The Official 356Talk Forum

I Just got one of these and, although I have never seen an original, the guy who produced them seems to have done a good job, it's crystal clear what they are & I think they are pretty good so I thought I'd pass it on for anyone hasn't seen them.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Porsche-356A- ... Sw~AVYq-eb

V&S

Same Ebay guy has Speedster spare tire straps (Wehrmacht color) and ME-109 wheels with tires, original air inside.

Hi Brad,

Thank you for the post, he now has them listed on the Registry parts page.
Do you know when they changed from the tan strap to the olive green?
My impression from a vendor at the Lit Meet was the the early cars (55 and 56?)
My car is a 55.
His price was $450 and he still has some listed on Ebay.

Thanks!

Peter Boettcher

Very nice fuse box cover labels !! Nice patina paper and fits well. I have one in my fuse cover.

On Peter's question about the color of Speedster tire straps, short answer is, I don't know when the strap colors changed, or if the dark green came before the tan color. BTW, you could call the lighter tan, the "North Africa Campaign" version.

Could be a new thread on which color came first. Plus the question, did all Speedsters come with woven straps or did some come with leather straps?

+1 on the suggestion for a new thread re: tire straps.

Gary

Hi Guys
I thought I would own up to being the fuse box label and speedser strap guy.
My name is Drew Saunders a recently retired Graphic Designer living in Surrey England.
I have been playing with 356’s for 20 years and currently have 3 in various states of rusting/restoration.
In between 356’s I also restored a Type 82 Kubelwagen.
And that’s where the materials for the Speedster straps were sourced, Kubelwagen’s used a 25mm webbing straps to secure the canvas roof and various other equipment around the car.
So when I saw various reproductions being advertised for very high prices I thought I would have a go and source the bits from my Friends in the Wartime vehicle community in Germany.
The difficult part to reproduce is the steel tip that is riveted to the strap and some reproductions use aluminum which is easier to work.
I am lucky to have friends in Germany who have stockpiled WW2 materials and they let me have small quantities for my projects.

I have recently acquired some lighter DAK (Afrika Korps) tan webbing and have produced a prototype, the normal military webbing is 3mm thick but this DAK webbing is 3.5 and I am hopping the rivets will take the extra thickness.
I am advertising on the registry and have almost sold the first 20 straps, but hope to have parts for another 20 in the next couple of weeks, it would be good to know the years for light or dark tan webbing but my guess is that Porsche used up what ever wartime material they could find.

I must also point out that the buckles I source have one less tooth than the originals so the judges could pull you up on that.

As a graphic designer I have also started making the fuse box labels and the artwork took many weeks to produce so that every letter is exact to the original.
Next up were labels for Blaupunkt radios and I can even produce one off labels with your radios number on it.
And finally watch this space I have just finished high res scanning and retouching all 752 pages including all supplements of the Spare Parts Catalog III, again a very small run will be produced with exact maroon die stamped folder.
Hope you all enjoy these items and if I can improve them in any way please let me know.
And yes Brad I do have some Messerschmitt Bf109 wheels if you need them.

Regards
Drew

Drew:
Thanks for posting your story about you and the straps. I am one who bought an example and I like it very much. Looking forward to fitting it soon as I figure out how to properly clasp it. If all else fails, I will look at the manual (typical male-pattern behavior).

Good luck with your other endeavours!
=rds

I have one if the tire straps on my Speedster. Very nice. Drew is a pleasure to work with.

Bob

Thank you guys for your kind words.
I try and make parts as close to the original as possible.
I have a few straps left (10 to be exact) and when they are gone they are gone as I have no more correct webbing or steel tips.
Search the classifieds to find them.
The fuse box labels have now been upgraded with an exact clear plastic cover. Again search the classifieds to find them.
Next up is a re-print/ re-creation of the "Drivers Manual' leather look card cover. I have some challenges to get the shield logo right and source the exact deep red coloured leather look card but I should have everything sorted out in the next couple of weeks.
Hope you like the items I am re-producing.
Regards
Drew
United Kingdom

Hi Guys
A little update and a question.
I have been asked to produce a different fuse box label (A in the picture) which is apparently featured in 'Neil's book' making it from a 1958 356A. My question is what year of car is the (B on the right in the picture) label from?
Here are the differences
A. Is set with a different type face (the ‘a’s are the most different), some of the terminology is different (headlight signal v’s flashing light) and the biggest change is in fuse block 3 which now reads (supplemental heating).
I would like to make sure that when someone orders a label they get the right one for their wiring.
And just to let you know that I only have two Speedster straps left.
Thanks for your help.
Regards
Drew
United Kingdom

Here's mine that I thinks is original from my late 59 coupe, it's same as Roadster 88455. Different from your examples. I've had it since 9168 and never changed it out during that time.

Thank you Steve
looks like another variation with German and English only.
There seems to be many different labels depending on model and where your car was originally delivered.
Regards
Drew