The Official 356Talk Forum

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i guess since no one ever drives in the wet, we don't have to worry about what lead, steel and water do to accelerate corrosion (you folks in the western US can ignore this discussion) Yes properly sealed, and never chipped surfaces don't rust, but this is reality. Please note that the Galvanic Series attached to the article does not have plastic on it, it is neutral. Lead and carbon steel are far apart on the series, and with impure water make a battery that promotes corrosion. Another plus for plastic! Look at the chart and try to decide if stainless hardware is always a good idea. Stainless and mild steel are not real close on the chart. And before you guys decide that carbon fiber is great on the new cars, look at where Graphite is on the series. That is the same place Carbon Fiber is...

I've decided to take a new position in public, LEAD IS BAD - MAKES A POOR REPAIR - DO NOT USE! There, now I won't have to wait so long for the real craftsman to do the lead work on my cars.

Unfortunately I don't think this ploy will work with Ferrari GTO, and similar, owners so I will still be waiting.

JC, what is done to protect from lead gassing and other harmful products that my make the paint fail?

max handley wrote:Here are some pics of a recent restoration. It's a 59 A cab. Not much lead used but beautifully applied. Your example looks too sloppy to be the factory standards I've witnessed and I've stripped a few .

The early stampings used during the pre-A period were very poor quality. In fact they were so poor, Reutter and Porsche had lots of back-and-forth discussion of these issues, and it's the reason that Sigla laminated glass was used for the rear window on coupes instead of Sekurit tempered glass on the 356A and later. The stampings weren't consistent enough, and laminated glass needed to be used so it could be ground to fit. One sees this lousing stamping everywhere on pre-A cars, especially the cabriolets. Mark Turczyn discusses this extensively in his series of articles in the Registry Magazine back in vols 14 through 19. Some parts of the internal dash structure on the early 4-digit cars were off by 1/2 centimeter or more.

Of course the craftsmen at Reutter were talented, but the stamped panels were poor, mostly because of the poor quality of the stamps themselves which wore out very quickly after many stamped parts had been made. Reutter craftsman compensated for this by banging the panels back into shape and sometimes using copious lead where needed. This is why 2 pre-A panels can have quite different shape, and why even later into A and B production panels were numbered, as they were massaged to fit. The most numbering of panels occurs earliest in 356 production, where just about all bodywork was custom fit, and very little was interchangeable from one car to the other.

As 356 production ramped up at Reutter, they were able to invest in better stamping dies for the parts, which reduced labor costs. Frank Jung's "356 by Reutter" book discusses this quite a bit. A fun read (in German).

James Davies wrote:

max handley wrote:Here are some pics of a recent restoration. It's a 59 A cab. Not much lead used but beautifully applied. Your example looks too sloppy to be the factory standards I've witnessed and I've stripped a few .

The early stampings used during the pre-A period were very poor quality. In fact they were so poor, Reutter and Porsche had lots of back-and-forth discussion of these issues, and it's the reason that Sigla laminated glass was used for the rear window on coupes instead of Sekurit tempered glass on the 356A and later. The stampings weren't consistent enough, and laminated glass needed to be used so it could be ground to fit. One sees this lousing stamping everywhere on pre-A cars, especially the cabriolets. Mark Turczyn discusses this extensively in his series of articles in the Registry Magazine back in vols 14 through 19. Some parts of the internal dash structure on the early 4-digit cars were off by 1/2 centimeter or more.

Of course the craftsmen at Reutter were talented, but the stamped panels were poor, mostly because of the poor quality of the stamps themselves which wore out very quickly after many stamped parts had been made. Reutter craftsman compensated for this by banging the panels back into shape and sometimes using copious lead where needed. This is why 2 pre-A panels can have quite different shape, and why even later into A and B production panels were numbered, as they were massaged to fit. The most numbering of panels occurs earliest in 356 production, where just about all bodywork was custom fit, and very little was interchangeable from one car to the other.

As 356 production ramped up at Reutter, they were able to invest in better stamping dies for the parts, which reduced labor costs. Frank Jung's "356 by Reutter" book discusses this quite a bit. A fun read (in German).

I had a 53 a few years ago that someone had done some crazy ice racing flares on the rear, a friend had some nice fenders he had cut off a car years ago. I trimmed the car and then lined the fender up using the decklid opening, it was off by almost an inch. I made it work, but it wasn't as easy as I thought.

Another great example, I wonder what all the weenies with their paint meters would do if they walked around the Factory when the cars were being made, probably tell them they were doing the cars wrong. Lay it on thick, Franz!

Cowl/fender top area? If so I doubt if it's factory.

Leonardo de bonding lives on.

No Bondo on a factory 356 and very little lead other than where the gaps were fitted. The surface levels of the doors were carefully matched to the body shell as a unit. Correctly done a 356 looks to have had the doors laser cut from a solid block of 356 and they didn't use massive amounts of lead to get there.

The factory used red nitrocellulose filler or putty to smooth imperfections after the body's were primed and baked. This filler was applied in a thin film and air dried, no 2 part hardener. It was then wet sanded with the primer. Any old time body man would be familiar with this stuff. Check out the Made by Hand video after the body's leave the bake booth, it can be seen on a few of the body's.

Nitrostan, in a tube at auto parts stores.

C J Murray wrote: ↑Thu Mar 12, 2020 7:07 pm No Bondo on a factory 356 and very little lead other than where the gaps were fitted. The surface levels of the doors were carefully matched to the body shell as a unit. Correctly done a 356 looks to have had the doors laser cut from a solid block of 356 and they didn't use massive amounts of lead to get there.

Pretty massive amounts at the top of the rear fenders on the later cars. I used to do rust repair and well remember waterfalls of lead when heating the fenders to repair the usual rusted areas. How about 1/4" or more.

Apparently D'Ieteren took the cake when it comes to using lead, they must have applied it with a gallon bucket nearby. Working on a Twin Grill Roadster right now and the lead is flowing off like a small stream. Laid on like icing on a cake!

1/4 inch thick lead was found by my friend where the B pillar meets the body on his wife's 356C that she bought in the early 70s