Calling All '59 356A Coupes w/ Black Knobs + Steering Wheels
Posted: Mon Dec 26, 2011 5:13 pm
Recently under another topic a number of us noted that our cars had the unusual feature of black knobs and steering wheels in a late 356A built in or around June of 1959. The chassis numbers that were mentioned were all within ten numbers or so. Because of this response I thought that it would be interesting to see how many of this type of car could be identified here on the list.
I have had my '59 coupe since 1969 and I am confident that when I bought it it was original throughout except for aftermarket seat covers that had replaced the original black vinyl with corduroy insert seats. I imagine the sun, heat and humidity of New Orleans, where the car spent its first ten years, were too much for the corduroy and they had to be replaced. The car had black knobs, black steering wheel and column and gloss painted black garnish rails on the doors and below the rear quarter windows. At the time and for a number of years after I did not realize that this was unusual, since this was the only 356 that I had ever driven. I did see other cars with the normal color steering wheels and knobs, but thought that black was one of the standard choices. The car was painted Condor Yellow (which is a 356B color) and had the paint code of 16188 shown on the door jamb plate. (The COA identified the color with the 356B designation of 6010.) In the course of its recent complete body restoration Bruce Baker noticed that this car has a couple of 356B attributes, namely, the engine tray is welded in place rather than being bolted and the battery box is a B stamping. This car's chassis number is about 1000 cars from the end of the 356A model run and it was completed about two months before the end of A production and three months before the start of 356B production if one assumes that August of 1959 was given over to retooling the line for the new model. Because of the timing of this car's production and the oddity of the black interior pieces I have come up with the theory that the factory decided to make a few A cars with black steering wheels and knobs so that they could get a sense of what the new B models would look like in the new B colors (and maybe in the 356A colors that would be continued into the B line). I don't know if this is true and I have never been able to find out anything about these unusual cars from the authenticity experts, but I can't think of any other reason for them to have been produced when they were.
If you have a 1959 356A car with black steering wheel and black knobs, could you please reply to this thread with your chassis number, paint color and code, and hopefully a photo so that we can begin to get an idea of how many of these cars were made? If you have your build date from a COA or Cardex that would also be useful.
To start the ball rolling I have included photos of my car above and one other car that I have pictures of below. I will also mention that a couple of people from the last thread volunteered their info. Hopefully they will chime in again and attach some pictures. Karl Schuenemann has chassis no. 107986 in paint color 61111, maybe Auratrium Green. Patrick Doolittle has car no. 107985 in Fern Green. In photos below chassis 107974 looks like it might have been Ivory or a blue. I don't know what paint code is/was on the data plate of that car. I know that John Chatley knows of some black knob cars. I will contact him and ask him to respond here with any information he has. Thank you in advance for your cooperation. I hope we can get some good information here on a previously undocumented area of Porsche history.
Dan Haden
I have had my '59 coupe since 1969 and I am confident that when I bought it it was original throughout except for aftermarket seat covers that had replaced the original black vinyl with corduroy insert seats. I imagine the sun, heat and humidity of New Orleans, where the car spent its first ten years, were too much for the corduroy and they had to be replaced. The car had black knobs, black steering wheel and column and gloss painted black garnish rails on the doors and below the rear quarter windows. At the time and for a number of years after I did not realize that this was unusual, since this was the only 356 that I had ever driven. I did see other cars with the normal color steering wheels and knobs, but thought that black was one of the standard choices. The car was painted Condor Yellow (which is a 356B color) and had the paint code of 16188 shown on the door jamb plate. (The COA identified the color with the 356B designation of 6010.) In the course of its recent complete body restoration Bruce Baker noticed that this car has a couple of 356B attributes, namely, the engine tray is welded in place rather than being bolted and the battery box is a B stamping. This car's chassis number is about 1000 cars from the end of the 356A model run and it was completed about two months before the end of A production and three months before the start of 356B production if one assumes that August of 1959 was given over to retooling the line for the new model. Because of the timing of this car's production and the oddity of the black interior pieces I have come up with the theory that the factory decided to make a few A cars with black steering wheels and knobs so that they could get a sense of what the new B models would look like in the new B colors (and maybe in the 356A colors that would be continued into the B line). I don't know if this is true and I have never been able to find out anything about these unusual cars from the authenticity experts, but I can't think of any other reason for them to have been produced when they were.
If you have a 1959 356A car with black steering wheel and black knobs, could you please reply to this thread with your chassis number, paint color and code, and hopefully a photo so that we can begin to get an idea of how many of these cars were made? If you have your build date from a COA or Cardex that would also be useful.
To start the ball rolling I have included photos of my car above and one other car that I have pictures of below. I will also mention that a couple of people from the last thread volunteered their info. Hopefully they will chime in again and attach some pictures. Karl Schuenemann has chassis no. 107986 in paint color 61111, maybe Auratrium Green. Patrick Doolittle has car no. 107985 in Fern Green. In photos below chassis 107974 looks like it might have been Ivory or a blue. I don't know what paint code is/was on the data plate of that car. I know that John Chatley knows of some black knob cars. I will contact him and ask him to respond here with any information he has. Thank you in advance for your cooperation. I hope we can get some good information here on a previously undocumented area of Porsche history.
Dan Haden