I'm freaked out. Found old photo online of my 356A

[3ftDeep]

I was looking for something else online (356 related, obvs) but stumbled across an instagram photo on my 356A... on a road trip to Transylvania 1968!!.
I'm totally stunned.

Made a couple of calls (really helpful Mike Pacey at Export56) and will hopefully get connected to the pervious owner (Richard Hunt) from the 60s. Really, really great to get some history and more photo.

I'm so excited!!

https://www.instagram.com/p/CsdVnVbo8-M/

[Lightweight_911]

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Excellent find !!

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[3ftDeep]

You have no idea!! I've looked for any reference to my car for years. Still can't really believe it.

I only spoke to Mick at Export56 for maybe 5 mins, but apparently the guy who owned it in that photo crashed it (wrapped around a post on the rear left - Mick thinks he has photos of this too : ) and thought it had been written off / scrapped years ago. When i stripped everything, I did see the crash damage. It was all pretty much just bashed out and filled, under about 8 layers of different coloured paint.

[Ian Gunney]

Great to fill in some of the history.

[deano]

Brilliant ! Almost looks like a painting - will look nice on the wall too

[3ftDeep]

Thanks for the replies, guys.
I still can't really convey my amazement on this. I'm really looking forward to hopefully getting to chat to the owner at the time and perhaps getting my hands on more photos and info.

You're right, Deano. If I can get a better quality version of that photo, it's definitely going in a frame : )

What's also amazing is that it's only around 9 years old here - interesting that it has already been resprayed from its original silver too... and that it seems to have gone on a pretty comprehensive European tour

[greg356a]

That's a great find. Hopefully you will be able to share any history you find

[3ftDeep]

Cheers, Greg.

I certainly will.
It's funny also that this has changed my feelings / perspective on my car, after all these years, as all I really knew, up until yesterday, was where I bought it and what it was like then - pretty much blank before this.

[simon james]

Well done!
I too have searched for years online for photos or indeed any information on my car from when it was new in Scotland 1962 to it being bought by the previous Brighton based owner in 1984.
A change of registration number prior to 1984 complicates things for me.

[Ignatzcatz]

Fantastic news!!
I have no previous information on my 356 but I'm hoping that someday I will find out that it belonged to this gorgeous blond Californian lady who is recently divorced with a mega bank account and a home on the Pacific coast near to the surf breaks at Encinitas and that she will do absolutely Anything to have her car back. Hey, we can all dream. And her name's Josie

[3ftDeep]

Hey, Simon
You never know what might turn up, as my example shows. I still can't believe what an absolute fluke it was stumbling across my photo.

Ignatzcatz: Ha ha hah ha. I'll quote Andy Dufresne: “Remember. Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.”
You can quote that to Josie when she's showing how grateful she is ; )

[3ftDeep]

So, had a brief email from the owner from the mid 1960's.
He said he paid £475 for it from a guy in Bornemouth.

He also said he took it on an epic, European journey, '...behind the iron curtain , to Romania , Bulgaria and Greece and back through Yugoslavia to Austria and home covering 4500 miles in 3 weeks without any problems.'

Finally, the thing that's most interesting to me (but obviously a massive, massive stretch) is that he wrote it off and the insurance company took it (rear, n/s impact) but he said he removed the original engine and put it in a beach buggy. I'd assumed it got wrecked or blew up.

So, there is a really, really slim chance it's still out there somewhere??

I've emailed him back and really hoping i can actually talk to or visit him.

[deano]

[3ftDeep]

So... had a long talk on the phone with Richard, the owner of my car from the late 1960s. He said he had it for maybe 2 years, until he wrote it off. Yikes!! (photo below)
He said he crashed it near the south end of the M6, which is interesting as I have a letter to Porsche UK, around 1986, from someone in Coventry, looking for info on the car.

Anyway, he said he was approaching (too fast, by his own admission) a lady who was turning right. At the last minute, she changed her mind and carried on. He had to avoid her and hit a 'keep left' sign.
Richard did say, him and his passenger were both more or less OK which, looking at the photo, was really lucky.

Would love to know what happened to it following the write-off, as someone straightened it all out and fixed it up.

He said, following this, he went and collected the engine (just realised I didn't ask where he collected it from??) and put it in a beach buggy. This buggy isn't listed with the DVLA any more, but it's a new thing I'd love to track down. Pretty slim chance, but you never know.

Anyway, here are some more photos from the 60s. As I said before, it was around 8 or 9 years old here and had already been resprayed blue from its original silver.

This is the original picture I posted above, which I love SO much, then some others from his trip.













buggy with (my!! : ) engine

[hot66]

what wonderful photos

Amazing to have that history & i imagine gives you an even tighter bond with the car