1957 Carrera coupe 58367 Long term restoration

[JTR70]

Hello to all from Las Vegas Nevada, USA.
I joined the DDK some time ago but have only lurked up until now. My very good friend Roy Mawbey thought it would be alright to post my long term build here as well. I remember reading an entry on here a while back about how the U.S. guys just don’t build them with the attention to detail the European guys do. With that in mind I wanted to share my long term project here as proof that there are a few of us here that can be real sticklers for the details.
My Name is Justin Rio and I have been in an on again, off again love affair with a ( motorless) 1957 Carrera T1 coupe chassis # 58367 for about 25 years. I am very ashamed to admit that part but this is time I needed to grow as a car builder. This particular car my father bought way back in 1968 from a wrecking yard for 75.00US. He was generous enough to give it to me when I turned 16 in 1987. I’ll try and post some pictures here shortly.
You can view the details of this build here: http://porsche356abcgt.com/forum/14-356 ... ation.html

I’ll be sure to update this post here as things progress for those who might be interested. Thanks for reading this!
Best regards, Justin

[Bootsy]

Welcome aboard.

Great first post. Be great to see more of your project

[Mike]

Hi Justin, great to see you on the forum, interesting blog on the restoration!

[roy mawbey]

Justin,

Very pleased you have posted! Anyone interested in how to do things properly on the 356 will like your restoration story and the work you have attempted. You like doing the job correctly and not cutting corners. Its always a pleasure to look at your progress.

It takes time and effort to keep the build story going for as long as you have, but no doubt it is satisfying now when you look back to 'day one' when you started!

Cheers

Roy

[JTR70]

Thank you Bootsy! I noticed that you are now hosting photos now. I tried to load a shot but I just get a message that the file I'm trying to load is invalid.

Hello Mike, Thank you! I am glad to hear that you found something of interest in the build post.

Hey Roy, Thanks again, for everything! Its nice being here! Will try and get some pictures loaded shortly.

Best regards, Justin

[Bootsy]

You need to post the URL of any photo that is already hosted elsewhere in between the image tags

[JTR70]

Thanks Bootsy! Took a few attempts but I finally got this one to display.

Here is the car in '69 and was my fathers "daily driver" at the time. Its pictured here at Western Talc in the plant parking lot my dad worked at in the late 60's-70's. He bought this car as pictured minus a motor and transaxle for 75.00 from a local wrecking yard that had towed it in. They sold the motor and attempted to fit a Corvair drivetrain in it at some point later. When My father spotted it they had already given up on the idea and had it up on cement blocks next to their front gate. Appearently the owner was sick of looking at it so when my father happened by to ask if it was for sale and for how much the owner simply said "give me 75 bucks and get it out of here!" My dad said he could not get to his wallet fast enough. He was a 911 owner first (66 911) and liked 356's but he didn't even know what a Carrera was then but he thought the emblems on the fenders looked cool.
Once it was home he did little to it other than an installation of a VW transaxle and a 40HP VW motor. He then drove it to work for a while as pictured here. I'll post more later. Thanks for reading this! Justin

[JTR70]

This was taken shortly after my dad had bought it from the wrecking yard in either late '68 or early'69. Its up on some sort of wooden frame so he could fit his VW transmission and engine in to get it up and running.

Still in the same spot; on the patio of the house he was renting at the time. That's my grandfather messing about in the engine compartment. My mother is sitting in the drivers seat. you can see even then that rusty primered corner of the door that my father and I would repair together some 17 years later. Check out that knarly 40HP VW engine just waiting to go in! Doesn't quite live up to the carrera emblems on the fenders.

This photo is jumping ahead about 10 years to The summer of '79. The summer of love; for me! I was 8 and this is when I fell in love with this car. My dad bought another 40HP VW motor to get her up and running again after she quit again in '72. I remember going with my dad to buy the second engine. I remember this car with its tail end way up in the air in the middle of my dads workshop. I spent all my free time watching and poking around the car. I can remember even then thinking it was very similar to our '66 911 daily driver but much smaller and more primitive even though I didn't have a word to describe it then. My dad was an extremely slow worker (probably whare I get it from)and being a little kid with no patients made the anticipation of going for a ride very painful! I'm sure I drove him nuts asking when was it going to be done every five minutes. It finally did happen though! I don't remember it being powerful or super fast just really small and loud. (stinger pipe with no muffler) I thought it was the coolest car ever! I can still remember several trips in it. Shortly after my dad stripped it to bare metal; the crank broke so he just parked it in the yard and the body rusted over. Wish I would have taken a picture before I started cleaning it in '87.

Here is a shot of me, my old pal benjy and the car just off to the right on the same roll of film here. My memory of this time was very exciting and magical in a way. The old AM radio was on the entire time in my dads shop. To this day if I hear "the sultains of swing" by Dire straights," Reunited" by peaches&herb or "heart of Glass" by Blonde to name a few; I am transported right back there! The smell of old bad gasoline will take me there too!
Thanks for taking this trip into the past with me. Will post more pictures shortly. Justin

[Hendrik Moulds]

Very cool.
Thanks for posting Justin.

[roy mawbey]

Great photos Justin, I have separate photo's of all my 3 sons holding on to my drivers door handle from 1969 - I guess to 1977. When we had the first grandchild she was photographed doing the same. The same has followed for the next 3 grandkids now we have another (5th )due early next year. So another photo hopefully after that.

I remember my eldest boy saying to me a while back 'I got my hands on it first so its mine'
I told him to be happy with his Boxster

I wish my dad had never sold his Riley 9hp 'Monaco' a 1933 car. It's the first car I remember and I only have one photo with me sitting on the roof I guess around 1950. I did though make and still have, a nice 1:43 scale model of the car painted in tbe same grey colour.

Hendrik, and others like you, who do so much on 356 cars should look on Justins forum www.porsche356abcgt.com and look on all the pages of his 'restoring the $75 junk yard carrera' thread. The metalwork pages on how he has achieved the results are as good as any book you could buy. ( I told him already its a book in the making!)

The other guy Steve Houge also on Justins Forum and into early 50 -51 car bodywork in Australia has done amazintg work to. He even had 'you tube' videos of how he fabricates and
forms bodywork items

You would have a nice 356 team with those 2 and maybe Mike Smith over here doing the mechanicals. You would trust their work for sure. No affiliation just like their work!

Roy

[JTR70]

Thank you Hendrik! I am glad you like them...

Thanks for everything Roy! You have been a great friend through all of this and I appreciate your support. Your an engineer and I value highly your input and comments. That was one of my questions; Which one of your kids is going to inherit the 356? Fortunately for me being a spoiled only child I have no one to contend with. It is a shame your father didn't keep his old cars for you. At least your kids won't feel cheated. Thanks again Roy!
Justin


Here is the car in '87. Just getting the front skins cleaned of surface rust and getting ready for an initial coat of epoxy primer. I took it in stages and started with rear as you can see.

I of course caught the bug from my father who has always been a huge Porsche fan. His first Porsche was a one owner '66 911 he bought way back in '67. (still has it to this day.) He bought it in Salt lake City from a kid just back from his Mormon mission in Germany. He bought it new there and had it shipped home. His father took one look at it and said there was no way he was keeping a car like this. So up for sale it went. My dad originally had his sights set on a 912 but when this car became avaiable, the bigger motor sealed the deal.

A much younger Louis Rio on the prowl in his new 911.

This car pretty much always ran. My mother used as a daily driver and I even took my Drivers license test in it. You would think I'd be a 911 guy all the way spending most of my childhood cramped into the back seat on many a roadtrip but the little green 356 coupe in our yard that never ran was the Porsche that got my attention. Then in the summer of '79 when my dad got the little coupe to actually run (with a new VW motor) I thought it was the coolest car ever! There were some similarities with the '66 like the green guages though we were short 2 in this car. It Certainly did'nt have the HP of the '66 but it made up for it in raw fun. It was so tiny inside with a little windshield compared to the 911 which was another thing I really liked about it. Though It had a very basic feel compared the 911, there was no mistaking the general "porsche" vibe it had. Even as kid I picked up on that.

In '87 I got up the nerve to ask him if I could fix up the old coupe to drive. He had to think about it. Thats my dad, anytime I asked for something he always had to think about it first. A few days later he said I could fix it up but the condition was I could never sell it. If I ever got tired of it he'd buy me out for whatever I had into it. I wonder if that deal is still on the table?? Anyway this 356 has always been in my life and continues to be an obsession.

One more shot of my very beginning 25 year off and on restoration of this old beater!
Thanks for looking! Justin