356 Project car

[GSpreeman]

What should I be willing to pay for a 356 project car? I would at least like the engine, body, fenders, etc. Give me some idea of up-front cost before restoration.

[dvcarr]

There is a nice Red 1963 356 on ebay in St.Louis that has a $7500 Buy out figure. For a normal 356 that runs and drives needing body restoration, $7k is reasonable. I have a 63 S90 that I paid $3500 for. So far I've been rebuilding the body for a couple of years now (part time). Floor rot, battery tray, front fenders, front panel. I went all out and used body solder instead of bondo, but these cars could be lots of work because of the extensive use of body solder when new. Buy as nice of a car as you can afford.

[YTNUKLR]

what he said. BUT, if you want to restore a car yourself, and can afford it, get an open car (speedster, convD, roadster, cabriolet).

[Harlan Chinn]

Try to find a local 356 specialist preferably someone knowledgeable about body work, restoration and mechanics. They can look over the perspective car and inform you of its virtues and risks. I will post some photographs of some very nice 356's and some pretty rough ones. Most of the real rough ones have varying thicknesses of skim coat filler to conceal less than ideal metal patch work and worst, rust. Much of these body flaws are never completely revealed until all of the paint and filler is removed.
Sometimes it's better to buy someones project so you'll definitely know what you're getting into.

This 356 was gone over by who I think is one of the finest metal in this area. He has replaced the battery box, chassis pan and one of the longitudinals as well as cut out and replaced a panel on this hood if you can tell. He has also reformed the contours around the hood with lead for a perfect panel fit. Every panel has been fitted and will be better fitting than the day it left the factory. More pictures later.

[Harlan Chinn]

This is a close-up on the headlight and trunk lip. meticuluous fitting of metal patches and lead work.

[Harlan Chinn]

Here is another one that was just painted. The metal work on this one was even better. Polished to Perfection.

[GSpreeman]

Man, that is obscene. What kind of price tag to get that kind of work done?

[dvcarr]

Very nice work! What did you use to fill the voids? Did you use body solder, bondo, allmetal? I'm looking for another 356 project that could be a drive. a Convertable or a sunroof car. I'm also shopping for a Sunroof clip for another car I own.

[Harlan Chinn]

Filler is all old school lead like they did when they originally came from the factory. All other imperfections are taken care of with small amounts of body filler (bondo) and of course the primer. This type of work is not inexpensive but if you have a car that you want done correctly, this is the way to do it.

[dvcarr]

Yes, I use the lead for 95% of the filler. The first time I had to replace a door jamb I was shocked on how much led they used. It took a little time and patience to get the right amount of heat to spread the lead. Door seams were another story, I ended up seaming the door and fender together and using a die grinder to cut the seam. Seams came out very nicely. By tipping the car on it's side, I found that I could use a little less heat and keep the solder from rolling off the car! almost no bondo on this car except to fine tune the areas.

I frequently use a sherwin williams blonde urathene primer to fill the scratchs left from filing the solder.

BTW: Your work looks excellent by those pics.