DDK - Die Deutschen Klassiker

Hi Matthew.
I share that sentiment!!!
Sold an immaculate Frogeye Sprite that I’d spent years restoring and bought a tatty RHD 356.
It was liberating, as you say, carefree parking!
The only obstacle was a mental one. Having been used to running really nice restored cars, you get a different set of comments and initially you need to be thick skinned.
HOWEVER, in the time I have had my car, the market has changed and people now want tatty unrestored cars!!!!
I still have nice cars, but I’ve also bought other “survivors”!!!

Lots of good advice in this thread.

Personally, I've drove an A for a while, then had a little time out before buying a tatty RHD 356c. The C is a better drive than the earlier cars, but the A and Pre A's are a cooler and purer bit of design. I ended up restoring my 'tatty' c. I'd only planned to weld a couple of panels into the front spare wheel well but as I peeled back the underseal I kept finding more rot (I'm sure lot's of us have been there with classic cars!!) so in the end it was a bare shell, I daren't add up the receipts but I guess it cost me £75k to restore but I literally stripped and rebuilt everything ( or paid others to - PRS built my engine, and Andy Prill built my gearbox ) It took 10 years, not least because I didn't have £75k to spend in a year. The car looks and drives amazingly but my daily driver has become a sunshine only / never see rain / cautious where I take it car. So I guess what I'm saying is I get the joy of having a daily driver but they have a habit of turning into money pits. That said, Having vowed I'd never do another one again, I find I have a hankering to get an A too so I guess restoring a 356 must be a bit like child birth, Horrific at the time, you don't know how long it's going to go on for, but some how you soon forget the pain!!

Hi Matthew , everyone wants an A whether tatty or restored and immaculate . At least you are after a coupe rather than a speedster so you may not have to sell your house to get one.

I am going to comment from a background of 50+ years of Porsche ownership starting with a '63 356B S90 in 1968 and currently with a '55 pre A and a '75 914/6......both these are outlaws and meant for driving enjoyment rather than asset management .

I think you will have to figure that a restoration project based on an A will cost around £100k , maybe more , even if the cost is spread over a 3 year period to help cash flow . If you wanted body restoration and paint by one of the best you may have to wait 1-2 years as they are busy !

If you are not fussed about paint or corroded brightwork or 'bondo' and want a sound runner with good mechanicals then if you are lucky you might find something for £70k but the elephant in the room is hidden structural corrosion - beware underseal - and a pre purchase inspection by someone who knows 356s is (I think) essential . However be prepared to pay 70-100k rather than draw the line at 70k

If you want something that looks good , good provenance , money already spent on body and mechanicals , then the budget goes out to maybe twice what you are thinking.......fortunately you do not want concours or collectible so wont have to go to £200k.....but think you will be in £100k+ territory

If you are still with me , it may well be you have to sell your other hobby cars and roll that into your A budget . I know of a rat look A that PRS worked on that might hit the spot for you , I don't know what the owner would want for it but guess beyond £70k (!) , PM me if there is a glimmer of interest

interesting to hear such negative comments about the 356B. how come? - because its not got disk breaks? I get that the A is much better looking, you'll look cool in a A,B or C on the kings road to pretty much everyone who isnt a porsche bore.

I think the porsche bores need to consider their surroundings. Matching numbers cars are great. cars with the original paint are great, cars that have never been restored are great - but lets face it, they're unicorns, especially if they're RHD and UK cars... And now the prices of these things are going through the roof, you've got to be breathing the rarified air of the layercake just to afford one. - meaning they're unobtainable to most.

I had an A - a few years ago... when I tried to sell it, I had plenty of sniffy calls from people who were happy to tell me it wasnt a matching numbers car ( which when I bought it, I didnt know btw, in fact, I didn't know what matching numbers was... I knew what I liked and I had a budget... and that got me an A with the wrong year'd engine ) - what the big joke is, is that I sold the car for the princely sum of 12 grand. ( might have been 12.5) - so all the fan-fair and pompous crap I got from people was over a 12 grand car... FFS.

I then had a lovely rhd gulf blue T - matching numbers, but it wasn't concours, but was lovely.. a real head turner and too good, like your T to just bash around -so I found myself with a lovely car that I didnt really want to take out anywhere and couldn't do anything with, because it would reduce the value of an ( almost ) stock matching numbers car.

my solution? - I found a pretty, need some work non matching RHD B. it wasnt worth restoring to concours, and frankly it didnt need it... I hear the people who spend 50k on their car and good for them.. I didnt feel the need. Mechanically my car is fine. no issues, drives like a 1963 car, so not exactly anything more than just a gentle ride. I had the door skins done and when the paint came off ( bare metal ) I had the rust done. and I had a lovely job done on the interior too by Garry.

what have I ended up with ? - an absolutely cracking car in my opinion. people hoot, flash, high five, thumbs up when I go by. its not a garage queen, but its not a daily driver. if you're a porsche bore, I'm sure you'll get snooty about the fact that I have yellow fuchs.. but you know what - LIGAF. my car my decision and I didnt do it for you.

so my advice - dont buy an A - you'll end up having to overspend or compromise on the base car because its the most desirable ( like the S ) - stick with a B or a C - you'll get more for your money .... and enjoy it, just dont spend too much on it and make it like your T.

good luck .

Well said! I'm so glad you typed all that, I now don't have to! B with snags all the way. It really doesn't have to cost 10s of K to fettle up. They are very simple, and most have probably not got all their original metal now anyway. Weld it up, get it sprayed, put the glass, engine and trim back and drive it. It's already rusting again anyway. Treat it like an MGB not a 911....you'll get soo much pleasure from it, muddy roads, wet days etc. W

Hi, I appreciate that this an older thread, but I was wondering if my 1965 C may be of interest? I currently have one old car too many (based on promises to my better half), and need to make a decision over the next couple of months about which one to let go.

Happy to provide more details if its potentially of interest?

[url=https://postimg.cc/PCd2brxs][img]h ... .jpg[/img][/url]

Just to chuck my 2penith in, I have a "B" but to be honest hatted the looks, so chopped the front and rear off and added "A" panels......................now I love it.
Just take a look at March in the DDK calendar.
Cheers
Ian

Thanks everyone for the advice .

I have finally made a purchase ,a 1965 356sc . I know it's a matter of horses for courses .some will say it's not the prettiest variant and others will say it's the best driver
I'm busy building a new home at the moment hence not that often here on the forum but hope to start a restoration thread once I'm able ..for now the sc is locked in a shipping container awaiting some love (and hopefully some front end panels)

As a side note ,I did have an offer accepted on a 356a .. turned out that the papers didnt match the car so I dodged a bullet with that one ... buyer beware!

Well done! 9 hope you really enjoy it. I have a C and prefer the looks to be honest, but these things are subjective. They’re definitely lots of fun to drive if a bit rowdy on motorways.

914-6 wrote:Just to chuck my 2penith in, I have a "B" but to be honest hatted the looks, so chopped the front and rear off and added "A" panels......................now I love it.
Just take a look at March in the DDK calendar.
Cheers
Ian

Interesting. Is that the main external difference then?

yes, plus of course the 1/4 windows in the doors

Cheers
Ian

Yes please:

https://www.okanelavers.com/1958-porsche-356a-for-sale

jonno1 wrote:Yes please:

https://www.okanelavers.com/1958-porsche-356a-for-sale

I was offered that car through Roger Bray’s when I was deciding whether or not to start my own restoration project with him. It was very cheap at the time and I was sorely tempted. Sounds like all the work’s been done by the right people and so it seems a very fair price for it now.

I like that a lot

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The previous owner (who I knew many years ago) - Phil Sewell - occasionally posts on DDK ('Super90speedshop') ...

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