356 speedster barn find

356Joe · 06-25-2011, 06:02 AM

I got a 55 speedster its pretty rough but still fixable. Any help with where I can find pre A body panels would be appreciated.

mattC2993 · 06-25-2011, 06:06 AM

Very cool car. There are a number of suppliers including Restoration Design, Trevors Hammerworks, Stoddard, NLA, etc. I would check out the 356 Registry if you haven't already. Its not the busiest forum but likely the best 356 site.

craig356 · 06-25-2011, 06:42 AM

If you think it has racing history, it would be GREAT to know all you can find out! Congrats to you!!!!

supercarreraJ · supercarreraJ's Garage

Looks like it has a fun history

C. Clark · C. Clark's Garage

I've used Restoration Design before, they are under relatively new ownership and seem to be together. I don't see any Pre A panels at Pelican, and of course Trevors Hammerworks.

Joe Bob · Joe Bob's Garage

I have a repo windscreen.

Rob Channell · 06-25-2011, 09:05 PM

I'd be real tempted to do a period race car restoration leaving some dings and character instead of trying to make a perfect original. Then you won't be so scared to drive it when you get done.

Oh, and welcome and nice find. I never seem to run across deals like that myself but I'm glad someone did. I'd love to see pictures while you are doing the restoration.

Joeaksa · 06-26-2011, 05:27 AM

First you need to decide if you want it to be a race car, or restoration of a race car, or a street car.

Considering the age and rarity of this car, please get someone to help who really knows what they are doing. This is real history and needs to be preserved.

You also might want to look here: pre a speedster barn find

daepp · daepp's Garage

Awesome. Good luck!

id10t · 06-26-2011, 07:43 AM

Trevor's Hammerworks (werkes?) - they advertise in the 356 Registry. Which I strongly recommend joining, as well as the online portion of the site.

Soterik · Soterik's Garage

Yes, Trevor hammerworks are very good, I've used them recently. I also recommend Zims for their panels as well. They are the sole US distributor for Simmonsen (sp?) a metal distributor out of Europe.

Yes, join the 356 Registry.

You may want to have a few people take a look at the car to see what type of restoration your car is best for... if you want...

Speedster pricing is once again going up, and you may want to keep that in mind

Eric
Speedster 82900

356Joe · 06-26-2011, 08:45 AM

The engine is from a 912 not sure what the original one was. the guy who had the car before me bought the car from someone who used to race it. not too sure about most of the history but it does look like it may have been into a few haybails. like i said the car is rough but it seems to be repairable.

saxen · 06-26-2011, 09:47 AM

Can you please post more pics if you don't mind

Matt Monson · 06-26-2011, 10:20 AM

I wanna hear the story of how and where you found it. I find the stories almost as neat as the cars themselves...

356Joe · 06-26-2011, 12:31 PM

there are more photos at this like pre a speedster barn find if it doesn't work let me know and i will post the pictures here. the story of how I got it is rather boring. My friends dad bought the car like 30 years ago. it sat in his garage for many years. he took it to a local guy to get restored, gave the guy a ton of money and the guy disappeared. the only thing done was the engine and transaxle were pulled and the engine was disassembled. my friends dad was disguested and was going to scrap the car so i figured if he was going to scrap it i could atleast try to do something with it. so far i'm not sure what the restoration plans are. i know its going to take alot of money but not exactly sure how much. luckily the guy did buy new jugs and pistons for the engine and I think i have most of the big parts for the engine in my basement. again any help on whether or not this project should be attempted will be appreciated

356Joe · 06-26-2011, 03:41 PM

Heres some more pics. I tried to post a link but it didn't go through.

Thats most of the pics that I have. Referencing the question asked about how I found it, the story is rather dull. My friends dad bought it from a guy who used to race it. He then had it in his garage for years and decided to take it to a local guy to repair it. After paying the guy to fix it the guy disappeared and the car sat outside of the local garage for about ten years. My friends dad was going to scrap it so I said if he was going to scrap it I could find something to do with it. I didn't want to see a piece of automotive history go down like that.

Soterik · Soterik's Garage

B-i-t-ch'in'......
Can I get a picture of the dash? Wanna see if there are any 4 cam coil switches on there!

Glad you saved it... could you have seen the guys face when somebody told him that he just crushed $100K? (well maybe not $100K, but still maybe pretty close!)

e

356Joe · 06-26-2011, 04:05 PM

let me go out and get a pic. the guy I got it from knows what its worth. the problem was how much he gave the guy before he disappeared. he was just super frustrated.

356Joe · 06-26-2011, 04:09 PM

sorry for the terrible quaility the position of the sun and my old crappy camera were the perfect storm. If this doesn't work let me know I'll go out later.

Soterik · Soterik's Garage

Nope, no holes where the coil switches would be sorry!

The coil switches on a 55 for the 4 cam would have been on either side of the bottom idiot light switch (bottom one of the 3 holes just above the steering wheel tube)

Eric