The Official 356Talk Forum

All,

for those interested in the 'early early' cars, I just received my Oldtimer Markt magazine from Germany.

There is a really interesting 10 page article on T 2222, the 1939 Type 64 with some fantastic details.

Also a 1941 crash pic of Type 64/2, the 'mystery' surrounding 64/3 and some cool Otto Mathe info.

Regretfully, it is all in German, but the pic tell a cool story.

http://www.wai.de/wai-pages/OldtimerMarkt/201002/

BTW - cool detail- the type 64 had a 60hp 1290cc engine and ran 105MPH top speed.

IN 1939!!!

That's great Jules -- thanks for that link!

I'll have to brush up on my high school German --

I bought a copy last weekend while I was visiting Stuttgart...

One of the most intresting parts in the article , in my opinion, is why this car isn't in the Porsche Museum collection.

When Otto Mathé bought the car in 1949, he achieved all spare parts that Porsche had for these cars too. The article states that is is sure that Otto Mathé's Fetzenflieger, his famous selfmade racecar , is build upon a Berlin-Rome chassis.
When Mathé stopped racing with the car, he received many phonecalls from Porsche as they wanted to buy the car back. Mathé always refused.
Somewhere in the end eighties, Mathé changes mind , pulls the Berlin-Rome car on his trailer and drives it to Zuffenhausen, to present it to Ferry Porsche as a gift.
The guardian at the gate won't let Otto Mathé in , saying that Ferry Porsche doesn't accept unexpected visitors. Stunning is that the guard is told to have said that the factory has enough of that old garbage.
In 1997 when part of Otto Mathés collection is sold, the factory and museum is intrested in the Typ64. However, it is Ferry Porsche in person who says NO to the purchase of the car, as he didn't want anything of the collection bought by the company, after Otto Mathé fell in disgrace to Ferry Porsche, for an -to me- unknown reason.

Hi Tim,

Are you saying that the car featured in the magazine is the Mathe car? If so, wasn't his car converted to right hand drive to accomodate his disability, that of only being able to use one of his arms?

If this is his car, was it converted back to LHD?

Very nice article and thanks for the information.

Regards,

Sebastian Gaeta wrote:Hi Tim,

Are you saying that the car featured in the magazine is the Mathe car? If so, wasn't his car converted to right hand drive to accomodate his disability, that of only being able to use one of his arms?

If this is his car, was it converted back to LHD?

Very nice article and thanks for the information.

Regards,

Otto had at least 2 Gmund coupes during his lifetime.
We sympathetically restored 356/2-040 for Jerry Seinfeld in 2004 for the Rennsport Reunion II at Daytona. It had been converted from LHD to RHD, and back to LHD before
Jerry bought it. If you notice Otto used the plate T-2222 on all his Gmunds, and swapped
them around as he needed them, probably for insurance reasons. I have a photo of his
garage with 2 Gmunds, and his ice racer in view.

Alex Finigan wrote:Otto had at least 2 Gmund coupes during his lifetime.

Hi Alex,

Yes, I was aware of Otto's Gmund cars and that they had been converted to RHD. My question was regarding his Berlin-Rome-Berlin 60 K-10. The car in the magazine is LHD but I thought that the Mathe car was also coverted to RHD as were his Gmund cars.

Any ideas about that thought? Also, well done on JS's Gmund!

Regards,

Sebastian,

If only I had ventured closer to the car when I saw it at Goodwood some years ago. His RHD Gmund car was there but never looked at the Berlin car's inside. It was wet as you can see from the black plastic bag stuffed in the window and you can't see through the misted window in the photo I took to see if it was then RHD.






Roy
RHD356A super75 106954

Roy,

Thanks fo rthe pics, those are real gems. I never realised how much they had to "modify" the dash of the Gmund car to make it RHD, bet hey, it was a race car!

Regards,

Hi
I took these pics myself a few years ago, back to left hand drive.
John

I had found a 1937 Adler Lemans race car that had very similar lines to this car but predated it by a couple of years. I sold it to the Blackhawk and they restored it. Mr. Porsche was at the opening of the Autobahn with Adolph when the streamlined Adlers were some of the first cars allowed to try the Autobahn. I wonder if he picked up any design ideas that day, lol.

John Wurner wrote:Hi I took these pics myself a few years ago, back to left hand drive.
John

John,

Thanks so much for those photos. This board is invaluable!!

Regards,

Sebastian Gaeta wrote:Very nice article and thanks for the information.

Oops! I just re-read this and it looks as if I have slighted Jules, while giving credit for the article to Tim (whom I also appreciate on the board!).

Let me fix this:

JULES, very nice article that you posted and thanks so much for the information!!

It is minutiae like this that really keeps me interested in the board, that's for sure.

Thanks again Jules.

Regards,

the Porsche Museum announced today that the model of the TYP 64, which is the first car you see when entering the new Porsche Museum in Zuffenhausen, will be given in loan to the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, for a special exhibition "The Allure of the Automobile”

Read more about this at Liebe zu Ihm

Alex Finigan wrote:

Sebastian Gaeta wrote:Hi Tim,

Are you saying that the car featured in the magazine is the Mathe car? If so, wasn't his car converted to right hand drive to accomodate his disability, that of only being able to use one of his arms?

If this is his car, was it converted back to LHD?

Very nice article and thanks for the information.

Regards,

Otto had at least 2 Gmund coupes during his lifetime.
We sympathetically restored 356/2-040 for Jerry Seinfeld in 2004 for the Rennsport Reunion II at Daytona. It had been converted from LHD to RHD, and back to LHD before
Jerry bought it. If you notice Otto used the plate T-2222 on all his Gmunds, and swapped
them around as he needed them, probably for insurance reasons. I have a photo of his
garage with 2 Gmunds, and his ice racer in view.

Alex;
would be great to see this photo. can you post it?
best
jerry haussler