PORSCHE 356 CONVERTIBLE D

Description

The LAST one?

Well, not the last Convertible D produced…..

But this may be the last, complete D that exists that awaits completed restoration, to correct and concourse levels. Not only that, but its’ factory colors are an exquisite, and rather rare, color combination of silver exterior and blue interior (silver is not that uncommon, but the perfect color. The blue interior is the anomoly).

Only about 1331 were built in the course of a year or so. Many failed to survive. A cherished few are survivors, with little, to no, restoration. A few were complete cars that underwent meticulous restoration….and the remaining survivors either underwent “old restorations” ( which, by today’s standards, need to be taken down to the last nut and bolt and redone) or were cobbled together with replacement engines and replacement parts and are nice enough to look at and drive, but are not close to concourse level.

This car deserves, and will receive, a total, complete restoration…..either by us or by some other fastidious Porsche follower.

It has the original Normal engine (matching numbers), which turns over freely. It does NOT have the original transmission, but has a Speedster transmission with the correct gear ratio (the transmission is apart, and has some new parts).

The body panels appear to all have the correct numbers to match the car. The car was restored, and comes with essentially ALL of the pieces that it had when it rolled off the factory lines about 56 years ago. It has all those goodies that, in so many cars, either are not date/VIN stamped correctly, or have gone missing through repairs, or neglect. As far as we can tell, only the transmission is not original to the car. Every other piece appears correct and original to the car. The car has never been hit. The car did suffer from the usual underbody rust. The top is complete, and moves freely. The seats, the gauges, and the brass posts/windshield frame are correct and original.

We received this car from a previous owner who, we understand, bought it in about 1971, and drove it until the underside got to the point that he felt the car should be parked and restored. We took custody of the car in about 2005, and started the restoration process. The body was acid dipped, and the body pieces, supplied by Restoration Design, were replaced, correctly, by a craftsman metalworker. About 95% of the metal work has been redone, to perfection. About all that is left still waiting is one hand brake tube.

There is a caveat. We took the body to a body man to hammer and dolly the metal, to smooth it for prep and fill. When we stopped by to examine the process, we found that he was using too much filler, not enough hammer and dolly. We pulled the car immediately. Some filler is inevitable, but a close inspection will show that some areas of the work done will need to be stripped and redone.

Other than that, the car is about as good, and honest, as can be found. The steering wheel and sun visor have been restored by Jack Arct. The brass windshield frame has been refinished and re-chromed to perfection (with correct numbers), as have the handbrake handle and miscellaneous small bits.

The front kingpins have been rebuilt, and front torsion bar bearings are supplied.

We bought this car, as opposed to other candidates, because it had not been restored (since so many restos need to be redone, to be done perfectly), and because it was so original. We do not need to sell this car, but, realistically, time is creeping on. The car deserves to be completed sooner, rather than later. We have other projects still waiting completion, including a couple of 6s and a couple of preAs…and we are not a shop, just a couple of Porscheholics…. We have the resources to finish the project…but time is something that cannot be manufactured. We still work for a living, 9 – 5 (well, add on a couple of hours on each end of that), so realistically if we retain custody of this car, it will not see asphalt for another 5-10 years.

Thanks for looking. Feel free to ask questions. We believe in full disclosure. There will not be any misreprenstations/surprises with this transaction. We expect things to be “done right”, whether that involves a resto, or a sale. Feel free to inspect, kick the tires (well…not figuratively), and enjoy.

As is with all projects there may be the odd piece missing that we are not aware of. Buyer is responsible to arrange his own shipping and shipping costs. The dolly in the pictures goes with the car.