• Hi Guest!
    You can help ensure that British Car Forum (BCF) continues to provide a great place to engage in the British car hobby! If you find BCF a beneficial community, please consider supporting our efforts with a subscription.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

Spotted outside my office today

Share this page

Steve

Steve

Moderator
Platinum
Country flag
Offline
There was a red Porsche 356 Cabrio 1600 Super, with a "US Forces Germany 1960" license plate. It had the funky vertical-slat headlamp guards, and the minimalist "bent tubing" bumpers. It had been painted at some time in its past, but it was no trailer queen!

I wish that I had my camera with me, or at least a cell phone with photo capability. It was gorgeous!
 
I think in the past decade or more I've seen only ONE 356 under its own power on any highway. That'n sounds to be nearly unique these days.
 
I have my digital camera with me today, just in case it shows up again. I think that the owner was here for a closing though, so it was likely a one-off. Wonder if I could sketch it from memory?
 
I spot them every few months here.

We have a local enthusiast near by.

Lately I have been dreaming of a Denzel :wink:
 
I've drivin 4 356s. a cream colored Karman body (roadster tub with a hardtop welded on) an off-white coupe (my favorite) and a horrid orange coupe, all at the vintage dealer I was at. and now my current shop has a customer with a nice white cabriolet. I also had some seat time in a cab- kit car. built on a Beetle chassis Not all that far off the originals really.
Gotta love the "wonder shifter", and the fuel shutoff lever under the dash.
Very enjoyable cars to drive.
the lines of the coupe are beautiful. I love the shape. someday.......
 
Question, Why is it that there are 6 1958 356s for sale in Hemmings and their prices range from $28,500 to $284,900? Can someone explain this? Makes no sense to me!
confused0031.gif
 
Hi Paul,

In my opinion; The lower cost 356s are probably "Reproductions" (I like the way that sounds vs. a "Replicar or Kit Car".

The lower cost ones also may be "Project" cars!!!

Need not explain the $200K+ cars!! They have literally gone off the deep end.

Some day perhaps a "Reproduction" - Orig. looking one!

Russ
 
Your right Russ. The lower price ones are Beck built reproductions.
 
I never see real ones on the road anymore...but I see a fair amount of replicas (also, 550 replicas).

We have two, real 356s that race with us but most vintage-race Porsches are 911s or 914s these days.

Here's ~Me~ with one of our regular 911s.

And ~This~ bile-green 911 is driven by a guy who's had four liver transplants (hence the colour).

~Here Is~ one of our regular 356s chasing me at New Hampshire.

~This~ 356, also a regular, is real fast!
 
Nial

I know where there is a real 550 :wink:

I had never before seen an engine with roller bearings on the crank before this one.
 
My old boss had two real 356s. One is a 58 hard top that he drives to work almost every day. The other one he had was a speedster, that he bought at a garage sale in the 70s for $500. He was restoring that one but a guy offered him 45 Gs for it in its striped down shape so he sold it. Really cute cars.
 
Yes, I had the chance to buy a Germed speedy when I was 17, but Mom and Dad said nope to lending me $1k, kick meself in the arse.
 
I've been lucky enough to work on 4 original 356Bs over the years. 2 "s"coupes, a Karman bodied coupe and a current customer at out shop has a speedster.
Gotta love the "wonder shifters".... I really like the 356b. They just have a neat feel to 'em. that "old German leather" smell and those super springy seats along with the skinny rimmed bakolite steering wheel and dash knobs. and that VWish putter from the rear end, and the fuel cutoff lever under the dash.
The cool thing is if you build a kit from an old Beetle, you're really not too far off.
 
There's a local upholstery shop here that has one in it. I'd love to have one, but they're mostly way too expensive anymore.
 
GeeBee1 said:
Nial

I know where there is a real 550 :wink:

I had never before seen an engine with roller bearings on the crank before this one.
Click to expand...

Hey, my chain saw has a roller bearing crank! :jester:

But all kidding aside, those old roller cranks were cool and hugely exotic.
I think Bugatti and other used them too.
The Porsche cranks had to be "built up" of course, and I've been told that for racing, they'd weld up crank pins (meaning it could never be repaired if it became worn).

Not sure how they got oil....splash or pressure lube?
 
Banjo, in my friends 356 coupe when the engine needed a rebuild a couple years ago we just put a VW engine in it to save money. Sadly you can't tell the difference driving it or listening to it.

And just so no one freaks out we put the porsche engine on a shelf in the shop, it has not been disposed of in any way.
 
Hopefully you used a dual port 1600.

This thread, and another one about pink cars brings back a memory.

After I got out of the service I was working a parts counter in Redlands, California. We had a sister store in Twenty-Nine Palms, that I got to work one Sunday each month.

We were an all models store, with foreign, domestic and performance. This was in the early 70's(71-71) so there was a demand that usually kept me busy down in the "stumps".

One day an older lady(geeze, I'm as old now as she was then, so what am I talkin' about) who drove a pink 356 up to the door and walked in. She asked if I could take a look at her car and tell her if it needed points or a fuel filter, as it just did not have the power it used to have.

So, we went outside and opened the hood and looked inside. There was an early 30/36 hp VW engine. single carb....

I asked her if she had recently had any engine work performed. She told me that her friend recommended a shop in North Hollywood where they rebuilt, no replaced her engine for her, as the old engine was damaged too badly to be rebuilt.

So, a VW engine comes in many guises.
 
The VW we used was a 1600 dual port, and the engine it replaced was also a 1600. Makes me wonder if the the ole 1600 super beatles could run with an old 1600 356A?
 
Back
Top