans for sale: NOS 356S-90engine-complete, new, never
in a car Iype 61617 engine. Only test nm at Zuffenhausen,
completewiih generator, clutch assembly, Solexcarbs, air
cleaners, heat exchangers, flapper boxes and muffler,
Photos and info available, call or email. $12,000 or best
offer. Bill Cooper, 1148 Saint Finegan Drive, West Chester,
PA19382; barrel\[email protected]
· For sale: Hardtop for 356cabriolet. Original, steel, excellent condition. $2,500. Luggage rack: Reutter, chrome,
excellent condition. $250. Biff Johnson, Tucson, AZ.
520.529.9604 [email protected]
· Factory Calendars '59-'79, Bosica 356 metal kit, Sport
Erfolge '57, Aspen Parade '60 license plate, 356B workshop supplements, Factory S-90 engine poster, PCA cloth
banner '50sr60s,much more, inquire. Douglas Palm, 4243
S. Clarkson St., Englewood, CO80110. 303-973-6509.
· 356 A, B front sway bar, original, $200or best offer. AlB
used fuel filter pans, $35. Frank Lanzetta, 203-438-6302 or
[email protected].
*1\vo lIella license plate light assemblies for 356B and
356C. 1\1'0 ofthese are required for rear bumper. Complete
with lens, chrome housing, screws and rubber gasket.
Made in Germany, still in original German boxes, these are
new, never used pans purchased some years ago. Asking
$150each. Also have '63 356B original owners manual in
fai r to good condition. Make offer. JP Doremus, 850-8937565. [email protected].
· Christophorus complete English collection; German
Christo's, 11 of first 18; Panorama 2 & 12/1958; 7, 9, 11,
12/1959; FactoryCalendars 1957-1967; Factory silkscarf
from 1955; Spyder crankshaft & rods, beautiful display
item; 356 placemat & napkin set; vintage posters featuring
356,Spyder, 904, 906; large memorabilia & vintage model
collection. 39-page list by email: [email protected] (0)
516-367-1616
· Rotisserie, "Bottoms-Up" byAccessibleSystems (see their
website for pix) 2000# capacity, hydraulic lift from jack
stands, casters, painted, brackets for 356T-5 & T-6 cars, in
Tucson, AZ, 950#, come & get it. $450 OBO, Lloyd
Hostetler, 520-529-4659, snord@gci·net.com
· 2 Engines: 356$C, 125hp. Rebuilt, runon stand, complete
& readyto boltin. Both have Shasta 86mmx 9.25c.r. p/cyls,
Norris cam, light flywheel, new clutch, full flow oil filter,
Solex 40 PII-4 carbs, powder paint sheet metal, Bursch
exhaust, etc. Eng. #I is $8000 outright. Eng. #2 is made
from a new Porsche industrial engine delivered to Swiss
army in 1969, but never used! New: crankcase, "C" crank,
late912rods, 912heads, springs & valves, oil pump gears,
lifters, bearings, etc. $11 ,000outright. Trade-ins welcome.
Duane Spencer 530-238·2198, fax 530-238·2846.
· Perfect Motion Stinger Exhaust. Painted pipes, stainless
tip. Used approx. I hour. Too loud for wife, Paid $356, sell
$256. You pay UPS shipping 05 Ibs.). KentTopham, Ivins,
Utah. 435-652-0356 or 801-277-7268.
· Porsche lead pencil (never used) stainless steel braided
meshbody. Seen in the Porsche Selection catalog. $45+ $5
shipping. PORSCIIEposter. "PORSCIIESEIG: LEMANS '81"
showing a 936 #11 driven hy leks & Bell. Still in original
factory mailingtube. $45+$5shipping. Richard Bitterman,
1701 W. ChaseAve., Chicago, 11 60626. [email protected]. 773·743· 1511.
· Display mounted Porsche 356 Continental Scrip molds
and casting (rough). Photos avail. $250. One gold-plated
ContinentalScrip $225. Tom Kincaid, WI, 262-249-0577.
· For Sale; 912 core eng. 1284561 616139, Complete to
muffler, 40 IDF Webers with air c1eanersllinkage, 12v
30amp large generator, Clutch & flywheel, Sheet metal,
1\eeds rebuild $1600. Rolly Resos, Newport Beach, CA.
949-650-0546. [email protected]
· Four aluminum alloy original Porsche wheels, never
mounted, in original canons. 51nJ x 15",5 spoke, 5 lug,
suitable for 356 and early 900 series cars. Pan #
901.361.012.04. $1200 or blo plus shipping. Jim Donlon,
Sacramento, CA. 916-791-2336. jocko [email protected]
· For sale/trade: All issues of Excellence (orig. Porsche
mag.) v. 1-1978 to 1994, various later issues. $150or trade
for fog light switch. Reed Tindall, 2005 Cambridge Lane
S.W.,
Olympia,
WA
98512.
360-943-8460.
[email protected].
• "B" brakedrumslbacking plates, NPR big-bore kit, newin-box, misc. pans for sale. Email me for list of pans for
saleor your needs.JimAdkins, MO. 573-624-9933. [email protected]
· Stylishly compact chrome luggage rack made byAmco of
No. Hollywood will fit twin or single grill. $11 O. SL~ to
twelve volt convener at 3 amps by Radio Shack. $55. 304-
*English Registrymember tryingto achieve a complete set of Registry magazines would be grateful
for help, willing to pay reasonable prices. Missing
copies: Vol. 5, Nos. I, 4, & 5. Vol. 8, Nos. 5 & 6.
Chris Goodwin tel/fax England 1442 253076.
*Wanted: Original fog light switch. Also, information on '64 C Karmann coupe, VIN 216676, Sky
blue origlDark blue paint over, Hella 128s, 12v.
inverter & Yamaha c. deck/radio. Soldin 199I?In
Mt. View, CA. Any/all info appreciated. Reed
Tindall, 2005 Cambridge Lane S.W., Olympia, WA
985 12.360-943-8460. fan356 @aol.com.
* For 1953 356 pre "A" coupe: Muftler cover plate
(engine to body), Original early heater flapper
boxes, Interior dome light, Windshield washer
bottle, Tool Kit, 1500 Emblem. Paul Ritchey 1144
N.E. 48thSt., Pompano BeachFL 33064. 954-7820690.
* 356 A Touch-up paint #5702 (Ruby Red);
Convertible 0 "body" book by Orauz, in English;
important and unusual vintage posters featuring
the 356 and/or Spyder. E ASinger (0) 516-3671616. email: [email protected]
*RHO! I am looking for Right Hand Driven 356,
any model. I prefer an easy restoration project or
a fair daily driver. Fax: 003I 23 525 9369, email:
[email protected]. ].C. van Honschoten
*PRE A: Info on '52coupeserial #11994; SolexAC
jets 190, 200, 210, 220 & MAINJETS x122.5-have
jets to trade. 356c: pair of red brown leather
seats. Excellence Was Expected, Workshop &
Parts Manuals: Spyder, 904. TECHNICAL BULLETINS. Wm. Block, 810-678-3017, 423 Hawk
High
Hill,
Metamora,
MI
4845 5,
[email protected]
*Any and all sales literature, paint cards, dealer
info for 1962-63 T-6. Please reference Merritt &
Miller if possible. Top dollarpaid. Gregjahn, 2I5794-8935, fax 2I5-794-8943.
* Harry Pellow's publications in book form "The
ABCs of Porsche Engines" and "Murphy Is My
Copilot". Jerry Conedera, 2266 S.E. Spruce,
Portland, OR. 9721 4. 503-233-931 2. e-mail
[email protected].
uotQon's Resto/;
,~
(ii/a
~
~
0S. o. lanzl. g 1.356 lid 911 ...toraUD.'
-l arge Inventorv of parts -Complete rust repairs
I
-Complete paint and body service -Complete electrical service
Phone: 562 .531.4643
Fall: 562.531.4451
16230 Minnesota Avenue. Paramount. CA 90123
est. 1978
July/August 2002
47
LOCKSMITH SERVICES Offering a full line offactory, non-factory and high securitykeys as well as
location services for hard-to-find blanks; keys cut
by code; key chart available. Perform ten-point
quality restoration of locks and door handles.
Electricalrepair ofignition switches performed. Key
accessories available, i.e. bulbs and batteries for
light keys, fobs and pouches, etc. For info call:
Tony Euganeo 610-461 -0519. 501 Folcroft Ave.
Sharon Hill, PA19079
HONEST ENGINE Experience since 1965 in all
areas of the 356. Specializing in street/high performance, concourse, vintage race engine assembly and parts. From full concourse to vintage
race/high performance street car restoration and
preparation. Ask for Steve Schmidt 714-832-3 128,
FAX 714-832-3198 or website / email atwww.honesteng.com.
PREVIOUSLY UNAVAILABLE PARTS: Acrylic
green replacement sunvisors for'51-'57356. Rivets
and directions included. $60/$5 S&H. TOM
KINKAID, 262-249-0577. N-1545 Linn Pier Rd.,
Lake Geneva, WI 53147.
Dreamin' aboutdriving your beloved Porsche inthe
most famousEuropean Historic Races (Mille Miglia,
French tour...)?AUTOBASE FRANCE offersyou a
parking space right near Paris i Our facilities are
NEVER
CHANGE
POINTS
AGAIN!
DISTRIBUTOR CONTAINED
ELECTRONIC IGNITION SYST EM
See My Classified Ad For Pricing
SAM SIPKINS
510-632-8232
heated and safe, and we maintain your car so that
it's always ready to go. We can provide technical
assistance onthe spot! Formore info: AUTOBASE
FRANCE, 6 bis, rue Danton, 78420 Carrieres sur
Seine, France. www.911avendre.com or
[email protected].
BRAKES sleeved and rebuilt: Masters, wheels,
clutch, slave, calipers, Proportioning valves, boostersand shoes relined. Quick Service. Lifetime written Warranty. WHITE POST RESTORATIONS,
One Old Car Drive, PO Drawer 0, White Post, VA
22663.540-837-1140 www.whitepost.com
PETER ZIMMERMANN, 356/911 MECHANIC, is
now atyour service. Engine overhaul/restoration (4
cyl. & 6 cyl. through 1983). I offera priceless service-correct, friendly advice. Parts available atcompetitive prices. Also, I do 91 1 transmission rebuilds
(type 901 ,911 , and 915) including gear swaps, ring
and pinion replacement, etc. Los Angeles area.
Need to know more? Please e-mail me at [email protected], orfax me at661-588-5901 (new #).
"CARRERA" STYLE VALANCES. Pattern taken
from a never-mounted factory original, made in
Germany. Kit comes with Valance, beading, stainless steel hardware and instruction sheet. Exhaust
openings for twin pipes and the Carrera style with
one opening. $475. Hermage Coward, 2474
Vistavia Road, North Charleston, SC 29406.
[email protected] 843-553-0777.
EUROPEAN VINTAGE AUTO RADIO REPAIR.
1940s-1 970. Tube or transistor. Blaupunkt, Becker,
Telefunken, etc. The only shop catering to these
specialized radios exclusively. WILFORD WILKES,
101 Swoope St., Brisbin , PA 16620. Ph. 814-3788526. Fax 814-378-6149. Visa/MC. Our winter residence and shop is inEdgewater, Florida, 386-4093093.
SAM SIPKINS, 356 MECHANIC. Custom engine
rebuilding. Mechanical/electrical repairs.
EXTENSIVE PARTS STOCK. Never change
points again! Install a PERTRONIXIGNITOR. Fully
contained indistributor. Special pricing for Registry
members. VJ4BR1 8MK&earlier, 022; 6v-$99, 12v$89. 031; 6v-$119, 12v-$109. 009, 050; 6v-$79,
12v-$69.NEW 050 distributor w/Pertronixinstalled;
6v-$159, 12v-$1 49. SPECIALPURCHASE: Free
flow exhaust systemwith glass pack muffler. Made
in USA. Includes mounting gaskets, nuts and bolts.
U.S. heater-$79. Euro heater-$89., quantities limited, "silent muffler" add $20. BARGAIN PARTS:
KYBnitrogen shocks give abeautiful ride; front-$48
pr., rear-$64 pr. Conti fan belt-$4. Bosch Platinum
plugs WR7BP-$12, set of four. Freight add'l. SAM
SIPKINS, 950 77th Ave. #6, Oakland, CA 94621 .
510-632-8232. AM EX, VISA, M/C
SAFETY LIGHTS BeSeen, besafe withour bright,
slim-line design Third Brake Lights. Check out our
newestproduct, Twin Lightswhichcan bewired, as
either Turn SignalLights,Tail Lights or Brake Lights
on your 356. Available fromThe Lereyn Company
on-line at www.thirdbrakelight.com or by phone
at831-636-3046. Add peace ofmind toyour driving
experience-hundreds of satisfied 356 drivers have
already added The Lereyn Company lights to their
cars.
WOODEN STEERING WHEEL RESTORATION
AND REPAIR. Complete&correct re-wooding, polishing, machineturning (L. L.),and plating available.
Many exoticwoods forcustomorders. VDM, Nardi,
Les Leston, Derrington, Moto-Lita and others. Also
B/C type Carrera wheels. AUTOMOTIVE SCULp·
TURE by Bruce Crawford. 805-528-6240. CA.
OPTIMA BATIERIES Corrosion free/true zero
maintenance battery for your Porsche. Totally
sealed, no gas or acid can escape. 800 CCA,
retains charge in storage. 72-month warranty.
Extremely rugged ! $135-1 2vt1$124-6vt, includes
UPS. Add $5 west of Miss., "chipped" battery tenders 6 or 12-$40. Master cutoff switch $10.
CHATHAM MOTORSPORTS, 225 N. Maple,
Vinton, VA 24179. [email protected]. 540-9810356 (cute number, eh?)
BOOKS STOCKED: Driving in its Purest Form45;
Porsche Speedster, Thiriar 45; 356 Registry Tech/
Resto Guide 18; 356 Authenticity, rev iii 25; 2002
356 New/Old Calendar 15; Classique Car Diary
2002 15; Porsche 356 Defined, Johnson 25; von
Hanstein The Racing Baron 20; Porsche in
Motorsport, Morgan 40; Porsche Racing Cars,
Oursler32; Porsche917, Morgan40; My Life Full of
Cars, Frere 32; Passion forPorsche, Jenkinson28;
Porsche Legends (soft) 20; Porsche 356, Long 28;
Porsche 356 and RS Spyders (soft) 20; Porsche
356A, 356B-T5, 356B-T5 or356B-T6/C Electrics (2
volumes) 70;Starter relay SSr (specify6or 12v) 40;
Head lamp relay HLr (specifyT5 or T6/C - 6 or12v)
90; Porsche 91 1: Forever Young 55; Bosch Auto.
Handbook, ed.540; Please include $3.00/shipment
- checks and VISA/MC by PayPal.com
BLOCKS BOOKS - THE FANATICS CHOICE
423 Hawk High Hill, Metamora, MI 48455 USA
e-mail: [email protected]
FROM THE MAESTRO'S COLLECTION Engines;
Super 90s, Supers, 356s, 912s, Military Industrials,
2-pc case engines. MaestroMaster Supranormalsl
Transmissions, too. 356A/B/C, including 644 and
741 Carrera with ZF lim. slip. Weber, Solex and
Zenith carbs, NEW 356B cranks. Used
A/B/C/912/Super 90 cranks . New 200mm flywheels. New mufflers, valves, gasket sets.
Piston/cylinder sets. Engine assembly videos - 5
tape set, 10 hours, $75.1set.And a Speedster trans.
(BBABgears) witha741 nose piece, newbearings,
synchros, complete! Is the Maestro RETIRING?
Call HCP Research 408-727-1864, fax 727-0951
email:
[email protected]
Website:
hcpresearch.com
48
Volu me 26. Number 2
Transaxle filling:
Another method
Notes about the upcoming issues:
ByStan Bonneson
This taskcan be quite messy and slow. It can
also be quick and not messy if one is willing to
invest a little moneyand timeina minimalistsolution to the problem. At the local hardware store
purchase the following items:
One electric hand drill-driven pump with
ordinarygarden hose male fittings, $5.99
Three feet of 5/8 ID garden hose.
Two crimp-onfemale connectors for above.
I foot length of 1/2 inch electrical conduit.
Attach one of the garden hose connectorsto
an 18" length of hose andconnect this to the output side ofthe pump. Insert the one-foot length of
conduit into the opposite end of this hose.
Connect the remaining female connector to the
remaining length of hose and connect this to the
input side of the pump. Insert the conduit into the
fill hole in the transaxle and the free end of the
other hose into a one-gallon plasticjug into which
you have poured your gear lubricant.
Attach your cordless variable speed drill to
the pump andpull the trigger. Filing willbe quick
and the lubricant in the pump and hoses can be
pumped back into the gallon jug.
September I October will start the second decade of this editor's stewardship and a special edition is planned. We will continue the discussion about Big Bore vs. OEM pistons and cylinders with
more interviews byJimSchrager. We hope to include a complete index of technical articles from
the first twenty-five volumes of the Registry, courtesy of the tireless efforts of Bob Laepple. I would also
like to begin a regular listing of your favorite car-related websites. If you have found one or two
that are interesting, informative or just fu n, please send me a note with the address. You can email me
at [email protected]. Here's one: http://windward.nodalpoint.neVdoc/media/liikenne.s\\f
For the November I December issue, remember that Spetember 22ml is Drive Your 356 Day.
Get your 356friends together and hitthe road! Then be sure to send your photos to us for publication.
Digital is good! You can email them to me or just send color prints to the publishing office at 215 W.
Myrtle St., Stillwater, MN55082. Thanks!
HELP!
We moved from 6.000 ft to 3.000 ft and absolutely
MUST sell our 20-year collectionof 356 parts. new andused.
Mostall are mint and ready toinstall. Ask others about the
condition ofthe parts they receivedfrom Perfect Motion.
We have most everything: glass. engine parts.electrical.
interior. trim. instruments. late steering boxes. fog lights.
16"wheels. Pre-A parts. Roadster top frames
and windshield frames.
Specializing in the rare and hard-to-find.
Everything must go!
Go to
www.Perfect-Motion.com/parts.htm
for photos to give you an idea
Email: [email protected]
Tel: 941-921-2624
MotoChron
356 Watches
Aspecial run of the discontinued
356 model has been produced in
a limited issue of 60 numbered
examples. Only 30 remain
available. First come. first served.
-Swiss ETA Movement
-Mineral Crystal
-Waterproof
-Shock Resistant
-Chrome-plated Steel Case
-Genuine Calf Band
Free shipping in U.S.
www.Perfect-Motion.com
Email: [email protected] Tel: 941-921-2624
July/August 2002
49
The 25th Annual
Walter Mitty Challenge
pon arrival Friday morning at Road
Atlanta to overcast skies we were
greeted with the bad news about Bob
Akin's crash. As racecar drivers we must go on,
with the knowledge that it could happen to any of
us but believing "not me." Bob's son commented
that his father was doing what he loved and it
showed ifyou ever raced against him.
Eleven race-prepared 356s- onlyonewas a
drum brake car-gathered in late April. In
Friday's first practice John Biggs was over a secondfaster than yours trulyandGeorge Balbach. In
the second practice George was on top followed
byKeith, Bill Hartong and Dale Erwin. The racing
day ended with the ever-popular Klub Sport
Challenge. This all-Porsche thirty-four car field
was well represented by nine 356s racing doorto
doorwith 2-liter 911s and 914s. I was first in class
and ninth overall followed byTim Baker (fastest
U
lap), Bill and Dale. The excellent race was followed by an excellent party or Fiesta sponsored by
fellow racerJuan Gonzalez.
At Saturday morning qualifying George was
up there again followed byKeith,JohnB, Bill, Tim
andJohn Schrecker. Jim Matthews was fastest in
his class, which is in our group of forty-six cars.
Next up was the afternoon qualifying race. Keith
finished a hardfought race aheadofGeorge,John
S, Bill, Dale and Phil Kubik. Of course, another
In memorium
Veteran road racer Bob Akin died on April
29th after a crash at the 25th Annual Walter Mitty
Challenge historic races at Road Atlanta. Inthelate
'70sand '80sAkin won the 12hours ofSebring in
a 935 and a 962. Akin's familiar red and white
Coca-Cola livery was seen on a variety ofPorsches
that were regular contenders on the IMSA circuit
until he retired from pro driving in 1991. He
remained active as a driver on the historic circuits
and also prepared cars for historic racing customers at his Bob Akin Motorsports operation in
Ossining, N.Y.
50
Volume 26 . Number 2
Keith De~ahan
y--
great race completed means another great party,
this time sponsored byWoridCom.
Adewy Sunday morning starts with the one
hourVintageenduro.All eleven 356s join the sixty
eight-car field, andneed I saytraffic is veryimportant. I got a 360-degree viewofthe race course as
I spun off at the end of the back straight on lap
three. As the packwent byI thought, don't give up
the whole race is ahead of you. Eventually, a full
course yellowandothers' problems gave Keith the
win ahead of Tim (fast lap again), Phil andJohn
B. Ourfeature race was verylate with onlythree of
our cars to take the green. Tim was first and
fourth overall followed byJim and Scott Krueger
who suffered with shift problems allevent.
As a racer there are at least six goals at an
event. I think the main goal for all is to have fun,
which mayinclude achievingat least one of their
other five goals. The number one goal as racer is
towin. This canbe broken down to; overall, class,
type ofcar, theguy who beatyou lastand yourself.
The other goals can be in any order; 2) fast lap in
a race3) fast lap ofevent 4) no on-track incidents
5) no break downs 6) good door-to-door racing.
Please don't get me wrong - you canhave fun without achieving any of these goals as my dad Walt
and I have experiencedon our road trips.
or bike it until you knowyou can go quicklyin the
car. After a session in the car, you feel the track
and trust your opinions. Now you ask specific
questions.
Friday morning was practice for the Eifel
Trophy, an all-Porsche race of all sizes. Six 356s
arrived to do battle and in the first timed session I
took fast time followed by Scott Krueger, Paul
Swanson, Mike Krueger, Olga Reindlova and
Buddy Copperberg. Next came practice for the
Cunningham Cup, which is a two-hour enduro
with one hour each day. I was fastest, followed by
Paul, then Scott. The day ended with a trackside
party by Brumos.
Above: Keith Denahan leading GeorgeBalbach.
Below: Jim Matthews
Brian Redman's Jefferson 500
It's off to uncharted territory: a non-HSR
event at Summit Point WV. This is a newtrackfor
meand dadand a new format. First we must find
ourwaytothis new location and adjustto our new
surroundings. As we pull in to the facility we must
make many decisions about the paddock; pavement or grass, and proximity to grid, bathrooms,
electric, timing building and friends. We look for
high ground and tree branches overhead in case
the forecasted rain arrives. Okay, so we may move
onceor twice butwe have a newhome - a perfect
place.
Getting to know you
As soon as I knew we were attending this
event I asked questions offriends about the track.
Justafter we settled into ourspace, we walked the
trackjust to seewhere itgoesandlearnthe names
ofthe corners for further conversation. Next, you
talk to the locals because they will all give you a
little important information. Then you must walk
Saturday was qualifying day for the
Cunningham, and Scott (a local at this track) is
fastest followed byPaul andme, the other 356s in
this race. Next came qualifying for the Eifel, and
Scott is on top again followed by me, Paul and
Mike. Our racing day ends with part one of the
two-hour enduro. Keith carne out first ahead of
Scott, Paul and twenty-five other competitors,
which set the grid for part two onSunday. The day
ended with the famous Bullroast at the Apple
Orchard Packing House. There was plenty of great
food andexcellent company.
Sunday morning the Eifel feature was very
exciting. Paul finished first followed by Mike (in
his drum brake coupe), me andScott. In that race
there was a broken rocker, shifter problems and a
wounded motor. Laterin the daywas thelast part
of the Cunningham with Scott on top followed by
Keith and Paul. By the end of the event we were
within .03 of a second ofeach other. That is tight.
That is FUN!
Until nexttime, make a pass!
Zimz Z mmer ealz
www.allzim.com
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• ONLIN E CATALOG • SECURE ORDERING
• SPECIALS • EVENTS CALENDAR
ENGINE PARTS
PERT RONIX
IGNITOR
FIL T E RS
Air, 356, wi Zenith 32 NDIX carbs
7.99
Air, K&N 356, wi Zenith 32 NDIX carbs
36.10
Air, K&N assembly 356, wi Zenith 32 NDIX 49.95
Air, K&N assembly 356, wi Solex 40 PII
59.95
Oil, 356, 912 all, MAHLE wlgood gasket
3.99
.89
Fuel, 356, 912 all, 5 & 7mm universal
ENGI NE REB UILD KITS
Our Standard RebuildKitscontainstandardmainand rod bearings,complete gasket
set,rod nuts. valveguides, and rings.
STANDARD KIT from$360
ELECTRONIC BREAKERLESS IGNITION
"Never change points again!"
NOW IN 6 VOLT MODELS
BRAKES
Brake Shoes, 356 all drums, rebuilt
ex 24.95
Master Cylinder, wldrum brakes
94.50
German Wheel Cylinder Kit
9.95
Front Wheel Cylinder, drum brakes
105.00
Rear Wheel Cylinder, drum brakes
56.95
Brake Pads, disc brakes, Frt or Rr
from 19.95
NEWEST Competition "C-Tech" Pads
55.95
Caliper Kit, 356 C, Frt or Rr
11.95
Front Rotor, 356C
41.95
Rear Rotor, 356C
64.95
Master Cylinder Kit, 356 wi disc brakes
30.95
69.95
Master Cylinder, wldisc brakes
CALL FORCUSTOM KIT PRICES
M ISCEL L A NEOUS
Rod Nut, 356, 912 all
2.99
Flywheel Gland Nut, 356, 912 all
25.50
Engine to body Seal, 356
12.00
Ring Set, 356 most models
from 49.95
Pushrods, 356, 912
25.95
Pushrod Tubes, 356, 912
set of 8 $79.20
Cam, 356, 912 all, stock, new hardened 264.95
Oil Line, 356, 912 all, inlet or outlet line
11.50
Generator Pulley Half, 356, 912 all
9.95
Generator Belt, 356, 912 all
3.00
Oil Cooler, 356, 912 all
59.95
Fuel Pump Rebuild Kit, all 356 to 912 from 25.95
Carb Rebuild Kit, 356, 912
from 9.95
ZIMS TOOL BOX
COL L ECT I B L ES
35 6 TUB CLUB CAR BADGE
35.00
ENGINE ELECT RICAL
Bosch Spark Plug W6BC OR W7BC
1.75
Bosch SPark Plug WR7BP
2.95
Tune Up Kit, 050 Disl. cap, rtr, pts, cond
22.00
Tune Up Kit, cast iron Dist.cap, rtr, pts, cond 29.75
Tune Up Kit, alum Dis!. cap, rtr, pts, cond 27.25
Coil, 6 volt
29.95
Spark Plug Wire Set, 356, 912 all
28.95
Bosch 6 volt Starter, remanufactured ex 140.50
Bosch 6 volt Generator, remanf
ex 149.95
Carb Synchrometer
Mity Vac Brake Bleeder
Pressure Type Brake Bleeder
End play measuring tool
Flywheel main seal installer
Flywheel lock, fits 6 or 12 volt
36mm Rear axle nut buster
43.95
34.95
41.95
19.50
41.95
19.25
14.95
NEWI MUST HAVEl
M EC HA NIX GLOVES
WORN BY PROFESSIONAL
PIT CREWS EVERYWHE RE
• PROTECT YOUR HANDS
• M AI NTA IN DEXTERITY
8m m Co lored Ig ni t ion Cable Sets
Custom Made · High performance
AN Y COLO R SET $39 .00
12 VOLT CONVERSION PARTS
356B thru C T-6 12v Conversion Wiper Motor
ex
Transistorized Voltage Reducer 12v to 6v (wipers)
Transistorized Voltage Reducer 12v to 6v (gauges)
Resistors for Relays
12 volt Hella Horns, dual horns, original style
pair
12 volt Coil, Bosch Blue
12 volt Optima Battery, Newest Spiral Cell Design
246.95
39.95
59.95
6.95
69.00
23.50
149.95
CALL US TOLL FREE
1-800-356-2964
NOW OPEN SATURDAYS 9-1
C.T.
HIGHEST QUALITY PARTS
FAX# 81 7 545-2002
email : [email protected]
I
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Car d
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BOSCH
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Bosch
Authorized
Service
CUE TO CURRENCY FLUCTUATIONSPRICES MAY CHANGEW1THOUT NOTICE
SUSPENSION PARTS
Front Axle Link Pin Rebuild Kit
26.00
German Link Pin Rebuild Kit
59.95
King Pin Rebuild Kit
14.00
German King Pin Rebuild Kit
39.95
Tie Rod Ends, inner or outer
8.95
Shock, 356 56-65, set of 4
105.00
Steering Dampner, 356 all
19.95
Steering Box, ZF, rebuilt 4 stud version ex499.95
AUTOTECHNIK
P O R S C H E S P E e l A LIS T S
MINIMUM ORDER $20
1804 RELIANCE PARKWAY
•
BEDFORD, TEXAS 76021
Zims Auto techn lk Is not atllliated wit h Porsche AG or PCNA
CLUTCH KITS
Kits include Disc, Pressure Plate and T.O Bearing
356 A, 180 mm, not O.E.
70.00
356 A, 180 mm, German
123.00
356 A, 180 mm, Spring Disc
82.00
356 A, 180 mm, heavy duty
175.00
356 A, 180 mm, German Spring Disc
137.00
356 B, 180 mm
279.00
356 B or C, 200 mm
343.00
BRAKE HOSE KITS
356A, Braided Stainless
42.50
356A, Braided Stainless, DOT Approved 62.95
356B or C, Rubber
39.80
356B or C, Braided Stainless
42.50
356B or C, BraidedStainless, DOT Approved 55.50
CHEMICALS / CAR CARE
ATE Blue or Gold Brake Fluid, 1 liter
9.50
ATE Blue 10 liter case
85.00
Swepco 201 GL5 Gear lube, 1 gallon
35.04
Lexol Leather Cleaner or Conditioner,l /2 liter 8.49
Lexol Vinylex vinyl and rubber care, 1/2 liter 9.49
P21S Wheel cleaner, 1 liter
19.95
Klasse German All in One Polishl Wax
24.95
Klasse German SealanVGlaze
18.95
Zymol Carbon, "Ultimate Car Wax"
36.95
Zymol HD Cleanse, Pre wax prep
15.95
Zymol Clear Auto Bathe
15.95
Zymol Field Glaze
16.35
Stoner Tire Shine
5,99
Stoner Speed Bead Introductory Price
10.99
NO CREDIT CARD SURCHARGE
SAME DAY SHIPPING
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