356 reality check
 

Since SC's go for 10-20K more than C's routinely I wonder why? Most C engines in 356s now days have been rebuilt with big bore kits as mine has. I also changed the cam to a high torque street grind resulting in better low RPM power that does lack a little high RPM power that a cam closer to an SC grind would have. Since performance of C vs SC is similar until you are over 4500 RPMs why pay so much more for an SC? I would estimate that 90% of my driving is done below 4500RPM. So that is why I built me engine as I did. With my build I have as good or better power below 4500RPM than a stock SC motor would have. So why pay more? I encourage the frugal to buy a 356 with 912 motor. Or a C built similar to mine. But if you really have to have an SC fine by me. And that sin't even bringing the premium paid for S90s into question. C and SC and 912 heads are identical valve size and better than the S90 heads. As you can guess no S90 for me.

The replicas just as good for a driver level experience ?

seriously?

if your "experience" is being seen in a 356, then yes.

do they drive like a real 356 and yield the "experience" of driving an early porsche?

well, not so much. at least that's been my experience from the repicars i've driven.

can be cool in their own right, but not the same...

No, not at all.

Buy a Beck if you want a replica. 904 is so much cooler than a 356. And still $50k.

356
 

It is 4 cylinders that is all.In this day & age it is like taking a knife to a gunfight.I had them and enjoyed them back then.The real beauty of the car is the solidity of a rust free chassis for the feel.Ciao Fred

claiming little to no special knowledge...
ddm, the reason SCs are priced higher is because they are worth more to the market (“all else being equal, which it never is”). has nothing to do w/ frugality or a properly hotted-up C motor (well, there’s that #s matching thang...).
Matt, can you really get a finished-done-right Beck 904 for $50K? I might just trade my beater SC for one.
faap, ya know, a knife might be just the thing in darkness, close-in... & a sneaky thing at that.
cheers,

Depends on how you define finished done right. I could spend $50k on an engine and another $15k on the gearbox. But in theory, yes, you can build a nice Beck for $50k.

Seems low when this project got $40K.


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-cars-sale/958526-1964-porsche-356-sc-coupe-matching-numbers.html
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1496253961.JPG

pmax... thx, keep reading... I think I was subsequently talked into not selling it for $80K on this thead. at the rate this is going, it’ll go over 100 ... & still own it. the 356 community is great!

Matt, I’m not so much for theory, & my SC is already built (could use rebuiltness, I admit, but it did garner an award in outlaw category at a 356 Registry get-together years ago). If your $50K is “some assembly required”, then a comp figure could hit $75K+ ... but who counts their own (free!) labor, or the opp cost of the time?
Seriously, let’s keep an eye open for a decently finished Beck 904 fs & see what market is.
& on that ‘64... nothing $40-80k won’t fix...

So, is your SC for sale? Pics. Details?

One of the original 3 prototypes sold for $46k on BaT about six months ago. The cars are usually delivered in one of two ways. They send you a roller with all finish and coachworks done, and you install your own engine and gearbox. Or, you ship them your engine and gearbox and you go pick up a finished running driving car. There's a couple members here currently getting them done. I don't really want to distract LOM's thread too much, but I am confident that if you wanted to dig a bit you could confirm or deny my numbers by talking to owners present and future.

LOM, my SC is not for sale. An excessively high price is my facetious means of stating that. I apologize to you or anyone who thought I wanted to sell or might be gaming the crowd. Upon reflection I note how a request for pricing advice often leads to offers to buy w/o a car being posted in the For Sale section. I've sold cars for a living & have had 356s in the family since 1968. I'm pretty straight-forward when it comes to offering a car for sale.

None the less, here's a shot of it, just for fun. I consider it at "3.5" level. It was painted arrest-me-red - to help make it marketable, I suppose (wrong! in my case... I reserve red for Italian cars, but I overcame that in this case... lust + a decent deal). I would of much preferred the original (& no doubt tired) factory color. It has never been restored, so could use it. I found it less expensive / more fun to remove weight (bumpers, seats, wheels) & drive it, just keep it reliable & in-tune.

Interestingly, it has an unnumbered 6V engine w/ webers & runs strong... who knows how that happened (be aware that dealerships & the importer had such engines in stock bitd for warranty purposes... some were then numbered w/ the bad engine's serial #, some weren't. "non-matching numbers" can be a feature of the olden days). It came with the original factory service book from its delivery when new - Christmas 1965. To me that is both luck & a sign of possible "regular 356 people chain of ownership". Found it out west almost 15 yrs ago. No PPI (had spoken w/ long-time mechanic). Flew in, walked around it when on a trailer, 30 min later handed over a bank check, got in and drove cross-country 1700mi nearly non-stop... a great trip on many levels. While I highly recommend 356s for pure driving joy, I do not suggest doing things the way I do. I am open to opinions on what old Porsche green I should paint it... I'm thinking Signal.

Matt, thx, I'm going to pay closer attention (again) to Beck 904s. I've driven a real one, & Chuck gave me a nice review of one of those 3 cars protos a few years back at Barber. Very intriguing.

now, w/ photo
 

This got my attention.

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1962-porsche-356b-5/

Not to start a conversation about how much it would take to make right; that'll just be another exercise in restoration creationism. I was just thinking about how much it would take to fix up, drive and have fun.

The kiss of death: the engine was rebuilt by the owner ten years ago and has not been run since.

Some assembly required.

Engines are a piece of cake. It's the body that kills these deals. Still, there's no room at the inn.

Even when you take apart a complete car for resto, in one place & never remove anything from the premises, you will never find all the parts upon reassembly. This phenomenon tends to confirm the existence of Dark Matter.

Rationally, only a shop should take this one on. Not sure they will fight it out for a project / mystery car in public, & esp on BAT.

I hope it goes to some worthy maniac with lotsa $, a lifelong drive to build his own 1:1 scale model 356, a love of process-in-detail & infinite patience.
Might turn out nicely.

I don't think so. MM was in business a long time and built thousands of engines. Many of those engines were good engines. You don't hear about those engines. I would estimate that more than half their engines were decent engines. I would take my chances with a running driving engine built by MM in a car than one sitting on a pallet rebuilt by an owner as a one time job they did because they decided they wanted to restore a car.

Maybe you get lucky and put it in and it's fine. Are you willing to chance that on a numbers matching case? What if it throws a rod through the side on start up or 100 mi into break in? If it were me, I would rebuild that engine again, even if it didn't require a single part to be replaced. Peace of mind. And I would drop my bid $10k to accomodate for it.