356 A Cabriolet restoration

[Graham]

Hi all
Thought I would share this restoration with DDK,due to this being a great forum,with so many passionate members!
So a little background on me and the car! I'm the really tall guy who worked for Roger Bray for 18+ish years!,then a short spell at R to RSR where one of my jobs was to paint KS's hotrod,then onto Williams Crawford in Cornwall.
One of my first jobs at Adrians was to restore a 1967 SWB 911 for a client,the car turned out great,and so it turned out the gentleman owned this 356 A Cabriolet.
The car was found in a garage in Texas,covered in stuff,and hard to see and had been off the road since the early 80's,anyway he bought it and has been waiting for the right moment to restore the car.
The car was shipped to us a while ago now,and has sat in storage for a bit whilst I have been working on a couple of other cars (one of which is mad 930 Turbo worthy of another thread!),I rolled the car out in September and made a start on it.

Some pictures..





The car is wonderfully original,one of the best 356 projects I have seen,Its had one respray,all the original paint is underneath the yellow,It has some damage on the left hand front,I'm guessing when this was repaired,it was repainted and retrimmed.
It will get a full restoration,I'm always one for trying to retain as much originality as possible,though I fully understand this isn't always practical!

I'm terrible for keeping things updated,but I'll try keep on top of this and keep the pictures coming,we have snapped dozens and dozens due to so many parts untouched since it was built in 1958.
Thanks for the interest!

[jonno1]

Fantastic project...can't wait to see more of this one.

[Max911]

It's a great basis to start on! Original color is yellow with black interior?

[Bootsy]

What a wonderful car.
Look forward to watching the resto

[neilbardsley]

I'm looking forward to following this. However, I would be happy to drive that car as it is!

[jonno1]

I'm looking forward to following this. However, I would be happy to drive that car as it is!

Have to say thats what I thought.....why not leave it as it is and enjoy it rather than make it "too nice to drive" (see other thread just started about this dilemma.....)

[Graham]

I did suggest to the owner that I could get it roadworthy as is and use it quite happily, and he totally understood that but he does use his cars, so it wont end up in a garage unseen for the rest of its life and he would love it looking great.
The 1967 911 I did for him turned out immaculate, he got in the car and drove from our workshop here in Saltash to his home in Geneva, this 356 will get the same use!
He has a 356 C coupe which is in a similar condition that I did a full mechanical overhaul on but left the rest of the car, a lived in and used look!

The original colour was Ivory, possibly white with a Tan interior, It may not go back to this combination.

Here's a picture of the rear inner wing on the inside of the car, notice how its body colour, and not blacked throughout



I'm going to try and get this done for Hedingham next year if it happens, or possibly a more central DDK event!!

[neilbardsley]

I did suggest to the owner that I could get it roadworthy as is and use it quite happily, and he totally understood that but he does use his cars, so it wont end up in a garage unseen for the rest of its life and he would love it looking great.
The 1967 911 I did for him turned out immaculate, he got in the car and drove from our workshop here in Saltash to his home in Geneva, this 356 will get the same use!
He has a 356 C coupe which is in a similar condition that I did a full mechanical overhaul on but left the rest of the car, a lived in and used look!

The original colour was Ivory, possibly white with a Tan interior, It may not go back to this combination.

Here's a picture of the rear inner wing on the inside of the car, notice how its body colour, and not blacked throughout



I'm going to try and get this done for Hedingham next year if it happens, or possibly a more central DDK event!!

As an aside I thought it was nearly impossible to import a car into Switzerland?

[Graham]

Should have updated this a while ago, been very busy!
Anyway here are a few more pictures during the stripdown...

[Graham]

The car has been fitted to a roll over frame, has gone for gentle sandblasting and onto the next stage, the metalwork!

[Max911]

I would say...a confirm of solid car! nice details

[Graham]

Been a bit of a delay in updating,the 356 was put on the back burner for another car to be done,but back onto it!
Metalwork well underway by Steve Kerti,I'm sure he'll chime in with any questions you may have about his metalwork!

[Graham]

[Graham]

[Jeremy 356 (Jez 356)]

This is is a great thread Graham - is the door bottom atcually welded all the way along or bonded and will it then be leaded or just filled?

Keep up the great work

Regards Jeremy